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PATHWAY OF LIGHT STUDY COURSE
by R. W. Young
“But the path of the just is as a shining
light that shines more and more unto the perfect day.” (Prov. 4:18)
“Blessed is he that reads, and they
that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein:
for the time is at hand.” Rev 1:3
Study 14, Chapter 12
In the previous lesson we considered
the unfolding of events leading up to the Day of Yahweh as seen under the
opening of the first 6 seals of the scroll that appears to be the title deed to
this earth. The opening of the last, or
7th seal, will be seen in chapter 8.
We now come to the 7th chapter of Revelation, which is a parenthetical
chapter telling us of the sealing of Yahweh’s servants before the earth
experiences that time called “the Great Tribulation” and “the Time of Jacob’s
Trouble” the events of which begin to be seen with the opening of the 7th seal.
VERSES 1-3
And
after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth,
holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the
earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree.
And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the
living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was
given to hurt the earth and the sea,
Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have
sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.
Here we see the four winds of the earth that bring the
Great Tribulation are ready to blow upon the earth. But before they are
released Yahweh first seals His servants in their foreheads. This brings to memory two things. One is how Yahweh protected His people when
He sent the plagues upon Egypt, including protecting the first born of all who
believed His word and, therefore, put
the blood of the slain lamb on their doors before Yahweh passed over Egypt to
destroy all the first born.
The other
thing it brings to mind is how He protected His in the time of the prophet
Ezekiel. Yahweh said, “Cause them that have charge over the city
[Jerusalem]
to draw near, even every man with his destroying weapon in his hand”. But before He actually told them to, “Slay
utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and women”, Yahweh told
another angel to, “Go through the midst of the city … and set a mark upon the
foreheads of the men the sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be
done in the midst thereof.” Then, He
told the destroying messengers to not come near any man upon whom the mark was
set. (We read this interesting account
in Ezekiel chapter 9.)
So it is that, even though they will
often experience much trouble and persecution in this world, in times of direct
judgment Yahweh always protects His own servants. Thus in this chapter in Revelation we will see that just before
He unleashes the winds of the Great
Tribulation on the earth, just as He did in Ezekiel’s time, Yahweh will set a mark upon the foreheads of
His true servants. In this case the
mark is called, “the seal of the living God”.
As we will see later on, when we
come to the 14th chapter of Revelation, this seal is His name. In fact, we will see that not only those
sealed at the time we read of in this part of the 7th chapter, but all His servants, will have His
name in their foreheads for all eternity.
This is in keeping with Yahshua’s promise to overcomer: “I will write
upon him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God”. (Rev 3:12)
How wonderful it is to know that
Yahweh protects His own servants whenever He sends actual judgment upon the
earth. We are told in Proverbs 22:3
that, “A prudent man foresees the evil, and hides himself: but the
simple pass on, and are punished.” The
prudent man will store up and otherwise prepare ahead for the evil times or
trouble that he sees is coming. It is good to prepare for troublesome times
when you see them coming. However, more
important than anything else is the preparation of walking with Yahweh in
obedience to His commands while trusting in Him to be our ultimate protector
and provider, for He indeed cares for His won.
VERSES 4-8
And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were
sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes
of the children of Israel. Of the tribe of Judah were sealed twelve
thousand. Of the tribe of Reuben were sealed twelve thousand. Of the
tribe of Gad were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Asher were
sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Nepthalim were sealed twelve
thousand. Of the tribe of Manasseh were sealed twelve thousand. Of
the tribe of Simeon were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Levi were
sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Issachar were sealed twelve
thousand. Of the tribe of Zebulon were sealed twelve thousand. Of
the tribe of Joseph were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of
Benjamin were sealed twelve thousand.
There has been much speculation as
to who the 144,000 are. There are
those who teach that these are men born Jewish who will evangelize the world
after the “church” is taken up to meet Yahshua when He comes immediately before
the Great Tribulation as invisible to the rest of the world. I have shown before that this idea of a
pre-tribulation rapture at some kind of secrete coming of Yahshua is not in line
with the facts of the scripture, but is built upon mere suppositions being read
into the scripture.
There are others, such as the
“Jehovah’s Witnesses”, who say 144,000 are some special class of leaders who
make up that literal number and that they are the only ones that will go to
heaven while the rest of the “Witnesses” remain on earth after the none
“Jehovah Witnesses” are destroyed. I
know of no scriptures used by them to actually prove this. It is just an arbitrary interpretation.
Who, then, are the 144,000? We cannot say with complete
definitiveness, but by comparing scripture with scripture, I believe we can be
reasonably sure who they are.
Keeping in mind, first of all, that
the book of Revelation is highly symbolical in its meaning, we can get a pretty
good idea of who the 144,000 are, or what they represent. First, we note that they are seen not in
heaven, but upon the earth just before the “four angles, to whom it was given
to hurt the earth and the sea” are allowed to do so.
We see them again in Revelation
chapter 14. At this time they are seen standing with the Lamb on Mt.
Zion. Mt Zion is, of course,
Jerusalem, or in Jerusalem. Hebrews 12 indicates
that Mt. Zion also stands for the “Church” and the New Jerusalem, which are the
same according to Rev chapter 21. Since
the Greek kai, generally translated as “and”, often also carries the meaning of
“even”, Hebrews 12:22-23 can be read we, “are come unto mount, even unto
the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable
company of angels, to the general assembly and congregation of the first
born ….”
As previously noted, certainly the
New Jerusalem is seen in Rev 21 to represent the Congregation, “the Bride, the
Lamb’s wife”. (Rev 21:9) She is seen with 12 gates each of which has
on it the name of one of the 12 tribes of Israel. (Rev 21:12) This indicates clearly that those who make
up the Congregation are what Paul calls “the Israel of Yahweh” (Gal. 6:16). They are the true Israel as one new man (Eph
2:15) made up of those who are by natural birth either Jew or Gentile, but who
in Messiah are “neither Jew nor Gentile” ( “Jew nor Greek”- Eph 3:28), but are
the new creation (2 Cor 5:17) just as the Jerusalem seen in Revelation
is the New Jerusalem. So, the
Bride of Messiah – “the Church” – in Rev 21 is seen to be made up of the 12
tribes of Israel as the true Israel of Yahweh.
In chapter 14 The 144,000 are
described further as those who “follow the Lamb where so ever He goes.” This certainly describes true believers in
the Messiah as the true Congregation, for to be a disciple of Yahshua nothing we
must follow Him. They are also
described there as “redeemed from among men - the first fruits unto Yahweh and
to the Lamb”. This is certainly a fit
description of the true Congregation.
(1 Pet 1:18; James 1:18)
All of these things taken together
seem to clearly identify the 144,000 – twelve 12,000 from each tribe – as the
Congregation on earth. It is the
Congregation that will exit just before the Great Tribulation being sealed to protect it from the plagues
that will occur at that time. You
might well call it the “Church” militant.
In any case, it is a representation of the Great Tribulation
Congregation of Yahweh – the Congregation of Yahshua.
Why it is typified as being 144,000? Will
there literally be 144,000 – as 12,000 from each tribe? Not likely.
More likely is that this number is also figurative.
There were 12 original patriarchs from Seth to Noah and his
family. And there were twelve from Shem
to Jacob. Also, there were
12 patriarchs as the sons of Jacob (Israel) whose descendents made up the 12
twelve tribes of the nation of Israel. There were twelve original apostles who
were told that they would sit on twelve thrones ruling the twelve tribes of
Israel. Someone also noted that, “The
sun which ‘rules’ the day, and the moon and stars which ‘govern’ the night, do
so by their passage through the twelve signs of the Zodiac which completes the
great circle of the heavens of 360 (12 x 30) degrees or divisions, and thus
govern the year.” In any case, 12 is a perfect number and it is the commonly
accepted view among those who study the symbolism of numbers in the Bible that
12 represents perfect government or ruler-ship.
Why exactly 12,000 from each tribe
is not entirely clear. But that it
symbolizes government is fairly certain.
But since the Congregation of Yahshua is to rule or govern all nations
along with King Yahshua, and since it is pictured in Rev 21 as having 12 gates
each of which has a name of one of the 12 tribes it is not surprising that the
number 12 is prominently used here. Perhaps the figure 144,000 is used to
emphasize the fullness and completeness of the true Congregation. 144,000 is the perfect number 12 multiplied
by the perfect number 12, thus, designating completeness, and then, multiplied
by 1000 to give it magnitude. (It is interesting that the number 144,000 is
also significant in some New Age religious movements.)
What the exact significance of the
number 144,000 is cannot be said. Yet
the explanations given above of 12 being a perfect number representative of
Yahweh’s government, and this number being multiplied by 12 since that
government is made up from the twelve tribes of Israel (which the Congregation
is represented as) and then that being multiplied by 1000 (which is a number
used in places to indicate magnitude) seems to me to be the best
explanation. What is rather clear is
that this 144,000 in chapter 7, and further described in chapter 14, are the
redeemed from the earth and are those who make up the New Jerusalem or Bride of
the Lamb, His Congregation, as it will exist on earth during the Great
Tribulation period.
One final note on this section is
that the tribe of Dan and Ephraim are not included in the 144,000. The Ephraim’s father’s name - “Joseph” - is
found in place of his name. Why Dan is
not included is not clear. Some ancient
commentators theorized that it was because the Anti-Christ would come out of
Dan. Another, more likely, reason is
because Dan was one of the first of the tribes to go into idolatry and was
small in number, and may have combined with Naphtali. That Dan is not mentioned is clear, but the why is not. So we best just note the omission and leave
it at that.
VERSES
9-17 After this I beheld, and,
lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds,
and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed
with white robes, and palms in their hands; And cried with a loud voice,
saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.
And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the
elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped
Yahweh, saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honor,
and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen. And
one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in
white robes? and whence came they? 14 And
I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which
came out of the great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them
white in the blood of the Lamb. 15 Therefore
are they before the throne of Yahweh, and serve him day and night in his
temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. 16 They shall hunger no more,
neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. 17 For the Lamb which is in the
midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains
of waters: and Yahweh shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.
Here we see what at first appears to
be another, different group of people.
However, on closer examination we may conclude that they are not an
entirely different group, but rather a different representation of the same
group. Let’s consider the matter of who
they are.
Reading this section of scripture
does not give the impression that this group is symbolical, as those in the
section just preceding this seem to be.
They are described as “a great multitude, which no man could number, of
all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues.” Therefore, they would include some from both the many Gentile
nations as well as some from the nation of Israel. They also came out of the Great Tribulation. (The KJV mistakenly leaves out the definite
article “the”.)
In reviewing the matter of the 144,000 from the section just before this, we clearly indentified them with the Congregation. We saw that the Bride the Lamb’s wife (which is the Congregation and is called “the Israel of Yahweh” in Gal 6:16”) is seen to have the names of the twelve tribes of Israel when represented as the New Jerusalem, just as the 144,000 do as seen in the first part of this chapter. We also saw that the 144,000 have His name (“the seal of the Living God”) on their foreheads. The 144,000 are called “the servants of our God” (in verse 3). They are spoken of as “redeemed from the earth -the first fruits to Yahweh and the Lamb”, and as following the Lamb where ever He goes. Taken together, and individually, these things clearly identify them as being Yahshua’s
Congregation. Yet they seem to be the Congregation symbolized. They are spoken of by a number that
symbolizes government.
That the 144,000 will be in the
Great Tribulation is clear from the fact that they are sealed before the winds
of trouble are permitted to blow. Also
we read in chapter 9:4 of a command given during that time to hurt, “only those
men which have not the seal of Yahweh in their forehead”, showing that the ones
thus sealed are still here during this tribulation plague, but protected from
it. So, I repeat that, the 144,000 clearly
seems clearly to represent the Congregation as she exists on earth during the
Great Tribulation.
When we come to consider this great
multitude we see they are not here seen to be in the earth during the
tribulation, but are seen in Yahweh’s presence. They are “before the throne of
Yahweh, and serve Him day and night in His temple.” They are called those “which came out of the Great Tribulation
and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the
Lamb.” This, of course, identifies them
as also being the Congregation.
Furthermore, they are His servants just as the 144,000 are. When we come to chapter 22 we will see that
as His servants they have the same seal in their foreheads as was said to be
put upon the foreheads of the 144,000.
Considering these things, I believe
there is much reason to believe they and the 144,000 are the same group. The
144,000 are clearly those who follow Yahshua during
the
Great Tribulation. They are clearly His
Congregation as it exists on earth during that time, but are represented in
symbolism as 12,000 out of each of the 12 twelve tribes of Israel. The great multitude is also His
Congregation, but now glorified. It is
now spoken of in literal terms, being His Congregation after it comes out of
the Great Tribulation. So, it is my
conclusion that, since both groups are
clearly Yahshua’s Congregation,
the first section of this chapter is merely representing Yahshua’s Congregation
symbolically as she is seen on earth during that time of great trouble and the
other is representing her in literal terms as she is seen after having come out
of that time of trouble.
I know that those who teach the
false theory of pre-tribulation rapture say the 144,000 in this chapter are
144,000 Jewish evangelists that go forth to preach the gospel during the Great
Tribulation, after the “Church” has been taken out. They, then, apparently do wonders in bringing to salvation a
great multitude which no man can number, even after (what they consider) the
restraining power of the Holy Spirit in the “Church” has been taken out. Under that theory the 144,000 are 12,000
literal natural born Jews out of each of the twelve tribes. Their great evangelistic work, under that
theory, accounts for the great multitude saved during the great tribulation.
The problems with this are
manifold. First, the pre-tribulation
rapture theory is plainly false.
Second, the scriptures indicate that once Yahshua returns, the door is
closed, as, for instance, in the parable of the ten virgins and their
lamps. Also, since they teach that the
Holy Spirit in the “Church” is the power that now restrains, or keeps back the
appearance of the man of sin (the beast of Revelation 13), it makes no sense
that after the “Church”, and, thereby, this restraining power is removed there
would be so much power that during the
short period called the Great Tribulation a great multitude that no man could
number would be saved.
If most people reject Messiah now while
there is still no beast power commanding their death if they do not take his
mark (which we will read about later), how is it that so many who did not
accept Him prior to that time will get saved after the Holy Spirit in the
Congregation is taken out? The Bible even
says that when the man of sin appears Yahweh will send strong delusion to those
who had not a love of the truth that they might believe a lie. How then will they end up becoming saved.
No, even though it would give a
nice, fanciful interpretation to this whole chapter, there is absolutely no
real scriptural evidence for the theory held by the pre-tribulation rapture
teachers, but clear evidence against it.
So, again I affirm that both these groups seen in Revelation 7 are the
same entity.
In the first case we have the
Congregation on earth before she enters the Great Tribulation. There, as being the Israel of Yahweh, she is
identified as such. And as being here
portrayed as such, as His people a kingly, priestly nation, she is symbolized
by the number of 144,000, thereby, portraying her in her governing role, even
as later on in Revelation she is seen as the New Jerusalem, the city that will
rule the entire earth, and seen with the twelve names of the twelve tribes of
Israel on her gates.
In the last case we have the same
entity – the Congregation – seen literally as the great multitude that no man
could number. But now she is no longer existing
on earth before the Great Tribulation, but now in the presence of Yahweh after that
time of trouble and great testing is over.
So, I repeat, it is two
representations of the same Congregation, one in symbolical representation on
earth before the Great Tribulation, and the other in literal representation
after the Great Tribulation, thereby, showing two different phases of her
existence. This we conclude especially
by the fact that both groups have various identifying features that are true
only of the true Congregation of Yahshua.