Jesus Selects 144,000
Prophets
page l 1 l 2 l
-2-
A. First,
“Then he showed me Joshua and
the high priest standing before the
angel of the Lord, and Satan standing
at the right side to accuse him. The
Lord said to Satan, ‘The Lord [Sovereign
God] rebuke you, Satan! The Lord,
who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you!
Is not this man a burning stick
snatched from the fire?’”
(Zechariah 3:1,2) In
this passage, the Lord silenced the
devil by asserting sovereign
authority. The Lord simply said,
“The Lord rebuke you.” This
divine denunciation silenced Lucifer.
He could not say another word. The
Word of God has incredible power.
Remember, Jesus claimed the Sea of
Galilee with a single command
(Matthew 8:26) and the Heavens and
the starry hosts were formed with the
breath of His mouth. (Psalm 33:6,
Colossians 1:16)
B. The
following references shows Jesus
referring to Himself in the third
person: “But even the
archangel Michael, when he was
disputing with the devil about the
body of Moses, did not dare to bring
a slanderous accusation against him,
but said, ‘The Lord [Sovereign
God] rebuke you!’” (Jude
1:9, insertions mine) The devil
argued that Moses should not be
resurrected and taken to Heaven
because Moses had sinned against God.
Once again, Jesus silenced the devil
with a divine command.
C.
Finally, the following reference
shows Michael/Jesus speaking to
Abraham. The angel swears by Himself
because there is no higher authority.
“But the angel of the Lord
called out to him from heaven,
‘Abraham! Abraham!’
‘Here I am,’ he replied.
‘Do not lay a hand on the
boy,’ he said. ‘Do not do
anything to him. Now I know that you
fear God, because you have not
withheld from me your son, your only
son.’ Abraham looked up and
there in the thicket he saw a ram
caught by his horns. He went over and
took the ram and sacrificed it as a
burnt offering instead of his son. So
Abraham called the place The Lord
Will Provide. And to
this day it is said, ‘On the
mountain of the Lord it will be
provided.’ The angel of the Lord
called to Abraham from heaven the
second time and said, ‘I swear
by myself,’ declares the Lord,
‘that because you have done this
and have not withheld you son, your
only son, I will surely bless you and
make your descendants as numerous as
the stars in the sky and the sand on
the seashore. Your descendants will
take possession of the cities of
their enemies, and through your
offspring all nations on earth will
be blessed, because you have obeyed
me.’” (Genesis
22:11-18)
Jesus takes the oath
in Revelation 10:6 swearing by
Himself because one God (Michael/
Jesus) promises another God (the
Father) that He will conclude the sin
problem according to the blueprint
which the Father gave Him for
man’s salvation! (Psalm 2:7-12,
Revelation 1:1) From the beginning of
sin, the plan of salvation has
involved three Gods (the Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit). When Adam and Eve
fell, Jesus gave up certain
prerogatives as “Creator
God.” He submitted to the
authority of the Father and His plan
of salvation in order to save
mankind. On that day, Jesus became
the “son” of God. This
clarifies why Jesus is called,
“The Son of God.” The
Hebrew word for son is ben and
it means “subject or one who is
subjected to the authority of
another’s.” This amazing
event is recorded in Psalm 2: “I
will proclaim the decree of the Lord [the
Father]: He said to me [Jesus],
‘You are my Son [subject];
today I have become your Father [Overseer].
Ask of me, and I will make the
nations your inheritance, the ends of
the earth your possession. [I
will give them to you if you redeem
them.] You will rule them with an
iron scepter [unbroken rule];
you will dash them [your enemies]
to pieces like
pottery.’” (Psalm
2:7-9) Jesus reiterated the results
of this decree in the Garden of
Gethsemane: “I have revealed
you to those whom you gave me out of
the world. They are yours; you
gave them to me and have
obeyed your word. Now they know that
everything you have given me comes
from you.” (John 17:6,7,
italics mine)
We know that one God
(Jesus) came to Earth to do the will
of another God (the Father). (John
6:38) To redeem mankind from the
curse of sin, Jesus had to perfectly
carry out the plan of salvation which
the Father prepared before sin began.
(Revelation 17:8) When Jesus takes
the oath in Revelation 10:6, He
promises the Father that he will do
everything that the Father requires,
and the twenty-four elders, along
with millions of angels, will be eye
witnesses of this oath. We can
compare Jesus’ oath with the swearing
in of a new president of the
United States. The president swears
before God and witnesses (U.S.
citizens) at his inauguration, that
he will uphold the constitution (the
laws) of the United States to the
best of his ability, “so help me
God.”
6.
Ultimately, the little book that
rests in the angel’s hands
proves this angel is Michael/Jesus.
Notice how this proof unfolds.
Ezekiel was given a book to eat just
like John. Ezekiel found it sweet in
his mouth (that is, wonderful to
understand), but the experience of
delivering the words of God to
obstinate people would be bitter.
Jesus told Ezekiel: “’You
must speak my words to them, whether
they listen or fail to listen, for
they are rebellious. But you, son of
man, listen to what I say to you. Do
not rebel like the rebellious house;
open your mouth and eat what I give
you.’ Then I looked, and I saw a
hand stretched out to me. In it was a
scroll, which he unrolled before me.
On both sides were written words of
lament and mourning and woe. And he
said to me, ‘Son of man, eat
what is before you, eat this scroll;
then go and speak to the house of
Israel.’ So, I opened my mouth,
and he gave me the scroll to eat.
Then he said to me, ‘Son of man,
eat this scroll I am giving you and
fill your stomach with it.’ So I
ate it, and it tasted as sweet as
honey in my mouth. He said to me:
‘Son of man, go now to the house
of Israel and speak my
words to them…. But
the house of Israel is not willing to
listen to you because they are not
willing to listen to me, for the
house of Israel is hardened and
obstinate.’” (Ezekiel
2:7-3:4,7, italics mine)
The selection
and empowerment of the 144,000
prophets was represented to John as
though he would be like one of them.
John, like the prophet Ezekiel, was
given a little book to eat and then
told to prophesy again. This literary
technique takes very few words to
describe. By putting John into the
experience of the 144,000, the final
generation can quickly understand the
mission and experience of the
144,000.
John’s
experience: “Then the voice
that I heard from heaven spoke to me
once more: ‘Go, take the scroll
that lies open in the hand of the
angel who is standing on the sea and
on the land.’ So I went to the
angel and asked him to give me the
little scroll. He said to me,
‘Take it and eat it. It will
turn your stomach sour, but in your
mouth it will taste as sweet as
honey.’ I took the little scroll
from the angel’s and ate it. It
tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth,
but when I had eaten it, my stomach
turned sour. Then I was told,
‘You must prophesy [preach]
again about [before] many
peoples, nations, languages and
kings.’” (Revelation
10:8-11, insertions mine)
We have examined six
elements concerning the identity of
the mighty angel in Revelation 10:1.
They are as follows: (1) the rainbow
indicating deity, (2) the deliberate
posture indicating sovereign
authority over land and sea, (3) as
Commander-in-chief over the angels,
Michael/Jesus declaring when the
delay ends and the seven trumpets
begin, (4) as God, Michael/Jesus is
resurrecting the dead on the last day
with His own voice, (5) the mighty
angel swearing with an oath that He
will carry out the Great Tribulation
plan which the Father has given Him,
and (6) John and Ezekiel receiving
the words from God. God told both of
them to eat the book and speak for
God. All of these elements
harmoniously satisfy all of the
specifications and prove the
mighty angel described in Revelation
10 is Michael/Jesus.
page l 1 l 2 l
-2-
