144,000. Literal or Symbolic?

There are only two places in the bible that mention the 144,000. Both in Revelation.

7:3,4 says--“Do not harm the land or the sea or the trees until we put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.” Then I heard the number of those who were sealed: 144,000 from all the tribes of Israel.

14:1,4,5 says--Then I looked, and there before me was the Lamb, standing on Mount Zion, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads. These are those who did not defile themselves with women, for they kept themselves pure. They follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They were purchased from among men and offered as firstfruits to God and the Lamb. No lie was found in their mouths; they are blameless.

To begin, the JWs teach that the number 144,000 is the exact number of people that are chosen from earth to rule alongside Jesus in heaven. Here are a few quotes to show this.

"As spirit-anointed brothers of Christ, all the early Christians had the prospect of being heavenly priests with Christ." Jehovah's Witnesses - Proclaimers of God's Kingdom p.35

"And Christians back there in the first century needed it. At that time all of them were spirit-anointed Christians who looked forward to a future resurrection "into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." "Let Your Kingdom Come" p.88

"We understand that this heavenly calling continued down through the centuries, though during the so-called Dark Ages, there may have been times when the number of anointed ones were very few. With the reestablishment of true Christianity near the end of the last century, more were called and chosen. But it seems that in the mid-1930's, the full number of the 144,000 was basically completed. Thus there began to appear a group of loyal Christians with the earthly hope. Jesus termed such "other sheep," who unite in worship with the anointed as one approved flock." Watchtower 1996 Aug 15 p.31

Although the view has changed from the number being complete in the 1930s, the general idea is that all of the early christians were of the anointed class, and a "re-establishment of christianity" in the late 1800s brought on more to be chosen.

First, let's attempt to establish just how many christians there were during these two time frames. Then let's go back and take a closer look at those bible verses.

According to JW sources, there were 40,000 that were martyred in 95 a.d. alone.

"Brief respite followed the death of Nero, but by the latter years of the first century the second great persecution, under Emperor Domitian, flared up. It is said that in the year 95 alone some 40,000 suffered martyrdom. Also, it was in this period that John, last living of the twelve apostles, was exiled to the isle of Patmos, from where he recorded the inspired Bible book of Revelation about A.D. 96." Watchtower 1951 Sep 1 p.516

If we estimate the 40,000 in 95 ad alone, obviously there were more christians that were put to death before and after that year. There were probably at least another 20,000 to add to that figure. Acts 2:41 states that 3,000 were baptized in one day. Verse 47 says that more were added to their number daily. And this was before Paul even started his preaching work. It is a conservative guess to say that there were probably about 60-65,000 christians in the 1st century. Of course, I am basing this from the figure given in the Watchtower, and adding some common sense reasoning.

In 1935, there were over 52,000 that partook of the emblems. Then we need to add the number of individuals that had died before 1935, and add the current number of ones claiming to be anointed. I can't do that though because I don't have that information to calculate a grand total.

Another quote adds more confusion to the equation.

"It has been calculated that by the end of the second century 60,000 copies of the major part of the Christian Greek Scriptures could have been in circulation, even if only one in every fifty of those professing Christianity possessed a copy." Watchtower 1963 April 15 p.249

How they obtained this information is unknown. But if one out of fifty posessed a copy, that would mean there were 3,000,000 christians by this time.

Now the claim is that the anointed ones had been covered over by "weed-like ones. (see my faithful and discreet slave blog)That is how the JWs attempt to explain away this number, even though many more were martyred. But I will get to that in a minute.

Back to the numbers. 65,000 plus 52,000 comes to 117,000. That would leave a mere 27,000 over a 1835 year stretch. If you subtract the 10,000 current ones that claim to be of the anointed, plus those that died in the few decades before 1935, the overall number shrinks even more. If that isn't enough to raise any eyebrows, let's consider another quote from the Watchtower.

"Diocletian assumed the crown A.D. 284. At first he seemed friendly to the Christians, but in the year 303 he gave in to persuasion and opened the tenth persecution, probably the most ferocious of all. Suffocation by smoke, forcible drinking of melted lead, mass drownings and burnings, breaking on the rack of men and women alike ran the empire with blood. In a single month 17,000 were slain. In the province of Egypt alone, 144,000 such professed Christians died by violence in the course of this persecution, in addition to another 700,000 who died as a result of fatigues encountered in banishment or under enforced public works." Watchtower 1951 September 1 p.518

861,000 Christians were put to death according to this article. If this is true, why wouldn't these people be considered true christians that died for Christ? Revelation 20:4 says the following,

I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony for Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or his image and had not received his mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

This shows that people that had been put to death "because of their testimony for Jesus" will come back to life. Why would only 144,000 of them be chosen when there were so many more that fulfilled this requirment? Now remember, these numbers are from JW literature. So it appears once again that their own literature is proving their claim wrong.

Let's take another look at those verses. If we are to take the number as literal, we must also take the rest of the verse as literal too. That means that the requirement of an anointed one would include them being from the tribes of Israel, having the name of Lamb and Father on their foreheads, virgins, holding no falsehood on their mouths, and without blemish. This would rule out any Americans claiming to be anointed (unless a line of descent can be proven linking them to a tribe of Israel). Since tatoos are forbidden to JWs, I don't know how they could have a name written on their forehead. Everlasting ink pen maybe? Virgins? That would eliminate a vast majority. I think you get the idea. Yet the JWs only hold the number as literal. And they cannot give a reason why, other than saying that the number was sealed. This type of reasoning is selctive at best. And that is wrong.