"Then Is Finished The Mystery Of God"

Chapter 6

The 144,000 Sealed Ones

Revelation 7:1-8

SIX SEALS of the mysterious scroll from God's hand had been broken before the wondering gaze of the Christian apostle John. They had been broken in steady succession, and at last the frantic fears of ungodly men at the coming of the great day of God's wrath against them had been portrayed. But here, at this stage of uncovering the divine secrets, the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, did not at once proceed to break the mystifying seventh seal of the scroll. Evidently everything in connection with the sixth seal has not been revealed by simply portraying the mad scramble of the ungodly people for protective cover at the coming of the "great day" of the wrath of Jehovah God and of his Lamb Jesus Christ. There is something more to be revealed, and it has to do with the saving of godly persons before the outburst of that wrath from heaven on the approaching "great day." That "great day" of wrathful destruction of the ungodly people cannot come until this work for the saving of the godly persons has been fully accomplished. See now what John saw in this regard. Says he:

"After this I saw four angels standing upon the four corners of the earth, holding tight the four winds of the earth, that no wind might blow upon the earth or upon the sea or upon any tree. And I saw another angel ascending from the sunrising, having a seal of the living God; and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the

earth and the sea, saying: 'Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until after we have sealed the slaves of our God in their foreheads.' " — Revelation 7:1-3.

Here the apostle John sees something that has never been photographed and radioed to the earth by any weather satellite launched into orbit above the earth by the Weather Department to study cloud formations or the origination and movement of hurricanes. No astronaut or cosmonaut, hurled into outer space in a rocket capsule and orbiting the earth for days at a time, or even orbiting the moon, has ever seen what John saw by the illuminating power of God's spirit, namely, four angels standing upon the four corners of the earth and holding back the four winds of the earth. This evidently indicates that a violent windstorm or whirlwind is about to be let loose. But no worldwide chain of weather forecasting stations has been able to predict this extraordinary storm and the direction from which it comes and when it will reach any area and with what velocity. Yet what John saw is an infallible storm signal to us.

These "four angels" do not picture just four individual angels but rather picture four bands of angels. The Revelation speaks of an angel having "authority over the fire" (14:18) and an "angel over the waters." (16:5) But here these four angels at the four corners of the earth have authority over the "four winds of the earth." They are not like humans who cannot shelter the wind in the right hand (Proverbs 27:15, 16), but they are superhuman and have been commissioned by the Creator of heaven and earth, who "has gathered the wind in the hollow of both hands." (Proverbs 30:4; Jeremiah 10:13) These angels are holding the winds prisoner, waiting for God's signal to release them at the time for the expression of his wrath against his enemies upon the earth.

Their being said to stand at the four corners of the earth does not say that the earth is flat and literally has four corners; for the Bible definitely speaks of

the earth as being spherical and suspended by invisible forces in space. (Isaiah 40:22; Job 26:7) But, standing not directly north, south, east or west, but at the corners or angles, the four angels would let loose the winds obliquely from diagonal directions, such as the "tempestuous wind called Euroaquilo" mentioned in Acts 27:14, which led to the wreck of the ship carrying the Christian apostle Paul. Thus, too, no quarter of the earth would be spared from the disastrous blowing of the winds, converging at the center to produce a global whirlwind. Long before this oncoming storm a devastating storm was used to illustrate execution of the vengeance of Jehovah God upon enemy nations in the seventh and sixth centuries B.C.E. Here is the description, in Jeremiah 25:32, 33:

"Look! A calamity is going forth from nation to nation, and a great tempest itself will be roused up from the remotest parts of the earth. And those slain by Jehovah will certainly come to be in that day from one end of the earth clear to the other end of the earth. They will not be bewailed, neither will they be gathered up or be buried. As manure on the surface of the ground they will become."

For the moment, it looked to the apostle John as if the four angels were about to let loose the four winds to blow upon the earth and sea and against every tree, wreaking havoc everywhere. This was the appearance of things in the final year of World War I, in 1918, when the modern-day spiritual brothers of the apostle John thought that the then raging war and revolution would lead right on into the expected 'battle of Armageddon,' that is, "the war of the great day of God the Almighty" at the symbolic place called Armageddon in Hebrew. But No! Look! See what the apostle John now sees at this critical point of time. What?

A fifth angel, "another angel ascending from the sunrising, having a seal of the living God." He comes upon the scene, not from any corner of the earth, but from the sunrising or the east. He comes from the

same direction as do the "kings from the rising of the sun." For these kings the way is prepared by the drying up of the waters of the great river Euphrates after the pouring out of the sixth bowl of God's anger. Likewise, figuratively, the ancient kings Darius the Mede and Cyrus the Persian came from the sunrising in their victorious movement against ancient Babylon on the Euphrates River back in 539 B.C.E., thus opening the way for the freeing of the exiled people of Jehovah God who were held captive in the Babylonian Empire. (Revelation 16:12; Isaiah 46:11; 44:28 to 45:7; Daniel 5:30 to 6:3) So, not unexpectedly, but quite agreeably, something good should come from or through this angel ascending from the sunrising. Ah, yes!

In confirmation of this, note what the angel carries  — a "seal of the living God." He evidently has a work to do, and this requires time, time extending beyond World War I. Not yet is it the time for the anticipated 'battle of Armageddon.' Babylon the Great must yet be destroyed. True it is that after World War I she experienced a fall from religious power due to the invisible heavenly "kings from the rising of the sun." But she must yet be destroyed, and first after that there comes the "war of the great day of God the Almighty." (Revelation 16:12-16) Hence, as in the nick of time, the fifth angel, the one from the sun-rising, gets ahead of any premature action on the part of the four angels who till then were holding back the threatening "four winds of the earth." He has greater authority than those four angels, and so with a loud voice he cries out to those four angels: "Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until after we have sealed the slaves of our God in their foreheads.' " — Revelation 7:3.

THE SEALING IN THE FOREHEAD

The ride of the four horsemen who had been disclosed by the breaking of the first four seals of the scroll had begun, and their ride had been made evi-

dent by World War I. But now there must be first a finishing of the sealing of the foreordained number of God's chosen ones, his elect ones. (Revelation 6:1-8; Matthew 24:30, 31) For that reason he had not appointed the "four winds of the earth" to be let loose in 1918 to bring about immediately the destruction of religious Babylon the Great and thereafter to bring the "war of the great day of God the Almighty." During this gracious interval of time before the "four winds of the earth" are to be let loose the sealing of the "slaves of our God in their foreheads" must be completed.

The sealing of those "slaves of our God" had begun in the first century of our Common Era. The apostle John himself was one of those sealed ones. The apostle Paul was also one of those sealed ones, and he wrote about this sealing work. When writing his second letter to the Christian congregation in ancient Corinth about the year 55 C.E., Paul said: "But he who guarantees that you and we belong to Christ and he who has anointed us is God. He has also put his seal upon us and has given us the token of what is to come, that is, the spirit, in our hearts." (2 Corinthians 1: 21, 22) From this it is clear that the sealing is done by means of the spirit of God, that is, by his holy invisible active force. This is substantiated also by what Paul wrote to the Christian congregation in ancient Ephesus, Asia Minor, about the year 60 or 61 C.E. Associating the spirit with the sealing, Paul wrote:

"We who have been first to hope in the Christ. But you also hoped in him after you heard the word of truth, the good news about your salvation. By means of him also, after you believed, you were sealed with the promised holy spirit, which is a token in advance of our inheritance, for the purpose of releasing by a ransom God's own possession, to his glorious praise." — Ephesians 1:12-14.

The sealing with God's spirit is a token of what is to come. It is an indication that the believing, dedi-

cated, baptized Christian has become part of God's possession, with the hope of at last becoming his everlasting possession for his glorious praise. For this reason such an anointed Christian who has the token of the spirit must preserve that seal faithfully to the end of his earthly course. He must not grieve that holy spirit of God with which he has been sealed by acting contrary to the way that this invisible active force tends to activate him in God's worship and service. If he persists in thus grieving God's spirit or active force in its proper holy operation, he will lose God's spirit and so have the seal of God's spirit wiped out, removed. The right thing for the sealed Christian to do is to live in harmony with God's spirit till at last he makes sure that he is entitled to God's deliverance of him into the heavenly inheritance, the Kingdom. Exhorting the Ephesian Christians on this matter, Paul wrote:

"Do not be grieving God's holy spirit, with which you have been sealed for a day of releasing by ransom." — Ephesians 4:30.

That a seal marks a person as having a certain possession, the apostle Paul illustrates in his letter to the Romans, chapter four, verse eleven, in which he says: "He [that is, Abraham] received [from Jehovah God] a sign, namely, circumcision, as a seal of the righteousness by the faith he had while in his uncircumcised state." Also, that a seal is an authoritative mark to show that a person is the real, genuine, authentic thing that he claims to be, the apostle Paul illustrates in his first letter to the Corinthians, chapter nine, verses one and two, where he says, in defense of his apostleship: "Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord [since his resurrection from the dead]? Are not you my work in the Lord? If I am not an apostle to others, I most certainly am to you [to whom I brought Christianity], for you are the seal confirming my apostleship in relation to the Lord." Not only did Paul have such a seal of his Christian apostleship, but he also had the seal of his

being in line for the heavenly inheritance, namely, God's holy spirit, the token from God of what is to come.

In the year 1918 C.E., when the fifth angel ascended from the sunrising and called out to the four other angels at the four corners of the earth, the final, irremovable sealing of the full number of dedicated, baptized, anointed Christians, "the slaves of our God," had not been completed. This was indicated at the time of the breaking of the fifth seal of the scroll, when the apostle John saw souls under God's altar who were crying out for the avenging of their blood upon earth's inhabitants who had shed their blood. What were they told? "To rest a little while longer, until the number was filled also of their fellow slaves and their brothers who were about to be killed as they also had been." (Revelation 6:9-11) Consequently, in 1918 C.E., as the actual facts since then show, the full number had not been made complete of those who kept the "seal of the living God" upon their foreheads until their final and decisive test, till a martyr's death, if necessary. Almighty God, who does the sealing by means of his spirit, knew that. Hence he sent this fifth angel to call out to the other four angels not to let loose the winds.

Well, now, what is the full number of permanently sealed ones? How many from among mankind will go to heaven to be with Jesus Christ in the heavenly kingdom? Apparently down to the time of the Revelation to the apostle John, about the year 96 C.E., he himself did not know. How glad he must have been to have this mystery or sacred secret opened up as to how many the "living God" had foreordained or predestinated to be associated with his Son Jesus Christ in the heavenly kingdom! How glad we are, also, that John did not keep the secret to himself! Under God's command he wrote:

"And I heard the number of those who were sealed, a hundred and forty-four thousand, sealed out of every tribe of the sons of Israel: Out of the tribe of Judah

twelve thousand sealed; out of the tribe of Reuben twelve thousand; out of the tribe of Gad twelve thousand; out of the tribe of Asher twelve thousand; out of the tribe of Naphtali twelve thousand; out of the tribe of Manasseh twelve thousand; out of the tribe of Simeon twelve thousand; out of the tribe of Levi twelve thousand; out of the tribe of Issachar twelve thousand; out of the tribe of Zebulun twelve thousand; out of the tribe of Joseph twelve thousand; out of the tribe of Benjamin twelve thousand sealed."  — Revelation 7:4-8.

Twelve tribes with twelve thousand sealed out of each tribe produced one hundred and forty-four thousand sealed ones. Judah, Reuben, Gad, Asher, Naphtali, Manasseh, Simeon, Levi, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph, Benjamin — those twelve names were well known to the apostle John. He could Scripturally figure out why the two patriarchal names of Dan and Ephraim were omitted from among the list. The patriarch Levi was one of the original sons of the patriarch Jacob the son of Isaac the son of Abraham. Jehovah God separated the tribe of Levi from the rest of the nation of Israel after their deliverance from slavery in the land of Egypt in 1513 B.C.E. He made the Levites a tribe of sanctified religious servants of his house of worship. This left a vacancy among the tribes that were to inherit the Promised Land in the Middle East. How was it to be filled? By means of Joseph, the firstborn son to Rachel, a wife of Jacob (or Israel). Because of his faithfulness to God, Joseph came into possession of the birthright from his father Israel. Down in Egypt, Joseph became the father of two sons, Manasseh the firstborn and Ephraim.

Because of attaining to the birthright (1 Chronicles 5:1, 2), faithful Joseph was due to have two parts in the nation of Israel. Hence he deserved to be responsible for the existence of two tribes in the structure of the nation. Accordingly, in ancient Israel none of the tribes of Israel was named after Joseph himself, but he had two parts in the nation nonetheless,

for the tribes of his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim were made legally recognized tribes of Israel. However, in the listing of the twelve tribes in Revelation 7:4-8, the name of Ephraim is left out. Instead, the name of his father Joseph is assigned to a tribe, and Ephraim his second son would be understood to be included in his father Joseph. This let Joseph take over the responsibility for the tribe of his son Ephraim. Thus, even in the list of twelve tribes of sealed servants of the living God, Joseph had two parts, like the firstborn son in Israel.

We note also that the name of Levi was not omitted from the list of twelve tribal names in Revelation 7: 4-8. In this listing of 144,000 sealed ones, the name of Levi would not mark a tribe specially separated to be the temple servants for God's whole nation. Why not? Because all of the 144,000 sealed ones become "priests of God and of the Christ." (Revelation 20:6) This inclusion of the name of Levi in the number of tribal names would therefore call for the name of Dan, one of Israel's original twelve sons, to be left out. His name was not left out because of any special prejudice against the ancient tribe of Dan, for Samson the son of Manoah, one of the judges of ancient Israel, was of the tribe of Dan. (Judges, chapters 13-16; Hebrews 11:32) In proof of that, in the naming of the twelve tribes of Israel whose names appear on the twelve gates of the prophetic city of Jehovah-shammah ("Jehovah Himself Is There") the name of Dan appears, in the listing in Ezekiel 48: 30-35. Thus, although the name of this tribe is not found among the 144,000 sealed ones, it will have an honorable application in Jehovah's new system of things.

When the apostle John received the Revelation, about 96 C.E., it was sixty-three years since the nation of natural, circumcised Israel had been rejected by Jehovah God through Jesus Christ, back in 33 C.E. It was also sixty years since the Christian good news and the opportunity to enter into the kingdom of the

heavens had gone to the non-Jews, or Gentiles, in 36 C.E., at the conversion of the Italian centurion, Cornelius of Caesarea, to Christianity. He and fellow believing Gentiles received at that time the holy spirit with which the "chosen ones" of God are sealed. (Matthew 23:37-39; Acts 10:1 to 11:18; Romans 11:5-25) This was because only a "remnant" of the natural, circumcised Jews or Israelites received the seal of God's holy spirit. So the remainder of the number of the sealed ones has to be made up by faithful ones chosen from among the Gentiles. Since the admission of the uncircumcised Gentiles to the ranks of the sealed ones in 36 C.E., Jehovah God has had no fleshly nation of natural Israel. Instead, there has been a spiritual "Israel of God." Its members are spiritual Israelites. — Galatians 6:15, 16.

Because a person is a natural, circumcised Israelite or Jew, it does not mean that he is automatically a member of the spiritual "Israel of God." With regard to this spiritual Israel of God the fact stated by the apostle Paul back in 56 C.E. or so in his letter to the Roman Christians holds true: "Not all who spring from Israel are really 'Israel.' Neither because they are Abraham's seed are they all children, but: 'What will be called "your seed" will be through Isaac.' That is, the children in the flesh are not really the children of God, but the children by the promise are counted as the seed." (Romans 9:6-8; Genesis 21:12) Since the year 36 C.E., what an individual is naturally according to the flesh does not determine the matter with Jehovah God as to becoming a member of the 144,000 sealed ones. He can make a spiritual Israelite even out of a non-Jew or uncircumcised Gentile. It is just as he inspired the apostle Paul to write to the Roman Christians, a number of whom were uncircumcised Gentiles:

"He is not a Jew who is one on the outside, nor is circumcision that which is on the outside upon the flesh. But he is a Jew who is one on the inside, and

his circumcision is that of the heart by spirit, and not by a written code." — Romans 2:28, 29.

From this standpoint, even a natural circumcised Jew or Israelite who is not a member of the spiritual "Israel of God" is, spiritually speaking, a Gentile or non-Jew. On this basis the apostle John could be instructed to write to the congregation of spiritual Israelites in the ancient city of Philadelphia in Asia Minor: "Look! I will give those from the synagogue of Satan who say they are Jews, and yet they are not but are lying — look! I will make them come and do obeisance before your feet and make them know I have loved you." (Revelation 3:9) Because such a sharp distinction is made between one who is a Jew or Israelite merely in name and according to the circumcised flesh, it helps us to appreciate that the twelve tribes of the 144,000 sealed ones are the spiritual "Israel of God," and not 144,000 who were originally natural circumcised Israelites or Jews.

THEIR PLACE IN GOD'S FINAL ARRANGEMENT

In Revelation 7:4-8, aside from the fact that they are sealed with the "seal of the living God," nothing is there said about the purpose or place of these 144,000 spiritual Israelites in the final arrangement of Jehovah God. However, this can be determined by what is said farther on in the Revelation to the apostle John. In chapter twenty-one John is given a vision of the Bride of Christ, "the Lamb's wife." She is pictured as a radiant city that descends out of heaven from God and bears the name New Jerusalem. In describing this glorious heavenly city, John proceeds to say: "It had a great and lofty wall and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names were inscribed which are those of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel. . . . The wall of the city also had twelve foundation stones, and on them the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb." — Revelation 21:2,9-14.

Thus the gates of this bridal city of New Jerusalem

were for the entry of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel. Since this is not an earthly old Jerusalem, but a heavenly New Jerusalem, these twelve tribes of the sons of Israel who gain access into this symbolic city must be the twelve tribes of Israel named in Revelation 7:4-8. From this it is evident that the purpose of the twelve tribes there named is to make up a heavenly government that will, as a whole, serve as "the bride, the Lamb's wife."

Furthermore, the official position held by those who enter into those pearly gates guarded by angels is plainly stated. John says: "Also, the twelve gates were twelve pearls; each one of the gates was made of one pearl. . . . And the nations will walk by means of its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. And its gates will not be closed at all by day, for night will not exist there." (Revelation 21:21, 24, 25) Ah, yes, the 144,000 sealed ones of the twelve tribes of spiritual Israel will all be "kings of the earth," and they will be the only ones from the nations of the earth who will enter into that heavenly government, New Jerusalem, by means of a spiritual resurrection from the dead to immortal life in heaven. (1 Corinthians 15:22-53) Having such a royal position, they can, all together, make up a "bride" of suitable station for the Lamb, Jesus Christ, who is himself a heavenly King, seated at the right hand of Jehovah God.

It must be remembered, also, that these 144,000 sealed ones were called "the slaves of our God" by the angel that had the seal of the living God. (Revelation 7:3) That they are to serve as kings in the heavenly New Jerusalem is expressly stated when the apostle John closes his description of the holy city. Unlike the unfaithful earthly Jerusalem, it will never become a cursed city but will forever be a blessed city and a blessing to all mankind. "And no more will there be any curse," writes John. "But the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his slaves will render him sacred service; and they will see

his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. Also, night will be no more, and they have no need of lamplight nor do they have sunlight, because Jehovah God will shed light upon them, and they will rule as kings forever and ever." (Revelation 22:3-5) The 144,000 sealed slaves of the living God become the "kings of the earth" who alone enter the heavenly New Jerusalem by means of the pearly twelve gates on which are the names of the twelve tribes of Israel.

The fact that they are called the twelve "tribes of the sons of Israel" thus has helped us to make out what is the purpose that Jehovah God has for them, their place in his new system of things after the battle of Armageddon and the binding and abyssing of Satan the Devil and his demons. However, the number of them, that is, 144,000, also aids us in fixing upon God's purpose toward them, that his purpose is to have them be kings with his Lamb Jesus Christ in the heavenly New Jerusalem. Only in Revelation, chapter fourteen, is that number again stated. There we are informed of what position this foreordained number of spiritual Israelites will occupy in God's realm. In Revelation 14:1-5, John writes:

"And I saw, and, look! the Lamb standing upon the Mount Zion, and with him a hundred and forty-four thousand having his name and the name of his Father written on their foreheads. And I heard a sound out of heaven as the sound of many waters and as the sound of loud thunder; and the sound that I heard was as of singers who accompany themselves on the harp playing on their harps. And they are singing as if a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the older persons; and no one was able to master that song but the hundred and forty-four thousand, who have been bought from the earth. These are the ones that did not defile themselves with women; in fact, they are virgins. These are the ones that keep following the Lamb no matter where he goes. These were bought from among mankind as first fruits to God and to the Lamb, and

no falsehood was found in their mouths; they are without blemish."*

With the Lamb Jesus Christ, these followers of his who have been bought from among mankind as a firstfruits to God and to the Lamb make up a company of 144,001. Where is it that they are seen standing together? "Upon the Mount Zion." Not upon the earthly Mount Zion in the Middle East, for that small hill and its neighboring hills would be too small an area for "the holy city, New Jerusalem" into which these twelve tribes of spiritual Israel and their Leader, the Lamb of God, enter through the twelve pearly gates. The square base of that holy city is described as being three thousand furlongs (375 miles) to each side and thus having a circumference of twelve thousand furlongs or 1,500 miles. Earthly Mount Zion, on which a part of ancient Jerusalem stood, would be

just a tiny feature of such a large land area 375 miles square. (Revelation 21:2, 10-17) Logically, then, the Mount Zion upon which the 144,000 spiritual Israelites stand with the Lamb of God is the heavenly Mount Zion, upon which the heavenly Jerusalem stands.

To the Hebrew Christians, about nine years before earthly Jerusalem was destroyed in the year 70 C.E. by the Roman armies, it was written: "You have not approached that which can be felt and which has been set aflame with fire . . . But you have approached a Mount Zion and a city of the living God, heavenly Jerusalem, and myriads of angels." (Hebrews 12:18-22) On this heavenly Mount Zion the 144,000 sealed spiritual Israelites stand with the Lamb. As regards a seal of the living God on their foreheads, it is said that they have the name of the Lamb Jesus Christ and the name of his heavenly Father, Jehovah God, written on their foreheads. Like a seal, these two names distinguish the 144,000 as belonging to God inasmuch as he has bought them by the sacrifice of the Lamb Jesus Christ his Son.

Since the heavenly Mount Zion is the location of the "city of the living God, heavenly Jerusalem," the fact that the 144,000 stand there with the Lamb of God indicates that they are at the heavenly seat of government. It indicates that they rule there as the "kings of the earth," and "they will rule as kings forever and ever." (Revelation 21:24; 22:5) So, once again, God's purpose in sealing twelve tribes of twelve thousand each of spiritual Israelites is made clear in the Revelation to the apostle John. In view of such a sublime purpose we can appreciate why it was so urgent to finish the sealing of these 144,000 spiritual Israelites with the seal of the living God before the four winds of the earth were let loose by the four angels at the four corners of the earth. Loosing those winds would produce a violent storm that would destroy religious Babylon the Great and then bring an Armageddon of defeat and annihilation upon all the political nations of the earth.

In Revelation 7:4-8 the smallest units into which the 144,000 sealed ones are broken up are tribes, each tribe of this spiritual Israel being made up of 12,000 members. This partitioning of the spiritual Israel into twelve equally large tribes represents the final arrangement of them in the heavenly kingdom. It denotes a balanced organization, in which no favoritism plays a part. In the Holy Bible twelve is a number representing organization. Not without purposeful design did Jehovah God bless the ancient patriarch Jacob with twelve sons, who could become the patriarchal heads of twelve tribes. What Jehovah God prefigured in the twelve tribes of Israel he has fulfilled and preserved in these twelve equal tribes of spiritual Israel, all sealed as being the special possession of the living God, his holy nation. However, while the members of this spiritual Israel are being prepared here on earth, being sealed with God's holy spirit, they are generally divided up into congregations of varying size throughout the whole earth.

Eight or more years before earthly Jerusalem and its Herodian temple were wiped out by the pagan Romans in 70 C.E., the disciple James likened the Christian congregations of his day to a spiritual Israel, when he opened up his general letter by writing: "James, a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes that are scattered about: Greetings!" (James 1:1) More than thirty years afterward the apostle John was favored with the fascinating Revelation and in it special recognition was given to seven congregations still in existence near the end of the first century of our Common Era. He was commanded to write distinctive messages to these seven nearby congregations. Because of the great significance of these messages to us in this critical time of the twentieth century C.E., heavenly wisdom urges upon us the making of an examination of what was written under divine inspiration to those seven congregations of the first century C.E.