Ahwatukee,
This is what I gather from your posts:
Many saints(who refused to take the mark) will be martyred by the Antichrist during the 7 year tribulation.
Correct! The saints who come out of the great tribulation (GTS) are referred to in the scriptures below:
"After this I looked and saw a multitude too large to count, from every nation and tribe and people and tongue, standing before the throne and before the Lamb."
"Then one of the elders addressed me: “These in white robes,” he asked, “who are they, and
where have they come from?”
“Sir,” I answered, “you know.”
So he replied, “
These are the ones who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
"Then the beast was permitted to wage war against the saints and to conquer them, and it was given authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation."
"And I saw something like a sea of glass mixed with fire, beside which stood those (GTS) who had conquered the beast and its image and the number of its name.
"And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image, and had not received its mark on their foreheads or hands. And they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.
All of the scriptures above are referring to the great tribulation saints. As I pointed out in a previous post, the word "ekklesia" translated as "church" is found 19 times throughout chapters 1 thru 3. Then after chapter 4 the word never appears again and is replaced by the word "hagios" translated as "Saints," which is referring to the great tribulation saints introduced in Rev.7:9-17. Previous to chapter 7, John was told to write letters to the seven churches. The very fact that the elder is asking John who this group is wearing white robes, would demonstrate that it is not the church, which John had already written to. In addition, John says that he doesn't know who they are, ergo, they are not the church.
Jesus will return at the end of the 7 years tribulation(end of the age) to judge the world.
These slain saints will then be resurrected, and enter the millennium. These are not the sheep.
Who then are the sheep?
Yes, this is correct. The great tribulation saints who die as a result of keeping their testimony of Jesus and the word of God and because they will not have worshiped the beast, his image nor received his mark, will be resurrected when Jesus returns to the earth to end the age and they, along with the church and the 144,000 out of Israel, will rule with Christ in their immortal and glorified bodies.
The sheep will be the great tribulation saints who will have not been killed and will make it alive until Jesus returns to the earth to end the age. They will be those who will enter into the millennial period to repopulate the earth, along with the remnant of Israel. All of these will still be in their mortal bodies. And according to other scriptures regarding the millennial kingdom, the longevity of life will be like it was prior to the flood when people lived to be 800 and 900 years old, as revealed from the following:
"Never again will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not live out his years;
the one who dies at a hundred will be thought a mere child; the one who fails to reach a hundred will be considered accursed."
During the millennial kingdom the world will be full of the peace of the Lord. Prey and predator animals and their young will lie down together. If a man dies at a hundred he will be thought to be a mere child. In comparison, if a man reaches a hundred years old today, he is considered old. But dying at a hundred in the millennial kingdom will be though to by young or that the person is cursed. Therefore, there will be longevity of life as it was prior to the flood.
"The wolf will live with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the goat; the calf and young lion and fatling will be together,
and a little child will lead them.
The cow will graze with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox.
The infant will play by the cobra’s den, and the toddler will reach into the viper’s nest.
They will neither harm nor destroy on all My holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the sea is full of water.
In no time in history since the above was written has the earth ever been in at state where prey and predator animals and their young were at peace with each other. Another example is the lion eating straw like the oxen. When has that ever happened? These are the characteristics of the coming millennial kingdom.
