Hello Reader,
While in many sports, every score counts as one point (or perhaps two), American football chooses to be different. As a fan, you quickly learn to figure out what combinations of scoring plays lead to a particular score. If your team wins 17-14, you likely assume that both teams scored two touchdowns (seven points each — technically six, but the extra point is almost automatic), but your team was able to kick a field goal. In football, seventeen usually equals two touchdowns and a field goal (17=7+7+3). Are there other ways to reach seventeen? Yes, but watching games and seeing scores trains your mind to see patterns. A score of 28-27 likely means one team scored four touchdowns and the other three touchdowns and two field goals (though it is possible someone missed an extra point).
Reading the Bible is not the same as playing football, but the value of pattern recognition is the same in both. In football, it is not just the numbers seven and three that matter (the most common scoring plays), but the combinations of sevens and threes that produce a different number. In the Bible, the numbers themselves can have meanings that play out as they are repeated throughout the Biblical story. Yet, sometimes these numbers are combined in ways that draw several meanings together or even enhance the meaning beyond what the number by itself would convey.
Where multiple biblical numbers are added or multiplied together and it affects their significance in a given biblical passage. I want to give a brief example from the book of Revelation that will help demonstrate what I mean.
The Multitude of God’s People: 144,000
In two places in the book of Revelation, a number is given of those who are marked and sealed as belonging to the Lord.
In Revelation 7, 144,000 are said to be sealed from the tribes of Israel (Rev. 7:4). These have “the seal of the living God” (7:2). Twelve thousand are gathered from each of the tribes of Israel, who are listed by name (7:5-8). It should be noted that the tribe of Dan is left off this list, but that both half-tribes of Joseph (Ephraim, simply called “Joseph” here, and Manasseh) are both listed as contributing 12,000 to the total number.
Right after Revelation 7 speaks of the 144,000, there is the vision of the great uncountable multitude from every tribe and nation coming before the throne of God (Rev. 7:9). The number 144,000 appears again in Revelation 14, which 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. And I heard a sound from heaven like the roar of rushing waters and like a loud peal of thunder. The sound I heard was like that of harpists playing their harps. And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders. No one could learn the song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth. These are those who did not defile themselves with women, for they remained virgins. They follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They were purchased from among mankind and offered as firstfruits to God and the Lamb. No lie was found in their mouths; they are blameless. (Rev. 14:1-5)
Here, the 144,000 are not tied directly to Israel, but to those who belong to the Lamb. They are followers of the Lamb and they sing a new song before his throne. If the first 144,000 are directly tied to Israel and the second 144,000 are the followers of the Lamb, then this gives us clues as to how to understand this number.
There are twelve tribes of Israel and twelve disciples of Jesus. Any reference to twelve in the Bible is going to have some connection with one or both groups. As Revelation 7 (and basic math) makes clear, 144 is reached by multiplying twelve and twelve. In my understanding, 144,000 symbolizes the “full number of disciples” who will be redeemed. By using the same number for both the tribes of Israel sealed to the living God and those marked as belong to the Lamb, this number communicates, I believe, that at the end of all things, God will bring in the fullness of Israel and the fullness of the Gentiles into his kingdom.
I do not believe that 144,000 is intended to be a literal number of those Israelites who will be saved, nor a literal number of those Gentiles who will become disciples of Jesus Christ. As with many of the numbers in Revelation, the intention is symbolic. Twelve times twelve gives us a sense of God bringing in the full harvest of redemption.
24 Elders and 24 Thrones
Twenty-four is a similar combination number as 144, with a similar meaning. 144 is twelve times twelve, but twenty-four is simply twelve plus twelve. In Revelation 4, a door stands open in heaven, and John beholds the throne of God. Then we hear, “Surrounding the throne were twenty- four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads” (Rev. 4:4). There are twelve tribes and twelve disciples. In Matthew 19:28, Jesus promises, “Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (NIV). However, there are not twelve thrones, but twenty-four around the throne. I think it is likely that this other twelve represents the twelve tribes of Israel, so that the disciples and the tribes share in the worship and judgment around the throne of God.
Like with 144,000, the combination of twelves communicates a drawing together of Jewish and Gentile disciples into the one kingdom of God. The twelve disciples do not replace the twelve tribes (and their elders/ patriarchs) around the throne, but join them. In a similar way, the Gentile church does not replace Israel as the people of God, but joins the Israelite church around the throne worshipping the Lamb who was slain.
Learn more by pre-ordering "Count the Stars: A Handbook on Biblical Numbers" where I explore various strategies for reading and understanding the numbers in the Bible -- all with aim of growing as a reader of Scripture.
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From the desk of
Stephen C. Shaffer
Author, Pastor-Theologian
www.penielpress.com
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