To understand who Revelation 14 says we are, we need to ‘do the math’. John does his theology through maths and numbers, which will make some hearts sink—but others rejoice! It is clear from chapter 7 that the 144,000 are neither a special group of martyrs, nor an elite group of end-times Jewish evangelists (as some have argued) but the whole people of God. And the number 144,000 has two parts to it, being the product of 12 x 12 with 10 x 10 x 10.

There is no denying that, for any modern reader, the Book of Revelation is a strange text; we will not learn from it by pretending that it does not present challenges. It does reveal things (as the name suggests), but that can simply make life more complicated and confusing. Many of us feel the same when we lift the bonnet of our car; in theory, it is supposed to help us understand if there is a problem, but most of us would rather simply close the bonnet—or take it somewhere where the expert can sort it out for us and tell us the answers!

And yet when we do engage with the text, it is full of insights; reading can give us the feeling of oil prospectors striking oil, and we are overwhelmed with insights. The short description of Rev 14.1–5gives us a wealth of insight into who we are as the people of God.

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 the human race and offered as firstfruits to God and the Lamb.  No lie was found in their mouths; they are blameless. 

One of my regular habits is to watch Pointless on BBC1 at 5.15, and when greeting the contestants, Alexander Armstrong always asks three sets of questions: Who are you? Where do you live? and What do you do? Rev 14 offers us answers to these three ‘Pointless’ questions.

Who are we?

The question of identity appears to be central in contemporary culture. Socially, we are in the era of ‘identity politics’, and it is easy to cause great offence by failing to acknowledge aspects of the identity of those we are talking with. Biologically and medically, we know more about our physical identity than ever before, and the possibility of genome mapping will tell us everything we want to know about ourselves—as well as a good deal we might not want to know. Personally, the interest in genealogy seems unabated. I am always fascinated that the programme about the genealogical past is not called ‘Who do you think you were?’ but ‘Who do you think you are?’; understanding our identity through the past changes our understanding of ourselves in the present. Danny Dyer, the Eastenders actor, discovered that he was descended from Edward III, and his discovery of a new identity has led to a whole TV series of its own, as his East End Cockney self tries to wear his new identity clothes of royalty.

To understand who Revelation 14 says we are, we need to ‘do the math’. John does his theology through maths and numbers, which will make some hearts sink—but others rejoice! It is clear from chapter 7 that the 144,000 are neither a special group of martyrs, nor an elite group of end-times Jewish evangelists (as some have argued) but the whole people of God. And the number 144,000 has two parts to it, being the product of 12 x 12 with 10 x 10 x 10.

The ’12 x 12′ signifies that we are in continuity with the Old Testament people of God. Just as Jesus chose 12 new patriarchs (the disciples) to begin his Jewish renewal movement, corresponding to the 12 tribes of Israel, so we stand in the place of God’s Jewish people whom he called out of slavery in Egypt to travel through the wilderness that they might enter the land of promise. We too have been invited to enjoy his rest, which is ours in Jesus (Heb 4.1–10); we too enter into both the blessings and the obligations of living in the presence of our holy God. Throughout his letters to mixed Jewish-Gentile communities, the apostle Paul assumes that followers of the Jewish Jesus will read the Old Testament as their own story, regardless of their ethnic identity. As he says in Romans 11.24, we Gentiles have been grafted into the olive tree that is the Jewish people of God.

But, secondly, the ’10 x 10 x 10′ is a number we call a cube, since any space with those measurements has the shape of a cube. This is the distinctive shape of the Holy of Holies, which sat at the centre of the temple, itself the centre of a series of courts in the temple precincts, itself at the centre of Jerusalem, which was the political and theological ‘centre’ of the nation. Here is the place of God’s holy presence; here is the point of connection between heaven and earth. When shown the physical temple, Jesus described his own body as the new temple (John 2.19); Paul talks of Christians as the ‘body of Christ’, and being incorporated into him we too are part of that temple. So Paul talks of our bodies as ‘temples of the Holy Spirit’ (1 Cor 6.19) and Peter talks of us being ‘living stones, being built into his spiritual temple’ (1 Peter 2.15). Revelation 14 is telling us just the same thing.

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