Q: I disagree with your claim that the 144,000 of Revelation is a literal number. You must admit that the book of Revelation was written in symbolic language and therefore we should not take the 144,000 to be literal. And contrary to what you say, the great crowd is not on earth but in heaven because it clearly states that they are standing before the throne of God, which is in heaven. It makes sense to believe that God would choose the figurative 144,000 from among the great crowd since they are both in heaven. . .
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A: You are right when you say that the book of Revelation was presented to John “in signs.” (Rev. 1:1) But not everything that is recorded in Revelation is necessarily symbolic, or figurative. For example, the seven letters addressed to the Seven Congregations is not presented by Jesus in symbolic terms, but are plainly written to be clearly understood, for repentance was necessary for five of the congregations. (Rev. 2:1-3:22)

You don’t specify whether you believe that the great crowd is in heaven before or after the great tribulation, but I assume that you understand it to be after, for the Scripture says that the great crowd comes “out of the great tribulation,” which indicates that they are present at that time in order to survive the destruction that comes upon the entire inhabited earth. (Rev. 7:14; 19:17-21; Matt. 24:21,22)

There are two problems with what you are presenting. First, the 144,000 cannot be chosen from among the great crowd of tribulation survivors because the account in Revelation tells us that “the four winds of the earth,” that result in the great tribulation when unleashed, are held back until after the 144,000 are sealed. Obviously, by the time that you believe the great crowd to appear in heaven the entire 144,000 had already been chosen and sealed. (Rev. 7:1-4) Also, it doesn’t say that all of the hundred and forty-four thousand are sealed at that time. It is only "the remaining ones" of the 144,000 who need to be sealed, because the choosing of the first ones of these started back in the first century with the twelve apostles and 108 other disciples, when the holy spirit was poured out upon them at Pentecost, at which time the sealing began. (Acts 1:15; 2:1-4; compare 2 Cor. 1:21,22; Eph. 1:13; Rev. 12:17) The final ones are sealed (and the sealing is thus concluded) immediately before the great tribulation begins, for then there is no longer any reason for God to postpone his day of anger. (Hab. 3:12,13; Zeph. 1:14-18; 2:2,3)
 
That brings me to my second point. Since the great tribulation cannot start until the full number of the 144,000 has been sealed, it means that the 144,000 is a definite, fixed number, and not simply symbolic. The total number of those who will rule with Christ, 144,000, was foreordained by God "before the founding of the world," everyone of them having been chosen by God himself. These ones make up the bride of Christ. For that reason, the wedding cannot commence until all 144,000 individuals have been sealed as belonging to God, and are present! (Eph. 1:3-5; 1 Thess. 4:15-17; Rev. 14:1, 3; 19:7)

Let me ask you, though: Why do you believe the 144,000 to be symbolic while at the same time you interpret the great crowd as literally standing before the throne of God in heaven? If you think the one is symbolic, why not also the other, since, as you pointed out, "the book of Revelation was written in symbolic language"? Does standing before the throne of God mean that a person has to be actually in heaven, literally in the presence of God? What do other Scriptures indicate? All of God’s people, the entire nation of Israel, was standing before God—whose throne is in the heavens—when they entered into the covenant at Mount Sinai, with Moses as their mediator. Moses wrote: “You are standing today all of you before the Lord your God (you are standing today in the presence of the Lord your God — NIV): the heads of your tribes, your elders, and your officers, all the men of Israel, your little ones, your wives, and the sojourner who is in your camp, from the one who chops your wood to the one who draws your water, so that you may enter into the sworn covenant of the Lord your God, which the Lord your God is making with you today." (Deut. 29:10-13, ESV; Psalms 11:4; 103:19; Isaiah 66:1) For the great crowd of tribulation survivors to stand before the throne of God does not place them in heaven anymore than was the case with the great crowd of over three million Israelites at Mount Sinai.

Perhaps you have in mind Revelation chapter 19 (verses 1 and 6-8), which speaks of a "great crowd in heaven," which jubilantly praises God at the time his kingdom is established, and the marriage of the Lamb has arrived. But that great crowd is the same one that the prophet Daniel saw in vision around the throne of God at the time when the Son of man receives the kingdom, along with the holy ones who also receive the kingdom. This particular great crowd refers to the holy angels who number "thousand thousands" and "ten thousand times ten thousand." (Dan. 7:9-14, 18, 22, 27) The apostle John likewise saw and heard in his Revelation this same great crowd, "a voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders, and the number of them was myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice: 'The Lamb that was slaughtered is worthy to receive the power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing.'" Truly a great crowd in heaven praising God, but not the one that comes out of the great tribulation! (Matt. 19:27,28; 25:31-33; Rev. 5:9-11; 11:15-18; 20:6) 

 

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