(tm)The Great Multitude
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The "great multitude, which no man could number" (Revelation 7:9) refers to those who are faithful to death during the great tribulation. They do not attain to the degree of union with Christ that is true of the sealed remnant, but they remain faithful to God during earth’s darkest hour.
The tortures and slayings of the great tribulation purify them. They wash their robes and make them white in the blood of the Lamb by confessing their sins, turning from all wickedness, and placing their trust in the atonement made by the Lord Jesus. They refuse to take the mark of Antichrist and for this reason come under extremely severe persecution.
They are taken from all nations and tongues. It is given to them to stand before the throne of God and before the Lamb. They wear the white robes of righteousness and hold the palms of worship in their hands.
They are before the throne of God day and night. The Lamb dwells among them.
They will suffer hunger during the great tribulation but then they will be hungry no longer.
They will be thirsty during the great tribulation but then they will be thirsty no longer.
The burning sun of persecution will hurt them during the great tribulation but then they will be in pain no longer.
The Lamb will feed them and give them to drink, and God Himself will wipe away all tears from their eyes.
All the horrors of the great tribulation are behind them and they now are where they can be hurt no longer. They are saved. They will reign with Jesus throughout eternity as members of the royal priesthood.
The members of the great multitude are saved "out of [the] great tribulation" (Revelation 7:14). This means that through Christ they are able to gain victory over the Antichrist.
The "two witnesses," the Lord Jesus and His Body, will bear the testimony of the soon coming of the Kingdom of God to the earth. Through the authority and power granted them they will gain access to every nation, every tribe, every village on the earth. The end-time latter-rain witness will be given during the early stages of tribulation, that is, during the first half of Daniel’s seventieth week (Daniel 9:27).
At the end of the three and one-half years, the first half of the seventieth week, God will permit the witness to be overcome and driven from the cities of the earth. The Spirit-filled saints will be forced into hiding. Then a man (or woman) in whom the antichrist spirit is personified will come into power. We believe he or she will be a Christian who becomes deceived by Satan, as is taking place today.
At first Antichrist will be seeking to do good for people. Most of the population of the earth will have "accepted Christ" because of the power of the latter-rain witness. Many of the new Christians will be deceived and will follow Antichrist, as believers of today have followed those who have seduced them with the "faith" and "prosperity" messages.
As he, Antichrist, begins to be possessed fully by Satan, God will cause the tribulation to increase in severity. Man making himself God is the abomination that will result in a destructive, desolating tribulation.
The seeds of the antichrist kingdom are germinating today. Antichrist represents the maturing of man’s self-will. Each one of us Christians is dominated by self-will until we take up our cross and follow the Lord. This is an antichrist spirit.
The way we overcome the antichrist spirit in us is to renounce our own life. We must deliberately choose to be crucified with Christ, setting aside all our own plans and ambitions. We must lay down our life. We must take up our personal cross and follow the Lord Jesus. This is the only manner in which we can overcome the antichrist spirit of man making himself god.
The Christian churches are at a crossroads today. Some of the believers are choosing to keep their adamic personality, hoping to persuade God to bless their enterprises. Whenever we attempt to "save our life," that is, to go forth in spiritual matters before we know what it is the Lord wants us to do, we provide an opening for the spiritually ambitious Satan to enter our personality.
Other believers are choosing to die. They are giving up their own life so the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit may make them the chariots of God. Their whole existence is bent toward becoming the dwelling place of God. God hears their cry for total union with Him. The Father, the Son, and the Spirit will enter their bodies and dwell with them (John 14:23). They will be in the cleft of the Rock throughout the end-time judgments.
The only manner in which we can overcome the antichrist who is in us is by setting aside the whole of our life and seeking the Life of Christ. Only by entering into perfect, complete union with the Lord Jesus can we escape being deceived by Antichrist.
The Christian Gospel never is "tongues," or healing, or miracles. These signs follow when the true message is preached. The true Christian message is a message of discipleship. We are to believe in the Lord Jesus, repent of our sins, receive the atonement, be baptized in water, and then take up our cross and—through Jesus’ help—do the things the Lord and His Apostles commanded us to do.
It is time for all of us to get on our face before Jesus and cry to Him for discernment, for a removing from us of that which is not from Him. It is time to test the apostles. It may be that many of us are in deception. The signs of the true Presence of Jesus are not always manifest in the churches. We may be receiving in part, if not in whole, the False Prophet.
If we cannot come to the Lord now, humble ourselves, and cry out for mercy and discernment, then we will not be able to overcome the Antichrist when God gives him the enormous spiritual authority the Word describes. We will not be able to overcome! Those who succumb to Antichrist will drink of the wine of the wrath of God without mixture.
Both the sealed remnant and the great multitude have enough spiritual strength through Jesus to overcome the Antichrist. The difference between the two groups is, as we have stated previously, that the sealed remnant have been called aside by the Lord now and are entering into the judgment of their sins and the crucifixion of their personalities. The great multitude, on the other hand, will be brought closer to the Lord by the torments of the great tribulation.
The great multitude is mentioned in the fifth chapter of the Book of Revelation:
And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth. (Revelation 5:9,10)
The reason we associate the above group with the great multitude is that the description of the great multitude, in Revelation 7:9, includes the phrase "of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues." This is the same statement made in Revelation 5:9 (above).
No doubt the members of the sealed remnant are included in this group of kings and priests. But the emphasis in the sealed remnant is on the tribes of Israel rather than on the elect drawn from the nations (Revelation 7:4). The sealed remnant appear to have a special place in the heart of Jesus. We previously have discussed the concept of the firstfruits.
Again, just before the outpouring of the bowls of wrath:
And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God. (Revelation 15:2)
The saints are safe in the Presence of God before the wrath of God falls on the earth.
The accent here is on gaining the victory over the Beast, over his image, over his mark, and over the number of his name. We believe this group to be the great multitude because the sealed remnant, while they also overcome the Beast, are characterized by their intense love for the Lord Jesus, not by their gaining victory over Antichrist.
In any case, it is of supreme importance for the believer to understand that the issue of the last days is the overcoming of Antichrist. The temptations of the last days will include the lusts of the flesh, and especially the love and worship of money. We believe the major temptation will be the worshiping of the self-will of man.
We must overcome the man-worship of the closing days of the Church Age if we hope to escape spiritual destruction at the hands of Satan. We must live far beyond the current expectations of the Christian churches if we are to survive the end-time judgments.
Revelation 20:4-6 describes the first resurrection and those who participate therein.
And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. (Revelation 20:4)
We think that those who sit on the high thrones of judgment in the spirit realm, the thrones that govern the earth, are the sealed remnant. Those who were beheaded for the witness of Jesus are the great multitude. All who have overcome Antichrist will receive back their bodies from death and will rule as priests on the earth.
Both groups, the sealed remnant and the great multitude, will participate in the first resurrection, that is, in the resurrection and ascension that take place when the Lord Jesus appears. Both groups are "beheaded," which is to say, they set aside their fleshly reasonings and desires and follow the Spirit of the Lord.
Both groups refuse to worship the Beast and his image and reject his mark. Both groups live and reign with Christ throughout the thousand-year Kingdom Age.
We think it not unlikely, however, that it will be the sealed remnant who will sit on the highest thrones of judgment and will be especially active in the attack of Armageddon. Jude declares that the Lord will return with "ten thousands of his saints" (Jude 14), not with all His saints but with ten thousand of them. This may indicate that not all the saints will be in the first wave of the attack.
In describing Armageddon, Joel stresses "a great people and a strong" (Joel 2:2). It is the firstfruits of the Bride who are distinguished by being "terrible as an army with banners" (Song of Solomon 6:10). The sealed remnant stand, not on the sea of glass but on Mount Zion (Revelation 14:1)—the spiritual mountain of the spirits of righteous men made perfect (Hebrews 12:23).
Zion was the first area of Jerusalem that David captured. Zion then became David’s city. Zion is associated with war and with the Ark of the Covenant. Zion represents the going forth of the Law of God, of that which destroys the enemies of the Lord. The Ark leads the way into battle.
The sealed remnant and the great multitude will be raised in the first resurrection. They are God’s judges, His ruling priesthood. They will receive back their bodies from the dead and will judge and rule the nations of saved peoples of the earth throughout the thousand-year Kingdom Age.
Let us review briefly what we have stated to this point. The book "written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals," symbolizes the heart and actions of man (Revelation 5:1). When these seals are opened the course of history is revealed.
Man has a "writing" within him and a "writing" on the surface. What a man reveals on the outside may be quite different from what is in him. As the Lord goes forth conquering and to conquer, the writing on the inside begins to change for those who permit the Lord to conquer the darkness in them. When the writing on the inside begins to change, the writing on the outside, the sin and self-will evident in the behavior of people, also begins to change. The process is slow.
Meanwhile, torment and death fill the earth. These are not a Divine intervention but the natural consequence of the violation of spiritual principles. All men, including the elect of God, suffer because mankind is violating God’s laws. We know, for example, that immorality and other abuses of the body carry in themselves severe penalties. God is not mocked.
At the opening of the sixth seal the heaven will depart. The heaven is that which divides "the waters from the waters" (Genesis 1:6). It has pleased God to place a firmament, a heaven, between the spiritual world and the physical world.
The Word of God tells us what is true in the spiritual world, but we are compelled to live in the physical world, a dead world. The physical world basically is a lie and we are urged by the Lord not to be conformed to it (Romans 12:2). We demonstrate our faith in God by living according to what His Word declares is true, not what the world portrays as truth.
In the beginning the spiritual world and the material world were one. The tree of life grew from the ground of the garden of Eden. When Adam and Eve rebelled against God, God placed a division between the two worlds. But the two worlds will converge in the Kingdom of God.
The believer who would stand during the last days must learn to live in both worlds. By constant prayer, obedience, meditation in the Scriptures, and diligent application to the other aspects of the life of discipleship, he can begin to draw near to the Lord, bringing about in his own life a converging of the two worlds. The believer who chooses to live in the flesh will be tossed about like chaff, being completely unable to cope with the spiritual realities that even now are coming upon us.
All flesh is grass. It is the Word of God that will stand forever. The Word is of the spirit realm, and those who live in Jesus and by Jesus will have within themselves the strength of the Word of God.
When we behold the horrors that are coming we will faint with fear unless we are at home in the spiritual world. Those who dwell in Zion will be able to sing and dance in the height of Zion while the world is in flames (Jeremiah 31:12).
When the heaven departs, mankind will be able to see that which always has been true but has been hidden from us. Then people will be pierced with remorse because they had not lived differently.
The trumpets (which we have not discussed as yet) are a Divine intervention in the history of mankind. The blowing of the trumpets heralds the coming of the King. The judgments of the trumpets are sent to prepare the way of the Lord. Their purpose is to lead men to repentance.
We understand the blowing of the trumpets to be the spiritual fulfillment of the Old Testament Blowing of Trumpets (Leviticus 23:24). The trumpets call into being the great tribulation that is to come upon the world. Tribulation is chastisement. It is redemptive. Tribulation produces patience in men. We must through much tribulation enter the Kingdom of God. If we are without tribulation we are not genuine sons of God.
One of the major purposes of the great tribulation is to purge from the Body of Christ all sin and self-seeking, all worshiping of elevated ministers, all presumptuous "ministry", all dabbling in metaphysics as the "ministry" teaches people how to "use their faith," all concepts that we are God’s favorites and entitled to all the comforts of the antichrist world system, all spirits of pride and exaltation that promote the idea God’s people will be "raptured" up to Heaven in the last days so trouble cannot come near them.
The prevailing spirit of pride and presumption must be cast out of the churches. The spirit of humility and the fear of the Lord must be returned to the elect. The great tribulation will accomplish this purging, this renewing of the purity and humility of the Bride.
The proper response to tribulation is to wash our robes and make them white in the blood of the Lamb. If we harden our heart we move forward to the wrath of God. The wrath of God is not redemptive. The wrath of God does not produce patience in us. The wrath of God punishes all who rebel against the most high God.
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