Revelation 7:4
And I heard the number of those who were sealed, a hundred a forty-four thousand, sealed out of every tribe of the sons of Israel. (nwt)
The Watchtower Society teaches that the Christian church, or body of Christ, is limited to a literal number of 144,000 individuals. This gathering of the 144,000 began at Pentecost in the first century and continued through the year 1935—at which time the number was completed and the door was closed. New believers since 1935 are not part of the congregation of 144,000, but form a secondary class called the “great crowd” of “other sheep.” (See the discussion of Rev. 7:9 for further information on the “great crowd” and the 1935 date.) Since 1935, most of the remaining ones of the 144,000 have died off, leaving only about 9,000 alive on earth today—all of whom are Jehovah’s Witnesses. Among the millions of JWs, only the remnant of the 144,000 have the hope of heaven, and only they may partake of the communion loaf and cup.
As with many of the symbolic word-pictures in the Book of Revelation, there is some debate even among true Christians as to just who the 144,000 may be. We can freely admit that to the Witnesses, while showing them that the Watchtower Society’s interpretation is obviously wrong.
Revelation 7:4 says that the 144,000 are “of the sons of Israel,” but the Watchtower Society teaches that the Christian congregation is here symbolically portrayed as “spiritual Israel,” and that the 144,000 are therefore drawn from among all nations. We need only read the next few verses to discredit their interpretation: “Out of the tribe of Judah twelve thousand sealed; out of the tribe of Reuben twelve thousand; out of the tribe of Gad twelve thousand; out of the tribe of Asher twelve thousand; out of the tribe of Naphtali twelve thousand; out of the tribe of Manasseh twelve thousand; out of the tribe of Simeon twelve thousand; out of the tribe of Levi twelve thousand; out of the tribe of Issachar twelve thousand; out of the tribe of Zebulun twelve thousand; out of the tribe of Joseph twelve thousand; out of the tribe of Benjamin twelve thousand sealed” (Rev. 7:5–8, nwt). How more clearly could Israel be specified than by listing the twelve tribes making up that nation?
The Witnesses may respond by insisting that the references to 12,000 from each tribe are purely symbolic. But, if that is true, then the twelve symbolic numbers (12,000 + 12,000 + 12,000 + 12,000 + 12,000 + 12,000 + 12,000 + 12,000 + 12,000 + 12,000 + 12,000 + 12,000 = 144,000) must add up to a total that is also symbolic. Yet the Witnesses believe the 144,000 to be a literal number. So, again, their interpretation leads to a contradiction.
Revelation 7:9
After these things I saw, and, look! a great crowd, which no man was able to number, out of all nations and tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, dressed in white robes; and there were palm branches in their hands. (nwt)
The Watchtower Society teaches that in the year 1935 God stopped calling people to a heavenly hope in union with Christ. They say that in that year he began gathering a secondary class of believers, outside the body of Christ, whose hope would be to live forever on earth in the flesh. This class of people, they claim, is the “great crowd” of Revelation 7:9–17.
This is one of the most significant doctrines taught by the Watchtower Society. It forms the basis for convincing millions of Jehovah’s Witnesses that:
1. They cannot become members of the body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:27).
2. They cannot be “born again” (John 3:3)
3. They cannot share in Christ’s heavenly kingdom (2 Tim. 4:18).
4. They cannot receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12:13).
5. They are not entitled to share in the communion loaf and cup (1 Cor. 10:16–17).
6. They are not in the New Covenant mediated by Christ (Heb. 12:24).
7. They cannot be fully justified through faith in Jesus Christ (Rom. 3:26).
Thus, the Society uses this “1935 doctrine” to deprive its followers of the relationship with God outlined in the New Testament for all believers.
Where does the Bible teach that entrance to the Christian congregation would be closed in the year 1935, with a secondary “great crowd” being gathered after that? Nowhere! Watchtower leaders claim that “light flashed up”—that Watchtower president J. F. Rutherford received a special “revelation of divine truth”—to introduce this change in 1935. They can produce no scriptural support at all for the 1935 date. Instead of turning to the Bible, they say,
These flashes of prophetic light prepared the ground for the historic discourse on “The Great Multitude,” given May 31, 1935, by the president of the Watch Tower Society, J. F. Rutherford, at the Washington, D.C., convention of Jehovah’s Witnesses. What a revelation of divine truth that was! (The Watchtower, 3/1/85, p. 14, §12)
…the heavenly hope was held out, highlighted and stressed until about the year 1935. Then as “light flashed up” to reveal clearly the identity of the “great crowd” of Revelation 7:9, the emphasis began to be placed on the earthly hope (The Watchtower, 2/1/82, p. 28, §16).
There is no biblical basis whatsoever for this teaching. Scripture discusses in detail the Old Covenant for the Jews and the New Covenant for Christians. But it makes no mention of any third arrangement for gathering a “great crowd” with an earthly hope after the year 1935.
Moreover, the verses the Witnesses cite in Revelation actually locate the “great crowd” as “before the throne and before the Lamb” (7:9, nwt), “before the throne of God” (7:15, nwt) and “in his temple” (7:15, nwt)—all heavenly locations, rather than on earth as the Watchtower Society teaches.
In fact, the reference to “a great crowd … crying with a loud voice, saying: ‘Salvation we owe to our God … ’ ” (7:9–10) is quite similar to the wording of the only other mention of “a great crowd” in the Watchtower’s New World Translation of the Book of Revelation. This is in chapter 19, where the invitation to “Be praising our God, all you his slaves, who fear him, the small ones and the great” is responded to by “a voice of a great crowd” (19:5–6). Yet the Scripture specifically says that it is “a loud voice of a great crowd in heaven” (v. 1, italics added).
Once the Watchtower Society’s interpretation has been proved wrong, it is not necessary (or advisable) to get into a discussion with Jehovah’s Witnesses about the true identity of the “great crowd.” Rather, the fact that the Society has taught them wrongly on this important point should be used to open their ears to a presentation of the real gospel of Christ.
This may be introduced by reading Jesus’ prayer to the Father at John 17:20–24—“I make request, not concerning these only, but also concerning those putting faith in me through their word.… Father, as to what you have given me, I wish that, where I am, they also may be with me, in order to behold my glory … ” (nwt). Jesus’ prayer is that all of his present and future disciples would end up with him, where he is, to behold his glory. Show the Witnesses that the prayer applies to all future disciples who would put faith in Christ through the writings left behind by the early disciples (v. 20). Tell them that, if they will put faith in him, Jesus wants them to end up with him in the heavenly kingdom—regardless of whether they became believers before or after the year 1935.
See also the discussions of heaven versus earth at Psalms 37:9, 115:16, and John 10:16; the discussion of communion at Matthew 26:27; and an actual encounter with Jehovah’s Witnesses over this issue at Revelation 19:1.
Revelation 19:1
After these things I heard what was as a loud voice of a great crowd in heaven. (nwt)
Watchtower brainwashing is so powerful that those under its spell can look at black and see white—if the Society says that black is white. That this is no exaggeration was demonstrated in an encounter that I had with a Jehovah’s Witness lady who knocked at my door in the summer of 1983. (She did not realize that I was a former member. Otherwise, she would not have spoken a word to me.) The discussion went like this:
David Reed: “I’ve heard that you people believe that you are part of a ‘great crowd’ who will receive everlasting life on earth, instead of going to heaven. Is that true! Can you show me the ‘great crowd’ in the Bible?”
Mrs. Jehovah’s Witness: “Yes, that is what the Bible says. See, here it is at Revelation 7:9. [She reads the verse discussed above, at Rev. 7:9.] I hope to be part of that ‘great crowd’ that will live on earth forever.”
David Reed: “But Revelation 7:15 places the ‘great crowd’ before the throne of God in heaven, doesn’t it?”
Mrs. Jehovah’s Witness: “Well, the throne of God is in heaven, but the ‘great crowd’ is on the earth. All creation stands before the throne of God.”
David Reed: “I don’t think the verse would mention their location before the throne if it meant it in such a general sense. But there is one other place where Revelation talks about the ‘great crowd.’ Would you please read Revelation 19:1 in your own Bible to see where it locates the ‘great crowd’?”
Mrs. Jehovah’s Witness: “Certainly! It says, ‘After these things I heard what was as a loud voice of a great crowd in heaven.’ ”
David Reed: “A ‘great crowd’ where?”
Mrs. Jehovah’s Witness: “The ‘great crowd’ is on earth!”
David Reed: “Is that what the verse says? Read it again.”
Mrs. Jehovah’s Witness: “It says heaven, but the ‘great crowd’ is on earth.”
David Reed: “How can you say that the ‘great crowd’ is on earth, when the Bible plainly says ‘a great crowd in heaven’?”
Mrs. Jehovah’s Witness: “You don’t understand. We have men at our headquarters in Brooklyn, New York, who explain the Bible to us. And they can prove that the ‘great crowd’ is on earth; I just can’t explain it that well. Wait just a moment.”
At that point she ran out into the street and shouted to another Witness woman, who was a few houses away, to come help her. This woman recognized me as an ex-Witness, and that ended the conversation. But the point had already been illustrated: A JW can look at the word heaven in the Bible but see earth instead, if the organization says so.
As the two ladies walked away from my doorstep, my mind raced back to memories of George Orwell’s novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. I recalled the frightening portrayal of a totalitarian state where everyone knows that “Big Brother is watching you!”—and so, “Whatever the Party holds to be truth is truth,” and “Two plus two equals five, instead of four, if the Party says so.” Truly, the Watchtower Society imposes that same sort of “double-think” on Jehovah’s Witnesses.
(A number of other parallels between the JWs and the fictional society of Nineteen Eighty-Four are highlighted in Gary and Heather Botting’s book The Orwellian World of Jehovah’s Witnesses, 1984, University of Toronto Press).
For further information on the question of heaven versus earth, see the discussions of John 10:16 and Revelation 7:9. For other examples of brainwashing, see the discussions of Matthew 24:45; 1 Corinthians 1:10; and “The Author’s Testimony.”
