1950 This Means Everlasting Life - A2Z.org

THEOCRATIC ORGANI ATION 127
which is the congregation, has a perfect number
of members, foreordained by the Theocratic Creator,
Jehovah God . Before Christ's time he left
their number unrevealed and hence likened the
members to the stars of heaven and the sands of
the seashore which no man can number . But
through Christ Jesus he at last revealed their
number to be 144,000, and likened them to the
twelve tribes of ancient Israel, allowing 12,000
to each tribe of spiritual Israel . Genesis 22 :16-
18 ; Revelation 7 :1-8 Their being pictured as
divided into twelve tribes, with no partiality to
any tribe as to numbers, symbolizes that the
Theocratic congregation is completely organized
in a well-balanced way . "And I saw," says the
apostle John, "and look! the Lamb standing upon
the mount ion, and with him a hundred and
forty-four thousand having his name and the
name of his Father written on their foreheads .
. . . And they are singing as if a new song . . .
and no one was able to master that song but the
hundred and forty-four thousand, who have been
purchased from the earth ." With the Lamb Jesus
Christ they total one and a hundred forty-four
thousand, and they are all the creatures that are
finally taken from earth to heaven . "These are
the ones that keep following the Lamb no matter
where he goes . These were purchased from among
mankind as a firstfruits to God and to the Lamb ."
-Revelation 14 :1-4, NW.
6
Their being symbolized as of twelve tribes
6 . How do the numbers of their tribes and foundations
agree?