Shabbat shalom kol beit Yisra'el and Mishpachah, welcome back to the 30th part our study of the Book of Revelation as we work our way through the Seven Seals and to Part B of the first Interlude that's sandwiched between the 6th and 7th seals.

Last week we were introduced to the 144,000 special witnesses for the first time. Thus far who they are is a bit of a mystery but we're getting a fuller picture the more we talk about them. We're told they consist of 12,000 each of the all the 12 tribes of Israel which as yet have not been separated out even if individuals are discovering which tribe they belong to by descent or by ingrafting. Opinions as to who they are range far and wide, even amongst those who claim to be 'Spirit-filled' yet whatever it is that fills them does not seem to bring any kind of unity on the matter, which to me is always a red flag. What we are mostly all agreed on is that they are "sealed", which is an interesting choice of words because, like a 'sealed' envelope of today, anciently seals were a sticky wax whose purpose was to keep important documents secure against prying eyes. A person who is 'sealed', like a document, is supposed to be hidden from the public eye. When I was young you could open a sealed envelope (which in those days were all licked to make them sticky) by steaming them open with boiling water from a kettle, and if you were good at it, you could then reseal it without anyone being the wiser. I confess to having done so myself once as a boy because I wanted to see what my school report said before my parents did so I could soften the blow for myself in case I had done badly!

In the days when wax seals were used, you could tell if the seal had been broken since it would have been stamped by the one who had sealed it up. My father used to wear a signet ring with our family coat of arms on it which he had obtained, presumably, from his father, and all the way back many generations. Though to my knowledge he never used it for its original purpose, and was now purely decorative, it held a certain mystique for me. I'm not sure what happened to it, sadly. Now anciently an expert could undo such a seal and then redo it undetected which would involve partially melting the wax before parting the document, not an easy business, as molten red wax can be messy to handle. The only people who used such seals in my day were lawyers and makers of treaties, a tradition, I suspect, long since gone. So the seal had the purpose of temporarily rendering a document unreadable until it was broken by the recipient but it also carried the insignia or the signature of the one sealing it up, a kind of identification mark.

The same imagery is used as a mataphor in the Song of Solomon where the Shunamite, whose love for Solomon is burning bright, pleads:

"Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm; for love is as strong as death..." (SS 8:6, NIV)

You see, a seal back then was as precious and sacred as its owner and as personal as their name. When a man marries a woman by entering into a life-long covenant, he gives her his name; and a good name, which is a man's sound character, is precious above the value of rubies. The Shunamite woman is asking here to be sealed as his wife but in the man's heart and in his arm or hand, in other words, by his actions. He seals her to himself by a covenant of the heart, and she is called by his name (Is.4:1). An honourable person guards his name which is his character and reputation, placing great value in maintaining his integrity, and that honourable, righteous, spiritual women find attractive. It is what draws them.

Similar things were going on here last week in Revelation 7:1-8. Sadly, an honourable name and integrity mean little these days and man in general is as casual and insincere with his promises, vows, covenants and confidences as the wicked have been in every generation. Honourable men are a dying breed.

There is a reason this scroll has been sealed and has remained unopened for so long. When I was young, instead of writing your name on the inside cover of a book that you owned, you would glue in what was called a 'plate', a rectangular piece of gummed paper with a family crest or some other distinguishing illustration printed on it along with your name - or a space to fill in your name by hand - something that's not done any longer. It acted as a kind of seal to indicate who the owner of the book was. Typically, in Latin, the words, Ex Libris would be included, meaning, 'From the Labrrary of'.

Likewise, Yahweh is the owner of the contents of the Book of Revelation, placing His seal on seven parts of it, each to be opened at the right time when He gives the word. In marriage (as in friendships and legal business relationships), confidences are expected to be maintained unless, or until, the husband (or friend, or business partner) gives permission for them to be unsealed for certain people to 'read', as it were, or for the confidence to be made more widely known [1]. We find an example of this in the Torah where a husband gives permission to the cohen (priest) to test her for suspected unfaithfulness. Confidentiality is sacred, though most seem not to think so any more or are terrorised into breaching it by some threat or violence or ungodly use of the law of the land. Here, in Revelation 7, certain knowledge is guarded so that neither malakim (angels) nor men may know about them until the appointed time. Yahweh, as Head and Supreme Authority over Creation, has the right to do that; and in excercising that right, He is by definition maintaining His righteousness.

Even the Son of Man, Yah'shua (Jesus Christ), does not know the hour of His return to earth, even though he is Elohim (God)! That information only the Father knows and is withheld for a loving purpose. If He can accept the exersise of that kind of authority, we can, and ought, to do the same both with Him and those authorities placed over us. Thus Solomon would say:

"It is the glory of God to conceal a matter;
to search out a matter is the glory of kings.
As the heavens are high and the earth is deep,
so the hearts of kings are unsearchable" (Prov.25:2-3, NIV)

The 'special treatment' here, in Revelation, is the plan of humanity's rescue from bondage. In the same way that the children of Israel were spared an attack of the malak (angel) of death in Exodus 12 by putting the blood of the Passover Lamb on the doorposts of their homes, and just as those who were marked on the forehead in Ezekiel's day were spared the wrath of the invader sent by Yahweh the punish His rebellious people (Ezek.9), so the 144,000 are to be spared the suffering which will come upon the whole world in the last of the last days when evil is allowed to do its worst. This means they will not be killed in the violent judgment of the idolaters.

May I be permitted to here point out something highly relevent and personal? If Yahweh allows evil to fall upon you for no deserving reason that you can think of, do not simply mark it down to His unscrutible will (as a Calvinist might because it is allegedly 'for his glory') but consider the very real possibility that it could be to test you, or test the one doing evil to you, or test both of you. For Job, it was simultaneously a test of his faithfulness and a means of exposing Satan in the bigger cosmic drama. The issue was one of integrity, that 'thing' the world despises so angrily which Yahweh and His faithful avadim (servants) love so passionately. Sometimes, because we are able (remembering Yahweh never asks us to endure more than we are able), by an evil person being given free reign in a righteous one, it is not only that all are permitted to exercise agency, which is the sole means by which genuine love may be manifested and perfected (but which nonetheless has an expensive price tag on it) but, as I have mentioned before in this series, it is the final means by which the wicked are brought to judgment. The hope, of course, is that the one whose evil is being given free reign, will come to his senses before he crosses that final line of no return, repent, be forgiven, and be restored to fellowship, friendship or marriage. That is how it works down here. The formula may be disagreeable and sometimes downright unacceptable, but I assure you that kind of agency, which allows for evil, it the only way that love can grow and mature too. We will understand both the bigger picture as well as our own individual circumstances one day, but not necessarily now. I'll not pretend any of this is easy, because it isn't, but it is absolutely worth it in the long run, and we are all supposed to be players for the long-term and not just the short. And I say that as one of those who have lost spouses, children and dear friends to unfaithfulness or tragedy.

Now I have said a number of times there is considerable disagreement as to who the 144,000 are. There are many who believe they are identical to "great multitude" or 'uncountable crowd' of believers which we're going to read of again in a minute, or at the very elast are an equal part of it. In other words, they would say, the 144,000 are of equal status to the rest of the 'great multitate' who happen to have been chosen for a special mission and are being especially marked or preserved solely so they can carry out that mission. And as I pointed out last week, many believe the 144,000 are all modern-day Jews and the rest are all Gentiles, an error I hope we put to rest to your satisfaction. Others, like us, do not believe the 144,000 are from a single ethnicity, but simply anyone from any race who acknlowledges Yah'shua (Jesus) as Master or Lord. So for both groups of Bible students, the 12,000 from each of the 12 tribes is somehow just 'symbolic' even though there are 12 gates named after the 12 tribes in the New Jerusalem whose foundations have the names of the 12 apostles written on them. And the original 12 apostles (minus Judas, plus Mathias or Paul) are both real and, according to Scripture, have a future rôle to play.

If I seem to be labouring these points a second time it's because we must understand who the 144,000 are if we are to properly understand our own rôles in the days ahead. You see, the 'Once saved, Always Saved' crowd take refuge in such fudged and watered-down theological ideas that have led so many Christians to become spiritually lazy and careless. There are distinctions between the 144,000 and the rest of the "great multitude" and it's not just because the 144,000 have a 'special mission' but because they, and they alone, are qualified for that mission! However, we are in danger of making a false dichotomy here by setting 'the 144,000' against 'the great multitude' as if there might be something wrong with or incomplete about the latter. You see, the problem here is that there's no such thing as 'the great multitude' as though it's a special group with a special mission like the 144,000. As you'll see in a minute, it's described as 'a great multitude'.

A mistake some exegetes make is they assume (yes, another one of those potentially dangerous assumptions we have to watch out for) is that 'the great multitude' are all other believers apart from the 144,000. To spiritually homogenise the 144,000 and 'a great multitude' with all believers of every stripe and moral colour is to wrest the Scriptures and to justify lawlessness. Chapter 14 tells us, specifically, that the 144,000, have Name of the Lamb and the Name of the Father on their foreheads. But is that exclusive of all other believers? I want you to have that question in mind as we come to read today's passage in chapter 7. Because whoever is permanently present in the Throne Room, along with the 4 Seraphim, Zoa, or heavenly creatures, and with the 24 Elders (whose identities and individual rôles we have not yet discussed - we'll return to them in chapters 11:6, 14:3 & 19:4), can at the same time sing the "new song".

Last week I spoke if believers being divided into two categories and that the obedient believers in some way sanctify the Torah-disobedient believers so that they are at least not reackoned together with the unbelievers. In other words, those of the resurrection glory after the sun (the 144,000 and anyone else who may have the same inheritance) sanctify the those after the resurrection glory of moon in exactly the same way that a believing spouse sanctifies an unbelieving spouse so that their childrn are qadosh (holy, set-apart) in spite of the unbelieving parent! (1 Cor.7:14) Yahweh is showing grace - undeserved loving kindness - to the great mass of saved believers who for some reason (read 'lawlessness') weren't up to the grade of the 144,000 and those with them. So, no, we cannot lump them together into one spiritually homogenous mass. There always have been, and always will be, those who have a Shem Tov or Good Name based to their character which is based on their choices to do righteousness! And Calvinists in particular have to make the 144,000 equal with lawless believers like themselves - to make them all the Bride of Christ - because according to their false doctrine you can only be saved if Yahweh has predestined you to be saved and not on the basis of choosing either salvation or Torah-obedience! Do you see now why 7 women will desire an Israelite man with a shem tov in the last days and not just any old Israelite or believer? Why? because they understand the positive benefit of being linked to such a man...in effect, a man of the 144,000 and the rest after the glory of the solar resurrection, whose blessing they will share as they are faithful to the seal he puts on them as a result of the covenant of marriage they have entered into.

The puzzle begins to make better sense but only once you have all the ingredients, reminding me of my 21st birthday party in England. As this was a special occasion my mother hired a progessional bakery to make my birthday cake - ordinarily she would have made it herself. The bakers were called Hibbs. Many guests came to our home in Surrey and the cake was duly served. After the guests had left we found all their slices of cake thrown into the bushes. Why? Because they were inedible, because the cake had a cosistency like sand! The cake looked absolutely delicious on the outside but the moment you sant your teeth into it, it was like eating a beach. The artistry was superb but the baker responsible had forgotten to add one key ingredient - eggs! My mother got her money back but the birthday celebration was ruined. It's the same with the great multitude - trusting for salvation the way Luther taught, and Protestantism teaches, is vitally important. But without holiness and the sanctification that comes from living the righteous Torah lifestyle, you have what amounts to that inedible 21st bidtrhday cake of mine. Our guests didn't 'unfriend' us and they came back to other occasions but only after my mother had written to, or phoned, each and every one of them to apologise and to explain that the baker had forgotten to add eggs! I don't know if the young man who made the cake was fired or severely repremanded, but it's a lesson I doubt he ever forgot. We cannot afford to be careless. That means we have to be rigorous and uncompromising with the emet (truth) because by this means alone can we obtain a shem tov (good name) which Yahweh...and true wives...rightly consider to be so important in their selection of eternal husbands.

The other thing we looked at last week, which I want to briefly mention, concerns the whole controversy of the 'missing' tribe of Dan and, according to some, Ephraim [2] too, and the uneven mathematics surrounding the Tribe of Joseph with Manasseh apparently getting 'extra' representation. Not surprisingly this has let to some contention among those interested in the tribes question as to who Manasseh, Ephraim and Dan are today (because such discussions usually degenerate into an egotistical contest as to who is, or was, greater than who [3]) but we'll not re-open that can of worms today. I suggested that the simple solution is to regard 'Manasseh' as a scribal error, that originally Dan was represented, 'D' (Daleth) got changed to 'M' (Mem) in the earlier Aramaic version before it was translated to Greek, and then how 'Man' was presumed to be 'Manasseh'. Either way, the matter is not yet conclusively resolved, at least not without some sort of further manuscript evidence, revelation, or (ideally) both. Again, the right balance is important.

All the tribes ultimately matter, and must do if we truly believe in universal reconciliation. And in the same way that Yahweh-Yah'shua, through the 'solar-resurrection believers', sanctifies the 'lunar-resurrection' believers, so too did Jacob sanctify his secondary-wives (concubines) Bilhah and Zilpah through Leah and Rachel, raising them up as their spiritual children through grace so that they, along with their mistresses, also obtain, through their sons, gates in the New Jerusalem. Everyone matters - husbands, wives, secondary wives, children; yes, love for sure covers a multitude of sins (1 Pet.4:8), but rewards are apportioned on the basis of justice that stems from the choices we make. And it's a lack of both ahavah-love and justice in the modern world that has led to such chaos and unhappiness everywhere.

Without these truths firmly implanted in our minds and hearts - which is why I keep on raising and repeating them - we will not make a lot of sense of the rest of the Book of Revelation. So with all these things in mind, let's read the second half of the First Interlude in Revelation 7

"9 After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude ('a huge gathering' - KNT; 'a vast throng'; 'a huge crowd' - JNT/CJB; 'a huge number' - JB) which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands (celebrating), and crying out with a loud voice, saying, 'Salvation/Vistory (Gk. sôtêria = Victory - Rev.12:10; 19:1; Ps.98:2; Heb.yeshu'ah = Salvation) belongs to (comes from) our Elohim (God) who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!' 11 All the malakim (angels) stood around the throne and the elders and the seraphim (zoa, four living creatures), and fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped Elohim (God), 12 saying:

'Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom,
Thanksgiving and honour and power and might,
Be to our Elohim (God) forever and ever. Amen."'

13 Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, 'Who are these arrayed in white robes, and where did they come from?' 14 And I said to him, 'Sir, you know.' So he said to me, 'These are the ones who come out of (did not capitulate under) the great tribulation (persecution, suffering - Dan.2:1; Mt.24:21-22), and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb (are regarded as sinless - Is.1:18). 15 Therefore they are before the Throne of Elohim (God), and serve Him day and night in His temple (Heb.8:2-6a). And He who sits on ('at the centre of' - JNT/CJB) the throne will dwell (rel. mishkan = tent, tabernacle) among them {'and the One who sits on the Throne will put His Sh'kinah (= 'dwelling'; spread His tent) upon them' - JNT/CJB}*. 16 They shall neither hunger anymore nor thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any heat; 17 for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains (springs) of [living] waters (Rev.21:6). And Elohim (God) will wipe away every tear from their eyes (Rev.21:4)" (Rev.7:9-17, NKJV).

*cp. Ezek.37:27 where in the valley of dry bones, Yahweh says, V'hayah mishkani 'aleihem' = 'and My tent will be upon them'

First of all, we need to make something very clear again. What we're speaking here isn't 'the Great Multitude' but 'a great multitude', an unspecified number of people, remembering that the Hebrews either couldn't count to very large numbers or never attempted to. Furthermore, even though they used arithmetic, employing the various mathematical operations like addition, subtraction, multiplication, division and fractions, numbers were never written down but spelled out using their alphabet, and even this wasn't done until after the Exile where letters were used as symbols of numerical figures. The highest number expressed by one Hebrew word is 20,000, the dual form of 10,000 otherwise known as a 'myriad'. And though Rebekah's posterity came to be numbered in millions, it is described simply as being "thousands of myriads (10,000's)" (Gen.24:55,60). And in Daniel's vision, Yahweh is shown as having "then thousands of myriads" or "a myriad and myriads" standing before Him (Dan.7:10).

Obviously a fixed number of souls stood before Yahweh here in the Throne Room but we're not told how many, not like the 144,000. And as I have pointed out before, numbers - and especially very large numbers - are expressed in an approximate sense and are typically rounded off, as we often do too. However, when a rounding off is made, especially in a prophetic setting, the number is guaranteed to have symbolic significance, again as we saw last week, in the use of multiples of 12 for the 144,000. The 144,000 are the rulers - the kings and priests - of Messianic Israel in the Millennium.

We have no idea from today's text how many were in the big crowd. All we know is that, like the 144,000, they now have access to the Throne Room and we know why: they successfully passed through the Great Tribulation or "great suffering" (v.14a, KNT) as N.T.Wright's translation calls it. And because they passed through this tribulation or great suffering with their faith intact, they are said to have "washed their clothes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb" (v.14b. KNT). Because they maintained their emunah (faith) in Christ, because they maintained the faith, and through their suffering, the blood of Christ has sanctfied them wholly, and that, according to the text, "is why they are there in front of Elohim's (God's) Throne, serving Him day and night in His temple [forever]" and that is why "the One who sits on the Throne will shelter them with His rpesence [forever]. They will never be hungry again, or thirst again," and so on (vv. 15-16, KNT). Does this sound like a bunch of lawless rebels to you? swell, they may once have been but their suffering or tribulation has beyond question has curbed all of that! Importantly, they are now dwellers in the Throne Room like the 144,000 - they simply came to it by another route.

This at once teaches as an important truth. Only those willing to endure to the end, even unto death, from every generation, but especially those in the last generation, will inherit the Throne Room glory. You won't find the 'Once Saved, Always Saved' brigade there who made an initial confession of faith in Christ but then who returned to the world to do exactly as they please according to the Torahless, lawless hearts.

So how big is this crowd or multitude? We don't know. The only number I have ever mentioned to you before, and then only in connection with the last generation and possibly mine too, is the 900,000 elect. Taking into account all those who have died before since Adam, this means we are talking about several millions who will have access to the Throne Room and the highest glory, not, we must suppose, just the 144,000 and those directly connected to them as I have taught previously. The difference between the two, as I said, is the path they are required to walk in their discipleship and service. Presumably they include the martyrs under the altar in the Throne Room. This excludes the billions of other Christians and Messianics who 'name the Name' but who don't 'walk the Walk', with one portion of these inheriting the 'Lunar-Resurrection' glory and the vast bulk of nominal and wicked 'believers' joining the unsaved unbelievers in the 'Stellar-Resurrection' Glory, in other words, those of the Second Resurrection [4] who remain as disenbodies spirits until the end of the Millennium.

Again we must remember to whom this Book was originally given - the seven congregations of Asia Minor. They are about to face a nightmare of their own just as believers will at the very end during the Great Tribulation, and as true believers have done throughout time. More persecution is on the way and they must be ready for it. What Yahweh is offering them, through the apostle John, is part of the continuing vision - we must never take these things in isolation but see them as part of the whole. And this vision is not John just having a 'nice dream' but describes heavenly reality, albeit it couched in symbolic language, which is the absolute, utter truth and it is against this that the nighmare must be measured.

This, he says, is the ultimate reality of the situation, and you must hold on to it for dear life as you plunge back into the nightmare. And don't suppose the 144,000 aren't going to experience the nightmare too - even though they will be called to gather into cities of refuge, they are also sent-out witnesses and will experience the horror every bit as much as the martyrs and the big crowd that rides the storm and comes through at the other end. That is why having a grasp on reality is so important - not just the reality of the wicked world without but, even more important, and critically so - the reality of the promises made and the glory that is to come which the Book of Revelation provides.

And that reality is that the Creator and the Lamb have already won the victory, the victory which means that those who follow the Lamb are rescued or saved from harm. The reality is that those who claim the Lamb's protection may well have to pass through a time of great suffering, but they will then find themselves in the ultimate reality, in Yahweh's Throne Room, worshipping and serving Him day and night with great, abundant, and exuberant joy. What this means is that while they will have various tasks - potentially anywhere on earth - they will dwell in the Throne Room in their non-physical spiritual aspect. Two or more realities can co-exist and merge in the resurrection state. Resurrected bodies are not limited as we are here in mortality. This may be hard to wrap your heads around right now but is one of the exciting realities we are yet to enjoy!

Another important thing I want draw your attention to is the word "salvation" in verse 10. The reason we need to probe this a little deeper is that Evangelicals in particular tend only to see this word in one way - in one of its aspects - but what we need to appreciate is that it has a far wider and more reaching meaning. Literally, the word means 'deliverance' as in 'rescue', as in being 'saved' or 'rescued' from a hotspot by the cavalry at the last minute as we might use the word in modern Western culture, or delivered from demonic oppression. The Agency - Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ) - is the same in all cases.

In the Tanakh (Old Testament) the meaning is a little more precise than the evangelical one because it carries the sense of 'the victory through which salvation/deliverance/rescue is won''. Almost certainly this is the meaning here. What one needs saving, delivering or rescuing from depends on what people thought needed rescuing, and from what or who. Gnostic Christians, for instance, wrongly supposed that their souls were trapped in mortal and corrupt bodies that needed rescuing, so for them salvation was being rescued from their physical bodies! But for all Israelites and for nearly all Christians, the ultimate salvation, deliverance or rescue was from death itself, rescue from the ending of Yahweh-given bodily life - that was the real enemy to them, so that salvation was bound to mean being rescued from death itself - in otherwords, the ultimate rescue was to be resurrected for those who had died, and for the instantaneous transformation of the body for those still alive at the Master's return (1 Cor.15:50-57). And for Paul, amongst other apostolic testators, this salvation was extended to the whole of creation (Rom.8:18-26). Salvation is far bigger than you'll be taught in most churches!

If 'salvation' refers to this ultimate rescue of Yahweh's fallen created order, and our created bodies, from all that distorts, defaces and destroys them like sin, sickness, corruption and death itself, we should expect to find, and do in fact find, that often in the Messianic Scriptures (New Testament) 'salvation' (and phrases like 'being saved') refers, not simply to people coming to faith and making a covenantal committment to Yah'shua (Jesus) and so being assured of eternal life, but also to bodily healing and to rescue from awful situations (e.g. Ac.16:30-31; 27:44). Yah'shua's (Jesus') resurrection remains the foundation for a biblical view of salvation for the whole person and the whole creation, a salvation, though very real now and yet to be completed in the future, has already begun with the mission and achievement of Yah'shua (Jesus) on the cross.

So when we see words like 'salvation' here in the Book of Revelation, we must have this broader picture in view because it covers personal salvation, corporate salvation as Messianic Israel (requiring Torah-obedience as the lifestyle of the personally saved) and cosmic salvation of the whole Universe; and overarching that is the the Victory of Elohim (God), the first highlight of which was His victory on the cross, the next will be the victory procession of the Returning Messiah (the true 'rapture') at the start of the Millennium, and the final one will be permanent exclusion of the demonic realm from Creation at the end of the Millennium - a Victory on three stages. And if you search your hearts honestly - if you're one of those people who love righteouness, truth and justice - there's nothing quite as enjoyable, satisfying and releasing as a victory parade! Your own new birth (called 'salvation' by evangelicals) was the first of these! Each is a triumph of good over evil.

Let's return to the Great Multitude before we finish today because we haven't established how they are separate from the 144,000, let alone why. We've seen that they share the Throne Room, which is the highest glory, that there are lots of them, and must therefore be the children of the First Resurrection too like the 144,000. We'll get the full answer to this question in chapter 14 but for now let me drop you a few clues. Firstly, you will notice that the 'Great Multitude' have lived through the nightmare and can wake up to a glorious, fresh new morning. The reason their clothes are white is not because they necessarily lived lives of total holiness and purity, but because the blood of the Lamb, the sacrificial Passover-like death of Yah'shua (Jesus) Himself, has rescued them from slavery to sin, making them able to at once stand in the very presence of the living Elohim (God). The death of Yah'shua (Jesus), the suffering they have already endured, their willingness not to capitulate to the demands of the Beast System to reject Messiah and receive the devil's Mark of Allegiance, is why they are there. Suffering (and martyrdom in many cases) was their lot, but now it's over, and their presence in the Throne Room worshipping Yahweh and the Lamb with the four Seraphim and 24 Elders, is fully justified by the will of Yahweh. The death of Yah'shua (Jesus), and the suffering they have already endured, have done all that is required of them to be part of the children of the First Resurrection. That's 'Group B' of the First Resurrection qodeshim (saints, set-apart ones) and there are apparently millions of them.

'Group A' of the First Resurrection qodeshim (saints, set-apart ones) is the 144,000 who have a different, if similar, path. They, too, will suffer but they are preserved, after they have fulfilled their tasks before Messiah returns, to be the first members of the ruling Government of the Millennium under Messiah. As I have already mentioned, they have Yahweh's Name written on their foreheads, and they are singing a new two-layered Song (the Song of Moses and the Song of the Lamb) which they alone were able to learn (but not the Great Multitude). Why? As we will discover in chapter 14 later, because they were not defiled, there was no lie found on their lips and they were without defect. They are the bikkurim or firstfruits of the First Resurrection. If you want to know why Messianic Jews mistakenly believe they alone (or at least, a selection from their number) are the 144,000, and the 'Gentiles' are all the rest, you have an important clue here, something we'll discuss in great depth when we study chapter 14. And if you read the text literally, as most do, you will conclude that they are all, apparently, unmarried, virgin men. That's all I'm prepared to say on this matter today.

Chapter 7 ends with John being shown a glimpse into the further future with his vision of the New Jerusalem itself which we first encountered in Revelation 3:12 and which we'll discuss more fully when we get to Revelation 21:2. If John wrote his Apocalypse before AD 70 then there was still a temple on earth - if later, then it had already been destroyed by the Romans. According to Revelation 21:22 there won't be a temple in the final city just as there isn't in chapter 7 here.

And yet - and this is a point often missed - and yet we find in chapter 7, as we do throughout the Book of Revelation - the present and future overlap and interlock in ways we can't begin to understand for now. They do so in various confusing ways because some of the blessings of the final New Jerusalem are to be experienced by John's own contemporaries who were about to suffer in Ephesus, or Smyrna, or Pergamum, or wherever; and some of the blessings will be experienced by us and by all regeneratred believers in the past who have been, are being, and will be protected from the elements, and from hunger and thirst, the very same promise, incidentally, Yah'shua (Jesus) made to the crowds He preached to:

"Then Yah'shua (Jesus) declared, 'I am the Lechem Chayim (Bread of Life). He who comes to Me will never go hungry, and he who believes in Me will never be thirsty" (John 6:35, NIV).

Physical hunger and thirst are awful but hunger and thirst in the soul is arguably far worse for then, even if you have all the food and drink you need - you are still desolate inside. To lack both is surely the worst state to be in. And then, in a wonderful rôle reversal, the Lamb will return as a Shepherd, assuming the Royal Rôle of the "Good Shepherd" of John 10, and indeed the divine rôle of Psalm 23 where Yahweh Himself is described as the Shepherd who leads His people to springs of living water:

"Yahweh is my shepherd; I shall not want (lack). He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of Yahweh for ever" (Ps.23:1-6, KJV).

"Most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers...

"Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep. I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own. As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd. Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This mitzvah (command) I have received from My Father" (John 10:1-5,6-18, NKJV).

And then, in final anticipation of the New Jerusalem (Rev.21:4), Yahweh Himself "will wipe away every tear from their eyes". There is an intimacy about that promise which speaks volumes for the whole vision of Elohim (God) throughout the book. Yes, Yahweh is rightly angry with all those who deface His beautiful creation and make the lives of their fellow human beings miserable and wretched. But the reason He is angry is because, at His very heart, He is so full of mercy that His most characteristic action is to come down from His Throne and, in person, wipe away every tear from every eye. Learning to think of this Elohim (God) whenever we hear the word 'Elohim' or 'God', rather than instantly thinking of a faceless heavenly bereaucrat or a violent celestial bully, is one of the most important ways in which we are to wake up from the nightmare and embrace the reality of Elohim's (God's) true day.

And so ends the first Interlude. We have, I hope, learned a lot and have more to look forward to. Next week we shall see what the opening of the Seventh Seal results in as we start chapter 8...a big shake-up. May the grace and shalom (peace) of our Master Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ) be with you all until we meet again in 9 days' time for the next sabbath and the beginning of a new biblcial month in two days' time. Amen.

Endnotes

[1] This is not a licence to conceal sin in the form of violation of the Torah, the secular law (unless it contradicts the former) contracts, vows, promises, etc.. Thus it would be permissible to conceal a brother from the law which has demanded disobedience of a mitzvah (commandment) - like not sharing the Gospel - but not permissible to conceal crooked business dealings or an adulterous relationship. Where such requirements are perverted by such institutions as Freemasonry, the same principle applies.
[2] However, it should be remembered, that frequently the terms 'Israel' and 'Ephraim' (as the lead tribe of Israel), after the split into northern (10 tribes) and southern (2 tribes) kingdoms, is a representation of all the 10 tribes, not just one, in which case all 10 tribes ought to be excluded. When this is done, false interpretations naturally arise. Remember, Judah was the lead tribe of the united Kingdom of Israel (12 tribes) "until Shiloh (Messiah) come" (Gen.49:10). Since the First Advent, Joseph-Ephraim is now the lead tribe.
[3] Those who are keenly interested in Israelite tribal history and their wanderings throughout the world in exile, mostly agree that the Joseph Tribes are in the main the Germanic/Anglo-Saxon peoples, with Dan being equated with Denmark (and to a lesser extent, Ireland and Scotland), even though it is also recognised that a lot of mixing between the tribes, and with gentiles, has taken place over time. One party holds that Manasseh is the USA and Ephraim the United Kingdom, and the other party to the reverse, which often leads to petty, immature nationalist squabbling between the two factions as to who is, or was, the 'greatest'. Both these are fallen nations with the current hegemon, the USA, being stripped daily of its power - see Vision of the Fall of the USA & Israel. In large part because of the hate, mistrust and prejudice generated by the horrors of the holocaust, modern Jews and Messianic Jews have, in recent times, unilaterally 'demoted' Germany from an Israelite tribe to Israel's old enemy, Assyria
[4] For more on this important subject, see the Hell website

Acknowledgements

[1] David Pawson, Unlocking the Bible: A Unique Overview of the Whole Bible (Collins, London: 2007)
[2] Tom Wright, Revelation for Everyone - The New Testament for Everyone Commentary Series, Vol.19 (SPCK, London: 2011)
[3] E.W.Bullinger*, Number in Scripture (Kregel Publications, Grand Rapids, Michigan: 1967)
[4] E.W.Bullinger*, Commentary on Revelation (Kregel Classics, Grand Rapids, Michihan: 1984)
[5] E.W.Bullinger*, The Companion Bible being the Authorized Verion of 1611 with Structures & Critical Explanatory Notes (Samuel Bagster & Sons Ltd., London: 1974), pp.1883-1914
[6] David H. Stern, Jewish New Testament Commentary (JNT Publications, Clarksville, Maryland: 1992)

*E.W.Bullinger was a brilliant Anglican clergyman and scholar whose works merit careful study by serious students of the Bible. He was, however, seriously in error in at least three main areas, namely, (1) he believed the 'Church' has been raptured before the Book of Revelation opens, (2) he believed that the 7 churches in Revelation 2-3 are 7, literal Jewish churches or assemblies yet to come, and (3) he believed in a pre-tribulation, pre-millennial rapture.

• 1. White horse - military aggression
• 2. Red horse - bloodshed
• 3. Black horse - famine
• 4. Pale Green/Blanched/Pallid/Sickly-looking horse - disease, epidemics

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• 5. Persecution & prayer
• 6. Tremour & terror

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  (The 144,000 Redeemed)

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• 7. Silence in heaven, listening to prayers which are then answered in a final catastrophe: a severe earthquake

• 1. Scorched earth
• 2. Polluted sea
• 3. Contaminated water
• 4. Reduced sunlight

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• 5. Insects and plague (for five months)
• 6. Oriental invasion (200 million army)

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• 7. The Kingdom comes, the world is taken over by Yahweh & Yah'shua (Jesus) after a severe earthquake

• 1. Boils on the skin
• 2. Blood in the sea
• 3. Blood from the springs
• 4. Burning by the sun

  ---

• 5. Darkness
• 6. Armageddon

  ---

• 7. Hailstorm (OB 368:11-12) and severe earthquake, leading to international collapse