THE ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY-FOUR THOUSAND.
By Editor
"And I looked, and lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Zion, and with him an hundred and forty and four thousand, having his Father's name written in their foreheads." Rev. xiv, 1. "And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree. And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth, and the sea, saying, hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. And I heard the number of them which were sealed; and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel." Rev. vii, 1–4. To what state of the church do these scriptures apply? Evidently to the present. But as some doubt this position, we wish briefly to give some reasons for believing that the 144,000 are those who are alive, and are changed to immortality at the second advent. I. The 144,000 are introduced in prophecy among the preparatory scenes of the second advent. Reader, please take your Bible, and mark carefully the connection between the thirteenth and fourteenth chapters of Revelation. The thirteenth chapter, and the first five verses of the fourteenth, are a connected chain showing the sad history of the church during the 1260 years of Papal rule, which reached to within fifty years of this present time; also, her last struggle with the image beast, and the saints' final and glorious deliverance. They stand on Mount Zion with the Lamb. The division of chapters should be between the fifth and sixth verses of the fourteenth chapter. This any one may see: for the sixth verse introduces another chain of events, which is not at all connected with the preceding chain. How very natural to suppose that John, after viewing the saints persecuted by the beast, and his image, would follow them but a step farther to Mount Zion with the Lamb. "And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God." Rev. xv, 2. Rev. vii, 1–3, has been, and is still, held by Adventists, with very few exceptions, to apply to the preparatory scenes of the second advent. In fact it seems impossible to apply it any where else. Mark this: John was shown, not things that were in the past, no, but "things which must shortly come to pass." It is true that some allusions were made to the past, but it was only to explain the "things which must shortly come to pass," as in the case of the "woman," the "dragon," and the "man child" of chap. xii. This fact seems quite destructive of the view, that the 144,000 were raised at the time of the first advent. If the prophecy relative to the 144,000 was fulfilled at the time of the first advent, then the faithful Witness, instead of doing what he said he would do, viz., "shew unto his servants, things which must shortly come to pass," showed John things that were all past, at least sixty years before he had his revelation on the isle of Patmos. The twelve tribes, of which the 144,000 are sealed, are the same that the apostle James addressed, A. D. 60. "James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting." James i, 1. This epistle is evidently addressed to the present state of the church; to that state when the people of God are waiting for the Lord, and in their disappointed, waiting, trying state, need much patience. "Be patient, therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord." Chap. v, 7. "Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts; for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh." Verse 8. From these scattered "tribes" who are exhorted to wait patiently for the Lord, the 144,000 are to be sealed. II. The history and description of the 144,000 apply to those who are to be changed at the coming of the Lord, and to no other class. 1. "Having his Father's name written in their foreheads." Said the true Witness to the Philadelphia church, "Him that overcometh, will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out, and I will write upon him the name of my God." Where? "In their foreheads," just where John saw the "Father's name." Now just as sure as the Philadelphia church is the true church of the last days, just so sure the 144,000 are sealed, just before the coming of the Lord. 2. They sing "as it were a new song," that none in all wide heaven, but the 144,000 "could learn." "And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb." Chap. xv, 3. The song of Moses was the history and deliverance of Israel. The new song of the 144,000 will also be of their experience and their deliverance. The reason why none but the 144,000 can learn or sing this song, will be because the history and deliverance of no other class will be like those who pass through the time of trouble, and are changed to immortality "in the twinkling of an eye," at the coming of the Lord. 3. "These are they which were not defiled with women." A woman is used as a symbol of the church. See Rev. vii, 1–6; xvii, 1–6. The woman arrayed in purple and scarlet-color, on whose "forehead was a name written mystery, Babylon the great, the mother of harlots," is the124Catholic church. Her harlot daughters must therefore be the Protestant sects. They are the women with whom the 144,000 are "not defiled." Why not defiled with them? Because they obey the voice from heaven, saying, "Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, [be defiled,] and that ye receive not of her plagues." Chap. xviii, 4. 4. "These were redeemed from among men." Not out of their graves; no, no,—"from among men." They must, therefore, be the living saints who are changed to immortality at the coming of the Lord. The sleeping saints are not "among men." Those who came out of their graves at the time of the first Advent were not among men. No, they were in the silent grave. Some say that the 144,000 were the infants slain by Herod. Those infants had been slain more than thirty years, and of course had returned to dust again. What folly to say that they were redeemed "from among men?" There is no consistency in such a view. The simple truth on this point is this: The 144,000 are on the earth, "among men," [the wicked,] at the coming of Christ, and at the "voice of the Archangel" they are changed in a moment, and are "caught up" from among men to "meet the Lord." 5. "Being the first fruits unto God and the Lamb." The first fruits in this text, do not refer to the type—the "sheaf of the first fruits of the harvest," which the priest waved before the Lord "on the morrow after the Sabbath." Lev. xviii, 10–12. That was fulfilled in Christ. "Christ the first fruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming." Cor. xv, 23. Paul does not say, Christ and 144,000 the first fruits, no, no; the 144,000 are a part of the great harvest, in the end of the world, of which the risen Saviour was a sample, or first fruits. If Paul had said, Christ and 144,000 the first fruits, and there was no other testimony in the way, then we might with safety believe that they were raised at the first advent; but as it reads "Christ the first fruits," we think it safest and best to believe it as it reads. "Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures." James i, 18. It will yet be more clearly seen that the living saints will be delivered by the voice of God, and have power over the nations before the second advent. Their captivity will be turned, and the yoke broken from off their neck, and "destroyed, because of the anointing." See Isa. x, 27. The latter rain—the outpouring of the Spirit—prior to the advent, will ripen the 144,000 for the harvest, while the other saints will be still sleeping in the grave. In this sense they will be "the first fruits unto God and the Lamb." Then they will be "without fault before the throne." They will confess all their faults while Jesus is in the Sanctuary, ready to blot them out, and they will be borne away by the scape-goat, just before our High Priest comes out to bless his waiting people. [The above article we wrote four years since.—ED. REVIEW.]