“And after these things I saw four angels standing on four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree. 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, saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. 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” (Revelation 7:1-4).

Another symbolic picture under the sixth seal representing strange and startling scenes passed before the Apostle’s vision. The scene of the vision is the earth and its surroundings. St. John is represented as seeing all the varied signs indicating a great and terrible tempest; indeed that of a whirlwind seemingly about to burst in fury over the entire earth. This whirlwind is symbolic and is intended to portray the terrible scenes of the “great tribulation,” mentioned in verse 14. The same scenes are referred to under another symbol, already considered, and are called the “great day of his wrath” (Revelation 6:15- 17). The great whirlwind of ruin is represented as being held back for a time until a work is accomplished, figuratively described as sealing the servants of God in their forehead.

In connection with other startling scenes, St. John hears voices, which proclaim the full results of the ministry of the Gospel from Pentecost to the end of the “great tribulation” at the Second Coming of the Lord. The declarations of these voices are summed up as follows:

(1) “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” (Revelation 7:4).

(2) And “after this I beheld, and lo, a great multitude which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands.

… And he [one of the elders] said to me, These are they which came out of [the] great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (Revelation 7:9,14).

In these two statements we have a description of what is termed the “little flock,” and the “great multitude” — the two classes taken out of the world during the Gospel Age. While the full results of all evangelistic effort of the Gospel Age are declared in connection with the occurrences of this vision, yet the vision itself covers merely the period that is termed by the Savior in Matthew 13:39 the “harvest, the end of the age.” The teaching undoubtedly is that in order to accomplish the necessary and important work of the “harvest,” the awful “whirlwind” of the “great tribulation” is held in check — for after the whirlwind is let loose then will be the “night when no man can work.” In this connection the following words written a quarter of a century ago, are worthy of very close attention on the part of those who are observants of the significant and notable signs of the times:

“Revelation (7:1-3) teaches us that the wars, whose dark clouds have threatened the civilized world so ominously for the past thirty years, have been miraculously hindered to give opportunity for ‘sealing’ the Lord’s consecrated people in their foreheads (intellectually) with the present Truth. We are therefore to expect that when these winds of war shall be let loose, it will mean a cataclysm of warfare which shall divide kingdoms (mountains) — prefigured by the mighty wind shown to Elijah, which rent the rock. But God’s Kingdom will not follow the epoch of war: the world will not thus be made ready for the reign of Immanuel. No, a further lesson will be needed and will be given. It is represented in an earthquake. Throughout the Scriptures an earthquake seems always to represent revolution, and it is not unreasonable to expect that an era of general warfare would so arouse the lower classes of Europe and so discontent them with their lot (and especially with the conditions which would follow such a war) that revolution would be the next thing in order. If so, the earthquake made known to God’s people is the one referred to in Revelation 16:18. But severe though those revolutionary experiences will be to the world they are not sufficient to prepare men to hear the voice of God. It will require the fire from heaven — an epoch of Divine judgments and chastisements upon a maddened but unconverted world wild in anarchy, as other Scriptures show us. The results of their wars and revolutions and anarchy — the failure of their schemes and the lessons of Divine judgments will, however, have an exhausting and humbling effect and prepare man for God’s revelation of Himself in the still small voice” (C. T. Russell).

The momentous events that have occurred in the world since the above words were written, particularly since the year 1914, seem most strikingly to confirm the correctness of this interpretation. To those acquainted with the Scripture prophecies that describe the manner in which this Gospel Age will close, it seems quite certain that we are living in the period of time covered by the vision of the four angels holding in restraint the symbolic winds of strife. Referring to some of the scenes connected with this great day of wrath as they will relate to the Lord’s people, Mr. Russell’s statement is of deep significance:

“The night of darkness and intense opposition to the Truth will ere long be upon us and will hinder you from engaging in the service. When that is true, you may know that ‘the door is shut,’ that all the wise virgins have entered in, that all have been proved, and that all vacancies have been acceptably filled. All the special ‘servants of God’ having by that time been ‘sealed in their foreheads’ (given an intellectual appreciation of God’s Plan), the four winds will be loosed (Revelation 7:1-3), and will produce the great ‘whirlwind’ of trouble in the midst of which the remnant of the Elijah class will be ‘changed,’ and exalted to Kingdom glory.”

Concerning the whirlwind in connection with which the Prophet Elijah was taken away, which, if a type, seems evidently to have reference to the same scenes described in this vision of St. John, the same writer says:

“The whirlwind in the type should be interpreted, in harmony with general Scripture usage, as signifying a fierce trouble — a trouble, too, which would agitate the heavens or ecclesiastical powers as an earthquake would represent disturbances of the social conditions. Thus read in advance of the fulfillment the type seems to imply that the end of the Elijah class will occur amidst great ecclesiastical commotions, accompanied by fiery trials — thus we think probably the change will come to the last members of the elect ‘body.’ ”

It would seem, therefore, that the great whirlwind of this vision, relates to the “great day of God’s wrath,” the period in which the present world order, civil and religious, will be swallowed up in anarchy. In the language of another, these symbolic winds represent “combinations and masses of men under the influence of new and exciting opinions; multitudes and nations roused to passion and uniting in a violent demolition of social and political institutions, and the destruction of those who obstruct their ambition or repress their madness, like the whirlwinds driving in every direction over land and sea, stripping the trees of leaves and boughs, and whirling them into the air, prostrating dwellings, wrenching the sturdy forests from their seats, and strewing the earth with ruin and the ocean with wrecks.”

The four winds denote that in the climax of the trouble all the various combinations and masses of men will be acting at one time.

But who or what is represented by the four angels standing on the four corners of the earth who are commanded by the angel from the sun-rising to hold back the symbolical winds from blowing, and who, after the sealing work is accomplished, were given power to let them loose? Some endeavor to interpret them as representing the “little flock” of Christ’s faithful followers. Let us examine this interpretation. First, we inquire, Is the “little flock” anywhere else represented in the vision? The answer is, They are referred to in plain literal language as “the servants of God” on the earth who are to be sealed. It is further noted that after the advent of the angel from the sun-rising, these servants become associated with him in the work of sealing also: “And he [the angel from the sun-rising] cried with a loud voice … saying, Hurt not the earth till we [plural] have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.” On this point Mr. Russell has remarked that “it is their mission [the mission of the servants] to gather together the elect and to seal them in the forehead (intellectually) with the knowledge of the Truth.”

The angel from the sun-rising would, we believe, represent our Lord Jesus Christ, and his faithful saints. If this is the correct deduction, it is manifest at once that the four angels who hold back, and then finally loose the four winds, cannot be the “little flock,” for these are engaged in the work of sealing, while the four angels are represented as having been commanded by the angel from the sun-rising to do an entirely different work, namely to hold the winds in check and to loose them after the Lord’s servants have finished their work of sealing. Again we inquire, What do the four angels represent? As assisting in the elucidation of this point, we note that at a certain period in the vision these four angels were about to let loose the winds, and were commanded to still hold on for a time. Be it noted, too, that these four angels are therefore closely associated with the winds, indeed, they cause the winds (whirlwind). Let us keep in mind what is represented by the symbolic winds, and this will assist us to discover who caused them. It would seem that these four angels must refer to those forces of evil called by one of the Prophets (Joel 2:2- 11), “the Lord’s great army.” The same troublous time is doubtless referred to by this symbolic whirl- wind. In this connection note the following interesting comment:

“Can it be that ‘the sword of the spirit, which is the Word of God’ (Ephesians 6:17), in the hands of the people of God, who are filled with His spirit, shall accomplish the great work of overthrowing all the kingdoms of this world and giving them to Christ? … It is evidently not the saints who are to constitute the Lord’s great army, referred to by the prophets, for the overthrow of the kingdoms of this world: nor are the weapons of their warfare sufficient to this end. Their weapons are indeed mighty, as the Apostle says, among those who are influenced by them. Among the true people of God, who diligently apply their hearts unto instruction, His Word is sharper than any two-edged sword … but not so do the weapons of this warfare operate upon the world. The army of the saints is, moreover, not a ‘great army,’ but a ‘little flock,’ as our Lord himself designated it (compare Luke 12:32, Joel 2:11).”

The angels that arouse these tempestuous winds do not represent the “little flock,” for this is not their work; to overthrow the present order is not the work of the Church on this side the veil, although their declaring the truth of God’s Plan may be a factor in the “increase of knowledge” (Daniel 12:4) which will bring about the discussions that cause these symbolic winds. The four angels represent rather the “authors, the propagators of these opinions; the fomenters and directors of the violence which they excite. That they are not to enter upon their work till the angel from the sun-rising can seal the servants of God implies that though the elements of devastation are already in existence, yet their being blown upon by a whirlwind is to be a consequence of their sealing. It is by that process that the religious and political atmosphere is to be brought into the requisite state for the generation of the great destructive tempest.”

The four angels then represent all the powers that excite and direct the violent action of the various elements, factions, and parties that will have to do with this great whirlwind of trouble. In this symbolic picture the earth represents organized society; the sea, the irreligious, restless, unsettled masses of men; and trees, men as individuals.

In view of the foregoing considerations it is not to be wondered at that a careful examination of this vision and a comparison of its various details with the other Bible prophecies has led many earnest prophetic students to believe that we have already entered into that period of time during which the sealing process should be recognized as progressing amongst the faithful children of God — the time otherwise designated by our Lord as the Harvest time which he said was the end of the age. Mr. Russell was one of these who was quite positive, and his observations in this connection are worthy of the most careful consideration:

“The present is the time for the sealing of the servants of God in their fore- heads, before the storm of trouble bursts (Revelation 7:2,3); and every wise virgin should appreciate this privilege of the present, both for his own intellectual sealing with the present Truth, and also for engaging in the Harvest work of sealing others of the wheat class and gathering them into the barn of security, before the night cometh and the door of opportunity to labor is shut. Observe that, when this night cometh, when the reapers must cease their labors, it will prove that this final work of the Gospel Age is accomplished for God will not permit anything to put an end to His work until it is finished.”

“Between the time when Babylon is cast off, falls from favor, and the time when the plagues or troubles come upon her, is a brief interval, during which the faithful of the Lord’s people are all to be informed on this subject, and gathered out of Babylon [and tested] This same interval of time, and the same work to be accomplished in it, are also referred to in symbol, in Revelation 7:3. To the messenger of wrath the command is given, ‘Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.’ ”

“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” (Revelation 7:4).

Various interpretations have been given concerning whom the hundred and forty-four thousand represent. The view most general among Historical expositors of the Revelation is that they represent the entire “election” out of the Gospel Age, from Pentecost to the Second Advent; that “As a grand lesson of the Divine sovereignty, and as a sublime contradiction to all evolution theories, God elected to call to this place of honor (as ‘the Bride, the Lamb’s wife and joint-heir’ (Revelation 21:2,9, Romans 8:17), not angels and cherubs, but some from among the sinners redeemed by the precious blood of the Lamb. God elected the number to be thus exalted (Revelation 7:4), and predestinated what must be their characteristics if they would make their calling and election sure to a place in that company to be so highly honored; and all the rest is left to Christ, who worketh now as the Father worked hitherto.”

“He ordained also that a certain specific number should be chosen from amongst men to be his [Christ’s] joint-heirs in the Kingdom — participants with him of the New Creation. We have every reason to believe that the definite, fixed number of the elect is that several times stated in Revelation (7:4, 14:1), namely 144,000 ‘redeemed from amongst men.’ ”

Some Futurist expositors cite as an objection to the interpretation that these 144,000 represent all the elect ones, that this number is stated by St. John as being the number selected in the comparatively brief period of the holding back of the four winds. Our reasoning, to the contrary, is that St. John simply states that he heard the entire number of the sealed ones, not necessarily that they were all sealed during the Harvest period. The sealing of these last ones had associated with it the impartation of special knowledge of the Divine Plan — a knowledge which was necessary for them to have that they might be enabled to overcome the many perils and dangers to be encountered and thus make their calling and election sure. This period is the same time described by the Master as fraught with special snares and pitfalls, making it necessary for God’s people to “take heed” (Luke 21:24,25).

Concerning the significance of this sealing work, the remark seems well in place that “to seal the servants of God, is not to constitute them as such; it is as His servants, not as His enemies, that they are to be sealed, and the change wrought by their sealing is not so much in their character but their aspect. The symbol denotes, therefore, that the servants of God, ere the whirlwind of ruin begins, are to be led to assume a new attitude towards the nominal Church and anti-Christian rulers, by which, and in a manner never before seen, they are to be shown as His true people.”

The question concerning the authority of God over the faith, worship, and methods of service of His true people, as distinguished from the claims made by a man, a man-made church system, or a religious or business organization, will become so thoroughly discussed and made so clear by Scripture interpretation, that the last faithful company of true believers on earth will understand and appreciate it, and will feel called as though by a voice from heaven, to separate and keep separate from all those who make and endeavor to force such claims. To rise to such a relation and fill such a position, has never been assumed and maintained by any body of believers since the “falling away” in the early centuries. It is one of the special tests that began to be applied to the Lord’s consecrated at the beginning of the Harvest period — this time during which the tempestuous winds have been held back. It is a test that has recently been applied again by the Great Head of the Church, and continues even unto this present moment. Let us ever keep in mind that when a church or organization assumes the right of determining what the faith of its adherents shall be, they at once assume juris- diction over them. When they claim that they are the channel, the only channel, through which truth must flow, they are asserting the powers of Christ and the twelve divinely appointed channels. When they go further and seek to compel in any manner or degree a submission to themselves, they usurp the authority and rights of God, and would compel an homage to themselves which is due only to Him. To perceive and appreciate these things is to discern the rights of God in their greatness and sanctity. To publicly assert and vindicate them, in opposition to those who claim them, and to withdraw from such, will be to rise to an attitude toward them, and toward God, that His servants as a body are now called upon to assume. Let him that readeth understand!

Thus do we have depicted one of the characteristics of the sealing work of this angel ascending from the sun-rising. This sealing is accomplished by imparting through the holy Spirit of Truth a clear understanding of the Divine Plan. This understanding will cause the Divine attributes of wisdom, justice, love, and power to become fixed principles of action in all our dealings with our fellowmen. We shall again meet this elect company in our consideration of chapter 14:1-4, where they are represented as standing with the Lamb on Mount Zion, and their peculiar relationship to the Lamb in this vision describes more definitely the characteristics of the Divine sealing. In regard to this sealing let us not make the mistake that some have made — that of making the seal of the living God, in possession of the angel from the sun-rising, to be the same as the seals that were on the scroll. The significance of the two uses of the word seal is not the same. This will be considered more fully when in our examination of chapter 8, the breaking of the seventh seal comes before our attention.

The reader’s attention is now called to the significance of the expression: “An hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel.” We will be greatly assisted in our understanding of this if we keep in mind God’s purposes and methods in the bestowment of His elective favors. In conferring His favors, He has chosen that it shall be to the Jew first (Romans 3:1, 9:4,5). But let it be carefully noted that “the great favor of becoming joint-inheritors with Messiah, which Israel, except the faithful ‘remnant’ (Isaiah 1:9, 10:22,23, Romans 9:28,29, 11:5), thus missed by their blindness and hardness of heart, was offered to believing Gentiles; not to Gentile nations, but to justified believers of every nation — though the favor was at first, for three and a half years [after Pentecost], confined exclusively to believers of the nation of Israel. Blinded as a people by national prejudices, the great prize which they were offered first, but of which they were unworthy, goes to a holy nation, a peculiar people, composed of a worthy ‘remnant’ of their nation, with others called out from Gentile nations, whom in their arrogant pride they once despised as ‘dogs.’ ”

“Israel indeed desired and sought the best God had to give; but ‘Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election [the ‘little flock’ selected from both Jews and Gentiles] hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded.’ ”

Thus Gentile converts are compared to wild olive branches grafted in where the natural branches had been broken off the original cultivated olive tree — natural Israel. “ ‘Blindness in part’ was to continue only ‘until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in’ (Romans 11:25), or, in other words, until the full number from among the Gentiles, who are to be members [with the remnant of Israel] of the Body or Bride of Christ, would be fully selected.”

Briefly summing up the facts of Scripture that have a bearing on the interpretation of the passage under consideration (Revelation 7:4), the inevitable conclusion is:

(1) God predestinated that the number of the joint-heirs should be 144,000, but did not predestinate who the individuals should be.

(2) According to previous arrangements, God’s own chosen people, Israel, should have the first offer. While He knew that there would not be enough faithful ones among them to make up the full number, He predetermined to leave the individual responsibility with them, and granted them sufficient time so that all the “elect” could have been of that nation, the quota of each tribe being 12,000.

(3) When the period of special favor ended, the call or invitation had not secured the requisite number to fill the quota of each tribe.

(4) God still retained the original cultivated “olive tree,” but the rejection of this chief favor, except by a “remnant,” left but few of these special branches on the olive tree.

(5) The call was then extended to those who would believe of the Gentile nations (wild olives), for a sufficient length of time to obtain the required number of special branches in each tribe.

Arrayed in White Robes Bearing Palm Branches

“After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; and cried with a loud voice, saying, salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb. And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God, saying, Amen: blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanks-giving, and honor, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen. And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple: and He that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes” (Revelation 7:9-17).

Subsequent to the vision during which St. John heard the number of the elect, the sealed ones, his attention was diverted for a time from earthly objects, to witness a marvelous scene in the vast expanse, before the rainbow encircled throne. There he beheld an immense throng an innumerable company standing, clothed in white robes, and he recognized them as a band of saved ones from the earth — of all nations and tribes and tongues and peoples. The white robes, representing personal purity, completeness, perfection, shows their public acceptance before the Heavenly Court, in the presence of the angels and of the Lamb. They have in their hands palm branches, symbolizing, no doubt, the ultimate victory they experience, their great joy because of their deliverance from the destructive elements of the great “whirlwind” of trouble, which came after the sealing of the elect was completed. They ascribe all the glory and honor of their salvation to God and to the Lamb, thus showing that their salvation is fully realized at last, and that their days of trouble and trial are over. Their conflict with sin and the powers of darkness is ended — they have entered into the bliss of the Haven of Rest.

That their salvation is finished is shown by their having been assigned stations before the throne, thus entering into the joys of the service of God in His temple. Whatever may have been the depth of their sorrow or the extent of their bitter disappointment and anguish, as they found themselves in the midst of the terrible scenes of the great trouble, their trials, afflictions, and sorrows are now all in the past, and the remembrance of them will only serve to increase their gratitude to their Deliverer, and add to their happiness. Their robes have been made spotless in the blood of the Lamb. Their forgiveness is complete; they will never need forgiveness again, as they will never more be stained with sin. Their full reconciliation to the one who sits upon the throne is shown by the fact that He takes up His abode in their midst. Nevermore are they to experience want, for the Lamb that is in the midst of the throne is to feed them and lead them beside the fountains of living waters of truth.

Some one has most eloquently portrayed the bliss of this innumerable company of saved ones: “How glorious their change! How vast and majestic a change from the weaknesses, the sins, the conflicts, the miseries that before marked their existence, the agonies of death and the darkness and ruin of the grave, to which they were doomed because of their offenses! And in what harmony with this is the homage of the angelic hosts who witness their acceptance. They bend in prostrate homage and ascribe to Him the blessing and the glory and the wisdom and the thanks and the honor and the dominion and the might forever and ever, which implies that the redemption of this innumerable multitude is finished, and indicates their understanding of its nature, their sense of its great- ness and beauty.” The angelic host, the elders, and the living ones, who witness their acceptance, know the honor and dignity of the service they perform in the temple in which God Himself is to take up His abode.

As we carefully note the description of this great multitude, their blessedness, their joys, as they stand before the throne, and the welcome they receive from all the actors of the vision, there cannot help but arise in our mind the inquiry, What more could possibly be added to their bliss and happiness? If it were a question simply of their own satisfaction with their blissful state, there would seem to be nothing that could be added to their enjoyment. However, we are not having described in this picture the “little flock,” the “joint-heirs,” who inherit the glory that excelleth and who will be kings and priests unto God and the Lamb. The description of the future happiness and of the station the latter occupy and of their employment in the coming Kingdom is reserved to a future vision (Revelation 20:4,6, 21:9-27).

Who, then, is this great multitude? or to express this inquiry in the words of one of the elders who performed an important part in the vision, “These who have been invested with white robes, who are they?” St. John to whom the inquiry was addressed was unable to answer, but while endeavoring to restrain his eager desire to know, replied, “My Lord, thou knowest.” Then the elder who seemed to have an understanding of everything connected with the Divine purposes, replied, “These are they which came out of great tribulation and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (verses 13,14).

It would be perfectly reasonable to understand from these words, first, that the four angels had loosened their hold of the four winds (Revelation 7:1), and the great whirlwind had spent its force — that the “great day of wrath” (Revelation 6:17) had come and its terrible scenes were past; second, that when the great tribulation (a more literal description of the great whirlwind) had swept in, following the sealing of the 144,000, it found a great company of the Lord’s consecrated ones on the earth, to pass through the trials and afflictions of those terrible scenes in which the anti-Christian powers are destroyed; and, third, that their white robes (imputed righteousness of Christ) which, when the great tribulation began, were found to be spotted, would have to be washed in the blood of the Lamb before they could enter the Heavenly Court. This would imply that the scenes of the great tribulation were necessary to them to complete the development of character and the purification required to enter upon the enjoyment of their final state in glory.

In our endeavor to discover more particularly who are represented by this great multitude, we again caution the reader to keep in mind that the whole scene is symbolic — that what St. John saw represented an occurrence in the distant future from his day; also, that the event symbolized by the great whirlwind, and referred to more literally as the “great tribulation” has not yet occurred. The fulfillment is still future, though doubtless in the near future. More than this, a considerable number of these represented in the vision may possibly be now living upon the earth.

There have been several views held by Historical expositors of the Revelation concerning who are represented by this innumerable multitude. We believe, however, that those who have made the most careful and thorough examination of this text clearly recognize that this class represents a separate and distinct body from the “elect ones,” “the one hundred and forty-four thousand.” Some have held that the 144,000 represent those who are living at the Second Advent, and meet their “change” without dying. These expositors understand that the great multitude represents those of the saved ones who have lived throughout the age, and are resurrected at its close, and that these together with the 144,000 constitute one class. The general description, however, will not harmonize with this interpretation, for one is evidently an elect class and the other is not. Other Scriptures teach that the “dead in Christ shall rise first,” which would conflict with such an interpretation. There are other reasons why this interpretation cannot be the true one. The fact that they are described as serving God in His Temple, distinguishes them from the “elect class,” who are symbolized by the temple itself (1 Corinthians 3:16,17, 2 Corinthians 6:16). As observed by Mr. Russell:

“While the number of those who wear the robe of Christ’s righteousness is, as compared with the numbers of the world, small indeed, yet how large a proportion of these are not walking in white, but have their robes greatly spotted by contact with the world, the flesh, and the devil — by unfaithfulness or by carelessness, worldliness. … Is there no hope for these, who fail to be over- comers, who fail to walk in white, who fail to gain the crown and the immortality to be bestowed only upon the ‘elect,’ ‘worthy,’ ‘overcomers’? Yes, thank God! We rejoice that there is hope for these, because they have not cast off their wedding garments, even though they have gotten them sadly spotted and soiled by contact with the world. After telling of the sealing of the elect class, the spiritual Israel, the peculiar people zealous of good works, the Little Flock, the Bride, the overcomers, a definite, predetermined number, ‘a hundred and forty and four thousand,’ gathered out of Babylon before the winds of the great tribulation are let loose upon the world, all of them bearing the seal or mark of God’s favor in their foreheads — a noticeable intellectual evidence of Divine favor, the impress of the spirit of the Truth, as well as the Word of Truth, our Lord shows us the ‘great multitude’ of his followers, ‘whose number no man is able to tell’ (that is, it is not a foreordained or fixed number — none were called to be of this company), who will eventually stand before the Lord ‘clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands’ crying, ‘salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne and unto the Lamb.’ Who are these who are not of the Bride, the elect class, the overcomers, is the question? The answer is ‘These are they which came out of [the] great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore [on this account] are they before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple’ ” (Revelation 7:9,10,13-15).

Those who have studied and weighed carefully the words of our Savior in the Gospels, and those of the Apostles in their Epistles, cannot have failed to note that a distinct and definite destiny, as a reward, is to be realized by those faithful overcomers who in full loyalty follow in the Master’s footsteps to the end of their race. Likewise we find in these utterances plain statements that teach unmistakably that some, because of a lack of zeal, etc., will lose the great reward, the prize, which the most faithful ones obtain, and yet be saved, “so as by fire” (1 Corinthians 5:5, 3:13-15). The Savior’s words, “Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man” (Luke 21:36), are among the exhortations that teach this same line of thought. The Apostle John’s words: “Look to yourselves, that ye lose not the things which we have wrought, but that ye may receive a full reward” (2 John 8, Revised Version) is another warning that well supports this view. The Apostle Paul evidently teaches the same in his exhortatory letter to the Corinthians, as we read: “For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones [Divine truths and corresponding character or], wood, hay, stubble [traditional errors and corresponding unstable character]; every man’s work shall be made manifest; for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss; but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire” (1 Corinthians 3:11-15). A careful consideration of the following will be profitable in this connection:

“Other Scriptures (Revelation 7:9,13-17 and 1 Corinthians 3:15) show us that there will be ‘a great company’ who during this age have entered the race for the grand prize of joint-heirship with Jesus, and who fail to ‘so run’ as to obtain it. These, though ‘castaways’ as regards the prize (1 Corinthians 9:27), are nevertheless objects of the Lord’s love; for at heart they are friends of righteousness and not of sin. Hence, by His providences through the circumstances of life, the Lord will cause them to come through ‘great tribulation,’ thus accomplishing for them ‘the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.’ (1 Corinthians 5:5). They consecrated their justified human life, and God accepted that consecration and reckoned them, according to their covenant, dead as human beings and alive as new — spiritual — creatures. But, by their failure to carry out the contract of self-sacrifice, they cut themselves off from the ‘Royal Priesthood’ — from membership in the Body of Christ.”

“The marks of distinction between this ‘great company’ and the ‘little flock’ are very pronounced, both as respects their present course and their future blessing. The faithful overcomers watch and keep their garments unspotted from the world. And this is given as one of the special conditions of acceptance as ‘overcomers’ to joint-heirship with the Lord — ‘they have not defiled their garments.’ (Revelation 3:4). They have kept ‘their garments unspotted from the world.’ They have not been willing to permit sin to contaminate them and to separate them from the Lord, but have quickly applied for and obtained the precious blood to remove every stain. They are so heartily opposed to sin and so earnest about the keeping of this garment unspotted, that the Adversary gets no hold upon them — ‘the wicked one catcheth them not’ (1 John 5:18). All of this indicates a full submission of their wills to the will of Christ — they are ‘dead with Him,’ hence could not willingly practice sin. Their reward is the crown of life, immortality, to be seated in the throne, and to constitute the temple of which our Lord is the capstone, the chief cornerstone.

“Now contrast with these the ‘great company,’ lacking the intense love and zeal of the overcomers, they do not keep their garments with sufficient care, and as a result they lose all the rewards promised the overcomers; and, having failed in the race, they would get nothing, if it were not for our Lord’s grace.

“But God’s grace cannot admit to heavenly perfection those who have not robes of spotless righteousness; and hence we are shown that these who have not cared for their garments and kept them white must be put through a severe experience before they can in any sense of the word be sharers of heavenly favors. These severe experiences are shown in the symbol as washing their robes in a great tribulation. But to show that not the penances or sufferings would cleanse the robes, though these might be necessary as proper punishments and disciplines, it is particularly stated that the efficacy for the cleansing is the ‘blood of the Lamb.’ Many will thus be purged, purified, and their garment now sullied by contact with the world, often in the garb of nominal churchianity, will be cleansed of every guilty stain, when they, realizing the folly of their course, shall repentantly appeal to the Lord and use his help.

“But sad disappointments attach to the experiences of this company; it is because they fear the reproaches of Christ that they shirk present privileges and opportunities for walking with him in white in the ‘sufferings of this present time’: behold, they not only miss the present joy and rejoicing of those who are faithful, but eventually they must come through still greater sufferings, if they would attain even to a lower place. …

“Probably the majority of this ‘great company’ of tribulation saints are living today; for at no time in the past was there the same degree of knowledge of God and His Word, except in the early Church of apostolic times: never did so many profess to be the Lord’s by consecration; and never were there so many subtle seductions from the ‘narrow way’ of self sacrifice.”

The distinctions between the “little flock” and the “great company” are pictured in the wonderful prophecy of the King’s Son, his Bride and the virgins her companions of Psalm 45, and we submit further remarks by the same author:

“It is appropriate that we should remind ourselves afresh of the beautiful suggestion laid before us through the Prophet David respecting the wedding garment of the Bride (Psalms 45:9-14). Here the Lord, through the Prophet, tells us that the Bride as the Queen shall be presented before the King in ‘raiment of fine needle work’ as well as in ‘clothing of wrought gold.’ The gold clothing, as we have heretofore seen, represents the immortality (an element of the Divine nature) with which the Church shall be invested in her resurrection glory. The raiment of fine needle work can be none other than the fine linen garment, clean and white, mentioned in Revelation. But here we have the additional suggestion given, that this garment will be finely embroidered. The robe that was merely loaned to us at first, and which constituted our invitation to the marriage, to joint-heirship with the King’s Son, was not at first our own, it was merely loaned or imputed to us. But it became a permanent gift from the Bridegroom to as many as accepted the invitation to union with him; and examining it carefully, they found upon it in delicate outline a stamping in graceful lines, corresponding to the richly embroidered robe worn by the King’s Son. The suggestion of copying his robe was not only thus hinted at, but it was plainly declared that all who would be accounted worthy to be his ‘elect’ companions, should in all respects be copies of the Bridegroom (Romans 8:29).

“The careful setting of the stitches in the embroidering of this wedding garment has been the chief duty and constant occupation of the espoused virgin while waiting for the nuptial feast, at the return of the Bridegroom. True, much of the embroidering now done by us is very imperfect, because of first, our unskillfulness, secondly, our imperfections, and thirdly, the disturbing influences about us (the world, the flesh, and the devil). Nevertheless, we can well understand that it is the blessing of experience that is designed, and that every painstaking effort is strengthening character, and bringing us into fuller sympathy with our Lord; and that he, when he inspects his Church, will take pleasure in even our imperfect results, if they give evidence that we have bestowed effort, because desirous of bringing all into conformity with his will; and he will accept of our imperfect work as though it were perfect, and in the resurrection he will grant us ideal bodies with ideal powers and the ideal character embroidered perfectly upon the new robe, which will be ours through his grace.

“And even here, the great company, the foolish virgins, not worthy to be the Bride, and hence rejected from that place of the ‘elect,’ are nevertheless pictured, in verses 14 and 15 — ‘The virgins her [the Queen’s] companions that follow her shall be brought to thee; with gladness and rejoicing shall they be brought [even though it be through great tribulation they shall ultimately shout Hosanna!]; they shall enter into the King’s palace” (C. T. Russell).

Another difference between these two classes is “distinctly shown in Revelation 7. The little flock — 144,000, the spiritual Israelites — represent the faithful members of the Body of Christ glorified; the other, a great multitude whose number was not fixed or predestinated by the Lord, which will come through tribulation and receive palm branches as servants before the throne, rather than crowns as overcomers in the throne.”

As an aid to our understanding of the visions that follow, we here summarize our conclusions regarding the opening of the seven-sealed scroll, in the following manner:

(1) We have seen the Lord Jesus, the only one found worthy, given power by the Eternal One to open the seven-sealed scroll. Up to this point of our studies, six seals have been broken by him, the seventh yet remains. The breaking of the six seals was, to the Lamb, a revelation of the future history of his followers, embracing the whole Gospel Age. The particular time that this knowledge was given him was after his resurrection, before his ascension, when all power in heaven and in earth was committed to him.

(2) To St. John, who was a spectator of the Divine drama, it meant simply to see the symbolic transactions themselves.

(3) To the followers of Christ at this time it signifies that they have the privilege of seeing that the actors and events which the symbols foreshadow, have been graven very distinctly on the pages of history, and only a small measure now awaits fulfillment.

“And when [we read next] the Lamb opened the seventh seal,” the complete scroll of Jehovah’s purposes was made known to Christ. This must have taken place before his ascension. At this time, the words “There was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour” had their fulfillment. It began at Christ’s ascension to heaven. This symbolic silence is followed by St. John’s beholding seven angels standing in the presence of God to whom were given seven trumpets.