The Great Company
In Revelation 7:9, the Apostle John sees “a great multitude which no man could number.” He is asked to identify the white-clad, palm-bearing (a symbol of victory) multitude, and, with characteristic humility, tacitly acknowledges his inability to proffer a response. He refers the reply back to the questioning “elder,” who obviously possesses superior insight into the matter. It is apparent to John that the query is intended to attract his attention to this particular group praising God amidst the host of heaven. What class is referred to?
The Scriptures teach that all who are drawn of God to Jesus are called to repentance and conversion, and are instilled with the one hope, if faithful, to be with Christ in glory and to reign in his future government over earth. In the final outcome, however, there will develop two classes who receive a heavenly inheritance. The first, the Little Flock, will obtain Kingdom honors. The second, the Great Company, will receive a lesser but spiritual reward, for God’s grace cannot admit to heavenly perfection those who do not have robes of spotless righteousness in the eventide of the Gospel Age. The following are only a few of the many examples thus set forth in Holy Writ of the two classes.
1. Rebecca, a type of the true Church, was accompanied by those described as her damsels when she went to meet Isaac, a figure of Christ, who was in the field (the world) at the end of a long journey (the Gospel Age)-Genesis 24:61-67.
2. Both the wise and the foolish virgins went forth to meet the Bridegroom. The former went in to the wedding, the door being shut; the latter had to go back to the marketplace of experience (the Time of Trouble) to secure more oil for their vessels-Matthew 25:1-13.
3. In addition to the King’s (Jehovah’s) daughter, the true Church and future Queen of the world, there are “the virgins her companions that follow her. With gladness and rejoicing shall they be brought – they shall enter into the king’s palace.” – Psalms 45:13-15.
4. Jesus and the glorified Church speak on behalf of their little sister who “hath no breasts,” that is, who lacks proper development and maturity according to the precepts of the Old and the New Testaments-Song of Solomon 8:8.
5. In the spiritual poem of the two sisters, one awakens and arises of her own volition and ventures into the night, diligently seeking her Lord. Shortly she finds him whom her soul loveth, and both enter her mother’s house (the Sarah Covenant, cf Genesis 24:67) – Song of Solomon 3:1-4; 5:1. The other sister needs to be prodded to bestir herself and to follow the example of her sister, but-alas!- she finds that the Lord has already entered his garden – Song of Solomon 5:2-8; 6:1, 2.
6. Two surviving sons were in line to succeed to the office of high priest upon Aaron’s death. The one, Eleazar, did obtain that office; the other, Ithamar (land of palms), did not – Lev. 10:12; Deut. 10:6.
7. There were two goats upon which lots were cast: the one lot was for the Lord, and the other lot was for the scapegoat (Azazel) – Leviticus 16:8. Whereas the Lord’s goat was sacrificed upon the altar in the Court, the live goat was taken by the hand of a fit man to Azazel in the wilderness. The scapegoat corresponds to a class referred to by the Apostle Paul: “To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus”-1 Cor. 5:5; 3:15.
8. “Two parts [the Little Flock and the Great Company] therein shall be cut off and die; but the third [part – Israel] shall be left therein”-Zech. 13:8.
9. Neither the priesthood nor the Levites had any inheritance in the land; in other words, in antitype both receive a spiritual inheritance. The Levites were given as a gift to Aaron and his sons, that is, to the priesthood Num. 8:19.
Jesus, as the Lamb in the midst of the throne, will furnish (“feed” Rev. 7:17) the Great Company with everlasting life on the same basis as the angels who proved faithful and sinned not in the days of Noah (Luke 20:35, 36), for the Great Company will be accounted a similar degree of worthiness to those angels. Consequently, they also will not die anymore, being at least equal to those holy angels; they too will be counted as the children of God, being the children of the resurrection.
The Great Company will live on a spirit plane of being in harmony with their former aspirations. However, they will need to partake of nourishment and the spiritual water of life to sustain that life which they possess, for spirit beings (except those who are partakers of the divine nature) need spirit food as much as humans need natural sustenance. Having been followers of Jesus in their former state on earth, the Great Company will rejoice that the Master himself assumes personal responsibility for this provision and for their care. They proved to be overcomers, but not more than overcomers, and therefore, they receive not the abundant entrance into the Kingdom of heaven referred to by the Apostle (2 Peter 1:11).
Since the Great Company, in their prior life, did make a commitment to serve the living God with all their heart, it is indeed pleasing to note that the Father also loveth them. Magnanimous Grace condescends to offer words of comfort and additional deeds of kindness, consoling them for their effort to rectify mistakes and for their failure to achieve the higher reward -thus wiping away their tears of disappointment for not pleasing God supremely.
– Frank Shallieu, “The Revelation of Jesus Christ”