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Rhymed Repetition There are parallel visions in Revelation 7, the 144,000 (Rev. 7:4-8) and the "multitude which no man could number" (Rev. 7:9). They are the same people. Rhymed repetition is a favorite device among poets to achieve emphasis. The art of rhyme is to nearly but not quite duplicate sound. The near-identity of sound provides emphasis; the slight difference in sound heightens awareness of meaning. The rhyming of sounds is a commonplace in poetry. Hebrew poets (who are the ones St. John grew up with) rhymed not sounds but meanings. They put alongside one another not attention-getting sounds but awareness-evoking meanings. The sentence in Psalm 34:3 is typical:
There are three rhymed meanings: 1. Exalt / Magnify 2. The Lord / His Name 3. With Me / Together St. John does this too, but he rhymes visions, as, for instance, in Revelation 7: two parallel pictures, like enough to provide emphasis by repetition, different enough to tease the mind into active participation. He is providing us a picture of what happens to persons who live by faith in a world noisy with evil. St. John hears the number of the sealed 144,000. When he looks he sees a multitude that no man can number. Sound is "rhymed" with sight. People who live by faith in Jesus Christ are protectively sealed against evil by the Spirit. St. John hears God's declaration of the total number-absolutely complete, not a single one missing, the all-inclusive 144,000 (12 squared, then multiplied). When he himself looks, he sees that this definite total known to God is a numberless multitude beyond calculation from any human point of view. Similarly, these people are all Israel, that is, God's people from his standpoint, from our standpoint, they come from "every nation under heaven. (1) In relation to this, the "other sheep," of John chapter 10, were clearly the Gentiles and not men who are void of God. The "great crowd," of Revelation chapter 7, are nothing more than another description of, the same as, the figurative 144,000, but restated in a more descriptive way to another imaginative sense as a "great crowd." (Romans 8) Truth reveals that all of humanity fall in being the "Israel" of God, as each and every one of us live a life of "struggle" and "wrestling" with our egos and Spirit of God that lives within each one of us. The name Israel that was originally given to Jacob means "to struggle." And this struggle is precisely what the entire realm of humanity does as they wrestle in various stages of spirituality. For this we call can say we all are part of Israel, for all of us have God both within us and around us, permeating life into every living thing. Literal verses Symbolic If "everyone" or all those "believing in Christ" are, to enter into the "kingdom of the heavens," then what about the 144,000 mentioned in Revelation 7:1-8 ?
Does this number of 144,000 apply to a literal number of persons who are "sealed" out of "every tribe of the Israel? Is the nation of Israel listed in the subsequent verses, apply to the literal nation of Israel?. This must be read with the context to come up with an answer, contemplating and asking ourselves: Are the "four angels" literal? Are the "four corners of the earth" literal ? Is the action of the "wind might blow" a literal action? Are the "slaves" that are "sealed of our God in their foreheads" represent a literal seal on their literal foreheads? Revelation is written in symbols, applying to our senses of touch, taste,
sight and sound. Where some applications are literal, it is only a guess, as the book of Revelation is written
in signs and mostly symbolic. This would lead us up to the "144,000 who are sealed of our God in their foreheads."
The context shows this number is symbolic, just as the seals in their foreheads are. Next the 12 tribes of Israel
are mentioned and again it shows to be symbolic, for two of the tribes listed, Joseph and Levi, were not part of
the original physical 12 tribes of Israel. As the Watchtower Society and some others teach that the 144,000 are
a literal number, while the 12 tribes listed are symbolic are both inconsistent and unreliable in theology, second
guessing to conform to slant to organizational dogma. To follow consistency in scripture when interpretation, either
both the 144,000 and the 12 tribes are literal or they are both symbolic. According the the previous and subsequent
verses, it shows that this number and the tribes listed are both symbolic as most of the book of Revelation is,
a book retelling the entire scriptures using imagination and poetry to bring us in the experience that pen and
paper descriptive historical accounts can not do.
Notice that this "great crowd" is "standing before the
throne," the same place the 144,000 are standing in Revelation 14:3, "And they are singing as if a new
song before the throne
and before the four living creatures and the elders, and no one was able to master the song but the 144,000, who
have been bought from the earth." The same identical Greek words are used both verses. enopeeon and thronos. If the "great crowd" in Revelation 7:9-17 are said to be "in sight
of the throne" and are not said where their actual location is, then why are they interpreted to be on the
earth when the same expression "in sight of the throne" is used to describe the 144,000 in Revelation
14:1-5 which shows their location to be in heaven? As shown below in Strong's Concordance, one of the meanings
of enopion is: "
to be directly in the occupied place, in that place which is before," as noted in definition 1a. Strong's Number: 1799 ("BEFORE")
However, there is much more to this. For the "great crowd" in
Revelation chapter 7 are described as being in the temple in verse 15. This is important, for the Greek word used
here in naos. There
are two Greek words used to describe the temple, naos and herion. Herion
is used to describe the entire temple, while naos is used to describe the "divine habitation" or the sanctuary with the "holy"
and "most holy" areas only. Here, in the "holy," only the priests were allowed to enter and
in the "most holy" only the high priest was allowed to enter. No Non-Israelites could ever enter the
temple, including any foreigners and alien residents who resided in Israel.
The Watchtower Society further tries to get out of this situation, by describing the "great crowd" of Revelation chapter 7 to be in the earthly court yard of the temple, where Gentiles and outsiders were supposedly allowed to enter. And since the "great crowd" are not spiritual Israelites, they would only be allowed to enter into this courtyard, which the Watchtower Society interprets to be the earth. Yet the scriptures clearly show in Revelation 11:2 "the courtyard that is outside the temple (naos)" was to be "cast clear out to the nations...because it has been given to the nations and they will trample the holy city underfoot for forty-two months" This courtyard was rejected by God, given to the nations to trample on, not to the "great crowd" of faithful worshipers of God and Christ. The nations would be in opposition to God and would trample on this "courtyard that is outside the temple" for "forty two months" or as shown in Luke 21:24: .".. and Jerusalem will be trampled on by the nations, until the appointed times of the nations are fulfilled." There is much more that can be said in detail on this subject of the "great crowd" of Revelation chapter 7, and can be found in the booklet entitled "Where Is The Great Crowd Serving God ?" written by the former secretary to the Governing Body, Jon Mitchell. |
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