My Dear Shepherds,

Numbers aren’t the point; we know that. But if there’s ever a Sunday when we hope for a good turnout, it’s Easter. So we roll out our best music and sermon, the egg hunt for kids, maybe some special advertising. One big church in our neighborhood plans a whole extra service. Small churches would be thrilled if just one new neighborhood family showed up.

For us, it really isn’t just about numbers. We want to proclaim our hope of life in Christ to as many people as possible. So after everyone has gone home to their Easter ham, who can blame us for taking stock?

The first resurrection congregation started small and quickly spread. “After that, [Jesus] appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time.” So we’ve not been the only ones counting. But then, a short while after Pentecost, the New Testament counting stops. That is, until our risen and reigning Christ pulled back the curtain of time and John “heard the number of those who were sealed: 144,000 from all the tribes of Israel” (Rev. 7:4).

It’s a tantalizing metric, this encoded census of the kingdom. Now, in our churches, ushers discretely count every head and record each Sunday’s attendance. But taken literally, what John heard was a striking underestimate. Taken symbolically, it was the full and final tally of “the servants of God” (12,000 times 12, which is also 12 x 12 x 1000). Twelve is biblical code for ‘complete’ and one thousand also signifies ‘totality’ or ‘complete’ (the way we generalize by saying something is a thousand times bigger than we had imagined).

And how can those long-lost tribes of Israel be there? The LORD told his Messiah,

It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth. (Is. 49:6)

So I’m persuaded that this final national census of God’s chosen people represents all of us, Jews and Gentiles, all believers sealed by the Holy Spirit. (If this interpretation makes you twitchy, next week will be better.)

Remember those Old Testament genealogies, those interminable lists of baffling names like Meshullam or Shelomith? Lo and behold, those are our people, our family tree! Run those begats out into the future far enough and you’ll come to our names and the names of those saints we serve here and now.

Of course, despite these divine calculations, none of us are mere numbers. No one is issued a SSN. The Good Shepherd “calls his own sheep by name and leads them out” (John 10:3). Our names are recorded in the Book of Life.

The nation of God appears again later:

Then I looked, and there before me was the Lamb, standing on Mount Zion, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads . . .. And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders. No one could learn the song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth. (Rev. 14:1,3)

Counting becomes dangerous when it becomes our metric of success, strength, or God’s favor. Remember David’s ill-fated census. What matters is that our people have a new song to sing, that they’ve been redeemed, that they’re no longer in bed with the world, and that “they follow the Lamb wherever he goes.” That’s where we come in. That’s what counts.

Be ye glad!

Lee Eclov recently retired after 40 years of local pastoral ministry and now focuses on ministry among pastors. He writes a weekly devotional for preachers on Preaching Today.