Whos the hundred and forty and four thousand? (Considering Christians and Jews WILL Be HERE DURING THIS TIME) You may want to consider views before the Pre-Trib was invented in 1830. 2 And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, 3 Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. 4 And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel Rev 7:2-4 (KJV) Historicist Elliott and Barnes see the 144,000 as symbolic of the entire church, “the Israel of God.” According to Elliott, “the twelve tribes of Israel, and the 144,000 mentioned in them, designate respectively the visible professing Church... Christ’s true Church, the election of grace, gathered out of it.” Gregg, Steve: Revelation, Four Views : A Parallel Commentary. Nashville, Tenn. : T. Nelson Publishers, 1997, S. Re 7:4-8 Mounce and Ladd .... Not holding to the pretribulation Rapture thesis, they both believe the 144,000 to be symbolic of the church in the Tribulation. They are thus “the last generation church, not a select group, but the full number of faithful believers alive when that event takes place” (Mounce). Gregg, Steve: Revelation, Four Views : A Parallel Commentary. Nashville, Tenn. : T. Nelson Publishers, 1997, S. Re 7:4-8 This company represents the church as the true and spiritual Israel. Hobbs gives three reasons for not understanding this vision to apply to ethnic Israelites: (1) such a view imposes a canon of literalism upon a passage belonging to a very symbolic book, (2) the Book of Revelation does not elsewhere draw distinctions between the Jewish Christians and their Gentile counterparts, and (3) the sealing of this group, contrasted with the multi-racial multitude in verses 9 through 17 (who are not sealed), would suggest that only Jewish believers, and not other Christians, are sealed by God for protection. Wilson expresses a further reason and speaks for many expositors: That ethnic Israel is not in view is confirmed by the irregular listing of the tribes. Judah is placed first as the Messiah’s own tribe, Dan is omitted, Levi is included as an ordinary tribe and Joseph replaces Ephraim. The number 144,000 is symbolic, derived by multiplying 1,000, the basic military division in the camp of Israel (Num. 31:4–5), by 144 (twelve squared), symbolizing the faithful remnant of the Old Israel and of the New Israel— thus forming the true spiritual Israel, the church. In any age, it is the church that is preserved from God’s judgments upon nations, though this does not mean the church does not suffer at the hands of sinners (6:9). Gregg, Steve: Revelation, Four Views : A Parallel Commentary. Nashville, Tenn. : T. Nelson Publishers, 1997, S. Re 7:4-8
Posted on: Sat, 26 Oct 2013 17:35:39 +0000
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