Watchtower and the Great Crowd Doctrine

[Witness]

 The current understanding being promoted by the "Watchtower" is that the "Great Crowd" of (Rev 7:9-14) is the "earthly" group of redeemed mankind, which make it through the Great Tribulation .

However, is there something here that we have missed?  Or have we been deliberately misled? After all who is misleading the entire inhabited earth? (Rev 12:9) 
Jesus said if possible even the chosen ones. (Mt 24:24) (Mark 13:22) 
Jesus said the truth will set you free. (John 8:32)  We need to know what is true and what is not.  It is of utmost importance. 

The bible says “Let God be found true, though every man be found a liar” (Romans 3:4)

Jesus and his Father would not want us to believe a lie. Although many feel we should wait on God to rid us of lies (as if our believing them, are His fault), God Himself does not ask us to wallow in the untrue doctrines of men.    
However, he does not remove our free will. He allows leaders who choose to mislead others, as well as followers who choose to be mislead. 

The Father is a God of Truth.   (John 17:17)    Jesus never taught that it is finer to surrender loyalty to the truth, in favor of keeping unity and peace at all cost with those who prefer to cling to errors and traditions.  He clung to God's word, defying the authority of his time even at the cost of his life.

Should we be loyal to, in harmony with, and in subjection to any religious leaders, at the cost of Truth? 

 An anointed one recently showed me that the Great Crowd described in Revelation (Rev.7:9) may actually be the “Remnant” of sealed anointed ones who make it through the Great Tribulation.  
I put a link "Who is the Great Crowd"  written by this anointed one.  

(It is a more in-depth article) 
The link is located later in my article. 
 Also... this is not the first time that (Revelation 7:9) came under scrutiny.  
At the end of this article please see what happened in 1980.

        Some misconceptions are revealed over time, for instance in 1925 there was a public talk entitled “Millions now living will Never Die”.  That was later changed to “May” never die for obvious reasons.  If that talk were to be given today it would be:

 “ Millions then  living… are now dead ”.      Truth be told.

Other strongly entrenched things may need a deeper investigation in the scriptures (Hebrews 4:12)
This may be the case with who really is the Great Crowd.  (Re 7:9)

The New World Translation at (Revelation 7:9) reads like this:  “After these things I saw, and, look! A great crowd, which no man was able to number, out of all nations and tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, dressed in white robes…”

We are told that these ones are the earthly class who are not anointed, because no man can number them, and because the Watchtower says that the number of anointed ones totals 144,000. ..A definite number.  But is this enough of an explanation? Should there be more scriptural evidence?

Are there any scriptures describing the anointed that fits in with the description listed in (Revelation 7:9)? 

Yes there are.

However, before we take a look at those scriptures, can any man (or woman) answer this question?

How many persons make up the “remnant” of sealed anointed ones, during the last days?  (Those sealed anointed ones who come out of the Great Tribulation)

Is any man able to number that?     The “remnant” is by definition the “left-over” ones, or the“remaining ones” of her seed (Rev 12:17).  How many make up the remnant??? 

So it can be said that “no man is able to number” the size of the remnant.  It could be a great crowd.

Let’s look at those scriptures now:

  (Revelation 19:1, 4, 6 7 8)  Here in heaven, twice it is said of those in heaven... a… “Voice of agreat crowd  ” was heard.
 (New World Translation)

  (Revelation 5:9, 10)  “…you bought persons out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation,and you made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God, and they are to rule as kings over the earth.” (NWT)...  (again, referring to the 144,000).

  (Revelation 3:4, 5) speaks of the 144,000 anointed ones having “white outer garments” “white ones.”   At (Revelation 19:14) the armies are clothed in white, clean, fine linen. (NWT) 
Revelation 17:14 shows that the army riding with Jesus are his chosen faithful ones:
New Living Translation

Together they will go to war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will defeat them because he is Lord of all lords and King of all kings. And his called and chosen and faithful ones will be with him."

(Re 19:8)…The bride of the lamb is said to be arrayed in bright, clean, fine linen…(again speaking of the 144,000 anointed ones).

Other scriptures of interest concerning clean white garments, or robes are 
(Mark 16:5; Luke 9:29; 24:4;  John 20:12; Acts 1:10)

But what about the sealed anointed being dressed in ...
“white robes”... can we be more specific?

Why yes.  In his ongoing vision, just before John sees this great crowd in... 
(Re 7:9) dressed in “white robes” he saw the following:

 (Revelation 6:9, 10,) (Re 6:11)… “And a white “robe” was given to each of them.

So there it is…the description fits like a glove. 

 A great crowd… that no man is able to number,

Out of all nations and tribes and peoples and tongues,

Standing before the throne and before the Lamb, dressed in white robes.

How can the Great Crowd be anointed ones, despite the fact that we can not "number" them?
If 144,000 is the total number of the anointed, and the anointed that come through the Great Tribulation can not be numbered; it is also possible that the Great Crowd is PART of the total number. How big is that part? Apparently, no one can say.
It is like the Great Crowd is a piece of a whole pie. How big is the slice? No one can say.

 

Here is some supporting research done by the group that had scrutinized the doctrine about the Great Crowd earlier back in 1980.

Revelation 7:9 came under scrutiny  Back in 1980.    Quite a few of our brothers, highly respected members of our Watchtower Headquarters in Brooklyn N.Y. were disfellowshipped on charges of “Apostasy”.  Even a member of the Governing Body was forcibly removed and disfellowshipped.  The Governing Body would not re-consider the “doctrine” even though the scruitiny is based on solid evidence from the Holy Scriptures.

Here is some of their research concerning the Greek words used in Revelation as it refers to the location of the “Great Crowd”:
Naos: Divine Habitation, inner temple sanctuary…the Most Holy.

Naos refers to the inner sanctuary of the temple complex which included the Holy and Holy of Holies (or Most Holy).

Hieron is the Greek word for the entire temple complex with all its sub-structures and courts.

The distinction between these two terms is well defined in the Watchtower of August 15, 1960. Explaining the second chapter of John (which describes the presence of the money changers and all the animals which were being sold in the temple), page 493, paragraph two of the article entitled "The Temple of the Apostles' Time" says:

What kind of building could this be that had room for all this traffic? The fact is that this temple was not just one building but a series of structures of which the temple sanctuary was the center. In the original tongue this is made quite clear, the Scripture writers distinguishing between the two by the use of the words hieron and naos. Hieron referred to the entire temple grounds, whereas naos applied to the temple structure itself, the successor of the tabernacle in the wilderness. Thus John tells that Jesus found all this traffic in the hieron.

It was from the courts of the outer temple (hieron--not naos) that Jesus drove the money changers. (See Matt. 21:12, Mark 11:15, Luke 19:45 and John 2:14, 15 in the Kingdom Interlinear Translation.)

It was the entire temple (hieron--not naos) that was destroyed as a judgment from God. (SeeMatt. 24:1,2, Mark 13:1-3 and Luke 21:5,6 in the Kingdom Interlinear.)

The earthly courtyard is located "outside of  the temple [sanctuary] (naos)" while the "great crowd" of Revelation 7:15 is described as being inside the temple sanctuary or naos. 

It is evident that throughout the book of Revelation the term naos is used repeatedly to refer exclusively to the innermost part of the temple, the heavenly sanctuary in its figurative application

Revelation 11:2 says in the New World Translation:

But as for the courtyard that is outside the temple [sanctuary] (naos), cast it clear out and do not measure it, because it has been given to the nations ["Gentiles"--AV, NEB, Moffat], and they will trample the holy city underfoot for forty-two months.

Another point of importance is the fact that, at Revelation 7:9, 15, the "great crowd" is said to be"before the throne" of God.

As the Society's publications have pointed out, the Greek word translated "before" in this text isenopion and it literally means "in [the] sight [of]." (For example on page 123 of the book, Revelation Its Grand Climax at Hand [1988])

This Greek word is used repeatedly throughout the book of Revelation to locate objects and persons "before" or "in the sight of" God in heaven.

Looking up the following verses in The Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scripturesmakes this clear:

Revelation 1:4	-	"Seven spirits that are before (enopion) his [God's] throne"
Revelation 4:5	-	"Seven lamps of fire burning before (enopion) the throne [of God]"
Revelation 4:6	-	"And before (enopion) the throne [of God] there is, as it were, a glassy sea like crystal."
Revelation 4:10	-	"The twenty-four elders fall down before (enopion) the One seated upon the throne..., and they cast their crowns before (enopion) the throne"
Revelation 7:9	-	"A great crowd, ... standing before (enopion) the throne and before (enopion)the Lamb"
Revelation 7:11	-	"And all the angels were standing around the throne and the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell upon their faces before (enopion) the throne and worshiped God"
Revelation 7:15	-	"That is why they [the great crowd] are before (enopion) the throne of God; and they are rendering him sacred service"
Revelation 8:3	-	"And another angel arrived and stood at the altar, having ... incense ... to offer ... with the prayers of all the holy ones upon the golden altar that wasbefore (enopion) the throne."
Revelation 9:13	-	"And I heard one voice out of the horns of the golden altar that is before (enopion) God."
Revelation 11:16	-	"And the twenty-four elders who were seated before (enopion) God"
Revelation 14:3	-	"And they [the 144,000] are singing as if a new song before (enopion) the throne and before (enopion) the four living creatures and the elders"

 

Since these other things are considered to be “in heaven”, it stands to reason that the “Great Crowd” can also be “In heaven” and therefore could very well be the anointed invited ones and not the earthly class of humans. 


This coupled with the scriptural evidence cited above in my article should be sufficient for any reasonable person to see that it is possible that the Great Crowd of (Revelation 7:9) can very well be the remnant of anointed ones who make it through the Great Tribulation in the last days.

Obadiah Doxsey 

 

 

 

[Shiwiii]

I have a hard time with most of this because it assumes things about the 144k that just isn't in the Bible.