The 144,000 and the Great Multitude

A thought-provoking subject of conversation is always found in the topic of the "end times" - when will Christ return, what happens to the church with respect to the rapture, the tribulation, the millennium, and is there any distinction between Israel and the church? So many little subtopics in this one, controversial subject - I do not have time to address each and every one. But I would like to put a thought in your head concerning the supposed distinction between the 144,000 (the tribes of the sons of Israel) and the great multitude that no one could number from Revelation 7.

Many have probably heard this as a distinction between the tribes of Israel and the Gentile church. And then later, they would say that the tribes of Israel would reclaim the promised land, while the Gentile church is raptured up to heaven before the tribulation. Here is why I do not think that this is the case.

Christ explicitly tells the disciples in Mark 13:24 that believers would suffer, and only after that suffering had taken place would they see the Son of Man coming with the clouds of heaven to gather up his elect from the ends of the earth (Mark 13:26-27). The context of gathering up the elect from the ends of the earth should point us to the interpretation of all believers - not just Gentile or Jew specifically, but the universal church holistically.

But more importantly, back to Revelation 7 where this supposed distinction can now be reconciled. First, John says that an angel declared with a loud voice that no eternal judgment (not to be mistaken with suffering in the world) would occur until the servants of God had been sealed (Revelation 7:3). These next two parts are very important - then, John hears the "number of the sealed, 144,000, sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel" (Rev. 7:4). After the hearing with the ears now comes the seeing with the eyes - John looks and sees "a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes, and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb..." (Rev. 7:9). What I am saying is that the number of the elect that John hears is the very same as what he gazes upon a verse later. The Old Testament list of the sons of the tribes of Israel is the same as the great multitude - the New Testament fulfillment of the true Israel of God, the blessed Church.

There is another example in Revelation of this hearing and seeing phenomenon experienced by John. To reinforce my argument, I will discuss it as well. In Revelation 5:5, John first hears the title of "the Lion of the tribe of Judah", but when he looks to the throne, he sees "a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain..." (Rev. 5:6). So the title of the one whom John hears is the exact same person he looks upon - Jesus Christ, the Lion and the Lamb. The dichotomy again has to do with an Old Testament title and the New Testament fulfillment.

SDG

The Enmity between the Woman's Seed and the Serpent's Seed

The coming of Christ's kingdom into this world can best be described from the perspectives of already and not yet - the kingdom of Christ is already present in grace, but not yet consummated in glory. This is sometimes referred to as the church militant and the church triumphant, respectively. The church militant is living in the midst of this present evil age - just like the wheat that grows alongside the weeds in Jesus' parable, so the church continues to reside in tension with the rest of the world until Christ comes back with power and in glory.

The "tension" is first mentioned in the serpent's curse in Genesis 3, where God declares to the satanic snake, "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring" (v. 15a). This is a prophecy foretelling the future struggle between the children of the serpent and the offspring associated with the one who will "crush the serpent's skull" - a broader description of the strife that would continually escalate throughout history between the Lord's saints and the rest of creation still under Satan's sway.

This struggle is teased out again and again throughout Scripture - the warring between the surrounding pagan nations and the people of Israel as they march in to occupy Canaan, the battle between David and Goliath (a wonderful typological portrayal of Christ's ultimate victory over Satan), the disciples casting out demons and healing the sick during the ministry of Jesus, and even the continual persecution of the church around the world, all the way up to the present day. Even John in his revelation tells of that ancient serpent of old who has now grown to the scale of a "dragon" becoming furious with the "woman" (this time, not just Eve in particular, but with Israel symbolically) and proceeds to make war with the rest of her offspring (all those keeping God's commands and confessing Jesus as Lord, Revelation 12:17). The enmity between the woman's seed and the serpent's seed is a reality that cannot be denied.

And unlike those who believe in some Utopian Christian age when there will be no persecution of the saints or antagonism towards the gospel, or those who believe in a pretribulational rapture where the saints conveniently miss all trials and suffering, this enmity will continue between the seed of the woman and the seed of Satan until Christ comes - when he will come with the clouds of heaven to separate the weeds from the wheat (Mark 13:24-27). So here is the summons - Christian, the fight is inevitable and long-lasting, and you must persevere to the end. But Christ assures us that while we will experience tribulation in the midst of this present evil age, we should take heart, for he has overcome the world (John 16:33).