Correct. Keep up the good work!
After
these things I looked, and behold, a
great multitude, which no one could count, from every nation and all
tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb,
clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands... Revelation 7:9
(NAS)
Two ways to describe the same group?
Following Jesus' death on the cross, we are under
the New Covenant of Christ. There is no longer
any distinction or wall of separation between Jewish
and Gentile followers of Christ. The followers
of Christ (whether Jew or Gentile in the past) are
now one
body of Christ;
one
household of God. For more information refer
back to the scriptures on the subject of
Spiritual
Israel.
If the reference in the Revelation to the
"sons of Israel" represents both Jews and
Gentiles who are "in Christ" (having been
"clothed with Christ"), then the figurative
amount for the sons of Israel in the first part of
the chapter may be just another way of describing
this great multitude in the second part of the
chapter:
To illustrate this thought, we look at Psalm
50:10:
"For
every beast of the forest is Mine, the cattle on
a thousand hills. Psalm 50:10 (NAS)
In the second part of the verse it says that
the cattle on a thousand hills belong to God
(the figurative number 1000 is used to represent
all). The first part of the verse says
that every beast of the forest belongs to God (a
literal amount of "all"). If you
read the entire Psalm 50, you'll see that the
point is that everything belongs to God.
"The cattle on a thousand hills" is just
another way of describing the same concept of
"Every beast of the forest."
Perhaps "the 144,000 of the sons of Israel"
is just another way of describing the same group;
the "great multitude which no one could
count...clothed in white robes."
John does
not say that he sees the first group and then
sees the second group. Instead John says that
he hears
the number of those sealed...and then
sees
the great multitude.
Or, two different groups of the bond-servants of
God and Christ?
What if the 144,000 and the great multitude are
really two groups instead of just one? In
any event, it would appear that
all
bond-servants would receive the seal of God on their
foreheads given the introduction to this chapter:
"Do
not harm the earth or the sea or the trees,
until we
have sealed the bond-servants of our God
on their foreheads."
The
Great Multitude described in greater detail:
John says that there was a great multitude, more than anyone could number,
that were standing before the throne and the Lamb. Who is this great multitude from every nation and all tribes and people and
tongues (or languages)?
"And one of the elders answered, saying to me, "These who are clothed in
the white robes, who are they, and from where have they come?" And I said
to him, "My lord, you know." And he said to me, "These are the ones who come out
of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white
in the blood of the Lamb." Revelation 7:13-14 (NAS)
What does it mean to "wash their robes in the blood of the Lamb?"
Click here for
more information.
If you were a Christian and a descendant from one of the tribes of
Israel...or if you were a Christian from any of the tribes, nations, peoples,
etc. of the earth...and you were suffering great persecution...what effect would
it have on you to know that the "ones who come out of the great
tribulation...and have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb...these will
stand before the throne and the Lamb?"
Click on the next question to continue...
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