The Dispensationalist 144,000: All Jewish Male Virgins?
In Revelation 7: 4-8 John lists the tribes of Israel and says that 12,000 of the 144,000 come from each tribe. The dispensationalist teaching that these are all male Jewish virgins comes from Revelation 14: 4, "These are they which were not defiled with women, for they are virgins."
The 144,000, however, are not ethnic Israel.. They are Israel reborn in Jesus Christ (John 3: 3-5) That the 144,000 are of Israel reborn in Christ is consistent with what the New Testament teaches. In view of what is taught in the New Testament about the identity of Israel reborn in Christ, it does not matter whether any particular member of the 144,000 began life as a Jew or as a Gentile. It does matter whether a member of the 144,000 is in false doctrines, or under the spirit of Anti-Christ (I John 2: 18-19). This means that a former Jew can become a member of the 144,000, but is one who has come out of all loyalty to the Old Covenant and to Talmudic Judaism.
"They which were not defiled with women, for they are virgins" would imply that having sex with a woman who is one's wife defiles a man, which contradicts Matthew 19: 5-6, and I Corinthians 7: 2-5. Both texts give permission to have sex in a marriage relationship and so a man having sex with his wife does not defile him. Something else is being said in Revelation 14: 4. It is a metaphoric statement. Revelation 17: 1-5 describes, in metaphoric form, a woman who represents false religion. The 144,000 are not all men and are not defiled by being a part of false religion, that is, being in false doctrines taught by men and not by Scripture. The consistent literalist system of Bible interpretation has led dispensationalists to be unable to understand what is being said about the 144,000.
Dispensationalism has been called by other names, such as Scofieldism, Separation Theology, Christian Zionism and the Rapture Cult.
Look at Scripture which indicates that ethnic Israel was translated or reborn in Jesus Christ, to become the Body of Christ, which is still Israel, "mine inheritance."
Lets look first at Isaiah 25: 19, "Whom the LORD of hosts shall bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel mine inheritance.
Then Galatians 3: 28-29 says
"There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. 29. And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." Paul is saying that gentiles can be Abraham's seed, though not of the flesh.
So, Israel reborn in Christ, as the Body of Christ, is still Israel, mine inheritance, as God says in Isaiah 25: 19
Insisting that Jews who are not born again in Christ are still God's inheritance is going back to the doctrine of the Pharisees.
In John 8: 33 when Jesus was talking with the Pharisees, they told him "We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?"
Again in John 8: 39 the Pharisees said " Abraham is our father.. " Jesus said to them, "If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham."
Christ knew they were the physical seed of Abraham, but here he is saying they are not Abraham's spiritual seed. They must be born again in Christ to become the spiritual seed of Abraham.
Saying that being the physical seed of Abraham qualifies one as being God's inheritance as Israel at a time after the Cross and after the Day of Pentecost, is the doctrine of the pharisees and is false.
Lets go back to my quotes in my initial posting from classical dispensationalists saying that God has two different people, the Jews and the Church, with whom he deals in different ways.
Christ in John 10: 16 says "And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd."
He says clearly that there shall be one fold of his people, not two.
John 1: 11 says "He came unto his own, and his own received him not." As a consequence, Matthew 8: 11-12 says "And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
Paul in Ephesians 2: 13-15 says "But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;
Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;"
Christ broke down the wall separating believing Jews from believing Gentiles, and made them one. They are not two different groups under Christ.
"So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another" (Romans 12: 5).
" For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread" (I Corinthians 10: 17).
"There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus." Galatians 3: 28)
"There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;" (Ephesians 4: 4)
Paul was careful to tell his congregations that Jewish and Gentile Christians were of one body and not two separate groups. This concern of Paul came partly out of the problem he faced of Judaizers telling his Gentile Christians that they must follow the ceremonial law of Moses to be saved, that is. they were trying to mix the Old and New Covenants together into a false religion.
Dispensationalists came along in the 19th century and made use of the translation of the Greek word ekklesia, which means a popular meeting, a congregation, Jewish Synagogue or Christian community. or a calling, out as Strong's Number 1577. In fact, Acts 7: 38 refers to the Hebrew community of the time of Moses as the "church in the wilderness."
Its interesting that the William Tyndale translation of 1525 does not
translate ekklesia as church, but as congregation. He translates ekklesia as congregation in a great many verses. For example, Tyndale for Matthew 16: 18 has "And I saye also vnto the yt thou arte Peter: and apon this rocke I
wyll bylde my congregacion. And the gates of hell shall not prevayle ageynst it." The King James and most more recent translations have church.
Why then did the classical dispensationalists teach that God has two distinctly different groups, Jews and the Church?
"Fearless" Dave MacPhearson did extensive studies on the origin of the rapture theory and of dispensationalism. His best known book on this topic is The Rapture Plot. He also wrote The Incredible Cover-Up and The Great Rapture Hoax. His work throws some light on why John Darby and his associates, who created dispensationalism, made a radical separation between the Jews and the Church.
On MacPhearson see http://www.raptureready.com/who/Dave_MacPherson.html
John Darby (1800-1882) started from the idea that the dispensation of law ended at the cross when the dispensation of grace began. But then when the seven year dispensationalist tribulation period begins, another dispensation of law begins - so proposed Darby. Darby's claim that during the tribulation another dispensation of law begins is the first and original problem with the theology called dispensationalism. This creates the problem of the Dispensationalist "Church" being around during the dispensation of law that comes back in when the tribulation begins. How would the Church return to the dispensation of law?
The solution was that Darby postulated that before the events of the tribulation began and the one man dispensationalist Anti-Christ appeared, the Church would be raptured off the earth. With the Church gone, God would then turn to deal with the Jews during the tribulation. This point of Darby's theory may be the origin of the claim that the Book of Revelation is only for the Jews, since only they of God's people will be on earth in the tribulation.
If the Church is raptured off the earth, leaving the Jews, what happens to the few Jews who have accepted Christ? Darby and later dispensationalists do not seem to deal with Messianic Jews, or with the vast majority of Jews who have rejected Christ entirely.
Darby proposed a radical separation between the Church and the Jews, and apparently then said that
when a Jew comes to believe in Christ he becomes part of the Church and is no longer part of Israel.
Of course, the messianic Jews would tend to reject this idea, wanting to be followers of Messiah and still be part of Israel.
The rapture theory and some of the ideas which went into dispensationalism go back to the 1830's. But there is some evidence that later on members of the Zionist movement helped to spread dispensationalism, especially in the United States. Certainly dispensationalism as the most popular theology in American evangelical churches has encouraged Christians to donate money to the cause of the nation of Israel, and to support efforts by the government to protect Israel in military, economic and political ways.
For example, Samuel Untermeyer,
who later became chairman of the American Jewish Committee, and president
of the American League of Jewish Patriots. is said to have helped C.I Scofield, the first
major American dispensationalists. This is from the site:
The following is from:
http://www.geocities.com/pvrosman/Dispensationalism_CIScofield_Pope_Of
_Premillenialism.html
"Untermeyer introduced Scofield to numerous Zionist and socialist
leaders, including Samuel Gompers, Fiorello LaGuardia, Abraham Straus,
Bernard Baruch and Jacob Schiff. These were the people who financed
Scofield's research trips to Oxford and arranged the publication and
distribution of his concordance."
Scofield passed the promotion of dispensationalism on to Lewis Sperry Chafer
who founded the Dallas Theological Seminary.
The Niagara Bible Conferences held from 1876 to 1897 were important for the very early
spreading of dispensationalism into American churches in the late 19th century.
See also:
http://poweredbychrist.homestead.com/files/history/Timeline.htm
http://www.defconamerica.org/meet-the-religious-right/tim-lahaye-end-
times-theology.html
In Revelation 7: 4-8 John lists the tribes of Israel and says that 12,000 of the 144,000 come from each tribe. The dispensationalist teaching that these are all male Jewish virgins comes from Revelation 14: 4, "These are they which were not defiled with women, for they are virgins."
The 144,000, however, are not ethnic Israel.. They are Israel reborn in Jesus Christ (John 3: 3-5) That the 144,000 are of Israel reborn in Christ is consistent with what the New Testament teaches. In view of what is taught in the New Testament about the identity of Israel reborn in Christ, it does not matter whether any particular member of the 144,000 began life as a Jew or as a Gentile. It does matter whether a member of the 144,000 is in false doctrines, or under the spirit of Anti-Christ (I John 2: 18-19). This means that a former Jew can become a member of the 144,000, but is one who has come out of all loyalty to the Old Covenant and to Talmudic Judaism.
"They which were not defiled with women, for they are virgins" would imply that having sex with a woman who is one's wife defiles a man, which contradicts Matthew 19: 5-6, and I Corinthians 7: 2-5. Both texts give permission to have sex in a marriage relationship and so a man having sex with his wife does not defile him. Something else is being said in Revelation 14: 4. It is a metaphoric statement. Revelation 17: 1-5 describes, in metaphoric form, a woman who represents false religion. The 144,000 are not all men and are not defiled by being a part of false religion, that is, being in false doctrines taught by men and not by Scripture. The consistent literalist system of Bible interpretation has led dispensationalists to be unable to understand what is being said about the 144,000.
Dispensationalism has been called by other names, such as Scofieldism, Separation Theology, Christian Zionism and the Rapture Cult.
Look at Scripture which indicates that ethnic Israel was translated or reborn in Jesus Christ, to become the Body of Christ, which is still Israel, "mine inheritance."
Lets look first at Isaiah 25: 19, "Whom the LORD of hosts shall bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel mine inheritance.
Then Galatians 3: 28-29 says
"There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. 29. And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." Paul is saying that gentiles can be Abraham's seed, though not of the flesh.
So, Israel reborn in Christ, as the Body of Christ, is still Israel, mine inheritance, as God says in Isaiah 25: 19
Insisting that Jews who are not born again in Christ are still God's inheritance is going back to the doctrine of the Pharisees.
In John 8: 33 when Jesus was talking with the Pharisees, they told him "We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?"
Again in John 8: 39 the Pharisees said " Abraham is our father.. " Jesus said to them, "If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham."
Christ knew they were the physical seed of Abraham, but here he is saying they are not Abraham's spiritual seed. They must be born again in Christ to become the spiritual seed of Abraham.
Saying that being the physical seed of Abraham qualifies one as being God's inheritance as Israel at a time after the Cross and after the Day of Pentecost, is the doctrine of the pharisees and is false.
Lets go back to my quotes in my initial posting from classical dispensationalists saying that God has two different people, the Jews and the Church, with whom he deals in different ways.
Christ in John 10: 16 says "And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd."
He says clearly that there shall be one fold of his people, not two.
John 1: 11 says "He came unto his own, and his own received him not." As a consequence, Matthew 8: 11-12 says "And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
Paul in Ephesians 2: 13-15 says "But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;
Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;"
Christ broke down the wall separating believing Jews from believing Gentiles, and made them one. They are not two different groups under Christ.
"So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another" (Romans 12: 5).
" For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread" (I Corinthians 10: 17).
"There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus." Galatians 3: 28)
"There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;" (Ephesians 4: 4)
Paul was careful to tell his congregations that Jewish and Gentile Christians were of one body and not two separate groups. This concern of Paul came partly out of the problem he faced of Judaizers telling his Gentile Christians that they must follow the ceremonial law of Moses to be saved, that is. they were trying to mix the Old and New Covenants together into a false religion.
Dispensationalists came along in the 19th century and made use of the translation of the Greek word ekklesia, which means a popular meeting, a congregation, Jewish Synagogue or Christian community. or a calling, out as Strong's Number 1577. In fact, Acts 7: 38 refers to the Hebrew community of the time of Moses as the "church in the wilderness."
Its interesting that the William Tyndale translation of 1525 does not
translate ekklesia as church, but as congregation. He translates ekklesia as congregation in a great many verses. For example, Tyndale for Matthew 16: 18 has "And I saye also vnto the yt thou arte Peter: and apon this rocke I
wyll bylde my congregacion. And the gates of hell shall not prevayle ageynst it." The King James and most more recent translations have church.
Why then did the classical dispensationalists teach that God has two distinctly different groups, Jews and the Church?
"Fearless" Dave MacPhearson did extensive studies on the origin of the rapture theory and of dispensationalism. His best known book on this topic is The Rapture Plot. He also wrote The Incredible Cover-Up and The Great Rapture Hoax. His work throws some light on why John Darby and his associates, who created dispensationalism, made a radical separation between the Jews and the Church.
On MacPhearson see http://www.raptureready.com/who/Dave_MacPherson.html
John Darby (1800-1882) started from the idea that the dispensation of law ended at the cross when the dispensation of grace began. But then when the seven year dispensationalist tribulation period begins, another dispensation of law begins - so proposed Darby. Darby's claim that during the tribulation another dispensation of law begins is the first and original problem with the theology called dispensationalism. This creates the problem of the Dispensationalist "Church" being around during the dispensation of law that comes back in when the tribulation begins. How would the Church return to the dispensation of law?
The solution was that Darby postulated that before the events of the tribulation began and the one man dispensationalist Anti-Christ appeared, the Church would be raptured off the earth. With the Church gone, God would then turn to deal with the Jews during the tribulation. This point of Darby's theory may be the origin of the claim that the Book of Revelation is only for the Jews, since only they of God's people will be on earth in the tribulation.
If the Church is raptured off the earth, leaving the Jews, what happens to the few Jews who have accepted Christ? Darby and later dispensationalists do not seem to deal with Messianic Jews, or with the vast majority of Jews who have rejected Christ entirely.
Darby proposed a radical separation between the Church and the Jews, and apparently then said that
when a Jew comes to believe in Christ he becomes part of the Church and is no longer part of Israel.
Of course, the messianic Jews would tend to reject this idea, wanting to be followers of Messiah and still be part of Israel.
The rapture theory and some of the ideas which went into dispensationalism go back to the 1830's. But there is some evidence that later on members of the Zionist movement helped to spread dispensationalism, especially in the United States. Certainly dispensationalism as the most popular theology in American evangelical churches has encouraged Christians to donate money to the cause of the nation of Israel, and to support efforts by the government to protect Israel in military, economic and political ways.
For example, Samuel Untermeyer,
who later became chairman of the American Jewish Committee, and president
of the American League of Jewish Patriots. is said to have helped C.I Scofield, the first
major American dispensationalists. This is from the site:
The following is from:
http://www.geocities.com/pvrosman/Dispensationalism_CIScofield_Pope_Of
_Premillenialism.html
"Untermeyer introduced Scofield to numerous Zionist and socialist
leaders, including Samuel Gompers, Fiorello LaGuardia, Abraham Straus,
Bernard Baruch and Jacob Schiff. These were the people who financed
Scofield's research trips to Oxford and arranged the publication and
distribution of his concordance."
Scofield passed the promotion of dispensationalism on to Lewis Sperry Chafer
who founded the Dallas Theological Seminary.
The Niagara Bible Conferences held from 1876 to 1897 were important for the very early
spreading of dispensationalism into American churches in the late 19th century.
See also:
http://poweredbychrist.homestead.com/files/history/Timeline.htm
http://www.defconamerica.org/meet-the-religious-right/tim-lahaye-end-
times-theology.html
