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In a dazzling
display of poetic metaphor, the Amillennialists have concluded that the
144,000 are “the Church”. The
rationale is as follows:
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12 is the number of
the tribes; it is also the number of
the apostles. Multiply those together,
then by a thousand (signifying a multitude).
Combine that with the fact the Israel is often used to represent the
church in Old Testament prophecy.
There you are.
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The embarrassing
question is, then, who are the multitudes who come next. Answer:
same bunch, two different views.
I’m not convinced.
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Virtually all other
commentators agree that these are, in fact, bona fide Jews. In the historicist view, these are Jews
living in the Roman Empire after the time of Constantine.
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The futurists take
this a bit further. The old
dispensationalist view holds that grace has now been withdrawn from the
world, and these Jews are once again under the dispensation of the Law. They therefore replace the church as God’s
agents in the world, and quickly (remember, we have only three and half years
to do this) evangelize the world, in fulfillment of Matthew 24:14. This is said to be in fulfillment of :
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(Rom 11:25-26
NIV) I do not want you to be ignorant
of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has
experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has
come in. {26} And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: "The
deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob.
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More current
futurist views ignore the idea that grace is withdrawn; they see this as a continuation of
grace. The theology gets complicated
here (and is a point against the futurist view).
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One key point: they are numbered. To be numbered in Israel is to be ransomed
in Israel. See Exodus 30:12-15. They are also sealed; somewhat parallel (historicists says
exactly so) to to sealing of the Christian with the Holy Spirit.
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