The Lamb’s Group

 

In the Book of Revelation, Chapter Seven there are two groups addressed. One is 144,000 Jewish Believers from all Twelve Tribes who receive a seal of God by angels, 

“Then I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds so they did not blow on the earth or the sea, or even on any tree. 2 And I saw another angel coming up from the east, carrying the seal of the living God. And he shouted to those four angels, who had been given power to harm land and sea, “Wait! Don’t harm the land or the sea or the trees until we have placed the seal of God on the foreheads of his servants.”

And I heard how many were marked with the seal of God—144,000 were sealed from all the tribes of Israel:

from Judah	12,000
from Reuben	12,000
from Gad	12,000
from Asher	12,000
from Naphtali	12,000
from Manasseh	12,000
from Simeon	12,000
from Levi	12,000
from Issachar	12,000
from Zebulun	12,000
from Joseph	12,000
from Benjamin	12,000

” (Revelation 7:1-8)

The other group is an inestimable in number who are consoled and dwell in the Lamb’s tabernacle and in Him: 

“After this I saw a vast crowd, too great to count, from every nation and tribe and people and language, standing in front of the throne and before the Lamb. They were clothed in white robes and held palm branches in their hands. And they were shouting with a great roar,

“Salvation comes from our God who sits on the throne

    and from the Lamb!”

And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living beings. And they fell before the throne with their faces to the ground and worshiped God. They sang,

“Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom

    and thanksgiving and honor

and power and strength belong to our God

    forever and ever! Amen.”

Then one of the twenty-four elders asked me, “Who are these who are clothed in white? Where did they come from?”

And I said to him, “Sir, you are the one who knows.”

Then he said to me, “These are the ones who came from the great tribulation.They have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb and made them white.

“That is why they stand in front of God’s throne

    and serve him day and night in his Temple.

And he who sits on the throne

    will give them shelter.

They will never again be hungry or thirsty;

    they will never be scorched by the heat of the sun.

For the Lamb on the throne

    will be their Shepherd.

He will lead them to springs of life-giving water.

    And God will wipe every tear from their eyes.” (Revelation 7:9-17)

For some these two groups would ‘seem’ to valid Duo-Covenant Theology, that the Jews are sealed by a covenant and the Gentiles sealed by the New Covenant in Christ. This is errata, or error. The 144,000 are Christian Jews like Paul and Peter, and it is said the apostles of Christ will judge them, “Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” (Matthew 19:28). So Jesus’s followers judge the Tribes of Israel. More importantly, Jesus is the only way to be saved, “Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me,” (John 14:6), “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.” (John 3:16-19), “let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well. This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved,” (Acts 4:10-12), “But some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.” And after there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, “Brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them, by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us, and he made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed their hearts by faith. Now, therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.”” (Acts 15: 1-2,7-11). The Old Covenant is done away with and replaced by a better covenant, “When God speaks of a “new” covenant, it means he has made the first one obsolete. It is now out of date and will soon disappear,” (Hebrews 8:13) “Now, however, Jesus has received a much more excellent ministry, just as the covenant He mediates is better and is founded on better promises,” (Hebrews 8:6), “But God found fault with the people and said: "Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah”, (Hebrews 8:8), “Because of this oath, Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant”, (Hebrews 7:22), and “In the same way, after supper Jesus took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is poured out for you” (Luke 22:20). There is no longer Jew or Gentile, and all are sons of Abraham only through faith in The Lamb, Jesus Christ, “Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law.  But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.  There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. [And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.” (Galatians 3:21-29). 

Jesus our Lamb and God made it clear to the Israelites that anyone who doesn’t believe in Him are false sons of Abraham, “So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?”

Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.  The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you. I speak of what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have heard from your father.”

They answered him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing the works Abraham did, but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. You are doing the works your father did.” They said to him, “We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father—even God.”  Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.”

The Jews answered him, “Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?” Jesus answered, “I do not have a demon, but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me.  Yet I do not seek my own glory; there is One who seeks it, and he is the judge. Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.” The Jews said to him, “Now we know that you have a demon! Abraham died, as did the prophets, yet you say, ‘If anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death.’  Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? And the prophets died! Who do you make yourself out to be?” Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God.’ But you have not known him. I know him. If I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and I keep his word. Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.” So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.” (John 9:31-59) 

Supersessionism (Fulfillment Theology) is the truth. The Law of Moses could never save anyone “Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—” (Philippians 3:8-9), only Christ, God Incarnate, the Lamb slain for our sins saves us. 

I say who cares about getting a seal, I want to be in group two, the countless crowd whose faith is in the Lamb, in Christ alone, and who count Him as their Shepherd. Amen.