The Daily Office for October 22, 2012
Scripture Readings
Old Testament
Psalm
New Testament
Gospel
Reflection
The number 144,000 in the New Testament reading today is taken literally by some and symbolically by others. If it is understood symbolically, it appears strange that there is such a detailed enumeration of the tribes. If the number appears too small for the magnitude of the task, we need only to remember that twelve apostles and their converts in the early church turned the world upside down in the first century. The fact that Levi is included in the enumeration has intrigued readers of the Apocalypse (he was never given a portion in the land under Joshua, only forty-eight cities in the territories of the other tribes). Also, the list substitutes Joseph for Ephraim; and, most puzzling, it omits Dan.
There is no ground for dogmatic assertion here, although many opinions have been offered to explain the omission. One position is that Dan is omitted because the Antichrist will come from that tribe, judging from Genesis 49:17. Built on so many imponderables, such a view can scarcely be called valid. Notice also, 49:16 is a strong promise. Another explanation is that Dan does not appear in the list because it was the first tribe to embrace idolatry. But nowhere is this serious departure from the Lord evaluated as worse than the idolatries of the other tribes. Moreover, in the distribution of the land in the reign of Christ in Jerusalem, Dan is in fact given his inheritance.
The time of the sealing is important, even if it can be determined only approximately. Judging from the fact that the sealing is accomplished before the breaking of the seventh seal (8:1), it probably will take place before the last seal, thus before the second half of the Tribulation Period when Satan’s forces will be arrayed against the godly and the witnesses will indeed need the added protection of God for their work. They are a special group commissioned for a specific mission.
Collect for the Day
God, the giver of life, whose Holy Spirit wells up within your Church: by the Spirit’s gifts equip us to live the gospel of Christ and make us eager to do your will, that we may share with the whole creation the joys of eternal life; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.