God has revealed that in the end there will be an earthly class and a heavenly class of believers. Only the anointed 144,000 of Revelation 7 and 14 will enter heaven, while the remainder who are not annihilated will live forever as a great crowd on earth in paradise. They will exist in peace as in the Garden of Eden, without aches, pains, disease, famine, violence, wrinkled skin, or gray hair.1 This is the plan God had intended for man before the fall, and he will restore this ideal state. Psalm 37 clearly teaches that the “evildoers themselves will be cut off, but those hoping in Jehovah are the ones that will possess the earth. . . . The righteous themselves will possess the earth, and they will reside forever upon it.”
Jesus reiterates this in his Sermon on the Mount, promising some that they will
“inherit the earth.” (Matt. 5:5)
Revelation 7 and 14 are the two passages most commonly used by the Watchtower to support its idea that heaven’s total occupancy will be 144,000. Here is what the passages say:
I saw four angels standing upon the four corners of the earth . . . and I saw another angel . . . saying: “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we have sealed the slaves of our God on their foreheads.” And I heard the number of those that were sealed, a hundred and forty-four thousand, sealed out of every tribe of the sons of Israel: Out of the tribe of Judah twelve thousand sealed; out of the tribe of Reuben twelve thousand. . . . 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. (Rev. 7:1–9)
And 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 . . . the hundred and forty four thousand who had been bought from the earth.
These are the ones that did not defile themselves with women; in fact, they are virgins . . . and no falsehood was found in their mouths. (Rev. 14:1–5)
What the Bible says here is not compatible with the Watchtower understanding of these passages: If Revelation 7 and 14 are to be taken literally, there would be 144,000 Jewish male virgins that were taken from a square-shaped earth and are now worshiping a lamb in heaven. This would mean that St. Peter (not a virgin), the Blessed Virgin Mary (not a male), and Charles Taze Russell (not a Jew) could not be in heaven. Reading one verse literally while taking the rest of the chapter symbolically—in this particular case the very next verses—is dangerous and faulty exegesis.
Like the rest of the details given about the group, the number 144,000 should not be taken literally. The number 144,000 is the square of twelve (the number of the tribes of
Israel), multiplied by a thousand, which is symbolic of the New Israel, the Church. The Witnesses retort that the number 144,000 cannot be symbolic, since a “great crowd” is mentioned afterward. From this, they conclude that “if the number 144,000 were not literal it would lack meaning as a contrast to the ‘great crowd.’”2
At this point, their argument turns against itself. Revelation 7 describes the 144,000 coming from the twelve tribes of Israel, and the great crowd as being from “all nations and tribes and peoples and tongues.” So if the number 144,000 must be literal to preserve the contrast from the great crowd, the twelve tribes must also be literal for the same reason. Thus, Witnesses who think they have “heavenly hope” must be from one with “eyes of faith.” Being before the throne is considered “an approved condition.” But Scripture could not be clearer: The “great crowd” is “in heaven” (Rev. 19:1), “in his interpretation. Under the leadership of Joseph Rutherford, the Watchtower held a conference in 1935 and decided authoritatively that the 144,000 would end up in heaven, while the rest of the saved would remain on earth.5 The “two-class” system became official teaching.
The Bible does speak of there being two classes—the saved and the damned. In the book of Revelation (21:27), one reads that all those with their names in the book of life are in heaven, while all whose names are not in the book of life are thrown into the “lake of fire and sulphur, where . . . they will be tormented day and night, forever and ever. . . . Furthermore, whoever was not found written in the book of life was hurled into the lake of fire” (20:10, 15). In seeing the holy city New Jerusalem (heaven), John notes that “anything not sacred and anyone that carries on a disgusting thing and a lie will in no way enter into it; only those written in the Lamb’s scroll of life [will]” (21:27). So if one’s name is in the book or scroll of life, one enters heaven. If it is not, the lake of fire awaits. There is no room for another class.
The Watchtower also teaches that only the 144,000 “anointed” are born again: “Born again means a birth-like realization of prospects and hopes for spirit life by resurrection to heaven.”6 This particular understanding of being “born again” is foreign to Scripture.
John writes, “Everyone believing that Jesus is the Christ has been born from God” (1
John 5:1).7 Jesus also said, “unless anyone is born from water and spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. . . . You people must be born again” (John 3:5–7; emphasis added). Jesus did not add, “But that only applies to 144,000 of you. The rest cannot enter into the kingdom of God.”
The conclusion is inescapable: If one is not born again, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. If one does not enter the kingdom of God, Scripture indicates, not that paradise awaits him, but rather the wailing and “grinding of teeth” reserved for the unrighteous (Matt. 8:11–12, 1 Cor. 6:9). The Bible is clear in that a person is either born again and thus enters the kingdom of God, or he is not born again and consequently is “thrown into the darkness outside” (Matt. 8:12).
Reiterating Christ’s teaching, Paul exhorts the Christian community to remember that
“our citizenship exists in the heavens” (Phil. 3:20). He mentions this fact again when addressing the Corinthians: “For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, should be dissolved, we are to have a building from God, a house . . . everlasting in the heavens”
(2 Cor. 5:1). Numerous other verses demonstrate that Christians go to heaven, including Hebrews 3:1; Ephesians 2:6; Colossians 1:4, 5; and 1 Peter 1:4. Witnesses often retort that Paul is speaking to the anointed class that has a heavenly hope, not to those with an earthly hope. But this is not supported by the text. Paul is emphatic in stating that just as there is one body, there is one hope to which all are called (Eph. 4:4). His letters were not written to a select few but to “all who everywhere are calling upon the name of the Lord, Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 1:2).
Regarding those who supposedly have only an earthly hope, the Watchtower attempts to use verses such as Psalm 37:29 as evidence that the just are to inherit the land forever, and it understands “land” to mean the earth. In context, this verse refers to inheriting the Promised Land as a sign of God’s blessing in the Old Testament. Hebrews 11:8–16 indicates that there is a homeland better than the Promised Land on earth, and this is the heavenly one for those who die in faith. Along these lines, the Old Testament patriarchs
“publicly declared that they were strangers and temporary residents in the land. . . . They are earnestly seeking a place of their own. . . . But now they are reaching out for a better [place], that is, one belonging to heaven. . . . God . . . has made a city ready for them.”
(Heb. 11:13–16)
These Old Testament men and women “did not get the [fulfillment of the] promise . . . as God foresaw something better for us.” (Heb. 11:39–40)
Perhaps unaware of the implications of its own statements, the Watchtower goes so far as to say about this passage, “Who are here meant by ‘us’? Hebrews 3:1 shows that they are ‘partakers of the heavenly calling.’”8 Even the NWT footnote makes clear that the
“city” in these verses is the heavenly Jerusalem mentioned in Hebrews 12:22 and Revelation 21:2.
Despite overwhelming biblical evidence, the Watchtower refuses to acknowledge that anyone who lived before Christ will ever enter heaven: “The Apostle Paul in the eleventh chapter of Hebrews names a long list of faithful men who died before the crucifixion of the Lord. . . . These can never be a part of the heavenly class. . . . [T]hey had no
heavenly hopes.”9 Thus, “the pre-Christian persons who had faith, then, must have a hope for the perfect life somewhere other than in heaven.”10 In light of the biblical evidence, it is impossible for any Witness to explain how one can be a partaker of the heavenly calling and have the heavenly Jerusalem prepared for him by God without the hope of ever going to heaven.
Is heaven really closed to those who lived before the death of Christ? Matthew 8:11–
12 counters such a theory, since Jesus proclaims that “many from eastern parts and argue that they cannot be in heaven, since the Watchtower teaches that these individuals have only the earthly hope. This is a clear example of Witnesses being compelled to choose between the authority of the Watchtower and that of Scripture, as one is certainly in error. Unfortunately, Witnesses will most often refuse to acknowledge the discrepancy, in spite of clear-cut biblical evidence.
Further, Matthew 5:5 says, “Happy are the mild-tempered ones, since they will inherit the earth.” Indeed the mild-tempered will inherit a new earth, just as the pure in heart will see God, the peaceable will be called sons of God, and the persecuted ones will possess the kingdom of the heavens. These blessings are all addressed to one and the same audience. Jesus was not implying that if a person is mild-tempered, he will live on earth forever, whereas the persecuted will reside in a different locale for all eternity.
When discussing the concepts of heaven, earth, and the 144,000 with a Witness, do not aim to show how all believers will be in heaven rather than on earth. Instead, acknowledge that the New Jerusalem will descend and heaven will be on the new earth.
There will indeed be a new heaven and a new earth, and the bride of Christ will be one flock. The earth as we know it will “wear out” (Is. 51:6) and “pass away” (Matt. 24:35), giving rise to a new heaven and a new earth (Rev. 21:1). Likewise, Peter makes no distinction between these two hopes but combines them as one new creation:
[T]he heavens being on fire will be dissolved and the elements being intensely hot will melt! But there are new heavens and a new earth that we are awaiting according to his promise, and in these righteousness is to dwell. Hence, beloved ones . . . you are awaiting these things. (2 Pet. 3:12–14)
The Witnesses often point out that God originally made man to live on earth, and they therefore ask, “Why would he do that if he intended for us to live in heaven?” The answer to this question is provided by John in Revelation 21:1–5, 7, 8:
And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the former heaven and the former earth had passed away, and the sea is no more. I saw also the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God and prepared as a bride adorned
for her husband. With that I heard a loud voice from the throne say: “Look! The tent of God is with mankind, and he will reside with them, and they will be his peoples. And God himself will be with them. And he will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be anymore. The former things have passed away.”
And the One seated on the throne said: “Look! I am making all things new.” . . . Anyone conquering will inherit these things, and I shall be his God and he will be my son. But as for the cowards and those without faith . . . their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulphur.”
What, then, is the proper understanding of these passages? The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains:
Sacred Scripture calls this mysterious renewal, which will transform humanity and the world, “new heavens and a new earth” [2 Pet. 3:13]. It will be the definitive realization of God’s plan to bring under a single head “all things in [Christ], things in heaven and things on earth” [Eph. 1:10].
In this new universe, the heavenly Jerusalem, God will have his dwelling among men. “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away” [Rev. 21:4].
The visible universe, then, is itself destined to be transformed, so that the world itself, restored to its original state, facing no further obstacles, should be at the service of the just, sharing their glorification in the risen Jesus Christ.12
God does plan on making all things new. Jehovah’s Witnesses do well in acknowledging that a new earth does play a role in the fulfillment of God’s creation—
renewing the universe. When speaking with them, affirm this truth and acknowledge that too many overlook it. They are not wrong in saying that many will live forever in paradise on earth. Where they fall into error is in saying that some of the saved will be only in heaven for all eternity and not on the new earth. Scripture indicates that the two will be one in God’s new creation. If anything, the Witnesses err in saying that too many stay in a separate heaven!
When discussing these points with Witnesses, remind them that they were created to see the face of God, as David was: “As the deer longs for streams of water, so my soul longs for you, O God. My being thirsts for God, the living God. When can I go and see the face of God?” (Ps. 42; NAB). The understanding of paradise that is communicated by the Watchtower, depicted in its literature by idyllic illustrations of people cuddling with lions and other animals, falls far short of what God has told us he has intended for us—
the glory of the Beatific Vision.