Who has heard of a thing like this? Who has seen things like these? Will a land be brought forth with labor pains in one day? Or will a nation be born at one time? For Zion has come into labor pains as well as given birth to her sons. "As for me, shall I cause the breaking through and not cause the giving birth?" says Jehovah. "Or am I causing a giving birth and do I actually cause a shutting up?" your God has said. Isaiah 66:8,9
John 1:1-3: The 144,000 << LinkIn the Revelation the apostle John was transported by inspiration to the Lord’s day not only to witness but also to directly participate in a dramatic prophetic vision with Christ, similar to his transfiguration experience. In the 10th chapter of Revelation, John witnessed a powerful angel coming down from heaven and standing astride the earth and the sea. The angel that John envisioned can be none other than the glorified Lord Jesus Christ; as he comes down from heaven to lay claim to his inheritance – the earth – in order to make it subject to himself in accord with the mandate given him by Jehovah, as Paul explained in the 2nd chapter of his letter to the Hebrews. That the angel is Christ is evident from the symbolism employed.
Revelation 10:1-3 states: “And I saw another strong angel descending from heaven, arrayed with a cloud, and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as the sun, and his feet were as fiery pillars, and he had in his hand a little scroll opened. And he set his right foot upon the sea, but his left one upon the earth, and he cried out with a loud voice just as when a lion roars. And when he cried out, the seven thunders uttered their own voices.
”The prophecy of Daniel referred to Jesus as the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven. Jesus personally applied that prophecy to himself when on trial before the Sanhedrin. And upon his ascension back to heaven Jesus was taken up into the clouds. It is appropriate, then, that Bible symbolism should depict the returning Christ cloaked with the clouds of heaven. (The attending angels at the ascension informed Christ’s awestruck disciples that Jesus would return in the “same manner” as they had beheld him going into the sky. Only Jesus’ loyal disciples witnessed his ascension.
Jesus’ returning in the “same manner” would seem to indicate that only his anointed disciples will see him after his descent from heaven.) Furthermore, in the vision of Revelation John reports that “his face was as the sun.”
No doubt the apostles immediately recognized the descending angel to be Christ Jesus, since in the transfiguration vision that John had witnessed some 60 years earlier Jesus’ face also shone like the sun. And the fact that the angel “cried out with a loud voice just as when a lion roars” ought to call to mind that Jesus is called “the lion of the tribe of Judah.
”With his feet firmly planted on the sea and earth the angel then “raised his right hand to heaven, and by the One who lives forever and ever, who created the heaven and the things in it and the earth and the things in it and the sea and the things in it, he swore:
‘There will be no delay any longer; but in the days of the sounding of the seventh angel, when he is about to blow his trumpet, the sacred secret of God according to the good news which he declared to his own slaves the prophets is indeed brought to a finish.’”
“The sacred secret of God” pertains to the so-called seed of the woman, which is Christ in company with Jehovah’s hand-picked 144,000.
Naturally, “the mystery of God,” as some translations have worded it, will not be finished until all the chosen ones have been approved and sealed and Christ manifests himself to them – as is portrayed by the interaction of John with the descending angel in the Revelation vision.
That John participated in the vision as an awestruck observer of Christ’s descent to earth and that Jesus spoke to him and handed him the little scroll, thereby re-commissioning him to “prophesy again with regard to peoples and nations and tongues and many kings,” portends the manifestation of Christ to the remaining anointed ones on earth and their final assignment to give witness to Jesus’ presence in glory. Of course, the aged apostle was not personally re-commissioned by Christ to go on some sort of missionary tour of the Mediterranean region.
John was a very old man and a prisoner on the remote island of Patmos at the time. His earthly ministry was nearly over. The apostle merely represented in the vision those anointed servants of God who will be on earth when Christ actually comes down to finish the mystery of God. The fact that John was commissioned to “prophesy again” immediately after the strong angel had declared the sacred secret of God to have been accomplished is significant. It indicates that there will be a final witness given to the world after the calling and choosing of the sons of the kingdom has come to a finish.
As the last surviving apostle John typifies the surviving sons of the kingdom who will be on earth after the first resurrection begins. In harmony with the fact that the two witnesses come on the scene after the sealing has been accomplished, the 11th chapter of Revelation concludes with a vision of the curtain in God’s heavenly sanctuary being drawn back to reveal the ark of the covenant. Of course, it is not the literal Ark of the Covenant that used to sit in the Most Holy compartment of the tabernacle and temple, and which housed the actual stone tablets of the Law covenant.
That ark disappeared after the Babylonians sacked Jehovah’s temple long before the Common Era began. No, the Ark of the Covenant in Revelation must symbolize an ark of the new covenant, which is between Jehovah and those whom he adopts as spirit sons and daughters. The significance of John seeing the ark in its proper place in heaven’s sanctuary would seem to confirm what John had previously been told regarding the sacred secret of God coming to a finish. With the resurrection of God’s two witnesses to heaven the new covenant will have accomplished its primary purpose.
It means that the kingdom is complete and the covenant comes to a successful conclusion.
“AND I WILL CAUSE MY TWO WITNESSES TO PROPHECY” The designation of “two witnesses” signifies that they will have visibly witnessed the very presence of Christ, just as Peter, James and John visibly witnessed the transfiguration and John also witnessed Christ in the vision of Revelation. The two witnesses of Revelation are symbolized by Moses and Elijah not only because Moses and Elijah both appeared in the transfiguration vision, but because Moses and Elijah had personal encounters with Jehovah when they were alive.
Significantly, Moses and Elijah both were forced to flee into the wilderness and it was in the wilderness that Jehovah spoke to them. Moses spoke to Jehovah at the burning bush and also talked to Jehovah face-to-face upon Mount Sinai. (In reality it was the manifestation of an angel) Elijah lived in the wilderness for the duration of a three and one half year drought that came about at his order, during which time Jehovah miraculously fed the prophet by means of ravens that brought meat and bread twice a day.
This puts us in mind of the description of the two witnesses, who prophesy for 42 months and have authority to shut up the heavens so that it should not rain during the period of their prophesying. Prayers will not be heard! Later Elijah encountered Jehovah’s awe-inspiring manifestation when he was holed up in a cave in the wilderness. Moses and Elijah have another experience in common: They were both taken by Jehovah. Moses was ordered by God to ascend Mount Nebo in order to view the Promised Land. But he would not descend. Moses was to die for acting “undutifully” towards God on one occasion. The account says that even though he was 120 years old at the time Moses’ strength had not diminished and his eyesight had not grown dim. In other words, he did not die of old age. God simply took him and neither his body nor his grave was ever found.
Elijah was also symbolically taken when Jehovah’s fiery war chariot swooped down from the sky and whisked the prophet heavenward. The departure of Moses and Elijah stands as two prophetic dramas – enactments of future events. After their mysterious departures, it is as though Moses and Elijah showed up together centuries later in the transfiguration. Their symbolic departures earlier and their sudden re-appearance in the transfiguration of Christ, and afterwards their depiction as the two witnesses in Revelation, is intended to convey how Jehovah will take the remaining holy ones off the earth after they finish their witnessing and are subsequently killed by the resurrected wild beast. “THE REVEALING OF THE SONS OF GOD”
According to the writings of Paul the revelation of Christ is accompanied by another phenomenon – the revelation of the sons of God. Paul worded it this way at Romans 8:18-19: “Consequently I reckon that the sufferings of the present season do not amount to anything in comparison with the glory that is going to be revealed in us. For the eager expectation of the creation is waiting for the revealing of the sons of God.”For a certainty, Jesus and his fellow sons of God making up the new creation will be the most glorious beings in the entire universe.
The question is, though, does the “revealing of the sons of God” take place from heaven after all the chosen ones have been raised to Christ’s side, or “is the glory that is going to be revealed in us” an earthly manifestation that occurs prior to the departure of “the remaining ones”? The historical account of Moses’ own glorification and his portentous place in the transfiguration and Revelation indicates that the sons of God are destined to be glorified before they are harvested from the earth. The concluding portion of the 34th chapter of Exodus reads: “Now it came about when Moses came down from Mount Sinai that the two tablets of the Testimony were in the hand of Moses when he came down from the mountain, and Moses did not know that the skin of his face emitted rays because of his having spoken with him. When Aaron and all the sons of Israel got to see Moses, why, look! the skin of his face emitted rays and they grew afraid of coming near to him. And Moses proceeded to call them. So Aaron and all the chieftains among the assembly came back to him, and Moses began to speak to them. First after that all the sons of Israel came near to him, and he began commanding them all that Jehovah had spoken with him on Mount Sinai. When Moses would finish speaking with them, he would put a veil over his face. But when Moses would go in before Jehovah to speak with him, he would take away the veil until his going out. And he went out and spoke to the sons of Israel what he would be commanded. And the sons of Israel saw Moses’ face, that the skin of Moses’ face emitted rays; and Moses put the veil back over his face until he went in to speak with him.”
The significance of Moses’ transfiguration is explained by Paul in his second letter to the Corinthians, where he said that the glory that is to be conferred upon those in the new covenant surpasses the glory that Moses possessed as the mediator of the old covenant. Paul wrote: “Moreover, if the code which administers death and which was engraved in letters in stones came about in a glory, so that the sons of Israel could not gaze intently at the face of Moses because of the glory of his face, a glory that was to be done away with, why should not the administering of the spirit be much more with glory? For if the code administering condemnation was glorious, much more does the administering of righteousness abound with glory. In fact, even that which has once been made glorious has been stripped of glory in this respect, because of the glory that excels it. For if that which was to be done away with was brought in with glory, much more would that which remains be with glory. Therefore, as we have such a hope, we are using great freeness of speech, and not doing as when Moses would put a veil upon his face, that the sons of Israel might not gaze intently at the end of that which was to be done away with.” 2 Corinthians 3:7-13
Paul went on to explain that anointed Christians reflect Jehovah’s glory in their own faces and that the unbelievers are perishing as a result of the god of this age having placed a veil over their powers of perception – spiritually blinding them to the glorious good news. Of course, Paul was not saying that Christians literally emitted rays from their faces, as did Moses. Paul was speaking very generally. But considering that the judgment had not begun in the first century, and it has always been Jehovah’s purpose to resurrect both the righteous and the unrighteous, why did Paul say that those who had been blinded by the Devil were “perishing”? After all, the apostles perished too. And no doubt those who were blinded by the Devil so as to not comprehend the message of the first century Christians will receive an earthly resurrection. Apparently Paul’s words are intended to apply to the actual judgment period during the time of the end.
That is when God’s judgment is executed against those who prefer the darkness of the Devil’s world to the glorious illumination of Christ. Christ himself foretold that during the conclusion of the age the angels will permanently remove from Jehovah’s kingdom all those weed-like persons who are doing lawlessness and heave them into the fiery furnace – causing them to perish. It is at that time when the sons of God “will shine as brightly as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.” The sons of God shining like the sun in the kingdom of Jehovah means that they will have been fully accepted into the then-established kingdom; and not only that, but they will have conferred upon them the very glory of Christ – a glory that they will then reflect to illuminate others – those who have not allowed themselves to have become blinded by Satan.
In a miraculous manifestation reminiscent of Moses, the anointed will then be transfigured so as to radiate Jehovah’s glory in their own faces and in that way the sons of God will be revealed before creation as an earthly reflection of the glorious revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ. The teaching that only 144,000 go to heaven is biblical, but many see it as only Jews which is incorrect. I for one, though, believe that it is well supported by scripture. For the most part people reject the teaching because they are ignorant of Jehovah’s purpose to restore mankind and the earth to Edenic perfection. People have been falsely taught by Babylon’s clergy that heaven and hell are mankind’s destiny. Even those who profess they have the truth have been duped, by leaders of the churches.
But as those who worship Jehovah in spirit and truth should know, it was never God’s purpose to perpetually harvest the imaginary departed souls of the dead to populate the heavens – much less does God delight in roasting hapless sinners in hellfire. God has always intended for humans to live forever in peace and happiness on earth and that purpose will be accomplished by two means – one, by resurrecting the dead back to life on earth; and secondly, by preserving a great crowd through the world-ending great tribulation, to establish what the prophecies call the new earth.
However, it has also pleased Jehovah to create what is called the new heavens. The new heaven is a group composed of Christ and those who are chosen to share with him in his kingdom a number to include the 144,000 caught away from the earth. The reason God purposed to create a new heavens, as well as a new earthly society, is because the rebellion against God originated in the heavens, with Satan the Devil and the angels who became demons. Satan accused God of selfishly holding back knowledge from his creation because they couldn’t be trusted. The Devil also slandered God; impugning his character by implying that God has to bribe his creatures to be loyal to him and that if tested with hardship no one would ever be willing to suffer for God. And conversely, Satan also suggested that all intelligent creation is incapable of offering God complete loyalty and unselfish devotion.
So, in order to conclusively prove Satan to be a liar God proposed to create a new creation composed of a limited number of indestructible spirits who are chosen from among mankind the final sealing, and basically given the keys to the universe. But first they must prove their loyalty unto death before Jehovah grants them their reward. By doing so God demonstrates that he will not withhold anything from those whom he loves and who love him.
Because Jehovah’s magnanimity is displayed to such a superlative degree in his proposed new creation, it is a complete humiliation for the Devil. But, because he is a liar and the father of all lies, as Jesus called him, Satan is intent on belittling, discrediting and opposing anything having to do with the new creation. One method he has used to belittle Jehovah’s incredible gift is by making it seem ordinary to most people. This he has done through the commonly accepted lies of Christianity that have deluded masses of people into believing that everyone goes to heaven, or at least all “Christians” supposedly do, as if it were their God-given birthright. But the Scriptures indicate otherwise. Only a representative number are chosen to be part of the new creation. The very designation of “chosen ones” indicates that it is an exclusive group of a limited number. Jesus also indicated as much when he addressed his fellow kingdom heirs as a “little flock.”
In examining the context of Jesus’ remarks in the 12th chapter of Luke, it becomes apparent that the little flock extends all the way down to those who would be living when Christ commences his parousia. That is apparent because immediately after assuring the little flock that his Father had approved of giving them the kingdom, Jesus went on to say: “Let your loins be girded and your lamps be burning, and you yourselves be like men waiting for their master when he returns from the marriage, so that at his arriving and knocking they may at once open to him. Happy are those slaves whom the master on arriving finds watching! Truly I say to you, He will gird himself and make them recline at the table and will come alongside and minister to them. And if he arrives in the second watch, even if in the third, and finds them thus, happy are they! But know this, that if the householder had known at what hour the thief would come, he would have kept watching and not have let his house be broken into. You also, keep ready, because at an hour that you do not think likely the Son of man is coming.”
Since Jesus was directly addressing those whom he called a little flock when he said the above it is evident that the little flock of kingdom heirs will be on earth when the Son of man arrives. It is therefore evident that all the anointed kingdom heirs make up what Jesus called the little flock. Those who insist otherwise are perpetuating a lie. We know the dead in Christ rise first. As recorded at John 17:2, which was his last public prayer before his sacrificial death, Jesus referred to the “whole number” of believers, whom his Father had given him.
Revelation reveals the “whole number” amounts to 144,000. How do we know that number applies to the little flock? For one thing, the 7th chapter of Revelation says that the 144,000 are sealed, 12,000 out of the 12 tribes of Israel. Of course, it is not in reference to the literal 12 tribes of Israel, which no longer even existed when Revelation was written. The letter of James is addressed to the 'twelve tribes scattered about,' which is in reference to those anointed in Christ that had sprung from the 12 founding apostles.
On the matter of the sealing: only anointed Christians are said to be sealed with God’s spirit. As 2 Corinthians 1:21-22 says: “But he who guarantees that you and we belong to Christ and he who has anointed us is God. He 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.”
Furthermore, Revelation 14:1-3 reveals other vital clues as to the identity of the 144,000. Those verses read: “And I saw, and, look! the Lamb standing upon the Mount Zion, and with him a hundred and forty-four thousand having his name and the name of his Father written on their foreheads. And I heard a sound out of heaven as the sound of many waters and as the sound of loud thunder; and the sound that I heard was as of singers who accompany themselves on the harp playing on their harps. And they are singing as if a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders; and no one was able to master that song but the hundred and forty-four thousand, who have been bought from the earth.”
The fact that the 144,000 have the name of Jehovah and Jesus written upon their foreheads indicates that they have been especially chosen, bought from the earth, as verse three says. The great crowd are not said to have been bought from the earth, nor are they depicted as having the name of God and Christ written on their foreheads. The 144,000 are Jehovah’s very special possession, unlike any other creation. Mount Zion, where the 144,000 are standing with Christ, is a symbol for the very kingdom of God in heaven. That’s because literal Mount Zion in Jerusalem was the place of Jehovah’s typical throne and temple. Jesus standing upon Mount Zion with 144,000 can only be depicting Christ and his little flock in the kingdom; the very ones whom Jesus assured would be given the kingdom.
It is significant too that it says that the 144,000 are singing to Jehovah a new song and “no one was able to master that song but the hundred and forty-four thousand, who have been bought from the earth.” The exclusivity of the 144,000 grouping is underscored by the fact that no one can master the new song except the 144,000. A new song is a fitting symbol to distinguish the special worship rendered to Jehovah by those who are taken into a new covenant, to be a new creation in the new heavens and a new Jerusalem.
It is interesting, however, that in the 11th chapter of Romans Paul alluded to the days of the prophet Elijah when Jehovah preserved 7,000 who had not bent their knee in worship of Baal. Paul then applied that number to what he called the “remnant” of God’s choosing then living. That is not to say that Paul was implying that there were literally only 7,000 Christians in the first century, but in order for his comparison to have any meaning back then there must have been a comparable number. (The real significance of the 7,000 is sealed up in the sacred secret of Revelation) On down in that same chapter of Romans, Paul went on to say that “all of Israel will be saved” only when the “full number of people from the nations has come in.”
This expression not only indicates that “Israel” is composed of non-Jewish persons, hence a spiritual Israel, but that there is a pre-ordained specific number that is to be gathered. In Paul’s day the full number who would be taken from the nations to become part of “Israel” was still a mystery, but with the writing of Revelation at the close of the apostolic era the full number was revealed to amount to 144,000.When will the trampling begin? According to the context of Revelation, it commences with the coming of Christ. The oft-overlooked 10th chapter of Revelation presents to us a vision of the coming of Christ, where it says: And I saw another strong angel descending from heaven, arrayed with a cloud, and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as the sun, and his feet were as fiery pillars, and he had in his hand a little scroll opened. And he set his right foot upon the sea, but his left one upon the earth, and he cried out with a loud voice just as when a lion roars. And when he cried out, the seven thunders uttered their own voices. Now when the seven thunders spoke, I was at the point of writing; but I heard a voice out of heaven say: “Seal up the things the seven thunders spoke, and do not write them down.” And the angel that I saw standing on the sea and on the earth raised his right hand to heaven, and by the One who lives forever and ever, who created the heaven and the things in it and the earth and the things in it and the sea and the things in it, he swore: “There will be no delay any longer; but in the days of the sounding of the seventh angel, when he is about to blow his trumpet, the sacred secret of God according to the good news which he declared to his own slaves the prophets is indeed brought to a finish.” Revelation 10:1-7
Revelation 10:1-3 states: “And I saw another strong angel descending from heaven, arrayed with a cloud, and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as the sun, and his feet were as fiery pillars, and he had in his hand a little scroll opened. And he set his right foot upon the sea, but his left one upon the earth, and he cried out with a loud voice just as when a lion roars. And when he cried out, the seven thunders uttered their own voices.
”The prophecy of Daniel referred to Jesus as the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven. Jesus personally applied that prophecy to himself when on trial before the Sanhedrin. And upon his ascension back to heaven Jesus was taken up into the clouds. It is appropriate, then, that Bible symbolism should depict the returning Christ cloaked with the clouds of heaven. (The attending angels at the ascension informed Christ’s awestruck disciples that Jesus would return in the “same manner” as they had beheld him going into the sky. Only Jesus’ loyal disciples witnessed his ascension.
Jesus’ returning in the “same manner” would seem to indicate that only his anointed disciples will see him after his descent from heaven.) Furthermore, in the vision of Revelation John reports that “his face was as the sun.”
No doubt the apostles immediately recognized the descending angel to be Christ Jesus, since in the transfiguration vision that John had witnessed some 60 years earlier Jesus’ face also shone like the sun. And the fact that the angel “cried out with a loud voice just as when a lion roars” ought to call to mind that Jesus is called “the lion of the tribe of Judah.
”With his feet firmly planted on the sea and earth the angel then “raised his right hand to heaven, and by the One who lives forever and ever, who created the heaven and the things in it and the earth and the things in it and the sea and the things in it, he swore:
‘There will be no delay any longer; but in the days of the sounding of the seventh angel, when he is about to blow his trumpet, the sacred secret of God according to the good news which he declared to his own slaves the prophets is indeed brought to a finish.’”
“The sacred secret of God” pertains to the so-called seed of the woman, which is Christ in company with Jehovah’s hand-picked 144,000.
Naturally, “the mystery of God,” as some translations have worded it, will not be finished until all the chosen ones have been approved and sealed and Christ manifests himself to them – as is portrayed by the interaction of John with the descending angel in the Revelation vision.
That John participated in the vision as an awestruck observer of Christ’s descent to earth and that Jesus spoke to him and handed him the little scroll, thereby re-commissioning him to “prophesy again with regard to peoples and nations and tongues and many kings,” portends the manifestation of Christ to the remaining anointed ones on earth and their final assignment to give witness to Jesus’ presence in glory. Of course, the aged apostle was not personally re-commissioned by Christ to go on some sort of missionary tour of the Mediterranean region.
John was a very old man and a prisoner on the remote island of Patmos at the time. His earthly ministry was nearly over. The apostle merely represented in the vision those anointed servants of God who will be on earth when Christ actually comes down to finish the mystery of God. The fact that John was commissioned to “prophesy again” immediately after the strong angel had declared the sacred secret of God to have been accomplished is significant. It indicates that there will be a final witness given to the world after the calling and choosing of the sons of the kingdom has come to a finish.
As the last surviving apostle John typifies the surviving sons of the kingdom who will be on earth after the first resurrection begins. In harmony with the fact that the two witnesses come on the scene after the sealing has been accomplished, the 11th chapter of Revelation concludes with a vision of the curtain in God’s heavenly sanctuary being drawn back to reveal the ark of the covenant. Of course, it is not the literal Ark of the Covenant that used to sit in the Most Holy compartment of the tabernacle and temple, and which housed the actual stone tablets of the Law covenant.
That ark disappeared after the Babylonians sacked Jehovah’s temple long before the Common Era began. No, the Ark of the Covenant in Revelation must symbolize an ark of the new covenant, which is between Jehovah and those whom he adopts as spirit sons and daughters. The significance of John seeing the ark in its proper place in heaven’s sanctuary would seem to confirm what John had previously been told regarding the sacred secret of God coming to a finish. With the resurrection of God’s two witnesses to heaven the new covenant will have accomplished its primary purpose.
It means that the kingdom is complete and the covenant comes to a successful conclusion.
“AND I WILL CAUSE MY TWO WITNESSES TO PROPHECY” The designation of “two witnesses” signifies that they will have visibly witnessed the very presence of Christ, just as Peter, James and John visibly witnessed the transfiguration and John also witnessed Christ in the vision of Revelation. The two witnesses of Revelation are symbolized by Moses and Elijah not only because Moses and Elijah both appeared in the transfiguration vision, but because Moses and Elijah had personal encounters with Jehovah when they were alive.
Significantly, Moses and Elijah both were forced to flee into the wilderness and it was in the wilderness that Jehovah spoke to them. Moses spoke to Jehovah at the burning bush and also talked to Jehovah face-to-face upon Mount Sinai. (In reality it was the manifestation of an angel) Elijah lived in the wilderness for the duration of a three and one half year drought that came about at his order, during which time Jehovah miraculously fed the prophet by means of ravens that brought meat and bread twice a day.
This puts us in mind of the description of the two witnesses, who prophesy for 42 months and have authority to shut up the heavens so that it should not rain during the period of their prophesying. Prayers will not be heard! Later Elijah encountered Jehovah’s awe-inspiring manifestation when he was holed up in a cave in the wilderness. Moses and Elijah have another experience in common: They were both taken by Jehovah. Moses was ordered by God to ascend Mount Nebo in order to view the Promised Land. But he would not descend. Moses was to die for acting “undutifully” towards God on one occasion. The account says that even though he was 120 years old at the time Moses’ strength had not diminished and his eyesight had not grown dim. In other words, he did not die of old age. God simply took him and neither his body nor his grave was ever found.
Elijah was also symbolically taken when Jehovah’s fiery war chariot swooped down from the sky and whisked the prophet heavenward. The departure of Moses and Elijah stands as two prophetic dramas – enactments of future events. After their mysterious departures, it is as though Moses and Elijah showed up together centuries later in the transfiguration. Their symbolic departures earlier and their sudden re-appearance in the transfiguration of Christ, and afterwards their depiction as the two witnesses in Revelation, is intended to convey how Jehovah will take the remaining holy ones off the earth after they finish their witnessing and are subsequently killed by the resurrected wild beast. “THE REVEALING OF THE SONS OF GOD”
According to the writings of Paul the revelation of Christ is accompanied by another phenomenon – the revelation of the sons of God. Paul worded it this way at Romans 8:18-19: “Consequently I reckon that the sufferings of the present season do not amount to anything in comparison with the glory that is going to be revealed in us. For the eager expectation of the creation is waiting for the revealing of the sons of God.”For a certainty, Jesus and his fellow sons of God making up the new creation will be the most glorious beings in the entire universe.
The question is, though, does the “revealing of the sons of God” take place from heaven after all the chosen ones have been raised to Christ’s side, or “is the glory that is going to be revealed in us” an earthly manifestation that occurs prior to the departure of “the remaining ones”? The historical account of Moses’ own glorification and his portentous place in the transfiguration and Revelation indicates that the sons of God are destined to be glorified before they are harvested from the earth. The concluding portion of the 34th chapter of Exodus reads: “Now it came about when Moses came down from Mount Sinai that the two tablets of the Testimony were in the hand of Moses when he came down from the mountain, and Moses did not know that the skin of his face emitted rays because of his having spoken with him. When Aaron and all the sons of Israel got to see Moses, why, look! the skin of his face emitted rays and they grew afraid of coming near to him. And Moses proceeded to call them. So Aaron and all the chieftains among the assembly came back to him, and Moses began to speak to them. First after that all the sons of Israel came near to him, and he began commanding them all that Jehovah had spoken with him on Mount Sinai. When Moses would finish speaking with them, he would put a veil over his face. But when Moses would go in before Jehovah to speak with him, he would take away the veil until his going out. And he went out and spoke to the sons of Israel what he would be commanded. And the sons of Israel saw Moses’ face, that the skin of Moses’ face emitted rays; and Moses put the veil back over his face until he went in to speak with him.”
The significance of Moses’ transfiguration is explained by Paul in his second letter to the Corinthians, where he said that the glory that is to be conferred upon those in the new covenant surpasses the glory that Moses possessed as the mediator of the old covenant. Paul wrote: “Moreover, if the code which administers death and which was engraved in letters in stones came about in a glory, so that the sons of Israel could not gaze intently at the face of Moses because of the glory of his face, a glory that was to be done away with, why should not the administering of the spirit be much more with glory? For if the code administering condemnation was glorious, much more does the administering of righteousness abound with glory. In fact, even that which has once been made glorious has been stripped of glory in this respect, because of the glory that excels it. For if that which was to be done away with was brought in with glory, much more would that which remains be with glory. Therefore, as we have such a hope, we are using great freeness of speech, and not doing as when Moses would put a veil upon his face, that the sons of Israel might not gaze intently at the end of that which was to be done away with.” 2 Corinthians 3:7-13
Paul went on to explain that anointed Christians reflect Jehovah’s glory in their own faces and that the unbelievers are perishing as a result of the god of this age having placed a veil over their powers of perception – spiritually blinding them to the glorious good news. Of course, Paul was not saying that Christians literally emitted rays from their faces, as did Moses. Paul was speaking very generally. But considering that the judgment had not begun in the first century, and it has always been Jehovah’s purpose to resurrect both the righteous and the unrighteous, why did Paul say that those who had been blinded by the Devil were “perishing”? After all, the apostles perished too. And no doubt those who were blinded by the Devil so as to not comprehend the message of the first century Christians will receive an earthly resurrection. Apparently Paul’s words are intended to apply to the actual judgment period during the time of the end.
That is when God’s judgment is executed against those who prefer the darkness of the Devil’s world to the glorious illumination of Christ. Christ himself foretold that during the conclusion of the age the angels will permanently remove from Jehovah’s kingdom all those weed-like persons who are doing lawlessness and heave them into the fiery furnace – causing them to perish. It is at that time when the sons of God “will shine as brightly as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.” The sons of God shining like the sun in the kingdom of Jehovah means that they will have been fully accepted into the then-established kingdom; and not only that, but they will have conferred upon them the very glory of Christ – a glory that they will then reflect to illuminate others – those who have not allowed themselves to have become blinded by Satan.
In a miraculous manifestation reminiscent of Moses, the anointed will then be transfigured so as to radiate Jehovah’s glory in their own faces and in that way the sons of God will be revealed before creation as an earthly reflection of the glorious revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ. The teaching that only 144,000 go to heaven is biblical, but many see it as only Jews which is incorrect. I for one, though, believe that it is well supported by scripture. For the most part people reject the teaching because they are ignorant of Jehovah’s purpose to restore mankind and the earth to Edenic perfection. People have been falsely taught by Babylon’s clergy that heaven and hell are mankind’s destiny. Even those who profess they have the truth have been duped, by leaders of the churches.
But as those who worship Jehovah in spirit and truth should know, it was never God’s purpose to perpetually harvest the imaginary departed souls of the dead to populate the heavens – much less does God delight in roasting hapless sinners in hellfire. God has always intended for humans to live forever in peace and happiness on earth and that purpose will be accomplished by two means – one, by resurrecting the dead back to life on earth; and secondly, by preserving a great crowd through the world-ending great tribulation, to establish what the prophecies call the new earth.
However, it has also pleased Jehovah to create what is called the new heavens. The new heaven is a group composed of Christ and those who are chosen to share with him in his kingdom a number to include the 144,000 caught away from the earth. The reason God purposed to create a new heavens, as well as a new earthly society, is because the rebellion against God originated in the heavens, with Satan the Devil and the angels who became demons. Satan accused God of selfishly holding back knowledge from his creation because they couldn’t be trusted. The Devil also slandered God; impugning his character by implying that God has to bribe his creatures to be loyal to him and that if tested with hardship no one would ever be willing to suffer for God. And conversely, Satan also suggested that all intelligent creation is incapable of offering God complete loyalty and unselfish devotion.
So, in order to conclusively prove Satan to be a liar God proposed to create a new creation composed of a limited number of indestructible spirits who are chosen from among mankind the final sealing, and basically given the keys to the universe. But first they must prove their loyalty unto death before Jehovah grants them their reward. By doing so God demonstrates that he will not withhold anything from those whom he loves and who love him.
Because Jehovah’s magnanimity is displayed to such a superlative degree in his proposed new creation, it is a complete humiliation for the Devil. But, because he is a liar and the father of all lies, as Jesus called him, Satan is intent on belittling, discrediting and opposing anything having to do with the new creation. One method he has used to belittle Jehovah’s incredible gift is by making it seem ordinary to most people. This he has done through the commonly accepted lies of Christianity that have deluded masses of people into believing that everyone goes to heaven, or at least all “Christians” supposedly do, as if it were their God-given birthright. But the Scriptures indicate otherwise. Only a representative number are chosen to be part of the new creation. The very designation of “chosen ones” indicates that it is an exclusive group of a limited number. Jesus also indicated as much when he addressed his fellow kingdom heirs as a “little flock.”
In examining the context of Jesus’ remarks in the 12th chapter of Luke, it becomes apparent that the little flock extends all the way down to those who would be living when Christ commences his parousia. That is apparent because immediately after assuring the little flock that his Father had approved of giving them the kingdom, Jesus went on to say: “Let your loins be girded and your lamps be burning, and you yourselves be like men waiting for their master when he returns from the marriage, so that at his arriving and knocking they may at once open to him. Happy are those slaves whom the master on arriving finds watching! Truly I say to you, He will gird himself and make them recline at the table and will come alongside and minister to them. And if he arrives in the second watch, even if in the third, and finds them thus, happy are they! But know this, that if the householder had known at what hour the thief would come, he would have kept watching and not have let his house be broken into. You also, keep ready, because at an hour that you do not think likely the Son of man is coming.”
Since Jesus was directly addressing those whom he called a little flock when he said the above it is evident that the little flock of kingdom heirs will be on earth when the Son of man arrives. It is therefore evident that all the anointed kingdom heirs make up what Jesus called the little flock. Those who insist otherwise are perpetuating a lie. We know the dead in Christ rise first. As recorded at John 17:2, which was his last public prayer before his sacrificial death, Jesus referred to the “whole number” of believers, whom his Father had given him.
Revelation reveals the “whole number” amounts to 144,000. How do we know that number applies to the little flock? For one thing, the 7th chapter of Revelation says that the 144,000 are sealed, 12,000 out of the 12 tribes of Israel. Of course, it is not in reference to the literal 12 tribes of Israel, which no longer even existed when Revelation was written. The letter of James is addressed to the 'twelve tribes scattered about,' which is in reference to those anointed in Christ that had sprung from the 12 founding apostles.
On the matter of the sealing: only anointed Christians are said to be sealed with God’s spirit. As 2 Corinthians 1:21-22 says: “But he who guarantees that you and we belong to Christ and he who has anointed us is God. He 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.”
Furthermore, Revelation 14:1-3 reveals other vital clues as to the identity of the 144,000. Those verses read: “And I saw, and, look! the Lamb standing upon the Mount Zion, and with him a hundred and forty-four thousand having his name and the name of his Father written on their foreheads. And I heard a sound out of heaven as the sound of many waters and as the sound of loud thunder; and the sound that I heard was as of singers who accompany themselves on the harp playing on their harps. And they are singing as if a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders; and no one was able to master that song but the hundred and forty-four thousand, who have been bought from the earth.”
The fact that the 144,000 have the name of Jehovah and Jesus written upon their foreheads indicates that they have been especially chosen, bought from the earth, as verse three says. The great crowd are not said to have been bought from the earth, nor are they depicted as having the name of God and Christ written on their foreheads. The 144,000 are Jehovah’s very special possession, unlike any other creation. Mount Zion, where the 144,000 are standing with Christ, is a symbol for the very kingdom of God in heaven. That’s because literal Mount Zion in Jerusalem was the place of Jehovah’s typical throne and temple. Jesus standing upon Mount Zion with 144,000 can only be depicting Christ and his little flock in the kingdom; the very ones whom Jesus assured would be given the kingdom.
It is significant too that it says that the 144,000 are singing to Jehovah a new song and “no one was able to master that song but the hundred and forty-four thousand, who have been bought from the earth.” The exclusivity of the 144,000 grouping is underscored by the fact that no one can master the new song except the 144,000. A new song is a fitting symbol to distinguish the special worship rendered to Jehovah by those who are taken into a new covenant, to be a new creation in the new heavens and a new Jerusalem.
It is interesting, however, that in the 11th chapter of Romans Paul alluded to the days of the prophet Elijah when Jehovah preserved 7,000 who had not bent their knee in worship of Baal. Paul then applied that number to what he called the “remnant” of God’s choosing then living. That is not to say that Paul was implying that there were literally only 7,000 Christians in the first century, but in order for his comparison to have any meaning back then there must have been a comparable number. (The real significance of the 7,000 is sealed up in the sacred secret of Revelation) On down in that same chapter of Romans, Paul went on to say that “all of Israel will be saved” only when the “full number of people from the nations has come in.”
This expression not only indicates that “Israel” is composed of non-Jewish persons, hence a spiritual Israel, but that there is a pre-ordained specific number that is to be gathered. In Paul’s day the full number who would be taken from the nations to become part of “Israel” was still a mystery, but with the writing of Revelation at the close of the apostolic era the full number was revealed to amount to 144,000.When will the trampling begin? According to the context of Revelation, it commences with the coming of Christ. The oft-overlooked 10th chapter of Revelation presents to us a vision of the coming of Christ, where it says: And I saw another strong angel descending from heaven, arrayed with a cloud, and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as the sun, and his feet were as fiery pillars, and he had in his hand a little scroll opened. And he set his right foot upon the sea, but his left one upon the earth, and he cried out with a loud voice just as when a lion roars. And when he cried out, the seven thunders uttered their own voices. Now when the seven thunders spoke, I was at the point of writing; but I heard a voice out of heaven say: “Seal up the things the seven thunders spoke, and do not write them down.” And the angel that I saw standing on the sea and on the earth raised his right hand to heaven, and by the One who lives forever and ever, who created the heaven and the things in it and the earth and the things in it and the sea and the things in it, he swore: “There will be no delay any longer; but in the days of the sounding of the seventh angel, when he is about to blow his trumpet, the sacred secret of God according to the good news which he declared to his own slaves the prophets is indeed brought to a finish.” Revelation 10:1-7
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