Bible Gem 2317 – Tackling Another Knotty Problem: Pure as Virgins (Revelation 14:4)

¹Then I saw the Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with him were 144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads. ²And I heard a sound from heaven like the roar of mighty ocean waves or the rolling of loud thunder. It was like the sound of many harpists playing together. ³This great choir sang a wonderful new song in front of the throne of God and before the four living beings and the twenty-four elders. No one could learn this song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth. ⁴They have kept themselves as pure as virgins, following the Lamb wherever he goes. They have been purchased from among the people on the earth as a special offering to God and to the Lamb. ⁵They have told no lies; they are without blame.

Revelation 14:1-5

Before we tackle the next knotty problem allow me to address again the interpretation of the 144,000 across Revelation 7 and 14 in the light of reader comments. Revelation 7 is clearly a vision of the 144,000 martyrs on earth while in Revelation 14 the 144,000 are in heaven. But the question is, are they the same group? Or do we have two different sets of 144,000 martyrs: one on earth and the other in heaven? Commentators are divided but I won’t bore you with a breakdown of who claims what. I believe both sets represent the perfection or completeness of the martyrs. Remember this is the same John writing Revelation as who penned John’s Gospel.

During my time here, I protected them by the power of the name you gave me. I guarded them so that not one was lost, except the one headed for destruction, as the Scriptures foretold.

John 17:12

I have written extensively on the significance of the 153 fish in John 21:11 and I have expounded on the 144,000 representing a similar concept of the perfection of the martyrs. I have also commented on the tribulation mentioned in Revelation 7:14 not being The Great Tribulation but rather great tribulation referring to the tribulation during the savagery under Roman rule in John’s time. I am convinced that both sets of 144,000 represent the perfection (none were lost) related to the martyrs: one group in a vision of the martyrs on earth and the other a vision of the martyrs in heaven. Both represent the total of martyrs in God’s eyes; dare we say again and none were lost. Hang on Ian, how can you claim “none were lost” when martyrs are indeed by definition, “lost“? No, I say in God’s eyes martyrs are not lost! Martyrs have already entered into the rest of the Life of the Age to Come. Yes I know, the image of them being under the altar in heaven is disturbing in the sense of literally being UNDER the altar. But I don’t think in heavenly terms they are squashed under a burning altar. I think it is more a matter of them protected in God’s Presence under the altar close to the Throne of God.

Now let’s deal with the next knotty problem. Some of you have already brought this up in your questions on the text before us. Namely: Revelation 14:1-5, before we even get to the rest of the chapter. Verse four contains a challenge to our understanding.

⁴They have kept themselves as pure as virgins, following the Lamb wherever he goes. They have been purchased from among the people on the earth as a special offering to God and to the Lamb. 

Here is the verse in the Literal Version laid out in Propositional Analysis.

Notice the three-fold use of the word [οὗτοι] referring to “these”! There are three relevant attributes of those who have been chosen as martyrs and are able to sing the song.

1. They are not defiled with women; they are virgins.
2. They are following the Lamb everywhere He goes (present indicative on-going tense).
3. They are firstfruits redeemed from mankind.

I believe the second and third attribute are clear to us but the first is problematic. How are we supposed to read and interpret the words ‘They are not defiled with women; they are virgins’? Interpreting this statement brings all sorts of questions to mind. What does “defiled with women” mean? Especially when set in apposition with “they are virgins” in order to further explain it. Below I have listed some of the explanations suggested by the commentators.

• Males who have never been married nor had intercourse.
• People who have never been married nor had intercourse.
• Must be taken literally – they have not had immoral relationships with women.
• Must be taken figuratively – they have not defiled themselves with pagan practices.
• Must be taken figuratively – they haven’t prostituted themselves by going after other gods.
• They haven’t worshipped Roman deities or been involved with temple prostitutes.
• They have been celibate and never married nor had a sexual relationship.

I have given you seven options here for you to ponder, seven alternatives for completeness, to cover all the options. Although I am sure, being as creative as you are, you can come up with other ways of putting it, especially in this modern, enlightened age of gender fluidity. I would encourage you to PAUSE at this point and consider what you think John is meaning by these words. Either he is using these words to explain what is meant or he is repeating what he heard and he saw.

• How are we supposed to think about this?
• How do you interpret these words?
• Bearing in mind the words used are strong words.

• molunō – means ‘to stain’, ‘to defile’, ‘to make impure’, ‘to make dirty or soil’.
• parthenoi – is indeed the word for literal ‘virgins’, or those who are pure and have not experienced sex.

My Interpretation

(Not to be read until you come up with your conclusion.)

I suspect John is using this statement in a very different way to what it appears. I have pondered for a number of days and the following verses came to mind.

So this is what the LORD says: “Has anyone ever heard of such a thing, even among the pagan nations? My virgin daughter Israel has done something terrible! Does the snow ever disappear from the mountaintops of Lebanon? Do the cold streams flowing from those distant mountains ever run dry? But my people are not so reliable, for they have deserted me; they burn incense to worthless idols. They have stumbled off the ancient highways and walk in muddy paths.

Jeremiah 18:13-15

I will rebuild you, my virgin Israel. You will again be happy and dance merrily with your tambourines.

Jeremiah 18:4

“Is not Israel still my son, my darling child?” says the LORD. “I often have to punish him, but I still love him. That’s why I long for him and surely will have mercy on him. Set up road signs; put up guideposts. Mark well the path by which you came. Come back again, my virgin Israel; return to your towns here. How long will you wander, my wayward daughter? For the LORD will cause something new to happen—Israel will embrace her God.”

Jeremiah 31:20-22

“The virgin Israel has fallen, never to rise again! She lies abandoned on the ground, with no one to help her up.” . . .   Now this is what the LORD says to the family of Israel: “Come back to me and live! Don’t worship at the pagan altars at Bethel; don’t go to the shrines at Gilgal or Beersheba. For the people of Gilgal will be dragged off into exile, and the people of Bethel will be reduced to nothing.”

Amos 5:2, 4-5

Do you see the use of God’s reference to virgin Israel is always in the context of the times when Israel rejected the LORD and embraced the worship of other gods and idols. The use of virgin Israel is ironic. On the contrary, Israel has lost her virginity as a nation. She has compromised her belief and trust in the one true God and gone off to prostitute herself with gods that are not gods at all. Isaiah too has much to say about this.

Surely the next passages which come to mind come from the prophet Hosea, whom God told to marry a prostitute. Then when she repented he took her back, only for her to do what she did naturally and return to her life of prostitution. God was giving Israel an acted prophecy through the example of Hosea who experienced God’s point of view while pointing out the nation’s sin. I have concluded that the use of virgin in this case is a parallel to the way the prophets used the word. God is pointedly confronting the people’s tendency to following after other gods. Not only the false gods in Roman times but the false gods who will be prominent at the end of the age. Every use of virgin in this context highlights the ultimate sin of turning to gods which are not God at all. Don’t reject the Only True God for gods which are nothing but inanimate objects with no power to save. It is the only use of “virgin” which makes sense in the overall context of Revelation.

After coming to this conclusion I read the statement from Gordon Fee’s commentary on Revelation, a commentator or exegete whom I greatly respect:

John here is using Holy War imagery pure and simple, while at the same time he is anticipating verse 8, where “fallen Rome” is pictured as being judged because she, Babylon the Great, “had made all the nations drink the maddening wine of her adulteries.” Crucial to this understanding are two combined phenomena from the Old Testament regarding Israel’s own “holy war”: that soldiers were forbidden sexual relations during times of war, and that idolatry is commonly denounced as a form of adultery. [KJV – going awhoring after other gods”] In such a context one can make perfect sense of the clause, these are those who did not defile themselves with women, for they remained virgins.

Gordon D Fee, Revelation p 192

We catch a glimpse of this principle in the account of David’s sin with Bathsheba and the setting of it at the time when kings go to war.

In the spring of the year, when kings normally go out to war, David sent Joab and the Israelite army to fight the Ammonites. They destroyed the Ammonite army and laid siege to the city of Rabbah. However, David stayed behind in Jerusalem.

2 Samuel 11:1

Hence the phrasing of this opening verse of the account of David’s sin. I am sure I don’t need to point out the extent of David’s sin with Bathsheba when it developed to the point he encouraged Uriah to go home and lay with his wife.

Uriah replied, “The Ark and the armies of Israel and Judah are living in tents, and Joab and my master’s men are camping in the open fields. How could I go home to wine and dine and sleep with my wife? I swear that I would never do such a thing.”

2 Samuel 11:11

Now you have the context which fully explains the extent of David’s sin and gives us the setting for the principle stated in Deuteronomy of abstaining from impurity in times of war. This understanding explains the use of John’s reference to keeping themselves pure as virgins in this instance.

Furthermore, notice how this section closes in verse 5.

They have told no lies; they are without blame.

Revelation 14:5

We will address this verse in the next Gem before we move on to tackle the rest of the chapter. I do wish to be thorough in my interpretation of the Scripture. God’s Word is worthy of sound exegesis and us not resorting to eisegesis. We must attempt to read in the context of God’s word and what was intended by the author rather than reading into it an interpretation the author never intended.

They could sing the song no one else could sing because they followed the Lamb everywhere He went.

Ian

They could sing the song no one else could sing because they were the first fruits of those redeemed from the dead.

Ian

They could sing the song no one else could sing because they had not worshipped other gods or idols.

Ian

Their ears heard what the Spirit was saying to the churches and had not succumbed to the devil’s deception.

Ian