| The Royal Marriages, Part 4: The Manchild with the Rod of Iron. The 144,000. continued S During the Exodus, comparable signs, and the Lord's descent amidst "a thick cloud...smoke [and ] fire," occurred on the day before Pentecost. Ex 19:16-18; 24:4 After confirming the covenant the following morning, Moses went up [on Mount Sinai], also Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and they saw the God of Israel. ... But on the nobles of the children of Israel he did not lay his hand. [That is, he did not harm them.] Ex. 24:9-11 Here we see that, although all of the Israelites had been sanctified by the blood of the covenant, only a specially chosen group of elders were further blessed by being taken up (briefly) into the Presence of the Lord. Z Right "after" the cataclysmic signs of the Sixth Seal = the Lord's Second Coming, we find in Revelation 7 a close parallel to the foreshadowing events above: [A]nother angel...cried with a loud voice...saying, "Do not harm the earth, the sea, or the trees till we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads." ... One hundred and forty-four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel were sealed... [12,000 per tribe] Rev. 7:1-4 Like at the First Trump, so at the Second: after the Lord comes down, an elect group of Israelite leaders will be selected to be especially blessed by God for his ministry. Despite having such auspicious beginnings, neither the 70 elders nor the 144,000 are said to actually do anything for quite some time. S The 70 elders of the Exodus are not mentioned again until almost a full year later, at which time they receive empowerment from the Lord. (This took place just after the deadly "fire of the Lord" [first Israelite rebellion], but just before the quail and plague [second Israelite rebellion]. See Part 3's First and Second Trumpets.) ...Moses said to the LORD, "Why have you...laid the burden of all these people on me? ... So the LORD said to Moses: "Gather to me seventy men of the elders of Israel..." So Moses...gathered the seventy...and placed them around the Tabernacle. Then the LORD came down in the cloud...and took of the Spirit that was upon [Moses], and placed it upon the seventy elders; and it happened, when the Spirit rested upon them, that they prophesied... Numbers 11:11, 16, 24-25 These elders of Israel became authorized and responsible, along with the Levites, to command the people to keep the laws of God. This institution was observed even 1,500 year later in the days of Jesus: the 70-member ruling body of elders in New Testament times was called the Sanhedrin. It is significant that the 70 elders weren't empowered until after the Tabernacle was erected and infilled by the Lord, that is, after Israel's year of purification. As we have seen, that period corresponds in the Latter Days to the Virgin Church's year of purification, after which time the Lord "will dwell among them," Rev. 7:15. And likewise, that period corresponds to the year-long purification of Esther and the other virgins, who thereafter came before the throne of the king (Esther 2), even as the Virgin Church will come "before the throne" of God in heaven. Rev. 7:9 With these things in mind, the allegorical meaning of the following Scripture can be understood: When the virgins were gathered together the second time [that is, "into the king's palace," 2:13], then Mordecai sat in the king's gate. Esther 2:19 As I've shown in "The Apocalypse of ... Esther??", Mordecai represents the 144,000. Now, the gate of an ancient city was the place where business was conducted and judgments took place. The king's gate in the royal city was the place of the king's public business and judgments. Therefore, it is generally recognized that after Esther's year of purification, Mordecai was authorized and empowered to hold an important seat in the official place of the kingdom's judicial and business affairs. Z The Book of Revelation says practically nothing about the 144,000 in chapters 8-13. They are sealed in chapter 7, that is, chosen and given a special blessing. Presumably they will also, like the 70 elders and Mordecai, be empowered soon after the year of purification. A passing mention is made of them in Rev. 9:4, where it is said that the demonic locusts from the Abyss won't be allowed to harm those who "have the seal of God on their foreheads." A popular pre-Tribulation-based teaching says they will evangelize the whole world ("144,000 Billy Grahams"), but Revelation says no such thing. S The 70 elders of Israel were chosen 1) to lead and teach their own people, who were the people of God. Under their leadership, 2) the Israelites eventually defeated and ruled over other nations. Z The prophets say the same two things will again take place in the Latter Days, under very similar circumstances: 1) "Behold, the days are coming," says the LORD, "that I will raise unto David a Branch of righteousness; a King shall reign and prosper [i.e., the Messiah]...and this is his name whereby he shall be called: The LORD Our Righteousness. ... And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries... And I will set up shepherds over them who will feed them..." [I.e., teach them the Word of the Lord.] "Therefore, behold, the days are coming," says the LORD, "that they shall no longer say, 'As the LORD lives, who brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt," but, "As the LORD lives, who brought up and led the seed of the house of Israel...from all the countries where I had driven them." Jeremiah 23:5-6, 3-4, 7-8 Like Hebrews 12:18-29, this passage portrays the close parallel between events in the eras of the First Trump upon Mount Sinai and the Last Trump upon Mount Zion. In the Latter Days, the Lord will first choose elders specifically to shepherd his own people, but not the whole world. Another passage that shows this close parallel is found in Ezekiel: "I [the Lord GOD] will bring you out from the peoples, and gather you out of the countries wherein you are scattered, with a mighty hand, with an outstretched arm, and with fury poured out. And I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there will I plead my case with you face to face. Just as I pleaded my case with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I [again]... I will make you pass under the rod [i.e., the authoritative word of God], and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant: and I will purge out from among you the rebels, and those that transgress against me...and they shall not enter the land of Israel. ... [A]nd I will be hallowed in you before the nations. And ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I bring you into the land of Israel..." Ezekiel 20:34-38, 41-42 Continue Previous page Part 1, Royal Marriages b/w Return to Index Return to Index page 2 |