In The Book of Revelation, John thrice uses the term, ‘great multitude’:
1. The first time, in Revelation 7:9, he exclusively refers to 4th age saints who come out of the great tribulation. It cannot include saints from the 1st, 2nd and 3rd ages of history, because, logically, they will not have lived and/or died during the great tribulation’-- the last half of the 4th age.
2. The second and third times both very likely refer to ALL of The Lord’s saints from the first 4 ages of history, including the above group from the great tribulation. This interpretation clearly comports with the last sentence in Zechariah 14:5, 1 Thessalonians 3:13, Thessalonians 1:10, and Jude 1:14. This massive group logically cannot include any saints from the 5th and 6th ages of history, since The Millennial Reign will not begin until AFTER The Lord comes with ALL His saints.
Then, in Revelation 20:4, John uses the pronouns, they and them, without clearly defining their antecedent nouns – a grammatical error oft heard/seen today. John seems to have thought readers would accurately intuit the subjects to whom he was referring. A careful reading of the language and the broader context, reveals he is referring to two different groups, not just one. The first group is the great multitude noted in Revelation 19:6, and the second group is the great multitude noted in Revelation 7:9. Here’s a clearer edited version of this verse:
NKJ Version
And I saw thrones, and they [the chapter 19 multitude] sat on them [thrones], and judgment was committed to them [the chapter 19 multitude]. Then I saw [a sub-group of 19:6] the souls of those [the chapter 7 multitude] who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they [BOTH multitudes] lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.
With this clarification, please read this verse in several Bible versions in Biblegateway.com.
So the multitude John initially saw in Revelation 20:4 was not just the multitude he initially saw in Revelation 7:9-17. Is was the much bigger multitude He saw in Revelation 19:1-3, which includes the multitude he saw in Revelation 7.
Unfortunately, because many Bible teachers and scholars presume John is only referring to ONE multitude, the one in Revelation 7, which is a small subset of ALL The Lord’s saints, they assume only 4th age saints, who will have come through the great tribulation, will reign with Jesus during His Millennial Reign. They leave out ALL saints from the first 3 ages of history, all of whom will have been resurrected and raptured! They seem to assume Jesus will either leave those saints in Heaven for a thousand years, OR those saints will not have been resurrected and raptured in time for His Millennial Reign. Such presumptions are part of what fuel various theories about resurrection and rapture events, theories that simply do not comport with the broadest, strategic interpretation of The Bible. Some think there will be only two resurrection/rapture events: a mass one for ALL saints, and a mass one for ALL sinners. This notion fails to intuit the strategic insights from Matthew 27:51-53 and Revelation 20:11-15 that, respectively:
A. ALL 1st and 2nd ages saints, worldwide, must have been resurrected, with Jesus, from the upper region of hell (referred to as the bosom of Abraham), and raptured into Heaven (likely the promised, new, eternal Earth) along with Jesus during His first ascension (before He could be ‘handled’). Matthew could only report on what he witnessed, or was told about, in and around Jerusalem. Please don’t doubt for a second that, from this massive group, Jesus would only have allowed a few to be resurrected/raptured, leaving the rest in hell’s upper region until a massive resurrection of all saints at the end of the world! Think~
B. The last resurrection/rapture event will apparently include saints from the 6th age of history -- the saints noted in Revelation 20:9, during the ‘little while’ post-Millennial Reign age noted in Revelation 20:1-3. This may be the likely reason The Lord will consult His Book of [Eternal] Life, to sort this massive group. If this massive group will only be unredeemed sinners, would The Lord need to consult His book? Moreover, if it only comprises all sinners, when would the saints from the 6th age be resurrected/raptured, if NOT in that LAST event?!?! Think~
Such presumed, traditional notions do not comport with the several resurrection/rapture events of saints, which are collectively defined as ‘the first resurrection’, i.e., the resurrection to eternal life. The word, first, in this phrase does not refer to the number, 1. That’s similar to the phrase, God is One’. Clearly, we cannot limit The Almighty to the lowest of numerical values! Look up the word, ‘one’, in a quality dictionary to learn of other, more relevant definitions.
Such notions may be fed by a lack of understanding of the predicted ages of history, and therefore erroneous, unsupported, even illogical assumptions about The Book of Revelation. This book is silent about the 1st and 2nd ages saints, but it does reference a key group of elders (presumably humans) who might be from those ages. Except for direct references to us in chapters 1 to 3, and inferences in chapters 20-22, the preponderance of this book does not address 3rd age saints. Rather, this book heavily focuses on:
1. Israel, indirectly, during the 70th week of Daniel’s vision,
2. 4th age saints, during their struggles with the anti-Christ regime, and
3. the grossly sinful world, at large, people who will receive the mark of the beast and will thus be destined for The Great White Throne Judgement, and the lake of fire, per Revelation 20:11-15.
The Lord’s multi-millennial strategic plan for humanity, is to extract/harvest from humanity, at the end of each of the distinct ages of history on this version of Earth (possibly except for the 5th age), a tested, proven remnant of righteous people, whom He calls saints, to whom He will show everlasting Grace and Mercy in glorified zones on a promised, new, eternal Earth. Everyone else will be resurrected and raptured to appear before Him (i.e., a temporary reprieve from hell’s fires), in their promised, immortal bodies, to receive their eternal judgment – forever alive in His promised lake of fire that burns eternally with brimstone, along with every devil, death and hell, itself.
Please keep this, the broadest of strategic contexts, in mind as you continue to read, study, and deeply meditate on The Bible, The Lord’s multi-millennial strategic plan for humanity, across 7 ages of our history.
Peace~
J!
