A Multitudinous Great Crowd - The Great Crowd Makes Its Appearance

From the time of the apostle John and on to into the Lord's dau, 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 te 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 earth 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 has stressed the heavenly hope, both in the publications and in the preaching work.  Apparently, the full number of the 144,000  has yet to be filled.  But increasing numbers of those who heeded the message and who showed zeal in the witness work cam to profess an interests in living forever on the Paradise earth.  They had no desire to go to heaven.  That was not their calling.  They were no part of the little flock but rather of the other sheep.  (Luke 12:32;  John 10:16)  Their being identified in 1935 as the great crowd of other sheep was an indication that choosing the 1144,000 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 progressivly  decreased, principallybecause faithful Witnesses of Jehovah finished their earthly course  in death.  In 2005 only 8, 524 partook of the Memorial emblems-0.05 percent of the 16l,390, 116 attending that global observance.  

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