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Origen’s Commentary on the Gospel of John.
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Book I.
1. How Christians are the
Spiritual Israel.
That people which was called of old the people of God
was divided into twelve tribes, and over and above the other tribes it
had the levitical order, which itself again carried on the service of
God in various priestly and levitical suborders. In the same
manner, it appears to me that the whole people of Christ, when we
regard it in the aspect of the hidden man of the heart,4455 that people which is called “Jew
inwardly,” and is circumcised in the spirit, has in a more mystic
way the characteristics of the tribes. This may be more plainly
gathered from John in his Apocalyse, though the other prophets also do
not by any means conceal the state of matters from those who have the
faculty of hearing them. John speaks as follows:4456 “And I saw another angel
ascending from the sunrising, 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 either the earth, or the sea,
or the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God on their
foreheads. And I heard the number of them that were sealed, a
hundred and forty-four thousand who were sealed, out of every tribe of
the children of Israel; of the tribe of Juda were sealed twelve
thousand, of the tribe of Roubem twelve thousand.” And he
mentioned each of the tribes singly, with the exception of Dan.
Then, some way further on,4457 he continues:
“And I saw, and behold the Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with
Him a hundred and forty-four thousand, having His name and the name of
His Father written on their foreheads. And I heard a voice from
heaven as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great
thunder. And the voice which I heard was as the voice of harpers
harping with their harps; and they sing a new song before the throne
and before the four beasts and the elders, and no one could learn the
song but the hundred and forty-four thousand who had been purchased
from the earth. These are they which were not defiled with women,
for they are virgins. These are they who follow the Lamb
whithersover He goeth. These were purchased from among men, a
first fruits to God and to the Lamb; and in their mouth was found no
lie, for they are without blemish.” Now this is said in
John with reference to those who have believed in Christ, for they
also, even if their bodily descent cannot be traced to the seed of the
Patriarchs, are yet gathered out of the tribes. That this is so
we may conclude from what is further said about them: “Hurt
not,” he says, “the earth, nor the sea, nor the trees, till
we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads. And I
heard the number of them that were sealed, a hundred and forty-four
thousand, sealed from every tribe of the children of
Israel.”E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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