In the Temple and Before the Throne
“A great multitude, which no man could number” (Revelation 7:9).
— James Parkinson
While the 144,000 of the Bride of Christ are mentioned first, there is also a Great Multitude, who also is to serve. The reader can find things written in common between the Levites in the Old Testament (and/or another spiritual group) and the Great Company/Multitude/Crowd in Revelation, as compared here:
| Old Testament to 1st Advent (RVIC) | Revelation (RVIC) |
| Only the tribe of Levi thou shalt not number, neither shalt thou take the sum of them among the children of Israel (Numbers 1:49). | After these things I saw, and behold, a great multitude, which no man could number (Rev- elation 7:9). |
| I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and to his sons from among the children of Israel (Numbers 8:19). | out of every nation and of all tribes and peoples and tongues (Revelation 7:9). |
| The great multitude … took the branches of the palm trees, and went forth to meet him (Jesus), and cried out, Hosanna: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel (John 12:12-13. See also Revela- tion 19:1). | standing before the throne and before the Lamb, arrayed in white robes, and palms in their hands; and they cry with a great voice, saying, Salvation unto our God who sitteth on the throne, and unto the Lamb (Revelation 7:9-10). |
| Take the Levites … let them wash their clothes … And the Levites purified themselves from sin, and they washed their clothes (Numbers 8: 6-7, 21). | These are they that come out of the great tribu- lation, and they washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb (Revelation 7:14). |
| But the Levites that went far from me, when Is- rael went astray … they shall bear their iniquity. Yet they shall be ministers in my sanctuary (Ezekiel 44:10-11). | Therefore are they before the throne of God; and they serve him day and night in his tem- ple:1 and he that sitteth on the throne shall spread his tabernacle over them (Revelation 7:15). |
| Behold, he that keepeth Israel will neither slum- ber nor sleep … The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night (Psalm 121:4, 6). | They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun strike upon them, nor any heat: for the Lamb that is in the midst of the throne shall be their shepherd, and shall guide them unto fountains of waters of life: and God shall wipe away every tear from their eyes (Revelation 7:16-17). |
| But the Levites … among the children of Israel they shall have no inheritance (Numbers 18:23). | After these things I heard as it were a great voice of a great multitude in heaven (Revelation 19:1). |
It seems clear that the many corresponding Scriptures mean that the Levites (not priests) foreshadowed the Great Multitude of Revelation.
Inferences
Just as the priests and the Levites were given no inheritance in the land (Numbers 18:20, 23), the Church and the Great Multitude do not inherit a fleshly nature. They have heavenly inheritances — spiritual natures.
The priests were consecrated first (Leviticus 8). Then the Levites were consecrated (Numbers 8) and given to the priesthood for service in the tent of meeting (Numbers 8:19). This suggests that the 144,000 are resurrected and completed before the Great Multitude are raised and given to the priesthood (Jesus Christ and his Bride) for service in the age to come — the thousand-year Kingdom of Christ. This is consistent with Revelation 7, where the 144,000 are described first and then the great multitude.
The relationship of priests to Levites continues into Solomon’s Temple, where there were 24 courses of the priesthood and 24 courses of the Levites (1 Chronicles 24:3-19, 25:8-31), as well as prophetically in Ezekiel’s Temple (Ezekiel 44). There, we learn that the Great Multitude (typified by the Levites) made blunders, even witnessing to the people with idols. Nevertheless, the Levites repent and “wash their clothes” (robes) (Numbers 8:21).
One Levite, Moses’ own grandson, ministered to idols, first to a household and later to a tribe (Judges 17-18). The idols were “a molten image and a graven image.” Notably, they were not intended to represent foreign gods, but apparently intended for Jehovah (Judges 17:3). Nevertheless, it was a violation of the second commandment, “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, nor any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them” (Exodus 20:4-5 ASV).
There is an evident lesson for us in the Gospel Age. We are not to put above the word of God any institution (labelled Christian or not), denomination, organization, ecclesia, leader, or creed. Others may, but we should not. All such things are to be tried by (symbolic) fire, but only what is built upon the word of God can survive. An organization, etc., can help promote the word of God (as long as the tail is not wagging the dog). Yet we cannot establish an organization that will survive into the Millennial Resurrection Kingdom. The word of God endures forever.
We should fully appreciate a good leader, yet not equate him to Jesus Christ. If he should make a mistake, we are not to turn against him; each should follow the word of God, and his conscience should be well-trained in the word of God.
The Apostle John’s counsel is, “Look to yourselves, that ye lose not the things which we have wrought, but that ye receive a full reward” (2 John 8). Yet, a partial reward would still be a great blessing for every one of the Great Multitude. Every level of heavenly nature will be still higher than perfect human nature (Matthew 11:11).
For those who enter the consecrated way and build on the one foundation which is Jesus Christ, Paul gives three possible outcomes (1 Corinthians 3:10-17): The fully faithful receive God’s divine nature, as did Jesus Christ. Some who compromise in the face of fear and later repent; will “be saved” but receive a lesser reward — a lesser spirit nature. Any who first tasted of the heavenly gift, the holy Spirit, but ultimately forego the spirit of Christ and return to self-gratification, will simply not be resurrected (second death).
We should not despise the one who puts great effort into anything from an organization to a creed; we should assume he used his imperfect judgment as best he saw fit, perhaps sometimes succumbing to self or fear. Yet he can repent. Each of the Great Multitude will have made a real effort to develop character likeness to Christ. “If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss [of the divine nature]: but he himself shall be saved [to a lesser spirit nature]; yet so as through fire” (1 Corinthians 3:15 ASV). “Yet they shall be ministers in my sanctuary” (Ezekiel 44:11).
(1) Greek naos, temple house, or, sanctuary
Categories: 2025 Issues, 2025 January/February, James Parkinson
