'"After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could

number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues".

'The reader will doubtless be aware that the passage should be

rendered, 'out of all nations'.  We have met with a similar expression

in chapter 5:9,10:

'"Thou didst purchase for God, by Thy blood, out of every tribe, and

tongue, and people and nation, and didst make them to our God a kingdom

and priests, and they reign over the earth".  (Critical text).

'In article No. 24 (November, 1918) we considered the passage, and

concluded that this was a redemption of scattered Israel, not out of

one nation, nor as at the first from Egypt, but from many nations (Isa.

11:11,12); the fact that those redeemed were to be a kingdom and

priests, pointed to Israel also.  The great multitude likewise are

Israelites gathered out of every nation, they too are invested with

priestly dignity, "they serve Him day and night in His Temple"' (The

Berean Expositor, Vol. 10, pages 1,2).

The next three references, Revelation 10:11; 11:9 and 17:15, obviously

concern the Gentile nations, but most readers unprepared by the present

investigation would have hazarded the conjecture that the word 'people' was

singular in Revelation 21:3:

'Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with

them, and they shall be His peoples'.

In spite of all the self -centred misunderstanding of Israel, they were

not chosen for their own sake, but that 'all families of the earth' might

ultimately be blessed.  Here, in Revelation 21, that goal is reached, and the

purpose of their calling having been accomplished, their separation from the

rest of the nations of the earth ceases to be necessary or desirable.  The

Tabernacle of God is at last with men, not merely as at the beginning with

Israel.  He will dwell with them, and they, the saved nations of the earth as

well as the covenant people of Israel, shall be His peoples.

This most wonderful consummation of the promises made to the fathers

was anticipated by Isaiah, when he said, in spite of the exclusivism

entertained by 'the circumcision':

'In that day shall there be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria, and the

Assyrian shall come into Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria, and the

Egyptians shall serve with the Assyrians.

'In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria,

even a blessing in the midst of the land:

'Whom the Lord of hosts shall bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt my

people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel mine inheritance'

(Isa. 19:23 -25).

Israel then shall be the third part with the saved of the two nations that

formerly oppressed them, Assyria and Egypt.

These nine references therefore are distributed thus: