Chapter Twenty -The Great Multitudinous Great Crowd

In Heaven or on Earth?

How do we know that "standing before the throne" does not mean that the great crowd is in heaven?  There is much clear evidence on this point. For example, the Greek word here translated  "before" (e-no'pi-on) literally means "in [the] sight [of]" and is used several times of humans on earth who are "before" or "in the sight of"  Jehovah.  (1 Timothy 5:21;2 Timothy 2:14; Romans 14:22; Galatians 1:20)  On one occasion when the Israelites  were in the wilderness, Moses said to Aaron:  "Say to the entire assembly of the sons of Israel, 'Come near  before Jehovah, because he has heard your murmurings.' " (Exodus 16:9)  The Israelites did not have to be transported  to heaven in order to stand before Jehovah on that occasion.  (Compare Leviticus 24:8)  Rather, right there  in the wilderness they stood in Jehovah's view, and his attention was on them.

Additionally, we read:  "When the Son of man arrives in his glory . . . all the nations will be gathered before him."  The whole human race is not in heaven when this prophecy is fulfilled.  Certainly, those who  "depart into everlasting cutting-off" are not in heaven.  (Matthew 25:31-33, 41, 46)  Instead, mankind stands on earth in Jesus' view, and he turns his attention to judging them.  Similarly, the great crowd is "before the throne and before the Lamb" in that it stands in the view of Jehovah and his King Christ Jesus, from whom it receives a favorable judgment.

The 24 elders and the anointed group of 144,000 are described as being "round about the throne" of Jehovah and upon "the [heavenly] Mount Zion]."  (Revelation 4:4; 14:1) The great crowd is not a priestly class and does not attain to that exalted position. True, it is later described in Revelation 7:15 as serving God "in his temple."  But this temple does not refer to inner sanctuary, the Most Holy.  Rather, it is the earthly courtyard of God's spiritual temple.   The Greek word na-os', here translated "temple," often conveys the broad send of the entire edifice erected for Jehovah's worship.  Today, this is a spiritual structure that embraces both heaven and earth. -Compare Matthew 26:61; 27:5, 39, 40; Mark  15:29, 30; John 2:19-21. New World Translation Reference Bible.  

Next time: The Multitudinous Great Crowd - A Universal Shout of Praise

From the book of Revelation

Chapter Twenty - The Multitudinous Great Crowd

Conclusion of the Identity of the Great Crowd

It is fitting, then, that the great crowd, though no part of spiritual Israel, should wave palm branches, since they joyfully and gratefully ascribe the victory and salvation to God and to the Lamb, as John here observes:  "And they keep on crying with a loud voice, saying:  'Salvation we ow to our God, who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb.' "  ( Revelation 7:10)  Although they have been separated out of all ethnic groups, the great crowd cry out with just one "loud voice."  How can they do this, despite their diversity of nations and languages?

This great crowd is part of the only truly united multinational organization on earth today.  They do not have different standards for different countries but apply the Bible's right principles consistently wherever they live.  They are not involved  in nationalistic, revolutionary movements but have truly  'beaten swords into plowshares.'  (Isaiah 2:4)  They are not divided into sects or denominations, so that they shout confused or mutually contradictory messages as do the religions of Christendom, nor do they leave it to a professional  clergy class to do their praising for them.  They do not cry out that they owe salvation to the holy spirit, for they are not servants of a trinitarian god. In some 200 geographical territories around the earth they are at one in calling upon the name of Jehovah as they speak the one pure language of truth.  (Zephaniah 3:9)  Properly, they publicly acknowledge  that their salvation, through Jesus Christ, His Chief Agent of salvation. -Psalm 3:8; Hebrews 2:10. 

Modern technology has helped to make the loud voice of the united great crowd sound even louder.  No other religious group on earth has need of publishing Bible study aids in  more than 200 languages, since no other group is interested in reaching all peoples of the earth with one united message. As a further aid in this, under the supervision of the anointed Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses, a Multilanguage Electronic Phototypesetting System (MEPS) was developed.  At the time of this writing, various forms  of MEPS are used in more than 60 of the Watchtower Society's branches around the earth, and this has helped  to make possible publication of their principal semi-monthly journal.  The Watchtower in 39 languages simultaneously publish books, such as this one, in a number of languages. Thus Jehovah's Witnesses of whom the great crowd make up the vast majority, are able yearly to distribute hundreds of millions of publications in all the better known languages, enabling additional throngs out of all tribes and tongues to study God's Word and join their voices to the loud voice of the great crowd.  -Isaiah 42:10, 12. 

Next time: Chapter Twenty - The Multitudinous Great Crowd - In Heaven or on Earth? 

From the book of Revelation 

Chapter Twenty -The Multitudinous Great Crowd

Confirming the Identify of the Great Crowd

How can we state so positively that the great crowd is this modern-day group of dedicated Christians, who hope to live forever on God's earth?  Previously, john had seen in vision the heavenly group "bough . . . for God out of every tribe and tongue and nation."  (Revelation 5:9, 10) The great crowd have a similar origin but a different destiny. Unlike the Israel of God, their number is not predetermined. No man can tell in advance how many there will be.  Their robes washed white in the blood of the Lamb, symbolizing that they have a righteous standing before Jehovah by virtue of their faith in Jesus sacrifice.   (Revelation 7:14) And they are waving palm branches, hailing Messiah as their king. 

As he looks on in this vision, John's thoughts must be taking him back more than 60 years to Jesus' last  week on earth. On Nisan 9, 33 C.E., when the crowds flocked to welcome Jesus into Jerusalem, they took "the branches of palm trees and went out to meet him. And they began to shout:  'Save, we pray you!  Blessed is he that comes in Jehovah's name, even the king of Israel!' "  (John 12:12, 13) In like fashion, the waving of palm branches  and crying out on the part of the great crowd shows their unbridled joy in accepting Jesus as Jehovah's appointed King. 

Doubtless, the palm branches and exulting cries also remind John of the ancient Israelite Festival of Booths.  For this festival Jehovah commanded:  "And you must take for yourselves on the first day of the fruit of splendid trees, the fronds of palm trees and the boughs of branchy trees and poplars of the torrent valley, and you must rejoice before Jehovah your God seven days."   The palm branches were used as a mark of rejoicing. The temporary booths were a reminder that Jehovah had saved his people  out of Egypt, to live in tents in the wilderness.  "The alien resident and the fatherless boy and the widow" shared in this festival. All Israel were to "become nothing but joyful." -Leviticus 23:40; Deuteronomy 16:13-15. 

Next time: Chapter Twenty - The Multitudinous Great Crowd - Conclusion of  Confirming the Identity of the Great Crowd

From the book of Revelation  

Chapter Twenty -The Multitudinous Great Crowd

HAVING described the sealing of the 144,000, John goes on to report one of the most exciting revelations in all Scripture. His heart must have leaped with joy as he reported  it, saying:  "After these things I saw, and look! a great crowd, which no man able to number out of all nations and tribes and people and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, dressed in white robes; and there were palm branches in their hands." (Revelation 7:9) Yes, the holding back of the four winds allows for the salvation of another group besides the 144,000 members of spiritual Israel:  A multilanguage, international great crowd. -Revelation 7:1. 

Worldly commentators have interpreted this great crowd to be fleshly non-Jews converted to Christianity or to be heaven-bound  Christian martyrs. Even the Bible Students in the past regarded them as a secondary heavenly class, as noted in 1886 in Volume I of Studies in the Scriptures, The Divine Plan of The Ages:  "They lose the prize of the throne and the divine nature, but will finally reach birth  as spirit beings of an order lower than the divine nature. Though these are truly consecrated, they are overcome by the worldly spirit to such an extent that they fail to render  their lives in sacrifice. " And as late as 1930, the thought was expressed  in Light, Book One: "Those who make up this great crowd fail to respond  to the invitation to become the zealous witnesses for the Lord."  They were described as a self-righteous group that had knowledge of the truth but did little about preaching it.  They were to get to heaven as a secondary class that would not share in reigning with Christ.

There were, however, other associates  of the anointed Christians who later became most zealous in the preaching work.  They had no aspirations of going to heaven.  Indeed.  Indeed, their hope  was in line with the title of a public talk featured by Jehovah's people from 1918  to 1922. Originally, this was "The World Has Ended-Millions Now Living Will Never Die."  Soon thereafter, the Watchtower magazine  of October 15, 1923, explained Jesus' parable of the sheep and the goats  (Matthew 25:31-46) stating:  "Sheep represent all the peoples of the nations, not spirit-begotten But disposed  toward righteousness, who mentally acknowledges Jesus Christ as the Lord and who are looking for and hoping for a better time under his reign." 

Some years later, in 1931, Vindication, Book One, discussed Ezekiel chapter 9, identifying those persons marked on the forehead for preservation at the world's end as the sheep of the above parable.  Vindication, Book Three, released in 1992, described the upright heart attitude of the non-Israelite man Johonadab, who joined Israel's  anointed King Jehu in his chariot and went along to see Jehus' zeal in executing  false religionists.  (2 Kings 10:15-17)  The book commented: Jehonadab represented or foreshadowed that class of people now on the earth during the time  that the Jehu work  [of declaring Jehovah's judgments] is in progress  who are of good will, are out of harmony with Satan's organization, who take their stand on the side of righteousness, and are the ones whom the Lord will preserve during the time of Armageddon, take them through that trouble, and give them everlasting life on the earth.  These constitute the 'sheep' class."  In 1934 The Watchtower  made it clear that these Christians with earthly hopes should make a dedication to Jehovah and be baptized. The  light regarding this earthly class was shining ever brighter. -Proverbs 4:18.

The understanding of Revelation 7:9-17 was now about to burst forth in all its sparkling brilliance!  (Psalm 97:11) The Watchtower  magazine had repeatedly expressed the hope that a convention scheduled  for May 30 to June 3, 1935, In Washington D.C., U.S.A., would be "a real comfort and benefit" to those  pictured by Jehonadab. That it proved to be!   In a stirring talk on "The Great Multitude," delivered to about 20,000 conventioneers, J.F.Rutherford, president of the Watchtower Society, gave Scriptural proof that the modern-day other sheep are identical with that great crowd of Revelation 7:9. At the climax of his talk, the speaker asked: "Will all those who have the hope of living forever on the earth please stand?"  As a large  part of the audience stood up, the president declared:  'Behold! The great multitude!' There was a hush, followed by thunderous cheering. How elated was the John class-and also the Jehonadab group!   On the following day, 840 new Witnesses were baptized, most of these professing to be of that great crowd.  

Next time: Chapter Twenty -The Multitudinous Great Crowd - Confirming the Identity of the Great Crowd

From the book of Revelation  

Chapter Nineteen - Sealing the Israel of God

The Israel of God Today

Interestingly, the first president of the Watchtower Society, Charles T.Russell, recognized the 144,000 to be a literal number of individuals making up a spiritual Israel.  In The New Creation. Volume VI of this Studies in the Scriptures, published in 1904, he wrote:  "We have every reason to believe that the definite, fixed number of the elect [chosen anointed ones] is that several times is that several times stated in Revelation. (7:4: 14:1); namely 144,000 'redeemed from amongst men..' " In Light, Book  One, published in 1030 by the Watchtower Society's second president J.F.Rutherford, it was likewise stated:  "The 144,000 members of the body of Christ are thus in the assembly known and selected   and anointed,  or sealed." Jehovah's Witnesses have consistently  held to the view that literally 144,000 anointed Christians make up spiritual Israel.

Nevertheless, does not natural Israel today merit some special favor?  In the period just prior to the Lord's day, when sincere Bible students were rediscovering many of the basic truths  of God's Word, it was thought that with the ending of the Gentile Times the Jews would again enjoy a privileged standing before God. Thus, C.T. Russell's book The Time Is at Hand (Volume II of Studies in the Scriptures), published in 1889, applied Jeremiah 31:29-34 to the natural Jews, and commented:  "The world is witness to the fact that Israel's punishment under the dominion of the Gentiles  has been continuous since B.C. [607], that it still continues, and that there is no reason to expect their national re-organization sooner than A.D. 1914, the limit of their 'seven times'-2520 years."  It seemed that the Jews would then experience a national restoration, and this prospect apparently brightened in 1917, when the Balfour Declaration pledged British support for making Palestine a national home for the Jews.

Following the first world war, Palestine became a mandated territory under Great Britain, and the way opened for many Jews to return to that land. In 1948 the political State of Israel was brought forth.  Did this not indicate  that the Jews were in line for divine blessings?  For many years, Jehovah's Witnesses believed that this was so.   Thus, in 1925 they published a 128-page book, Comfort for the  Jews. In 1929 they released an attractive 360-page volume, Life, designed to appeal to the Jews  and dealing also with the Bible book of Job. Great efforts were made , especially in New York City, to reach the Jews with this Messianic message, but the Jews  by and large, like their forefathers of the first century, rejected the evidence of the Messiah's presence.

 It was obvious that Jewry, as a people and as a nation, was not the Israel described in Revelation 7:4-8 or other Bible prophecies related to the Lord's Day. Following tradition, the Jews continued to avoid using the divine name.   (Matthew 15:1-3, 7-9)  In discussing Jeremiah 31:31-34, the book Jehovah, published by the Watchtower Society  in 1934, stated conclusively:  "The new covenant has nothing to do  with the natural descendants of Israel and with mankind in general, but . . . is limited to spiritual Israel."  The Bible's restoration prophecies relate neither to the natural Jews nor to political Israel, which is a member of the United Nations and part of the world that Jesus spoke of at John 14:19, 39 and 18:36.  

In 1931 God's slaves on earth had received, with great joy, the name Jehovah's Witnesses.  They could subscribe  wholeheartedly  to the words of Psalm 97:11:  "Light itself has flashed up for the righteous one, and rejoicing even for the ones upright in heart."  They could clearly discern that spiritual Israel alone had been brought into the new covenant.  (Hebrews 9:15; 12:22, 24) Unresponsive natural Israel had not part therein, nor did mankind in general.  This understanding cleared the way for a brilliant flash of divine light, outstanding int eh annals of theocratic history.  This would reveal how abundantly  Jehovah extends his mercy, loving-kindness, and truth to all humans who draw close to him.  (Exodus 34:6; James 4:8)  Yes, others besides the Israel of God would benefit by the angels' holding back the four winds of destruction . Who might these be? Could you be one of them? Let us now see. 

Next time: Chapter Twenty - A Multitudinous Great Crowd 

From the book of Revelation 

Chapter Nineteen -Sealing the Israel of God

How Many Are Sealed?

Jesus said to those in line for this sealing:  "Have no fear, little flock, because your Father has approved of giving you the kingdom." (Luke 12:32)  Other scriptures, such as Revelation 6:11 and Romans 11:25, indicate that the number of this little flock is indeed limited, and in fact, predetermined.  John's next words confirm  this:  "And I heard the number of those who were sealed out of every tribe of the sons of Israel: Out of the tribe of Judah twelve thousand sealed; out of the tribe Reuben twelve thousand; out of the tribe of Gad twelve thousand; out of the tribe of Asher twelve thousand; out of the tribe of Naphtali twelve thousand; out of the tribe of Manasseh twelve thousand; Out of the tribe of Simeon twelve thousand; out of the tribe of Levi twelve thousand; out of the tribe of Issachar twelve thousand; out of the tribe of Zebulun twelve thousand; out of the tribe of Joseph twelve thousand; out of the tribe of Benjamin twelve thousand sealed." -Revelation 7:4-8. 

Could this not be a reference to literal fleshly Israel?  No, for Revelation 7:4-8 diverges from the usual tribal listing. (Numbers 1:17, 47) Obviously, the listing here  is not for the purpose of identifying the fleshly Jews by their tribes but to show a similar  organizational structure for spiritual Israel.  This is balanced.  There are to be exactly 144,000 members of this new nation -12,000 from each of 12 tribes. No tribe in this  Israel of God is exclusively  royal or priestly.  The whole nation  is to rule as kings, and the whole nation is to serve as priests. -Galatians 6:16; Revelation 20:4, 6. 

Although the natural Jews and Jewish proselytes were given the first opportunity to be chosen for spiritual Israel, only a minority of that nation responded.  Jehovah therefore extended the invitation to the Gentiles.   (John 1:10-13; Acts 2:4, 7-11; Romans 11:7) As in the case of the Ephesians who previously had been "alienated from the state of Israel," now non-Jews could be sealed with God's spirit and become part of the congregation of anointed Christians.  (Ephesians 2:11-13; 3:5, 6; Acts 15:14)  It is appropriate, then, for the 24 elders  to sing before the Lamb.  "With your blood you bought persons for God out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and you made them to be a kingdom and priests  to our God, and they are to rule as kings over the earth." -Revelation 5:9, 10. 

The Christian congregation is "a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation." (1 Peter 2:9)  Replacing natural Israel as God's nation, it becomes a new Israel that is "really Israel.' "  (Romans  9:6-8; Matthew 21:43)   For this reason, it was quite proper for Jesus' half brother James to address his pastoral letter "to the twelve tribes that are scattered about," that is, to the worldwide congregation of anointed Christians that in time would number 144,000. -James 1:1. 

Next time: Chapter Nineteen -Sealing the Israel of God - The Israel of God Today

From the book of Revelation 

Chapter Nineteen - Sealing the Israel of God

The Sealing of God's Slaves

John goes on to describe how some will be marked for survival, saying:  "And I saw another angel ascending from the sunrising, having a seal of the living  God; and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea, saying:  'Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until after we have sealed the slaves of our God in their foreheads.' " -Revelation 7:2, 3.  

Though this fifth angel is not named, all the evidence indicates that he must be the glorified Lord Jesus. In line with Jesus' being the Archangel, he is here shown to have authority over  the other angels. (1 Thessalonians 4:16; Jude 9)  He ascends from the east, like "the kings from the rising of the sun" -Jehovah and his Christ-who come to execute judgment, as did kings Darius and Cyrus when they humbled ancient Babylon.  (Revelation 16:12; Isaiah 45:1; Jeremiah 51:11; Daniel 5:31)  This angel also resembles  Jesus in that he is entrusted with sealing anointed Christians.  (Ephesians 1:13, 14)  Further, when the winds are unleashed, it is Jesus who leads the heavenly armies in executing judgment on the nations.  (Revelation 19:11-16)    Logically, then, Jesus would be the one to command that destruction of Satan's earthly  organization  to be held back until God's  slaves are sealed.

What is this sealing, and who are these slaves of God?  The sealing began at Pentecost 33 C.E. when the first Jewish Christians were anointed  with holy spirit. Later, God proceeded to call out and anoint "people of the nations."  (Romans 3:29; Acts 2:1-4, 14, 32, 33; 15:14)  The apostle Paul wrote about anointed Christians' having a guaranteed that they "belong to Christ" and added that God "has also put his seal upon us and has given us the token of what  is to come, that is, the spirit, in our hearts."  (2 Corinthians 1:21, 22; compare Revelation 14:1)  Thus, when these slaves are adopted as God's spiritual sons, they receive a token in advance of their heavenly inheritance-a seal, or pledge. (2 Corinthians 5:1; Ephesians 1:10, 11)  They can then say:  "The spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are God's children.  If, then,  we are children, we are also heirs with Christ, provided we suffer together." -Romans 8:15-17.  

"Provided we suffer together"-what does that mean?  In order to receive the crown of life, anointed Christians  must endure, faithful even to the death. (Revelation 2:10)  It is not a matter  of 'once saved, always saved.' (Matthew 10:22; Luke 13:24) Rather, they are admonished:  "Do your utmost to make the calling and choosing of you sure for yourselves."  Like the apostle Paul, ultimately,  they must be able to say:  "I have fought the fine fight, I have run the course to the finish, I have observed the faith."  (2 Peter 1:10, 11;2 Timothy 4:7, 8 )  So here  on earth the testing and sifting of the remaining spirit-begotten sons of God must go on until Jesus  and his accompanying angels will have firmly implanted the seal 'in the forehead' of all these, identifying them conclusively, irrevocably, as tried and faithful "slaves of our God."  That seal then becomes  a permanent mark.  Evidently, when the four winds  of tribulation are unleashed, all of  spiritual Israel will have been sealed in finality, even though a few will still be alive in the flesh.  (Matthew 24:13; Revelation 19:7) The entire membership will be complete! -Romans 11:25, 26. 

Next time: Chapter Nineteen - Sealing the Israel of God - How Many Are Sealed?

From the book of Revelation 





















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Chapter Nineteen - Sealing the Israel of God

"WHO is able to stand?" (Revelation 6:17)  Yes, who indeed?  When the great day of divine wrath devastates Satan's system, rulers and peoples of the world may well ask that question. To them it will appear that the impending cataclysm will snuff out  all human life. But will it?  Happily, God's prophet assures us:  "Everyone who calls on the name of Jehovah will get away safe."  (Joel 2:32)  The apostles Peter and Paul confirm that fact.  (Acts 2:19-21; Romans 10:13)  Yes, those who call on the name of Jehovah will be survivors. Who are these ones? As the next vision unfolds, we shall see?  

It is truly remarkable that anyone should come through Jehovah's say of judgment alive, for another of God's prophets describes  in these words:  "Look! a windstorm of Jehovah, rage itself, has gone forth, an onward-sweeping tempest. Upon the head of the wicked ones it will whirl.  The burning anger of Jehovah will not turn back until he will have executed and until he will have out the the ideas of his heart."  (Jeremiah 30:23, 24)  It is urgent that we take steps  to weather the storm! -Proverbs  2: 22; Isaiah 55:6, 7; Zephaniah 2:2, 3. 

The Four Winds

Before Jehovah unleashes this fury, heavenly angels perform a special service. John now beholds this in vision:  "After this I saw four angels standing upon the four corners of the earth, holding tight the four winds of the earth, that no wind might blow upon the earth or upon the sea or upon any tree.: (Revelation  7:1)  What does this mean for us today?  These "four winds" are a vivid symbol of destructive judgment about to be let loose on a wicked earthly society, on the surging "sea" of lawless humanity, and on lofty treelike rulers that draw support and sustenance from the people of the earth.  -Isaiah  57:20; Psalm 37:35, 36. 

No doubt these four angels represent four angelic groups, whom Jehovah uses to hold back the execution of judgment until the appointed time.  When the angels release those winds of divine wrath to whirl at one time from north, south, east, and west, the devastation will be tremendous. It will resemble, but on a stupendous scale, Jehovah's use of the four winds to scatter ancient Elamites, shattering and exterminating them.  (Jeremiah 49:36-38)  It will be  a gigantic storm wind far more devastating than the "tempest" by which Jehovah annihilated the nation of Ammon.  (Amos 1:13-15)  No part of Satan's organization  on earth will be able to stand in the day of Jehovah's fury, when he vindicates his sovereignty for all eternity to come. -Psalm 83:15; Isaiah 29:5, 6. 

Can we be sure that God's judgments will ravage the entire earth? Listen again to his prophet Jeremiah:   "Look! A calamity is going forth from nation to nation, and a great tempest itself will be roused up from the remotest parts of the earth. And those slain by Jehovah will certainly come to be in that day  from one end of the earth clear to the other end of the earth."  (Jeremiah 25:32, 33) It is during this tempestuous storm that darkness will engulf this world. Its ruling agencies will be shaken into oblivion. (Revelation 6:12-14)  But the future will not be dark for everyone. For whose sake, then, are the four winds held back?

Next time: Chapter Nineteen - Sealing the Israel of God - The Sealing of God's Slaves

From the book of Revelation 

Chapter Eighteen - Earthquakes in the Lord's Day

"Fall Over Us and Hide Us"

John's words continue:  "And the kings of the earth and the top-ranking ones and the military commanders and the rich and the strong ones and ever slave and every free person hid themselves in the caves and in the rock-masses of the mountains. And they keep saying to the mountains and to the rock-masses: 'Fall over us and hide us from the face of the One seated on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb, because the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?' " -Revelation 6:15-17.

When Hosea was pronouncing Jehovah's judgment on Samaria, the capital of the northern kingdom of Israel, he said:  "The high places of Beth-aven, the sin of Israel, will actually be annihilated.  Thorns and thistles themselves will come up upon their altars. And people will in fact say to the mountains, 'Cover us!' and to the hills, 'Fall over us!'  (Hosea 10:8)  How were these words fulfilled?  Well, when Samaria fell to the cruel Assyrians in 740 B.C.E., there was nowhere for the Israelites to run.  The words of Hosea express the feeling o helplessness, abject terror, and abandonment that the conquered people felt. Neither the literal hills nor the mountainlike institutions of Samaria could protect them, even though they had seemed so permanent in the past. 

Similarly, when Jesus was being led to his death by the Roman soldiers, he addressed the women of Jerusalem and said:  "Days are coming in which people will say, 'Happy are the barren women, and the wombs that did not give birth and the breasts that did no nurse!'  Then they start to say to the mountains 'Fall over us!' and to the hills,  'Cover us over!'  (Luke 23:29, 30)   The destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 C.E. is well documented, and similar to that of Hosea's.  There was no hiding place then for the Jews who remained in Judea.  Wherever they tried to hide in Jerusalem, or even  when they fled to the mountaintop citadel of Masada, the were unable to escape the violent expression of Jehovah's judgment.

Now the opening of the sixth seal has shown that something similar will happen during the coming day of Jehovah's wrath.  At the final shaking of this earthly system of things, those committed  to supporting it will desperately seek for a hiding place, but they will not find one.  False religion, Babylon the Great, has already failed them miserably. Neither caves in the literal mountains nor symbolic mountainlike political and commercial organizations will provide financial security or any other kind of help.  Nothing will shelter them from Jehovahs' wrath.  Their terror is well described  by Jesus:   "Then the sign of the Son of man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will beat themselves in lamentation, and they will see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory" -Matthew 24:30.  

Yes, those who have refused to recognized the authority of the victorious Rider of the white horse will be forced to admit  their error.  Humans who have willingly been part of the seed of the Serpent will be faced with  destruction when Satan's world passes away.  (Genesis 3:15; 1 John 21:7) The world situation a that time will be such that man will, in effect, ask:  "Who is able to stand?"  They will apparently assume that no one at all can stand approved before Jehovah in that day of his judgment.  But they will be wrong, as the book of Revelation  goes on to show. 

Next time: Chapter Nineteen -Sealing the Israel of God

From the book of Revelation 

Chapter Eighteen -Earthquakes in the Lord's Day

"The Heaven" Departs

John's vision continues:  "And the heaven departed as a scroll  that is being rolled up, and every mountain and every island were removed from their places."  (Revelation 6:14)  Clearly, these are the literal heavens or the literal mountains and islands.  But what do they symbolized? 

Regarding "the heaven," we are helped in our understanding by a similar prophecy that tells of Jehovah's rage against all the nations:  "And all those of the army of the heavens must rot away. And the heavens must be rolled up , just as a book scroll."  (Isaiah 34:4)   Edom in particular must suffer. How?  She was overrun by the Babylonians soon after the destruction of Jerusalem in 607 B.C.E.  At that time, there were no outstanding events recorded as happening in the literal heavens.  But there were catastrophic events in Edom's "heavens."  Her human governmental powers were abased from their elevated, heavenlike position.  (Isaiah 34:5)  They were "rolled up" And put aside , as it were, like an old scroll that was no longer of any use to anyone. 

Thus, "the heaven" that is to  'depart as a scroll' refers to the anti-God governments that rule over this earth.  They will be removed with finality by the all-conquering Rider of the white horse.   (Revelation 19:11-`6,19-21) This is confirmed by what the apostle Peter   said when he looked forward to the events signified by the opening of the sixth seal:  "The heavens and the earth that are now stored up  for fire are being reserved  to the day of judgment and of destruction of the ungodly men."  (2 Peter 3:7)  But what about the expression, "every mountain and every island were removed from their places"? 

In Bible prophecy, mountains and islands are said to rock or be otherwise destabilized at times of great political upheaval. For example, when foretelling Jehovah's judgments against Nineveh, the prophet Nahum wrote:  "Mountains themselves have rocked because of him, and the very hills found themselves melting. And the earth will be upheaved because of his face."  (Nahum 1:5)  There is no record of any breaking up of literal mountains when Nineveh actually fell in 632 B.C.E.  But a world power that previously had  seemed mountainlike in his strength suddenly collapsed. -Compare  Jeremiah 4:24.  

Therefore, "every mountain and every island" as referred to a the opening of the sixth seal would logically be political governments and dependent organizations of this world that have seemed so stable to many of mankind.  They will be rocked  right out of place, to the consternation and horror of those who have previously  trusted  in them. As the prophecy goes on to relate, there will be no question that the great day of the wrath of Jehovah and his Son-the final quaking that removes all of Satan's organization -has come with a vengeance! 

Next time: Chapter Eighteen - Earthquakes in the Lord's Day - "Fall Over Us and Hide Us"

From the book of Revelation 

Chapter Eighteen - Earthquakes in the Lord's Day

A Time of Darkness

As John goes on to show, the great earthquake is accompanied by terrifying events that involve even the heavens.  He says:  "And the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the entire moon became blood, and the stars of the heavens fell to the earth, as when a fig tree shaken by a high wind casts its unripe figs."  (Revelation 6:12b, 13)   What a striking phenomenon!  It represents the culmination of the catastrophic situation  that Jesus had earlier prophesied about at Matthew 24:29.  Can you imagine the frightening darkness that would result if the prophecy were fulfilled literally?  No more warm comforting sunlight by day! No more friendly silvery moonlight by night! and the myriad of stars would longer twinkle against the velvety backdrop of the sky.  Instead, there would be cold, relentless blackness. 

In a spiritual sense, such a darkness was prophesied for ancient Israel, Jeremiah warned:  "A desolate waste is what the whole land will become, and  shall I not carry out a sheer extermination?  On this account the land will mourn, and the heavens above will certainly become dark."  (Jeremiah 4:27, 28) In 607 B.C.E., when that prophecy was fulfilled, things were dark indeed for Jehovah's people.  Their capital city, Jerusalem, fell to the Babylonians. Their temple was destroyed, and their land was abandoned. For then, there was no comforting light from the heaven.  Rather, it was as Jeremiah mournfully said to Jehovah" "You have killed; you have shown no compassion. You have blocked approach to yourself with a cloud mass, that prayer may not pass through." (Lamentation 3:43, 44)  For Jerusalem, that celestial darkness meant death and destruction.  

Later,  similar darkness in the heavens signified disaster for ancient Babylon. Of this, God's prophet was inspired to write:  "Look! the day of Jehovah itself is coming, cruel both with fury and with burning anger, in order to make the land an object of astonishment, and that it may annihilate  the land's sinners out of it.  For the very stars of the heavens and their constellations of Kesil will not flash forth their light; the sun will actually grow dark at its going forth, and the moon itself will not cause its light to shine. And I shall certainly bring home its badness upon the productive land, and their  own error upon the wicked themselves."  (Isaiah 13:9-11)  This prophecy was fulfilled in 539 B.C.E. when Babylon fell to the Medes and the Persians. It well describes the blackness , the hopelessness, the lack of any comforting light for Babylon as she fell forever from her position as premier world power.  

In a similar way, when the great earthquake strikes, this entire world system will be engulfed in the despair of total darkness.  The bright shining luminaries of Satan's earthly system will send forth no ray of hope. Already today,  earth's political leaders, especially in Christendom, are  notorious for their corruption, lying, and immoral  lifestyle.  (Isaiah 28: 14-19)  No longer can they be trusted.  Their flickering light will go into total eclipse when Jehovah executes judgment. Their moon-like  influence on earth's affairs  will be exposed as bloodied, death dealing.  Their worldly superstars will be extinguished like plunging meteorites  and scattered like unripe figs in a howling windstorm. Our entire globe will quake under  a "great tribulation such as not occurred since the world's beginning until now, no, nor will occur again."  (Matthew 24:21)   What  a fearful prospect!

Next time: Chapter Eighteen -Earthquakes in the Lord's Day - "The Heaven " Departs

From the book of Revelation 

Chapter Eighteen - Earthquakes in the Lord's Day

The Great Earthquake!

Yes, these critical last days have been a time of earthquakes-literal and figurative.  (2 Timothy 3:1)  But not one of these quakes is the final great shaking that John sees at the opening of the sixth seal.  The time for advance tremors  is ended, there now comes a great earthquake that is totally new to human experience.  It is so great an earthquake that the upheavals  and convulsions it causes cannot be measured  by the Richter scale or by any other human gauge:  This is no mere local shock but a cataclysmic shaking that  devastates the entire "earth," that is, all depraved human society.  

Others of Jehovah's prophets foretold such an earthquake and its catastrophic consequences. For example, about 820 B.C.E., Joel spoke of "the coming of the great and fear-inspiring day of Jehovah," stating that then "the sun itself will be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood."  Later, he adds these words:  "Crowds, crowds  are in the low plain  of the decision, for the day of Jehovah is near in the low plain of the decision. Sun and moon themselves will certainly become dark, and very stars will actually withdraw their brightness. And out of Zion, Jehovah himself will roar, and out of Jerusalem he will give forth his voice. And heaven and earth certainly will rock; but Jehovah  will be a refuge for his people, and a fortress for the sons of Israel."  (Joel 2:31; 3:14-16)  This rocking could apply only to Jehovah's execution of judgment during the great tribulation. (Matthew 24:21)   So the parallel account at Revelation  6:12, 13 would logically have the same application. -See also Jeremiah 10:10; Zephaniah 1:14, 15.  

Some 200 years after Joel, the prophet Habakkuk said in prayer to his God:  "O Jehovah, I have heard the report about you. I have become afraid, O Jehovah, of your activity. In the midst of the years O bring it to life! In the midst of the years may you make it known. During the agitation, to show mercy may you  remember."  What would that "agitation" be?  Habakkuk goes on to give a graphic description of  the great tribulation, saying of Jehovah:  "He stood still, that he might shake up the earth.  He say, and then caused nations to leap. . . .With denunciation you went marching through the earth. In anger you went threshing the nations. Yet, as for me, I will exult in Jehovah himself; I will be joyful in the God of my salvation."  (Habakkuk 3:1, 2, 6,12, 18)  What  a mighty shaking Jehovah will cause in all the earth when he threshes the nations!

Ezekiel too foretold that when Gog of Magog (the debased Satan) makes his final attack upon God's people, Jehovah will cause  "a great quaking" to occur "in the soil of Israel."  (Ezekiel 38:18, 19)  Though literal earthquakes may be involved, we should remember that Revelation  is presented in signs. This prophecy and the other prophecies cited are highly symbolic.  Hence, the opening of the sixth seal appears to disclose the culmination of all shakings of this earthly system  of things -the great earthquake in which all humans opposed to God's sovereignty are destroyed. 

Next time: Chapter Eighteen - Earthquakes in the Lord's Day - A  Time of Darkness

From the book of Revelation 























 200 year

Chapter Eighteen - Earthquakes in the Lord's Day

Jehovah Does Some Shaking

Such tremors in human affairs are the result of man's inability to direct his own step;.  (Jeremiah 10:23)  Moreover, that old Serpent, Satan,  "who is misleading the entire inhabited earth" is inflicting woes  in his last-ditch effort to turn all mankind away from the worship of Jehovah. Modern technology has caused the earth to shrink into a single neighborhood, where nationalistic and racial hatreds are shaking human society to its foundations, and the United Nations, so-called can find no effective cure. As never before, man is dominating man to his injury.  (Revelation 12:9, 12; Ecclesiastes 8:9) Nevertheless, the Sovereign Lord Jehovah, maker of heaven and earth, has been doing his own kind of shaking over the past 70 years, in preparation for solving earth's problems once and for all.  How so? 

At Haggai 2:6, 7  we read:  "For this is what Jehovah of armies has said:  'Yet  once-it is a little while -and I am rocking the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry ground. And I will rock all the nations and the desirable things of all the nations must come in; and I  will fill this house with glory,' Jehovah of armies  has said.'    Since the year 1919 in particular, Jehovah has caused  his witnesses to proclaim  his judgments  among  elements of human society on earth.  Satan's world system has been rocked and shaken by this global warning. As the warning intensifies, God-fearing humans"the desirable things,' have been stirred  to separate themselves  from the nations. It is not that they are shaken out by the quaking in Satan's organization. But as they discern the situation, they make their own decision to share with the anointed  John class in filling Jehovah's house of worship with glory.  How is this accomplished?  By the zealous work of preaching the good news of God's established Kingdom.  (Matthew 24:14) This Kingdom made up of Jesus and his anointed followers, will ever keep standing to Jehovah's glory as "a kingdom that cannot be shaken." -Hebrews 12:26-29. 

Are you the one who has started to respond to that preaching?  Are you perhaps among the eight million and more who in  recent years have 
attended the Memorial  celebration of Jesus' death? If so, keep on progressing in your study of the Bible truth. (2 Timothy 2:15; 3:16, 17)  Abandon completely the corrupt life-style of Satan's doomed earthly society!  Come right on into the Christian new world society and share fully in it activity before the final catastrophic "earthquake" smashes all of Satan's world to pieces.  But what is that great earthquake?  Let us now see.

Next time: Chapter Eighteen -Earthquakes in the Lord's Day The Great Earthquake!

From the book of Revelation

Chapter Eighteen - Earthquakes in the Lord's Day

Conclusion of Tremors in Society

World War II brought another wave of upheavals.   And smaller wars continue to shake the earth as we approach the end of this century. But will the present system  make it that far? The fearful threat of a nuclear holocaust has many people wondering. Happily, the answer rests not with man (thank God) but with his Creator. -Jeremiah 17:5.  

Other things besides wars, though, have shaken human society to its foundations since 1914.  One of the most traumatic upheavals was triggered by the U.S. stock-market crash 1929 an economically sick  world has been patched up by makeshift schemes. Governments indulge in deficit financing.  The oil crisis of 1973 and the stock-market plunge of 1987 added to the shakings of the financial empire. Meantime, millions of people buy largely on credit. Countless number are victimized by financial gimmicks, pyramid scheme, and lotteries and other gambling subterfuges, many of which are sponsored by governments that should be protecting the people.  Even Christendom's television evangelists  stretch their hands out for their multi-million dollar  share! -Compare Jeremiah 5:26-31.

Earlier, economic troubles  had opened the way for Mussolini and Hitler to seize power.  Babylon the Great lost no time in courting their favors, and the Vatican entered into concordats with Italy in 1929 and Germany in 1933.  (Revelation 17:5)  The dark days that followed  were surely a part  of the fulfillment of Jesus' prophecy that the sign of his presence  would include "anguish of nations, not knowing the way out . . . while  men become faint out of fear and expectation of the things coming upon the inhabited earth."  (Luke 21:7-9, 25-31)  Yes, the quakes that began to shake human society in 1914 have continued, with powerful aftershocks. 

Next time: Chapter Eighteen - Earthquakes in the Lord's Day - Jehovah Does Some Shaking

From the book of Revelation



















  

Chapter Eighteen - Earthquakes in the Lord's Day

Tremors in Human Society

From the mid-1870's, Jehovah's people had been anticipating that catastrophic events would start in 1914 and would mark the end of the Gentile Times.  This is the period of "seven times." (2,520 years) running from the overthrow of the Davidic kingdom in Jerusalem in 607 B.C.E. to Jesus enthronement in  heavenly Jerusalem in 1914 C.E.-Daniel 4:24, 25; Luke 21:24, King James Version.

Thus, when C.T. Russell, first president of the Watchtower Society, appeared for morning worship  with the Brooklyn, New York Bethel family on the morning of October 2, 1941, he made the dramatic announcements: "The Gentile Times have ended; their kings have had their day."  Indeed, the worldwide upheaval that began in 1914 was so  far-reaching that many long-standing monarchies disappeared.  The overthrow of czardom in the Bolshevik revolution of 1917 let to the current confrontation  between Marxism and capitalism. Tremors of political change continue to disturb human society earthwide.  Today, many governments fail to survive more than a year or two. Lack of stability in the political world is illustrated in the case of Italy, which had 47 new governments in just 42 years following World War II.  But such advance tremors are only preliminary to a climatic government upheaval. The result?  God's Kingdom will take over sole rulership of the earth. -Isaiah 9:6, 7. 

Historians, philosophers, and political leaders have pointed to the year 1914 as the start of a  momentous epoch. Seventeen years into that epoch. Historian H.G.Wells  commented:  "Gladly would the prophet prophesy pleasant things. But his  duty is to tell what he sees. He sees a world still firmly controlled by soldiers, patriots, usurers and financial adventurers;  a world surrendered   to suspicion and hatred, losing what is left of private liberties very rapidly, blundering toward bitter class conflicts, and  preparing for new wars."  In 1953 philosopher Bertrand Russell wrote; "Ever since 1914, everybody conscious of trends in the world has been very deeply troubled by what has seemed like a fated and predetermined march toward   every greater disaster. . . . They see the human race, like the hero of a Greek tragedy, driven on by angry gods and no longer the master of fate.  In 1980 statesman Harold Macmillan, reflecting on the peaceful start of our 20th century, said:  "Everything would get better and better. This was the world war I born in. . . . Suddenly, unexpectedly, one morning in 1941 the whole things came to an end.

Next time: Chapter Eighteen - Earthquakes in the Lord's Day - Conclusion of  Tremors in Human Society

From  the book of Revelation