A Multitude Too Large To Number.   

Please bare with me for 10 minutes. Many people make a purposeful decision, not to teach end time doctrine, because they do not want to mislead God’s people. We say, that part of the spectrum of knowledge is to recognize our own limitations, because nobody knows everything. Many people have a piece of the pie. God says, study to show thyself approved. A work man that needeth not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

Revelation uses a phrase:

They Which Came Out Of The Great Tribulation.
Revelation 7:2-3, 9, 13-14.
-And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was given to, hurt the earth and the sea,
-Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.
-After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;
-And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they?
-And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

Revelation Talks About Those Who Died During The Great Tribulation.
Revelation 8:1 and 7-11.
-And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.
-The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.
-And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood;
-And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed.
-And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters;
-And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.

Revelation 9:15, 18.
-And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.
-By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.

Revelation 10:7.
But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.

More than1 third of the earth's population died in the last 3 and one half years of the tribulation. Thus let us examine the phrase or the concept, the population was, or increased to, "more than any man can number". That idea represents a very large number, maybe greater than the number of the grains of sand in the desert. The number is most definitely greater than the population of those in the tribulation, plus all of Isreal during the seven years of the tribulation, plus a few more. That is a small subset of the people on the earth at the time of the tribulation. After all, we still have a thousand years left of human history on the earth.

For example, those who came out of the flood, would not be limited to those who were alive for the 40 days and 40 nights of the flood. No. It would include those who were alive during the flood and their decendents. Time itself is divided into two periods. The two periods are before the flood, and during and after the flood. Likewise, out of the tribulation implies that, time is divided into two eras. The two eras are, before the tribulation, and during and after the tribulation. All the people during and after the tribulation are out of the tribulation.

We know that human history will continue for another thousand years after the literal seven years of the tribulation. Therefore, all of the decendents of those who were a part of the great tribulation, were all out of the great tribulation. What we are talking about is the definition of a phrase, not the literal definition of the words, out of the great tribulation. For example, the phrase white-collar does not literally mean a person with a white collar.

Thus, in order for John to see a great, emphasis on the word great, number which no man can number or count. No man can count a population of 10,000 without estimating. We must understand that a count of a population of over a thousand is always a estimate. You can never be certain that you have not missed at least 1. An estimate is not a guess. It is a approximate calculation. Thus, you cannot approximate the number or the count of the grains of sand on a desert, because you do not even know how deep a particular spot is. 1 million, plus or minus a hundred million is not an approximation. That is the definition of absurdity. Population size is a form of counting. Thus a number that no man can count, is the same thing as a number that no man can estimate. In order to know what a thing is, you must know what the thing is not.

We know that all of the people of the great multitude was on earth at the time of the great tribulation. That is because they all came out of the great tribulation. They were not Moses, nor the prophets who were under the alter, as a result of being slain for the word of God.

Thus, in order for there to have been a great multitude of people on the earth during or immmediatly after the great tribulation, so great that no man can number them, there would have to have been a population explosion during the 7 year tribulation. Now we know the the population was significantly decreasing during the great tribulation. Therefore, the population would never increase to a number that no man can number or count, until conssderably after the great tribulation. That is the opposite of what the text is saying.

During the great tribulation people were dying by the boat loads. Thus getting further away from a number that no man can number, whatever the phrase means.

It was only during the 1,000 years immediately following the 7 years of the great tribulation, that the population could have been increased to a number that can not be numbered. Occam's Razor tells us that the simplest explanation is the best explanation, and generally it is right. There is no need to substitute simplistity for absurdity because we say with God all things are possible. Yet, God is not a God of confusion. The substitution of common sense for absurdity is by definition chaos, or confusion. Yes, some things are impossible, and other things are impossible. Yet, some things are more impossible than other things?

I do not know everything. I may not know what a thing is. Yet, I do know that part of the spectrim of knowledge is knowing what a thing, is, not. A fish at the bottom of the ocean may not know, what, wet is. Yet, when he sticks his head out of the water for the first time, he knows that what he is experiencing is not wet. Likewise, I may not know what, a multitude so great that no man can number them, is, yet I do know what it is not.

The bible says after, emphasis on the word after. How much after did John do the observing.
-After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;
-And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they?
-And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

I summit that the observing was done considerably after the end of the great tribulation itself. Maybe as far after as the literal end of time itself, or at the great white throne judgement, when time was possibly, litterally no more. Praise ye the name of the Lord.