PREVIOUS | UP | CONTENTS | NEXT |
As their calling and service differ from ours, so does their destiny. We, as the bride with the Bridegroom, sit upon the throne to rule and reign with the Lord of Glory. Our destiny is said to be that of rulers and judges. We are to be kings and priests (1Cor. [[6:2-3|bible.67.6.2-67.6.3]]; 1Pe. [[2:9|bible.81.2.9]]; Rev. [[1:6|bible.87.1.6]]+). The 144,000 are to be the glorious bodyguard, the retinue of the Lamb, following Him whithersoever He goeth (Rev. [[14:4|bible.87.14.4]]+). The destiny of the Gentile multitude, however, is that of temple servants.2
dwell among them"He that sits upon the throne shall spread his tabernacle over them." The A.V. reads, "shall dwell among them"; a poor and utterly inadequate rendering of the divine thought herein expressed. God spread His tabernacle over the tent of meeting of old, which thus became the centre and rest of the thousands of Israel. It covered them in the desert. Two millions and a half people--the typically redeemed host of Jehovah--were sheltered from scorching suns and winters' blasts, by the huge canopy which God spread over them; it was the nation's glory and defense.4
His dwelling presence is directly tied to the promises which follow that the "sun shall not strike them, nor any heat." "His dwelling among them is to be understood as a secondary truth, besides what is expressed, namely, His being their covert."5When the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and purged the blood of Jerusalem from her midst, by the spirit of judgment and by the spirit of burning, then the LORD will create above every dwelling place of Mount Zion, and above her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day and the shining of a flaming fire by night. For over all the glory there will be a covering. And there will be a tabernacle for shade in the daytime from the heat, for a place of refuge, and for a shelter from storm and rain. (Isa. [[4:4-6|bible.23.4.4-23.4.6]]) [emphasis added]
Notes
1 A. R. Fausset, "The Revelation of St. John the Divine," in Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset, and David Brown, A Commentary, Critical and Explanatory, on the Old and New Testaments (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997, 1877), Rev. 7:15.
2 Donald Grey Barnhouse, Revelation (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1971), 153.
3 Timothy Friberg, Barbara Friberg, and Neva F. Miller, Analytical Lexicon of the Greek New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2000), 350.
4 Walter Scott, Exposition of The Revelation (London, England: Pickering & Inglis, n.d.), 165.
5 Fausset, "The Revelation of St. John the Divine," Rev. 7:15.
PREVIOUS | UP | CONTENTS | NEXT |