The Revelation of Jesus Christ - The Herald

occupy and of their employment in the coming Kingdom is reserved to a future vision.--
Rev. 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 (Rev. 7:1), and the great whirlwind had spent its
force--that the "great day of wrath" (Rev. 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