Category Archives: Bible Study

“A great multitude, which no one could number….”

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After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands…. (Apocalypse 7:9)

The book of the Apocalypse is built on a series of sevens–seven letters, seven seals, seven bowls, seven trumpets, etc. Often there is a pause or intermission between the sixth and seventh event in each series and the seer describes another vision or event that interrupts the series-of-seven. This vision of the great multitude comes as such a pause between the sixth and the seventh seals which the Lamb is opening. This vision of the multitude has two aspects: the seer beholds the 144,000 redeemed from the tribes of Israel and then he beholds the great multitude from all the nations and languages.

The 144,000 is symbolic of all Israel; it is the 12 tribes x 12 apostles x 1,000. It is complete. Full. It is a vast throng of believers, too many to actually count. Modern readers often see the 144,000 as the Jewish-Christian version of the “great multitude” of Gentile-Christians which the seer also beholds. But the original intent of the author was unlikely to distinguish Jewish and Gentile believers. One of the important concerns of the Gospel-Epistles-Apocalypse of St. John is who the authentic heirs of Abraham are; who are the “real Jews” is an issue in all the texts attributed to St. John and the answer is always, “Those who accept Jesus as the Messiah, whether they are biological descendants of Abraham or not, are the true Israel.”

The 144,000 have been marked with the seal of the Lamb–a common description of the anointing with oil/chrism following baptism. Having been sealed with chrism, the 144,000 make their confession, i.e. are slain because they acclaim Jesus as the Messiah. Martyrs for the true faith much as the Maccabees were martyred for refusing to compromise the faith to accommodate with the Greco-Syrian culture prevalent in their society.

The great multitude robed in white with palm branches are also martyrs. (Some readers suggest the 144,000 are the saints on earth and the great multitude are those same saints in heaven.) The palm branches, always indications of victory (1 Maccabees 13:51, 2 Maccabees 10:7), also suggest the feast of Tabernacles (Succoth), which is celebrated in the autumn. Succoth involved processions with palm branches and the building of booths for the people to live in for 8 days (Leviticus 23:33-36, Nehemiah 8:13-18). It was the celebration of God’s care for Israel in the wilderness after the exodus; it was also understood as a celebration which anticipated the Messiah (Zechariah 14:16-19). In both cases, it is God dwelling with his people which is the focus of the celebration.

There are Christian celebrations of Passover-Easter and Shavuot-Pentecost but no Christian equivalent of Succoth; the Church herself is the ongoing feast of Succoth. The Church is the company of those “who shall not hunger or thirst, neither scorching wind nor sun shall smite them, for he who has pity on them will lead them, and by springs of water [he] will guide them” (Isaiah 49:10). It is in the New Jerusalem that Tabernacles is fulfilled, when God will provide “water from the spring of the water of life” (Apoc. 21:6) and wipe away all tears (Apoc. 21:4).

The Seven Seals

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The Lamb of God and the book/scroll sealed with the seven seals, a popular motif embroidered on a variety of vestments and altar linens. Note that most depict the seven seals still unbroken although occasionally the seals are already open.

I watched as the Lamb broke the first of the seven seals and …. as I watched, there was a pale horse. Its riders name was Death and Hades followed with him. (Apocalypse 6:1-8)

The book/scroll with the seven seals is among the most well-known images from the Apocalypse. Even if people don’t know the biblical source of the image, they at least know about the last, the Seventh Seal, from the famous movie by Ingmar Bergman. The seals and the riders or other visions that are revealed as each seal is broken have appeared many times in books and movies, whether in Agatha Christie mysteries or horror-fantasies or even comedies.

The seals reveal aspects of the liturgy–such as the relics of the martyrs contained in the altars on which the Eucharist is celebrated–as well as aspects of life that are judged by liturgical participation throughout history. Famine, plague, pestilence, and misery are constants throughout human experience. Many expect these to become especially intense just before the world ends; because of this, when these experiences have become intense in the past, many people expected that the world was about to come to an end.

Everyone loves to calculate and predict when exactly the End will come. Even St. Augustine has to tell his congregation, “Give your fingers a rest!” when they spend too much time and energy doing complicated math problems, trying to figure out when exactly the apocalypse will come. (Full disclosure: I still depend on my fingers to do even simple math problems!)

But it has not yet come to an end.

But the world does come to an end each time we celebrate the Eucharist and take our places in the eternal Kingdom of God. The apocalypse happens every time we proclaim, “Blessed is the Kingdom of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”

The apocalypse happens every time we lift up our hearts.

The apocalypse happens every time we ask the Father to send down the Holy Spirit on us and on these Holy Gifts of bread and wine.

The apocalypse happens every time we say, “Our Father… thy kingdom come.”

The apocalypse happens every time because the Holy Spirit lifts us up from earth to heaven to see Christ revealed in all his glory.

When will the seals be broken? They are always being broken, throughout time (during what we call “secular” history) and eternally (in the celebration of the Eucharist).

A New Song

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The seventh angel of the Apocalypse (illumination approx. 1180)

And they sang a new song, saying: “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation.” (Apocalypse 5:9)

The angels lead the singing of the “new song” around the Throne of God. Several times, the “new song” is mentioned in the Apocalypse, together with many other “new” things — a new name, a new heaven and a new earth, the New Jerusalem. These “new” things are not simply more recent than what they replace but are different in quality as well. The “newness” is a description of their character and purity as well as their permanence. They will not be replaced or supplanted, much like the “new covenant-testament” established by Christ at the Last Supper.

The psalms frequently mention a “new song” as well — Psalms 33, 40, 96, 98, 144, 149. Again, the “new song” is an eschatological hymn, a song to be sung at the End of Days when God’s people are vindicated and God’s final triumph is celebrated. But what is the “old song” that the new one is being contrasted with? The “old song” — maybe, the “first song” is a better way to describe it–is the Song of Miriam and Moses that God’s people sang on the shore of the Red Sea after escaping from Egypt. This song that celebrates the Exodus is also a celebration of God’s victory and the vindication of his people; it is a dress rehearsal for the victory God will win over his cosmic enemies at the End of Days.

During the Middle Ages, it was common for rabbis to identify the “old-first song” as the song sung when King Solomon dedicated the Temple in Jerusalem and the “new song” being that which was sung when the Temple was rebuilt and rededicated after the people returned from exile in Babylon. This can also be understood as a hymn sung to celebrate God’s deliverance of his people from their enemies and his re-establishment of them in the Promised Land.