The Great Crowd Makes Its Appearance

From the time of the apostle John and into the Lord's day, anointed Christians were puzzled as to the identity of the great crowd. It is fitting, then, that one of the 24 elders, representing anointed ones already in heaven, should stir John's thinking by raising a pertinent question: " And in response one of the elders said to me: 'These who are dressed in the white robes, who are they and where did they come from?" So right away I said to him: 'My lord, you are the one that knows.' " (Revelation 7:13, 14a) Yes, that elder could locate the answer and give it to John. This suggests that resurrected ones of the 24-elders group may be involved in the communicating of divine truths today. For their part, those of the John class on earthy got to learn the identity of the great crowd by closely observing what Jehovah was performing in their midst. They were quick to appreciate the dazzling flash of divine light that emblazoned the theocratic firmament in 1935. at Jehovah's due time.

During the 1920's and early 1930's, the John class had stressed the heavenly hope, both in the publications and in the preaching work. Apparently, the full number of the 144,000 had yet to be filled. But increasing numbers of those who heeded the message and who showed zeal in the witness work come to profess an interest in living forever on the Paradise earth. They had no desire to go to heaven. That was their calling. They were no part of the little flock but rather of the sheep. (Luke 12:32; John 10:16) Their being identified in 1935 as the great crowd of other sheep was an indication that the choosing of the 144,000 was then about complete.

Do statistics support this conclusion? Yes, they do. In 1938, worldwide 59,047 witnesses of Jehovah shared in the ministry of these, 36,732 partook of the emblems at the annual celebration of the Memorial of Jesus' death, thus indicating that they had a heavenly calling in the years since then, the number of these partakers has progressively decreased, principally because faithful witnesses of Jehovah finished their earthly life course in death. In 1987 only 8,808 partook of the Memorial emblems-just 0.1 percent of the 8,965,221 attending that global observance.

When the second world war broke out, Satan put forth bitter efforts to stop the harvesting of the great crowd. Jehovah's work was restricted in many countries. During those dark days, and shortly before his death in January 1942, J.F. Rutherford, president of the Watch Tower Society, was heard to say: "Well. . . it looks as though the great multitude is not going to be so great after all." But divine blessing directed otherwise! By 1946 the number of Witnesses ministering worldwide had jumped to 176,456-most of these being of the great crowd. In 1987 there were 3,395,612 Witnesses who were serving Jehovah faithfully in 210 different lands-truly a GREAT CROWD! And the number keeps on increasing.

The harvesting of God's people during the Lord's day has thus been in full harmony with John's vision: first the work of gathering the remaining ones of the 144,000; then the gathering of the great crowd. As Isaiah prophesied, now "In the final part of the days, " people of all nations are streaming to share in Jehovah's pure worship. And, indeed, we exult in appreciation of Jehovah's creation of "new heavens and a new earth." (Isaiah 2:2-4; 65:17, 18) God is gathering "all things together again in the Christ, the things in the heavens and the things on the earth." (Ephesians 1:10) The anointed heirs of the heavenly Kingdom-chosen over the centuries since Jesus' day-are "the things in the heavens and now, the great crowd of the other sheep appear as initial ones of "the things on the earth." Your serving in harmony with that arrangement can mean eternal happiness for you.

Next time: The Blessings Of The Great Crowd.