The Great Crowd

Counted Worthy to Be Guided to Fountains of Waters of Life

“The Lamb . . . will shepherd them, and will guide them to fountains of waters of life.”—REV. 7:17.

GOD’S WORD identifies anointed Christians who are caring for Christ’s interests on earth as “the faithful and discreet slave.” When Christ inspected the “slave” in 1918, he found those anointed ones on earth to be faithful in providing spiritual “food at the proper time.” Hence, Jesus, the Master, was pleased thereafter to appoint them “over all his belongings.” (Read Matthew 24:45-47.) In this way, before receiving a heavenly inheritance, anointed ones serve other worshippers of Jehovah here on earth.

² A master has authority over his belongings, or possessions, and he can use them as he chooses. The belongings of Jesus Christ, Jehovah’s enthroned King, embrace all Kingdom interests on earth. That includes “a great crowd” seen by the apostle John in vision. John describes the great crowd as follows: “Look! a great crowd, which no man was able to number, out of all nations and tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, dressed in white robes; and there were palm branches in their hands.”—Rev. 7:9.

³ Members of that great crowd are among those referred to by Jesus as his “other sheep.” (John 10:16) Their hope is to live forever on a paradise earth. They are confident that Jesus “will guide them to fountains of waters of life” and that “God will wipe out every tear from their eyes.” With that in mind, they have “washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” (Rev. 7:14, 17) They exercise faith in Jesus’ sacrifice, and thus in God’s eyes they have ‘white robes.’ They are declared righteous as friends of God, like Abraham.

⁴ Moreover, since the growing great crowd of other sheep are viewed by God as righteous, they can hope to survive the destruction of this system of things at the great tribulation. (Jas. 2:23-26) They can draw close to Jehovah, and as a group, they have the wonderful prospect of surviving Armageddon. (Jas. 4:8; Rev. 7:15) They are not independent but willing to serve under the direction of the heavenly King and his anointed brothers on earth.

⁵ Anointed Christians have met and will continue to meet severe opposition from Satan’s world. Nevertheless, they can rely on the support of their companions of the great crowd. While anointed Christians are now few in number, the great crowd yearly increases by hundreds of thousands. The anointed are unable to oversee personally each of the over 100,000 Christian congregations throughout the world. Thus, one aspect of the support that the anointed receive from the other sheep is that qualified men of the great crowd serve as congregation elders. They help care for the millions of Christians now entrusted to “the faithful and discreet slave.”

⁶ The willing support given to anointed Christians by their companions of the other sheep was foretold by the prophet Isaiah. He wrote: “This is what Jehovah has said: ‘The unpaid laborers of Egypt and the merchants of Ethiopia and the Sabeans, tall men, will themselves come over even to you, and yours they will become. Behind you they will walk.’” (Isa. 45:14) In a symbolic way, Christians with an earthly hope today walk behind the anointed slave class and its Governing Body, following their leadership. As “unpaid laborers,” the other sheep willingly and wholeheartedly expend their strength and their resources in support of the worldwide preaching work that Christ assigned to his anointed followers on earth.—Acts 1:8; Rev. 12:17.

⁷ As they lend their support to their anointed brothers, members of the great crowd are being trained as the foundation of the new human society that will exist after Armageddon. That foundation must be solid and stable, and its members must be willing and able to carry out the direction of the Master. Each Christian is being given the opportunity to demonstrate that he can be used by the King, Christ Jesus. By exercising faith and displaying loyalty now, he shows that he will respond well when the King gives him directions in the new world.

The Great Crowd Prove Their Faith

⁸ The other sheep companions of the congregation of anointed Christians prove their faith in various ways. First, they support the anointed in proclaiming the good news of God’s Kingdom. (Matt. 24:14; 28:19, 20) Second, they willingly submit themselves to the direction provided by the Governing Body.—Heb. 13:17; read Zechariah 8:23