“They will hunger no more nor thirst anymore, neither will the sun beat down upon them nor any scorching heat,

Revelation 7:16,

27. (a) How did Isaiah prophesy something similar to the words of the elder? (b) What shows that Isaiah’s prophecy began to be fulfilled on the Christian congregation in Paul’s day?

²⁷ Let us consider a similarly worded prophecy: “This is what Jehovah has said: ‘In a time of goodwill I have answered you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you . . . They will not go hungry, neither will they go thirsty, nor will parching heat or sun strike them. For the One who is having pity upon them will lead them, and by the springs of water he will conduct them.’” (Isaiah 49:8, 10; see also Psalm 121:5, 6.) The apostle Paul quoted part of this prophecy and applied it to the “day of salvation” that began at Pentecost 33 C.E. He wrote: “For he [Jehovah] says: ‘In an acceptable time I heard you, and in a day of salvation I helped you.’ Look! Now is the especially acceptable time. Look! Now is the day of salvation.”​—2 Corinthians 6:2.

28, 29. (a) How were Isaiah’s words fulfilled in the first century? (b) How are the words of Revelation 7:16 fulfilled with regard to the great crowd? (c) What will result from the great crowd’s being guided to “fountains of waters of life”? (d) Why will the great crowd be unique among mankind?

²⁸ What application did the promise about not getting hungry or thirsty or suffering parching heat have back then? Certainly, Christians in the first century did suffer literal hunger and thirst at times. (2 Corinthians 11:23-27) In a spiritual way, though, they had an abundance. They were richly provided for, so that they did not go hungry or thirsty for spiritual things. Moreover, Jehovah did not cause the heat of his anger to blaze against them when he destroyed the Jewish system of things in 70 C.E. The words of Revelation 7:16 have a similar spiritual fulfillment for the great crowd today. Along with the anointed Christians, they enjoy bounteous spiritual provisions.​—Isaiah 65:13; Nahum 1:6, 7.

²⁹ If you are one of that great crowd, your good condition of heart will make you “cry out joyfully,” no matter what you have to endure in the way of privations and pressures during the twilight years of Satan’s system. (Isaiah 65:14) In that sense, even now, Jehovah can ‘wipe out every tear from your eyes.’ No longer does God’s torrid “sun” of adverse judgment threaten you, and when the four winds of destruction are unleashed, you may be spared the “scorching heat” of Jehovah’s displeasure.