26 Nov. The 144,000 people of Israel worship God
"After the vision of these things I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth. The angels were holding the four winds of the earth to keep them from blowing on the land or on the sea or on any tree."
"Then I saw another angel coming up from the east who had the seal of the living God. And he called out in a loud voice to the four angels to whom God had given power to harm the earth and the sea."
"He said to them, 'Do not harm the land or the sea or the trees until we mark with a sign the foreheads of the people who serve our God.'"
"Then I heard how many people were marked with the sign. There were 144,000 from every tribe of the people of Israel."
"From the tribe of Judah 12,000 were marked with the sign,
from the tribe of Reuben 12,000 ... ...
from the tribe of Joseph 12,000,
and from the tribe of Benjamin 12,000 were marked with the sign."
"After the vision of these things I looked, and there was a great number of people, so many that no one could count them. They were from every nation, tribe, people and language of the earth. They were all standing before the throne and before the Lamb, wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands."
"They were shouting in a loud voice, 'Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.'"
"All the angels were standing around the throne and the elders and the four living creatures. They all bowed down on their faces before the throne and worshipped God, saying, 'Amen! Praise, glory, wisdom, thanks, honour, power and strength belong to our God for ever and ever. Amen!'"
"Then one of the elders asked me, 'Who are these people dressed in white robes? Where did they come from?' I answered, 'You know who they are, sir.' And the elder said to me, 'These are the people who have come out of the great distress. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.'"
"Because of this, they are before the throne of God. They worship him day and night in his temple. And the One who sits on the throne will be present with them. Those people will never be hungry again, and they will never be thirsty again."
"The sun will not hurt them, and no heat will burn them, because the Lamb at the centre of the throne will be their shepherd. He wil lead them to springs of water that give life. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."
(Revelation 7:1-17)
In Revelation 7:1-17, a symbolic number of Jewish believers – 144,000 consisting of twelve thousand descended from each of the twelve tribes of Israel – are marked by a sign on their foreheads to show they belong to God. The Jewish believers are then joined in worshipping God by numerous Gentile believers from every nation and language on earth.
In Revelation 8:1-5, the Lamb (Jesus) opens the seventh seal and the prayers of the faithful believers rise to God like incense.
In Revelation 8:6 - 9:21, six of the seven angels announce the coming of the ‘Day of Judgement’ by sounding their trumpets (see Matthew 24:31).
John then sees another angel in his vision, and he is told to proclaim the message on the small scroll that the angel is holding (see Revelation 10:1-11).
In Revelation 11:1-14, the ‘end times’ are preceded by persecution (see Revelation 11:2), drought-induced famine (see Revelation 11:6) and plagues (see Revelation 11:6 & Matthew 24:6-9).
Jerusalem, where Jesus was crucified, is overrun by ‘a beast’ (a reference to the overthrow of Jerusalem by the Roman emperor Vespasian in 70AD) (see Revelation 11:7). The city is then likened to Sodom (a city of sexual immorality – see Genesis 13:13; 19:5) and Egypt (where the Jewish inhabitants were subjected to immense cruelty before being led to freedom by Moses – see Exodus 1:11-14).
In Revelation 11:15-19, the seventh angel sounds his trumpet, and John catches another glimpse of heaven before the final judgement begins.
The photo shows St. John receiving his Revelation on an 11th century manuscript by Saint-Sever Beatus.
You can read more from John's revelation to the seven churches of Asia Minor @ https://www.thebiblejourney.org/…/johns-vision-of-gods-heav…