This is the third video in our series in which we compare the message of the Good News that Jesus preached with what the publications of Jehovah’s Witnesses teach.
At the close of the last video, we saw that there remained three key terms that are critical to understand if we are going to get to the truth of our salvation hope. These are:
- Who comprise the little flock of Luke 12:32?
- Is the number of 144,000 depicted in Revelation 7:4 and 14:1 literal or symbolic?
- Who make up the great crowd of Revelation 7:9?
In this video, we’ll deal with the first two items.
Let’s begin with the first of these terms, “little flock”. Do you know that this term occurs only once in Scripture? We find it at Luke 12:32 which reads from the New World Translation:
“Have no fear, little flock, for your Father has approved of giving you the Kingdom.” (Luke 12:32)
Who is Jesus speaking to at this point? That’s easy to answer. The context of Luke chapter 12 shows Jesus is speaking to his devoted Jewish followers. These became anointed with holy spirit on Pentecost, ten days after Jesus went to heaven. But why does he call them a little flock? At the time Jesus spoke those words, his followers were few. In fact, following his resurrection, Jesus “appeared to more than 500 brothers at one time.” (1 Corinthians 15:6)
That is a very small number by comparison with the millions of Jews that were alive at that time. They were truly a little flock at that point. Jehovah’s Witness are taught that the anointed still constitute a little flock to this day, but does the Bible support that conclusion?
Isaiah was inspired to prophecy that “The little one will become a thousand And the small one a mighty nation. I myself, Jehovah, will speed it up in its own time.” (Isaiah 60:22)
Was Isaiah foretelling that the little flock Jesus spoke about was going to grow a thousandfold? Let’s not jump to any conclusions. Instead let us look for corroboration from elsewhere in Scripture.
It would appear that Jesus believed his little flock would grow into a mighty nation. The Jews were a mighty nation, and they were in a covenant relationship with Jehovah God at the time Jesus was preaching to them. Jehovah had made a pact with them that if they kept His laws, He would make them into “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” (Exodus 19:6)
But they failed to so because they rejected the Son of God which is why “Jesus said to them: “Did you never read in the Scriptures, ‘The stone that the builders rejected is the one that has become the chief cornerstone. From Jehovah this has come to be, and it is marvelous in our eyes’? This is why I say to you, The kingdom of God will be taken from you and be given to a nation producing its fruits.” (Matthew 21:42, 43)
The little flock of anointed children of God was destined to become a holy “nation producing its fruits.” The nation of Israel numbered in its millions at that point. Was this new nation to be limited to only 144,000? Or was that number symbolic? The Organization of Jehovah’s Witnesses preaches that the number is literal. This forces them to jump to many unsupported and illogical conclusions. This excerpt from a 1995 Watchtower article is a case study in eisegetical reasoning.
We are reading from the English issue of a February 15, 1995 Watchtower, on page 19 paragraphs 3 and 4, under the article title, “Have No Fear, Little Flock”
3 Who, then, make up this little flock having such a wonderful prospect? The followers of Jesus Christ who receive an anointing with holy spirit. (Acts 2:1-4) Seeing them as heavenly singers with harps in their hands, the apostle John wrote: “I saw, and, look! the Lamb standing upon the Mount Zion, and with him a hundred and forty-four thousand having his name and the name of his Father written on their foreheads. These are the ones that did not defile themselves with women; in fact, they are virgins. These are the ones that keep following the Lamb no matter where he goes. These were bought from among mankind as firstfruits to God and to the Lamb, and no falsehood was found in their mouths; they are without blemish.”—Revelation 14:1, 4, 5.
So far, so good. They’ve correctly identified the little flock. But why are they quoting from Revelation? Why the sudden jump? Wait and see. We continue now with paragraph 4:
4 …Today, only a remnant of them remain, serving together as the faithful and discreet slave class. (Matthew 24:45; Revelation 12:17) Since the year 1935 in particular, they have been joined by “other sheep,” Christians with an earthly hope, who now number into the millions. These assist in preaching the good news in all the earth.—John 10:16.
(w95 2/15 p. 19 pars. 3-4)
Wow! They start out correctly identifying the little flock as “the followers of Jesus Christ who receive an anointing with holy spirit”. But by the end of the next paragraph, we are told that their number is limited to only 144,000. Then we are told that they comprise a class called “the faithful and discreet slave”. Then, we are told that this little flock is joined by other Christians with an earthly hope called the other sheep.
Then, in paragraph 6 of the same article, we are told that “the other sheep in the time of the end were prophesied to grow to be “a great crowd, which no man was able to number, out of all nations and tribes and peoples and tongues.” Since 1935 the general gathering by Jehovah has been of this great crowd, whose hope is everlasting life on a paradise earth.—Revelation 7:9” (w95 2/15 pp. 19-20 par. 6)
I would recommend you pause the video at this point and look up all the scriptures that are placed in these paragraphs. They give the illusion that what is being taught here is totally in line with what the Bible teaches. Not so. Prove it for yourself. You will see that while those scriptures speak of a great crowd, a faithful and discreet slave, and 144,000, they do not support the connections and interpretations that this Watchtower article is making.
So, let’s find out what the Bible really teaches. First, is the number 144,000 literal or symbolic? If literal, that would that mean that the other things mentioned surrounding that number must also be literal, right? According to Revelation 14:4, 5 these literal 144,000 anointed Christians are only men, not women. These men are also all virgins, having not defiled themselves with women. I have a sneaky feeling that’s meant to be taken symbolically, wouldn’t you agree?
Given that, it seems likely that maybe the number 144,000 is meant symbolically as well. Even Jehovah’s Witnesses recognize this. For instance, their publication, “Insight on the Scriptures” states: “Twelve therefore seems to represent a complete, balanced, divinely constituted arrangement.” (it-2 p. 513)
But we are still guessing as to whether it is a literal number or a symbolic one. We need something more concrete than the probability that it is symbolic. And we have that in Paul’s letter to the Galatians where he reveals that the number of anointed children of God, that were just a little flock when Jesus preached, would become a great crowd that no one could number.
He writes: “it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the servant girl and one by the free woman; but the one by the servant girl was actually born through natural descent and the other by the free woman through a promise. These things may be taken as a symbolic drama; for these women mean two covenants, the one from Mount Sinai, which bears children for slavery and which is Hagar. Now Hagar means Sinai, a mountain in Arabia, and she corresponds with the Jerusalem today, for she is in slavery with her children. But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. (Galatians 4:21-26)
Paul knew, of course, that the Jews were descended from Sarah, not Hagar, but he is writing here in metaphor. Hagar was Sarah’s Egyptian maidservant—the slave girl. Because Sarah was barren, she gave Hagar to Abraham as a wife so that he could have a son, and the slave girl bore him Ishmael.
Through a miracle of God, Sarah gave birth to Isaac, and his descendants came into a covenant relationship with God to become a kingdom of priests. If they had kept that covenant, they would have ruled with Jesus in the Messianic Kingdom to restore all humankind back into the family of God. But they didn’t keep it and so belonged to the physical city of Jerusalem, being slaves of sin.
So, in this symbolic drama, Hagar the slave girl typified Jerusalem, and in a spiritual or symbolic sense, her children were the Israelites who rejected Jesus as the Messiah.
In contrast, the Jews and Gentiles who accepted Jesus and were anointed with holy spirit were free of sin. They belonged to the Jerusalem above. Now, this is evident from this passage of Scripture, but it is also the understanding of the Organization as we see in this except from the Insight book:
Yet the name Jerusalem continued to be used as symbolic of something greater than the earthly city. The apostle Paul, by divine inspiration, revealed that there is a “Jerusalem above,” which he speaks of as the “mother” of anointed Christians. (it-2 p. 49 Jerusalem)
Okay, now we come to the proof that the number, 144,000, must be symbolic.
“For it is written: “Be glad, you barren woman who does not give birth; break into joyful shouting, you woman who does not have birth pains; for the children of the desolate woman [That would be Sarah] are more numerous than those of her who has the husband.” Now you, brothers, are children of the promise the same as Isaac was.” (Galatians 4:27, 28)
The children of the desolate woman, Sarah, are anointed Christians. The children of the slave girl, Hagar, are the millions of Jews who rejected Jesus. All of this is supported by the publications of Jehovah’s Witnesses, so how is it that the leaders of the Organization overlooked the obvious contradiction this presents with their teaching that there can only be 144,000 anointed Christians? How can the children of Sarah, anointed Christians, be more numerous than the millions of Jews who were children of slavery if the number is limited to 144,000? The only way that makes sense is if we consider that 144,000 is a symbolic number.
And now we come to the great crowd of Revelation 7:9. The angel who reveals this crowd to John in vision tells him that “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation” (Revelation 7:14)
The Organization teaches that these are the other sheep who happen to be alive at the start of the Great Tribulation. According to the publications, Jehovah’s Witnesses who die prior to Armageddon will be resurrected, but they are not part of the great crowd. Only other sheep who are alive and survive Armageddon are part of the great crowd. The term or phrase “great crowd of other sheep” occurs over 300 times in Watch Tower publications. However, you will not find it in the Bible. It’s a JW word concoction designed to promote a false relationship between the other sheep of John 10:16 and the great crowd of Revelation 7:9. If we are going to properly identify who make up the great crowd, we must also understand what the great tribulation is. So our next video will examine what the great tribulation really is so that we can identify who the great crowd really are.
So, now we have the topic for part 4 of this series. Thank you for watching and for your ongoing support.