Virgins? All unmarried?
Sexual purity is the first thing they are known for. The word virgin in the original language of this passage is parthenos. Parthenos is used 14 times in the NT. The context behind 12 of the 14 clearly means young, unmarried women who have never had intercourse. Once it is used in speaking of the church as a virgin bride of Christ. Then there is Revelation 14:4 where from context John clearly is not referring to women. The other meaning for this word does address men and in some manner it means one who has never had intercourse, but it also means those who have not committed adultery or fornication.
Hopefully we can set aside any entangling from that and consider what is being said regarding these men. They lived the way they knew was right. There is not a lot of earth-shattering material to that. God made the world and he wanted people to populate it. He tied pleasure to populating the world, but gave his plan for that pleasure. Those who follow the Dragon follow their own plan. Those who follow God follow his commands they were pure in their bodies.
Just Jews?
A final issue I see in the 144,000 discussion is whether or not it was merely Jews or whether Gentiles, too, were are part of the group? Maybe, like the discussion on women, a Jewish cadre made up the primary representatives, but in such a way as to not erase the value of Gentiles.
As of August of 2017 I think my interpretation of the 144,000 is that the these were sexually pure, married or unmarried Jewish men. That being said I think that the group demarcated in Revelation 7 was but the face of a much larger group that included non-Jews and women. I think that in the name of Christian unity Philippians 3 needs to be engaged here: “15 …And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. 16 Only let us live up to what we have already attained.” (Philippians 3:15b-16–NIV)
Following the lamb is not just about chastity
John first saw the Lamb, Jesus, standing on Mount Zion and gathered to him were those who had received his mark. The Lamb did not seem to remain standing in one place, like a statue or something, but moved around. These details become entirely speculative, but John said the 144,000 were those who followed the Lamb wherever he went. They were physically pure, chaste, and spiritually pure, following.
Leave a Reply