Revelation 7:15-17

15 Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them.

16 They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat.

17 For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.

Since many in Dispensation Theology say the 144,000 and this great multitude that come out of the tribulation are not included in the the Body of Christ known as the Church. Let us learn the truth about the people in this passage by examining the theology that tells us who the body and bride of Christ are. This understanding is necessary to give proper hope to the Jews and martyrs who find Jesus in the great tribulation and to correct some bad theology in the dispensational camp.

Why true Christians from Pentecost and true Jews Before Jesus are all in the body of Christ:

The passage in Revelation that is listed above says that this multitude is a distinct people who will always be before the throne of God.  The text is very clear that  they will serve in God's temple. Later in this book, we will learn that in eternity God will have no temple in the Holy City. He and the Lamb will be the temple. If there is no temple in eternity other than God in His people and this multitude serves Him in the temple then they must be indwelt with His Holy Spirit and they must worship and serve Him in spirit and in truth just like the faithful Church that was taken in the rapture.

We also will be told in Revelation Chapter s 21 and 22 that the eternal Holy City is the place where there will be no need for the sun and it is where the Lamb's throne is located. The Lamb in the midst of the throne and no sun or heat is promised here to this great multitude.  Thus, it is certain that this multitude will dwell and serve in the Holy City. That alone should make it obvious that these 144,000 Jews and all they convert are included in the body of Christ. They live in the home of the bride that is described in Chapter s 21 and 22.

This understanding makes me depart from classical dispensationalists on their point that believing Jews are not part of the body of Christ. I believe the scripture teaches that the body of Christ is the whole commonwealth of Israel and not just the believers that entered the new covenant by God's grace to believers since Pentecost.

I do understand their arguments, because not long ago I held their view. These dispensationalists claim that saved Israel is not part of the bride of Christ but that these are merely friends or brethren of the groom. Some claim the body of Christ and the bride are different entities. They generally use Jewish marriage illustrations to support their views. However, whatever the truth is about these illustrations,  I see no distinction in heaven between true Israel of the Old Testament and true believers since Pentecost. Scriptures say that both assemblies are included in the commonwealth of Israel and that both assemblies are branches on the same Olive Tree; we also see that they have identical destinies in the city of the bride. Most of the arguments these dispensationalists use are from subjective reasoning and they cannot be supported by any direct scripture passage, yet there is scripture to refute their reasoning.

Those that hold this theology claim the body of Christ started at Pentecost and those saved since Pentecost are the only people in Christ. They claim that the Church since Pentecost until the rapture (or some say the marriage) will be the only believers in Christ. This mostly Gentile bride will be one with Christ but Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses and all the people of faith prior to Pentecost and after the rapture are not part of the body or bride. Therefore, they say the 144,000 sealed Jews and the billions they help bring to Christ have missed the opportunity to become part of this body of Christ but will now be friends or brethren of Jesus.

Dispensational teachers have correctly been dead set against the replacement theology that prevails in many mainline covenant theology denominations. Nevertheless, they themselves may be guilty of a more subtle form of replacement theology that they think takes place in the kingdom  of heaven.  They make believers since Pentecost the queen of the kingdom and co-regent with Christ over all creation but they make the founding fathers and the 144,000 first fruits merely friends, subjects or servants in the kingdom. Why would God discriminate between pre and post Pentecost people all saved by trusting in God's promise?  The Apostle Paul make it clear that we are all branches on the same Olive Tree.

These theologians seem to claim we should exclude true Israel from the body of Christ because God had the grace to graft in Gentiles! Why does true Israel get this graft shaft and how did the Gentiles now become the only true love of God s life? God is no respecter of persons whether Jew or Gentile. Salvation by faith is a free gift to all until the body is completed.

Not including true Israel as members of the body of Christ not only would not be fair to true Israel but the book of Romans demolishes that thought by making it clear that there is only one Olive Tree of which Old and New Testament believers are all branches and there is one Commonwealth of Israel of which we are all members. The Gentiles were, by God's grace, grafted into the Commonwealth of Israel. They did not replace the commonwealth and all the promises made to all children of Abraham  (the children of faith and the promise). We all get nourishment from the same root that is watered by the Spirit of God.

The argument they use that true Israel did not have the Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit was not given until Pentecost does not hold water either. The promised new covenant baptism of the Holy Spirit promised to natural Israel in Jeremiah was indeed given at Pentecost but the Holy Spirit was alive and well on planet earth from the beginning and there were filled and saved people prior to Pentecost. The scripture is filled with many such examples. In John 20:22 Jesus told His disciples to receive the Holy Spirit when he appeared to them and breathed on them and this was before Pentecost.

Pentecost was the baptism that John the Baptist promised would come through Jesus (Matthew 3:11). This baptism identified all believers into the death and resurrection of God's chosen High Priest so all who believe by faith could have eternal atonement for their sins and be born into His spiritual new creation called the Body of Christ.

That does not mean there were not those of faith before Pentecost. Pentecost was the giving of the promised new covenant and body of Christ but people also got saved by faith during the time of the old covenant. No one can be saved without the Holy Spirit in any dispensation. It is impossible to please God without faith and you cannot have true faith without the Holy Spirit. The Old Testament is filled with accounts proving that the Holy Spirit worked through Old Testament people of faith. Accordingly, how could those dead in their sins without His Spirit have the faith to please Him as many obviously did?  The Bible also says that all Israel was baptized into Moses and the sea and all drank of Christ.

1 Corinthians 10:1  Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all  our fathers  were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea;

2  And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea;

3  And did all eat the same spiritual meat;

4  And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ .

Psalms 51:11  Cast me not away from thy presence;  and take not thy holy Spirit from me.

Isaiah 63:10  But they rebelled, and  vexed his holy Spiri t: therefore he was turned to be their enemy, and he fought against them.

Isaiah 63:11  Then he remembered the days of old, Moses, and his people, saying, Where is he that brought them up out of the sea with the shepherd of his flock?  where is he that put his holy Spirit within him?

At Pentecost, when Jesus poured out his blood in the Holy Place in heaven, the new covenant promise was put into effect because all sin was paid for. Because of natural Israel's unbelief, many branches were broken off the Olive tree. This allowed the grafting in of believing Gentiles (illustrated as the bride) into the new covenant promise given to the house of Israel and Judah. At Pentecost, Jesus as High Priest in the heavenly holy place poured out His blood and paid for the sins of mankind once and for all. By doing so, the Holy Spirit was now poured out on all flesh who would hear this new covenant message of God's grace by faith regardless if they were Jew or Gentiles. No longer was it necessary for a high priest in Israel to atone for one's sins for anyone on earth to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

Nevertheless, before Pentecost there were high priests in Israel who once a year brought in blood to the Holy of Holies to atone for the sins of Israel. The blood did not pay for the sins as did the blood of Jesus but it reminded everyone that they were sinners and that they must by faith trust God to save them. These blood sacrifices required faith in God and that is what justified the people who carried them out.

This practice did not even start with Israel. It started shortly after the fall of man when Abel offered a blood sacrifice of an animal by faith. The blood of this animal was a testament that sin in the world brought suffering and death and that God would have to provide a blood sacrifice that would redeem the earth from the sin of Adam. The offering of Abel showed the he had knowledge and faith in the redemption plan of God. He knew that a blood sacrifice of a innocent Lamb provided by God would be the only offering that would be acceptable to God, While Cain's offering of produce raised through his own efforts did not show understanding or maybe Cain even rejected the truth that man was justified through God's own self righteousness so Cain's offering was rejected.

The Old Testament people by faith believed these sacrifices would atone for their sins. These people did not only offer sacrifices because they were looking forward to the sacrifice that God would provide for sin. Many did not have that much insight into God's divine plan. However, by faith (in God) they believed their sins would be covered and were thus justified by the law of faith (Romans 3:27) so the Holy Spirit could indwell them. We see proof of this at Passover, when the angel of death could not touch the descendants of Israel because he could see no sin within their house. The obedient covered the entrance to their house with the blood of the lamb by faith.  Sacrifice by blood to atone for sin was paramount in Israel. Why would Israel even need to be continually reminded of their sins if they could not be justified by faith and have a relationship with the Spirit of the living God?

Let us not be conceited; the grafted in branches are in the same Olive Tree as the natural branches. A study of Romans chapter 9-11 makes it clear that all people who believe God's promise by faith whether Jew or Gentile now make up the spiritual body of the new covenant Christ ( Hebrews 12:22-24). After all, the promise of a new covenant was really made to the house of Israel and Judah and not to the Gentiles.

Jeremiah 31:31  Lo, days are coming, an affirmation of Jehovah, And I have made with  the house of Israel And with the house of Judah a new covenant,

32  Not like the covenant that I made with their fathers, In the day of My laying hold on their hand, To bring them out of the land of Egypt, In that they made void My covenant, And I ruled over them an affirmation of Jehovah.

33  For this is the covenant that I make, With the house of Israel, after those days, An affirmation of Jehovah, I have given My law in their inward part, And on their heart I do write it, And I have been to them for God, And they are to me for a people.

Just look at the hall of fame of the people of faith in Hebrews and then say these people did not have the Holy Spirit in them.

Hebrews 11:4   By faith  Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness  that he was righteous,  God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.

5   By faith  Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony,  that he pleased God.

6   But without faith it is impossible to please him:  for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

7   By faith  Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became  heir of the righteousness which is by faith.

8   By faith  Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.

9   By faith  he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise:

10  For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.

11   Through faith  also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because  she judged him faithful  who had promised.

12  Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable.

13   These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they  were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.

14  For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country.

15  And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned.

16  But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for  he hath prepared for them a city.

17   By faith  Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac:  and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son,

18  Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called:

19  Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.

20   By faith  Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come.

21   By faith  Jacob, when he was a dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph; and worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff.

22   By faith  Joseph, when he died, made mention of the departing of the children of Israel; and gave commandment concerning his bones.

23   By faith  Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child; and they were not afraid of the king's commandment.

24   By faith  Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter;

25  Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season;

26   Esteeming the reproach of Christ  greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward.

27   By faith  he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible.

28   Through faith  he kept the passover, and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the firstborn should touch them.

29   By faith they  passed through the Red sea as by dry land: which the Egyptians assaying to do were drowned.

30   By faith  the walls of Jericho fell down, after  they  were compassed about seven days.

31   By faith  the harlot  Rahab  perished not with them that  believed not, when she had received the spies with peace.

32 And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets:

33  Who  through faith  subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions,

34  Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.

35  Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection:

36  And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment:

37  They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented;

38  (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.

39   And these all,  having obtained a good  report through faith, received not the promise:

40  God having provided some better thing for us,  that they without us should not be made perfect.

Hebrews 12:1  Wherefore seeing we also are  compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses,  let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,

2   Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

I see no hint of any distinction in Christ between Old Testament and New Testament saints!  Remember YHWH and Jesus are actually the same God and true Israel and the New Testament Church (assembly) are in the same Olive Tree and spiritual body and they will share the same eternal destiny in the Holy City as quicking spirits.

Having said that, They probably do have different roles in the thousand year reign. But let's not assume that different roles for the thousand years makes Israel in any way subservient to a grafted in people for eternity.

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