This video was originally going to focus on the Second Resurrection. (I’ll be releasing a video on that topic in just a few days.) But before we go there, I need to correct something we discussed earlier in this series, specifically in parts 4 and 5. I’ll include links to those videos in the description below so you can refer back to them if needed.
You may recall that in part 4, we saw that the Great Crowd in Revelation 7:9 is not made up of Jehovah’s Witnesses who claim to be part of a special “other sheep” class. Then in part 5, we examined the Great Tribulation and found that it’s not the end-of-the-world event that Jehovah’s Witnesses, and many Adventist groups, make it out to be.
The preponderance of evidence led us to conclude that the Great Crowd consists of God’s chosen ones, from the time of Abel down to the presence of Christ. In essence, the Great Crowd includes all those who share in the First Resurrection, as well as those who are transformed in the blink of an eye at the manifestation of Christ’s presence—in short, the anointed children of God. It follows, then, that the Great Tribulation is not some catastrophic end-of-times event, but rather the period of trials and testing that all of God’s children must endure if they are to attain the prize that their Lord and Master gained through the things he suffered.
Even though Jesus was God’s Son, he learned obedience from the things he suffered. In this way, God qualified him as a perfect High Priest, and he became the source of eternal salvation for all those who obey him. (Hebrews 5:8, 9 NLT)
How did we come to that conclusion? How did we dismantle years of indoctrination originating from false teachers like J. F. Rutherford, Nathan Knorr, Fred Franz, and the men who currently make up the Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses? You’ll recall that it all came down to the meaning of the word “temple” as recorded in Revelation 7:15.
“For this reason, they are before the throne of God and serve Him day and night in His temple; and the One seated on the throne will spread His tabernacle over them.” (Revelation 7:15 BSB)
The word used here for “temple” is naos in the Greek, which refers specifically to the sanctuary—the innermost part of the temple where God’s presence was said to dwell. Based on that, we reasoned that the ones making up the Great Crowd must be in heaven, standing before God, in his very presence, rendering sacred service in his temple. And who was permitted to enter the Holy and Most Holy areas of the temple? Only the priests. The average Israelite never set foot inside the sanctuary. Therefore, the Great Crowd must be understood as the priestly class.
Referring to such ones, the Apostle John writes:
To Him who loves us and has released us from our sins by His blood, who has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father—to Him be the glory and power forever and ever! Amen. (Revelation 1:6 BSB)
We initially thought, based on the wording of Revelation 7:9–14, that this Great Crowd had already received their reward. After all, they’re depicted as standing before the throne of God, surrounded by his holy angels and the twenty-four elders, who themselves are seated on thrones. They are described as serving God, day and night, in his temple—a position that suggests they’ve already entered into their inheritance.
But here’s the problem. Verse 17 reads:
For the Lamb in the center of the throne will be their shepherd. ‘He will lead them to springs of living water,’ and ‘God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’ (Revelation 7:17 BSB)
If they’ve already received their reward and are reigning with Christ in the Kingdom, then why does the Lamb still need to lead them to springs of living water? And why are there still tears in their eyes, suggesting sorrow or suffering? Why would they still need a shepherd if they’ve already been exalted to rule alongside Christ?
The problem lies in how we’re still inclined to think literally. When we hear the word “temple”, we picture a physical place. Just like when we hear the word “heaven”, we instinctively imagine a location—somewhere “up there.”
But this kind of thinking misses the point. When the Samaritan woman asked Jesus about the proper place to worship, whether on Mount Gerizim or in Jerusalem, she too was focused on location.
So tell me, why is it that you Jews insist that Jerusalem is the only place of worship, while we Samaritans claim it is here at Mount Gerizim, where our ancestors worshiped? (John 4:20 NLT)
Jesus was about to introduce something new and radical. No longer would people need to travel to a specific place, like the Temple in Jerusalem, in order to worship God properly. Worship would no longer be tied to geography, buildings, or physical rituals. Instead:
Jesus replied, “Believe me, dear woman, the time is coming when it will no longer matter whether you worship the Father on this mountain or in Jerusalem. You Samaritans know very little about the one you worship, while we Jews know all about him, for salvation comes through the Jews. But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way. For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth. (John 4:21-24 NLT)
God is not in a place. God is spirit. In Greek, it literally reads, “God is breath.” Those whom God is seeking to worship him are going to do so in spirit and in truth. That is what matters.
The faith of this woman was remarkable. Notice how she replies to Jesus:
The woman said, “I know the Messiah is coming—the one who is called Christ. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” Then Jesus told her, “I Am the Messiah!” (John 4:25, 26 NLT)
“When the Messiah comes, he is going to explain everything to us!” Clearly, there were many things they didn’t yet understand, but now the Messiah had arrived. So what did he explain to them, and to us, especially about worshipping God, which was her concern?
It is our concern as well, if we count ourselves among the anointed children of God. Why do I say that? Because to worship God is to serve God. And Revelation 7:15 says about us:
Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple. And He who sits on the throne will dwell among them. (Revelation 7:15 New King James Version)
So, if the temple isn’t a place, then what is it? What has Jesus explained to us?
It began with this statement, which was one of the things the Jews used in their desperate attempt to find cause to crucify our Lord.
“We heard him say, 'I will destroy this Temple made with human hands, and in three days I will build another, made without human hands.'" (Mark 14:58)
What did he mean by “this Temple”? John tells us:
"Jesus replied, 'Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.' 'What!' they exclaimed. 'It has taken forty-six years to build this Temple, and you can rebuild it in three days?' But when Jesus said 'this temple,' he meant his own body." (John 2:19–21)
How could his body be a temple? The Temple in Jerusalem wasn’t just a building. It contained the Most Holy Place, the inner sanctuary where the presence of God was believed to dwell.
Before the temple was built by King Solomon, there was first the tent, or tabernacle, which served the same purpose.
And the cloud covers the Tent of Meeting, and the glory of YHWH has filled the Dwelling Place; and Moses has not been able to go into the Tent of Meeting, for the cloud has dwelt on it, and the glory of YHWH has filled the Dwelling Place. (Exodus 40:34, 35 Literal Standard Version)
And the same thing happened when Solomon’s Temple was inaugurated.
And it comes to pass, in the going out of the priests from the holy [place], that the cloud has filled the house of YHWH, 11and the priests have not been able to stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of YHWH has filled the house of YHWH. (1 Kings 8:10, 11 LSV)
But now, God’s spirit dwelt in Jesus. And not just in Jesus:
"Don't you realize that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you? God will destroy anyone who destroys this temple. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple." (1 Corinthians 3:16–17)
Being the temple of God is not something that is confined to the congregation of the holy ones as a group. Paul tells us that it applies to individuals as well:
Don't you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body. (1 Corinthians 6:19–20)
And just how is it that you and I can be considered God’s temple? The literal temple was just a building, nothing more. What made that building special—what made it a temple of the Most High—was the presence of God’s spirit within.
"For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down (that is, when we die and leave this earthly body), we will have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands." (2 Corinthians 5:1)
The “earthly tent” is our human body, now filled with God’s spirit. It is a tabernacle, or temple, because, like the original tent and the later temple, it is filled with the spirit of God. We will eventually die, or be transformed, just as Jesus died in the flesh. But we will become something more—a new spirit body, just as Jesus is—and God’s temple will continue, not as a structure, a building, or a place, but in each of us.
This understanding, that the congregation of the holy ones is God’s temple, helps us place Revelation 7:9–17 into its proper timeframe.
Consider again what we are:
"And what union can there be between God's temple and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God said: 'I will live in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they will be my people.'" (2 Corinthians 6:16)
"Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. We are carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord. Through him you Gentiles are also being made part of this dwelling where God lives by his Spirit." (Ephesians 2:20–22)
So we are now, in this life, in these mortal bodies, serving God “day and night in His Temple”. (Revelation 7:15) And as God’s temple, though we are still mortal, “we will never again be hungry or thirsty, nor will the heat of the sun scorch us.” (Revelation 7:16) Why? Because “The Lamb of God is on the throne, ruling, and he is our Shepherd. And he continues to guide us to springs of life-giving water.” (Revelation 7:17)
The metaphor of life-giving water emanating from Jesus is everywhere in the Christian Scriptures.
Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit.” (John 3:5)
Jesus replied, “If you only knew the gift God has for you and who you are speaking to, you would ask me, and I would give you living water.” (John 4:10)
Jesus replied, “Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again. But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.” (John 4:13–14)
On the last day, the climax of the festival, Jesus stood and shouted to the crowds, “Anyone who is thirsty may come to me! Anyone who believes in me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare, “Rivers of living water will flow from his heart.”’ (When he said “living water,” he was speaking of the Spirit, who would be given to everyone believing in him. But the Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus had not yet entered into his glory.) (John 7:37–39)
This highlights the beauty of exegesis—drawing meaning from Scripture rather than imposing our own ideas onto it.
Our revised understanding of the identity of the Great Crowd remains consistent. They are spirit-anointed children of God, because only such ones are called to be priests who serve in God’s temple, day and night. The temple—naos in Greek—is the holy sanctuary where God’s spirit dwells.
We also continue to recognize that the Great Tribulation is not an end-of-the-world event. If it were, only those anointed children of God who happened to be alive in that specific time could be said to “come out of the Great Tribulation.” That interpretation does not align with the broader context of Revelation 7:9–17. An apocalyptic Great Tribulation simply does not fit the circumstances described in that passage.
Still, the picture we had wasn’t entirely accurate. In my own case, I saw the temple in this passage as being in heaven, which led me to believe that the Great Crowd had already received their reward. But thanks to an alert and studious brother in Germany, I had to take a fresh look at the text. Why would the glorified children of God, once resurrected to heavenly life, still need to be led to life-giving waters, and why would God still need to wipe every tear from their eyes, as Revelation 7:17 describes?
That prompted me to take a deeper look at the meaning of naos, the temple of God. And once I understood what it truly meant, I stopped thinking about places and started thinking about people, specifically, spirit-filled children of the Most High.
We are God’s temple. We are serving him day and night by allowing his spirit to work through us and in us. Because of that, Jesus is leading us to life-giving waters—his words and his spirit. He is shepherding us and protecting us from the scorching sun of persecution. Through the assurance of our hope, our Father wipes away our tears. We hunger for truth no more, because, as the Samaritan woman said, the Messiah has come and now he explains everything to those who are his.
I hope this clearer understanding helps you grow in confidence, knowing that our Father and God loves us and actively cares for us. It should also help us recognize how we are spiritually nourished. The faithful and discreet slave is not a single individual, nor a corporate body housed in some religious headquarters. All of us feed each other. Special thanks go out to our German brother who brought this insight to our attention—so that we, in turn, are all fed.
Each of us must prove to be faithful and wise, ready to feed one another and to share the life-giving waters that flow from our Lord Jesus and our Father, Yehovah.
Thank you all for watching and for supporting this channel.