Revelation, along with other events that occur in the time of the end, I want to point out
its claims for the purpose of this book:
Rev. 1:1,2 -- The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him
(Christ) to show his servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending
his angel to his servant John, who testifies to everything he saw -- that is, the
word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ.
First of all we need to understand who He is speaking of when He speaks of His
servants. All through the Bible God speaks of His servants as His prophets, often
calling them His servants the prophets. These are the ones that He speaks to
directly by way of the Holy Spirit whose task it is to guide them into all truth and to
tell them what is yet to come. (Jn. 16:13)
Notice in the second verse of this introduction: "He made it known by sending his
angel to his servant John." John also was an outstanding prophet of God and
classified as His servant.
Vs. 2 -- "who testifies to everything he saw--that is, the
word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ."
Everything John saw was revealed to him in vision. Every thing consisted either of the
word of God -- the Bible, or the testimony of Jesus Christ. This testimony
of Jesus Christ is Christ speaking to the Holy Spiritwhat He wants related to His servants
on the earth at this time. They are revealing Christ to every inhabitant of the
earth by their witness.
Jn. 16:13,14 -- "But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he
will guide you into all truth.
He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what
he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by
taking from what is mine and making it known to you."
Rev. 1:1 -- "The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave
him, (Christ) to show his servants what must soon take place."
From this we can know for sure that the events that are described in this book are to
show these servant prophets what must soon take place -- not to show them things
that took place in the past.
Before we take up the description of this heavenly pregnancy, we must see who these
servants the prophets are composed of that this book was revealed for: To let them be
aware of things that are to come during their time of witness.
Remember the four angels straining to hold back the winds of strife to prevent
catastrophic harm to the earth (the Great Tribulation), but before they release the winds
another angel from the east tells them to wait until an important function is implemented
before releasing the winds:
Rev. 7:1-4 -- After this I saw four angels standing at the four
corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth to prevent any wind from
blowing on the land or on the sea or on any tree.
Then I saw another angel coming up from the east, having
the seal of the living God. He called out in a loud voice to the four angels who had
been given power to harm the land and the sea:
"Do not harm the land or the sea or the trees until
we put a seal on the foreheads of The servants of our God."
Then I heard the number of those who had been sealed:
144,000 from all the tribes of Israel.
Then follows a list of the twelve tribes of Israel, with 12,000 allotted to each
tribe. Notice that these are described as "the servants of our God."
These are His servants the prophets. John then describes a vision that he was shown
in this opening chapter.
Rev. 1:10-13 -- On the Lord's Day I was in the Spirit, and I
heard behind me a voice like a trumpet, which said:
"Write on a scroll what you see and send it to
the seven churches to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and
Laodicea."...and when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and among the
lampstands was someone like a son of man."...
Vs. 16 -- In his right hand he
held seven stars, and out of his mouth came a sharp two edged sword....
Vs. 19 -- "Write, therefore,
what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later. The mystery of the
seven stars that you saw in my right hand and of the seven golden lampstands is this:
The seven stars are the angels (footnote -- or
messengers) of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.
Vs. 20 (Young's Literal Translation) -- The secret of the seven
stars that thou hast seen upon my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands; the seven
stars are messengers of the seven assemblies, and the seven lampstands that thou hast seen
are seven assemblies.
Then Chapter two begins immediately to describe each of the churches that were
given to John in chapter One. Each church was given a description of its
strengths and weaknesses. At the end of each description there is this category
described.
Consider Ephesus for instance, the first church listed. "To him who overcomes, I will
give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God."
In each church these overcomers are promised some special benefits that apply only to this
group being selected. It is obvious from the churches that are listed that all are
from Asia Minor, and all represent Christian Churches which were raised up from a base
primarily consisting of Gentile converts.
These seven churches are obviously actual churches at the time this prophecy was given
but are symbolic of Christian churches at the time of the end.
There are over two hundred different Christian denominations at the present time, and
it changes frequently in number. The seven in this prophecy is given as a perfect
number to be all inclusive. As the seven churches then represented seven Christian
churches, so the symbolic churches at the end time must be Christian churches.
The seven lampstands represent the seven (symbolic) churches. We know these are
Christian churches because the types in each of these seven churches were converts of
Gentiles to Christianity. The churches in the anti-type in our day are also
Christian because they are represented by the golden lampstands with the seven lights on
each stand.
Remember that Christ is represented in the Scriptures, symbolically, as having seven
eyes to emphasize His omniscient vision of seeing everything that goes on in the earth and
everywhere else.
Zech. 4:1-14 -- Then the angel who talked with me returned and
wakened me, as a man is wakened from his sleep.
Vs. 2 -- He asked me, "What do you see?" I
answered, "I see a solid gold lampstand with a bowl at the top and seven lights on
it, with seven channels to the lights. Also there are two olive trees by it, one on
the right of the bowl and the other on the left....
Vs. 10b -- These seven are the eyes of the Lord,
which range throughout the earth.
Vs. 11 -- Then I asked the angel, "What are these
two olive trees on the right and the left of the lampstands?..."
Vs. 14 -- So he said, "These are the two who are anointed to
serve the Lord of all the earth."
These are the two witnesses as listed in Rev. 11. These are the olive trees which
represent the anointing of these messengers-prophets; the working of the Holy
Spirit. And the lampstands representing the written Word of God and also the direct
instructions by Christ to these servant-prophets through Christ's personal representative --
the Holy Spirit.
The seven stars in His right hand are also symbolic and are representative of a far
greater number -- the 144,000 messengers that He selects and seals just before
this Day of the Lord is allowed to begin.
I believe we now have enough information to better understand the first description of
this heavenly pregnancy and delivery. It is one pregnancy and delivery, but each of
its three descriptions fills in different pieces to make the picture more complete.
Micah 5:1-3 -- Marshall your troops, O city of troops, for a
siege is laid against us. They will strike Israel's ruler on the cheek with a rod.
(See Matt. 27:28-30 -- They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him,
and then wove a crown of thorns and set it on his head.
They put a staff in his right hand and knelt in front
of him and mocked him, "Hail, King of the Jews!" they said.
They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him
on the head again and again.)
Micah 5:2 (continuing) -- But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though
you are small among the clans of Israel, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler
over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times. (This is to
identify which of Israel's rulers verse 1 is speaking of.)
Vs. 3 -- Therefore Israel will be abandoned (There- fore --
for this reason -- for the unspeakable crime of the crucifixion) until the time
when she who is in labor gives birth and the rest of his brothers return to join the
Israelites.
This states that the Israelites as a nation will be abandoned by God, as His special
people, until she who is in labor gives birth and the rest of his brothers return to join
the Israelites.
From the opposite side of the coin we could say that it also means that when this woman
gives birth then something happens so that the Israelites will no longer be rejected by
God as His special people.
We don't have sufficient information from this description of this pregnancy to answer
all our questions, but remember the facts as are stated and as the other descriptions are
analyzed these unexplained details will become obvious and make perfect sense.
We do have another clue as to when this pregnancy can take place because we have solid
scriptural support to show that this hardening of the Israelites in their rejection of
Christ as their Savior was to last until the last Gentile is called in.
Rom. 11:25,26 -- I do not want you to be ignorant of this
mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in
part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in.
And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written:
"The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob.
Vs. 27 -- And this is my covenant with them when I take away
their sins."
During the 1260 days of the Great Tribulation the 144,000 will be preaching the
everlasting gospel from the word of God and by the instructions Jesus will be
relaying to them via the Holy Spirit. Certainly when they have finished their 1260
days of witnessing would be the first time frame that this abandoning of the
Israelites, by God, could be terminated. They will witness to the entire world's
inhabitants which are almost exclusively Gentiles. This gives us a good clue
where this must fit in.
Now we will focus our attention on the description of this pregnancy as portrayed by the
prophecy as given to Isaiah.
Isaiah 66:7-16 -- "Before she goes into labor she gives
birth; before the pains come upon her, she delivers a son.
Who has ever heard of such a thing? Who has ever
seen such things?
Can a country be born in a day or a nation be brought
forth in a moment? Yet no sooner is Zion in labor than she gives birth to her
children.
This is saying that as impossible as it sounds, and something never previously seen;
yet Zion (God's Church at the end time) will give birth to a nation in a moment --
only as long as it takes the angel that arises in the east to place the seal of God on His
special servant prophets.
Some will say these are literal Israelites because they are selected 12,000 for each of
the 12 tribes of Israel to represent God's fulfillment of His promise to Abraham through
Jacob and their descendants.
That was certainly what was scheduled for them to receive but as a nation they
will still be in a state of rebellion against Christ during this 1260 day period and will
still be abandoned by God and to remain so until the children (brothers) of this
pregnancy "return to join the Israelites."
I will show proof a little later how literal Israel are not scheduled to receive this
great honor.
Isaiah 66 (continuing) Vs. 14 -- When you see this, your heart
will rejoice and you will flourish like grass; The hand of the Lord will be made known to
his servants, but his fury will be shown to his foes.
"The hand of the Lord will be made known to his servants." Isn't that
just what we read that the book of Revelation was to fulfill? It was to show,
"his servants," what must soon take place.
Vss. 15,16 -- "See, the Lord is coming with fire, and his
chariots are like a whirlwind; he will bring down his anger with fury, and his rebuke with
flames of fire.
For with fire and with his sword the Lord will
execute judgment upon all men, and many will be those slain of the Lord."
Verses 15 and 16 are as good a description of Christ's second coming as you will find
for such a brief account.
And now we come to our third description of this pregnancy. It is the most
informative and helps us to see the meaning of some of the statements given in the two
previous descriptions.
Some claim that this pregnancy as described in Revelation is representing Mary giving
birth to Jesus. To show that this is impossible one needs to remember that this book
is to show the 144,000 things that must shortly come to pass. At this time the
144,000, if present now, are present only in the mind of God and we have absolutely no
current events that points out any of the events that they will be doing.
If that isn't enough we only need to remember that Jesus was born of Mary two thousand
years ago; this could in no way be construed to show to his servants what must soon take
place.
Rev. 12:1-6 -- A great and wondrous sign appeared in
heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of
twelve stars on her head. She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to
give birth.
Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red
dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on his heads. His tail swept
a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth.
The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to
give birth, so that he might devour her child the moment it was born.
She gave birth to a son, a male child, who will rule all
the nations with an iron scepter. And her child was snatched up to God and to his
throne.
The woman fled into the desert to a place prepared
for her by God where she might be taken care of for 1260 days.
Now note some of this description of this pregnant woman.
"and a crown of twelve stars on her head."
Remember the seven stars in Christ's hand in the previous vision, and which represented
the messengers in each of the seven Churches? These twelve stars in her crown
represents those same messengers, but in twelve groups. They represent the twelve
tribes of the Israelites with 12,000 messengers selected for each tribe. These are the
children that are born in a moment to this woman. (Christian churches at the time of
the end.) This is the nation or country that is born in a day. (Isa.
66:8) It is this nation of 144,000 servant prophets that the dragon (Satan) is
anxious to devour as soon as it is born.
"She gave birth to a son, a male child who will rule all the nations with an
iron scepter." Remember that in Isaiah's prophecy of this pregnancy that
she delivers "a son". "Yet no sooner is Zion in labor than she gives
birth to her children."
Isa. 66:8 -- "And her child was snatched up to God and to his
throne."
Remember that this son, male child, is referring to Zion's children and specifically to
the 144,000 servant messengers. Notice the two witnesses described in Rev. 11:
Rev. 11:3 -- And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they
will prophecy for 1260 days, clothed in sackcloth."
Vs. 4 -- These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that
stand before the Lord of the earth.
The olive trees represent the oil that kept the lights burning in the lampstands.
Its symbolized as the Holy Spirit who is the author of the prophetic books of the Bible.
The lampstands represent the word of God -- the written testimony in the Bible
as well as the on-going testimony of Jesus as given to the Holy Spirit and relayed to His
144,000 servant prophets.
The two witnesses then represent:
(1) The word of God, and
(2) The Holy Spirit.
This witness is carried and revealed by the 144,000 personally selected messengers --
servants -- prophets.
"And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne,"
Rev. 11:7-12 -- Now when they have finished their testimony, the
beast that comes up from the Abyss will attack them, and overpower and kill them...
Vs. 11 -- "But after three and a half days a breath of life
from God enters them, and they stood on their feet, and terror struck those who saw them.
Vs. 12 -- Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to
them, "Come up here."
And they went up to heaven in a cloud,
while their enemies looked on.
Vs. 14 -- "These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands
that stand before the Lord of the earth."
This is speaking of the time of the Great Tribulation. Who is the Lord of all the earth
during this time? It has to be the beast representing Satan. They (the
144,000) stand before him as a witness representing the true God. The world
will be convinced that the Antichrist (Satan's representative) is God because he will
be claiming that he is God. At the same time these witnesses will be refuting that
claim and revealing Christ to them as their only Savior.
These servant prophets are called up to heaven immediately prior to the sounding of the
7th trumpet, which announces the ending of the 42 month reign of the Antichrist.
Rev. 11:14 -- The second woe (6th trumpet) has passed: the third
woe is coming soon. (The witnesses are taken to heaven during the closing events
under the 6th trumpet.)
Vs. 15 -- The 7th angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud
voices in heaven, which said: The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our
Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever." (The kingdom of the Antichrist
has officially ended and Christ's kingdom is inaugurated.)
Vs. 16 -- And the twenty-four elders, who were seated on their
thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshipped God,
Vs. 17 -- saying: "we give thanks to you, Lord God
Almighty, the one who is and who was, because you have taken your great power and have
begun to reign. (Further confirmation that Christ's kingdom is initiated.)
Vs. 18 -- ...The nations were angry; and your wrath has
come. (The wrath of God is expressed in this end time in the form of the seven last
plagues. Rev. 15:1) "The time has come for rewarding your servants the
prophets."
We know from the earlier texts that they had just been called up to heaven no more than
a few days earlier. This also means that they have to be there during the time the 7
last plagues will be poured out on the earth.
Rev. 15:1-3 -- I saw in heaven another great and marvelous
sign: seven angels with the seven last plagues -- last because with them
God's wrath is completed.
And I saw what looked like a sea of glass mixed with
fire and,standing beside the sea, those who had been victorious over the beast (had
overcome him) and his image and over the number of his name.
They held harps given them by God and sang the song
of Moses the servant of God and the song of the Lamb.
This has to be describing the 144,000 who had just arrived in heaven on the scene
there. They had lived through the Great Tribulation and had overcome the beast by
not yielding to his decree that they would receive the death penalty if they refused
to worship the beast. This shows them to be present at the time the 7 vials filled
with the seven last plagues were being distributed to the seven angels.
They also held harps given them by God and by which they used in singing the song of
Moses the servant of God and the song of the Lamb. Moses was also a prophet of
God and in fact he is a type of these servant prophets described here. Note the
activities that they will be able to do during their witnessing:
Rev. 11:6 -- Continuing) and they have power to turn the waters
into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague, as often as they want.
(These are also a type of Moses as stated earlier.)
Mal. 4:5 -- See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that
great and dreadful day of the Lord comes.
The prophet Elijah therefore was prophesied to come to prepare the people for Christ's
coming. When Jesus came the first time we have an application of this prophecy and
it was not the flesh and blood Elijah,
but a prophet in the same spirit and power of Elijah.
Matt. 11:12-14 -- From the days of John the Baptist until now,
the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it.
For all the prophets and the Law prophesied until
John.
And if you can accept it, he is the Elijah who was to
come.
Jesus is telling the people that, if they were willing to accept it, John the Baptist
was an application of this Elijah-like prophet to prepare the way for Jesus at His first
coming. But this was only an application of this prophecy because Christ's first
coming was not speaking of that great and terrible day of the Lord. That prophecy
can only be fulfilled by the events as described for His second coming. John
ministered only to those in the Land of Israel. The Elijah-like prophets at His
second coming will be preaching the everlasting gospel to every nation, kindred, tongue
and people. We know from the application of this prophecy at the time of Christ that
it will not be Elijah or Elijahs in person, but those who come in the spirit and power of
Elijah.
Notice how carefully Jesus followed the script as to how John the Baptist fit into His
ministry. When John baptized Jesus and introduced Him to John's audiences, John's
testimony had served its purpose. Shortly thereafter that John was seized and placed
in prison by Herod. A short time later he was beheaded at the command of Herod (who
symbolizes the Antichrist).
Matt. 4:12 -- When Jesus heard that John had been put in prison,
he returned to Galilee...
Vs. 17 -- From that time on Jesus began to preach, "Repent,
for the kingdom of heaven is near."
When the Elijah prophets, at the time of the end, have finished their testimony, the
beast from the Abyss will make war on them and overcome them and kill them (Rev. 11:7).
A few days later the seventh trumpet sounds announcing the ending of the
Antichrist's rule and the beginning of Christ's reign. This is the time when the
inheritance of the redeemed will be bestowed in reality. This is the inauguration of
the millennial kingdom.
The kingdom that was inaugurated at the time of Christ's first coming was the kingdom
of grace. This is the kingdom that God offers anyone who confesses his sins and
believes that Christ's life, death and resurrection paid in full the death sentence that
everyone was guilty of for breaking the perfect law. This believer then committed
his life to Christ and became His willing slave. The sinner then was given his
inheritance on the basis of God's promise. This is to become reality at Christ's
second coming.
How do these 144,000 servant prophets fit into this role with the two witnesses of Rev.
11? Is there any connection of these prophets with the Elijah of the original type,
or John the Baptist as the application of this type that preceded Jesus' first ministry?
Rev. 11:3 -- And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they
will prophesy for 1260 days clothed in sackcloth.
Vs. 5 -- If anyone tries to harm them, fire comes out of their
mouths and devours their enemies. This is how anyone who wants to harm them must
die.
Now notice an episode in the life of Elijah which is a perfect fit to identify these
Elijah-like prophets.
2 Kings 1:9,10 -- Then he (the king Ahaziah) sent to Elijah a
captain with his company of fifty men. The captain went up to Elijah, who was sitting on
the top of a hill, and said to him, "Man of God, the king says, 'Come Down!'"
Elijah answered the captain, "If I am a
man of God, may fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men!"
Then fire fell from heaven and consumed him and his fifty men.
Now note the other identifying mark that associates these servant-prophet-witnesses to
Elijah.
Rev. 11:6 -- These men have power to shut up the sky so that it
will not rain during the time they are prophesying.
James 5:17 -- Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed
earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half
years. Again he prayed and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.
There is another description that we need to consider of the son, male child or
children that were born in a moment to constitute a nation. Note this description:
Rev. 12:5 -- "She gave birth to a son, a male child, who
will rule all the nations with an iron scepter."
We know that Christ will have the same statement applied to Him at His coming:
Rev. 19:15 -- Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to
strike down the nations. "He will rule them with an iron scepter."
Remember that in the seven churches described in the second and third chapters of
Revelation that after each summary under the statement, "To him who overcomes," --
following this is listed what God will reward these overcomers with for their
fidelity to Him, and that these are the male child, son, children etc of these Christian
churches at the end time from which God personally selects these servant prophets.
Note the promise to those overcomers in the church at Thyatira:
Rev. 2:26-29 -- To him who overcomes and does my will to the end,
I will give authority over the nations -- 'He will rule them with an iron
scepter; he will dash them to pieces like pottery' -- just as I have received
authority from my Father.
I will also give him the morning star.
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says
to the Churches.
This shows the close relationship that these 144,000 have with Christ when they rule
with Christ during the millennial kingdom; when Christ rules from His temple in
Jerusalem and the 144,000 carry out His orders and discipline as needed on the
non-redeemed inhabitants of the earth.
There is one more point that I would like to bring up. Remember the small select
section at the end of each Christian group's description headed by, "to him who
overcomes," or a similar heading depending on the translation, and then some special
promise to the ones being selected from that Church by God?
Now turn to this pregnancy that we have been investigating in Chapter 12 and
specifically to her children who were born as a result of this pregnancy.
Rev. 12:10,11 -- Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say:
"Now have come salvation and the power of The kingdom of our God, and the authority
of his Christ. For the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day
and night, has been hurled down.
Vs. 11 -- They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the
word of their testimony; and they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from
death.
There are several points that we need to clarify in this passage:
Vs. 10 -- "Now have come salvation and the power of The
Kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ."
What does it take to make a kingdom? The essential ingredient is to have a
reigning king. It's obvious that this 7th trumpet is announcing that now Christ has
taken His great power and has begun to reign.
Where are the subjects of this kingdom that has just been announced? It has to be
those 144,000 that God has personally selected for that purpose. Note where Christ
has been found worthy to remove the seven seals from the sealed scroll.
Rev. 5:9,10 -- "You are worthy to take the scroll and to
open its seals because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from
every tribe and language and people and nation.
Vs. 10 -- You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve
our God, and they will reign on the earth."
All the redeemed are purchased by Christ's blood but these in addition have been made
to be a kingdom, and they will reign on the earth. Only the 144,000 are described as
reigning on this earth with Christ for 1000 years.
Rev. 12:10b -- For the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them
before our God day and night, has been hurled down.
It's obvious that the accuser of our brothers is Satan but why so much accusing now?
It is because the 144,000 have been redeemed from the earth to heaven as a group
and Satan has continued to state that they have no right to be there, and he brings up
their past deeds that should nullify their right to be there. These are the
"brothers" of the Israelite remnant that are undergoing trampling in Jerusalem
at this time.
Vs. 11 -- They (the witnesses) overcame him (the Antichrist) by
the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so
much as to shrink from death."
The 144,000 overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by their testimony. Their
testimony consists of the testimony of Jesus Christ as transmitted to them via the Holy
Spirit. They are prophets. They did not love their lives so much as to shrink
from death.
As God revealed to them what was yet to come I'm sure they were made aware that
all of them would be martyred at the end of their testimony. This did not
cause them to fear to present Christ, for which the Antichrist had decreed the death
penalty; and which he carried out after they had finished their testimony.
Now I would like to take another look at one of the details of Micah's description of
this pregnancy that we should now understand.
Micah 5:3 -- Therefore Israel will be abandoned until the time
when she who is in labor gives birth and the rest of his brothers return to join the
Israelites.
The only part not already explained is -- "and the rest of his brothers
return to join the Israelites".
The Lord selected these 144,000 servants to be the everlasting representatives of the
twelve tribes of Jacob. Though from a Gentile base they are to become actual literal
Israelites by God's chosen purposes. If they were actual Israelites they wouldn't be
coming back to join the Israelites, they would already be Israelites.
We have examined much proof to establish them in this role, but where have they been
that they are returning from? Its obvious -- from heaven where they have
been since just before the pouring out the seven last plagues.
Do we have evidence where they return to join the Israelites? Notice this passage
explaining Christ at His second coming. Christ is coming to do battle with the
Antichrist who is surrounding Jerusalem with his army and the armies of the ten kings who
have given him their allegiance.
Rev. 17:12-14 -- The ten horns you saw are ten kings who have not
yet received a kingdom, but who for one hour will receive authority as kings along with
the beast.
They have one purpose and will give their power and
authority to the beast. They will make war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will
overcome them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings -- and with him will
be his called, chosen and faithful followers."
These have been called and chosen by God to fill these 144,000 vacancies and to be His
personal witnesses during the 1260 days of their testimony.
One of the major descriptive markers to identify them is that they follow Christ
everywhere He goes.
Rev. 14:3,4 -- No one could learn the song except the 144,000 who
had been redeemed from the earth. (This is from their description in a heavenly
setting)
They follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They were
purchased from among men and offered as firstfruits to God and the Lamb.
If Christians were generally in agreement that when Christ comes at His second coming,
they and all the redeemed will receive their inheritance as their reward, there would be
much less unanimity as to what that inheritance will consist of. One thing that is
certain is that only those who belong to Christ qualify for this inheritance.
Gal. 3:29 -- If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's
seed, and heirs according to the promise.
This is quite pointed in telling us that our inheritance will be what Abraham's
descendants were promised by God. Note this promise to Abraham that God passed down
through the line of Jacob, Abraham's grandson.
Gen. 28:13-15 -- "I am the Lord, the God of your father
Abraham and the God of Isaac.
I will give you and your descendants the land on
which you are lying.
Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth,
and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south.
All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.
I am with you and will watch over you wherever you
go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done
what I have promised you." (This promise still awaits fulfillment as Paul
insists.)
Gal. 3:22 -- But the Scripture declares that the whole world is a
prisoner of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ,
might be given to those who believe.
We know that the fulfillment of this prophecy cannot take place until Christ's second
coming, from evidence that we have been considering.
We know that all the redeemed will be Abraham's seed and heirs according to the
promise, just the same as if they were literal Israelites.
There are at least three categories of the redeemed that God brings out through a
subtle prophecy through Isaiah. This is concerning the renovation and upgrading the
holy land, and some identifying markers of some of the redeemed.
Isaiah 44:1-5 -- "But now listen, O Jacob, my servant,
Israel, whom I have chosen. This is what the Lord says --
...For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams
on the dry ground; I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring, and my blessing on
your descendants. They will spring up like grass in a meadow, like poplar
trees by flowing streams.
One will say, 'I belong to the Lord; another will call
himself by the name of Jacob; still another will write on his hand, 'The Lord's', and will
take the name Israel.
(1) One will say, "I belong to the Lord";
(They all will be able to say that, but with no other identification we can safely say
that this represents a born again Christian.)
(2) Another will call himself by the name of Jacob;
(He also belongs to the Lord but he represents one of the remnant Israelites that are
saved by Christ and His Army's intervention at Armageddon. Could he represent any
Israelite from some other country of the world other than Israel? I'm sure that is
possible, but God only considers the Israelites living in the land of Israel as the Nation
of Israel.)
(3) Still another will write on his hand, "The Lord's," and will take
the name Israel.
(This must be a representative of the 144,000. He takes the name Israel.
That is because he is not an Israelite by birth. If he was a blood born Israelite he
would have already had that name. He took that name when God selected him as one of
the chosen to fill the vacancy by default of the group of God's original choice.)
Is this scenario, as presented in this study, the way you have been taught that it will
take place? If not, don't you believe you will be expected to back up a different
scenario with at least a similar amount of Scriptural evidence?
The material presented here is just the tip of the iceberg of Biblical evidence on this
topic. That is: the rejection of literal Israel
by God as His special people at the cross, and their eventual restoration, which will be
in conjunction with the redeeming of every born again Christian. This large group of
the redeemed will be the citizens of the greatly expanded land of Israel, with Christ
enthroned in His Temple in Jerusalem.
Unless one is able to disprove this scenario with Scriptural evidence, I believe it is
important for each of us to become better acquainted with the reality of this scenario
which the Bible presents and that must soon take place.