Revelation 7:9-17

The Great Multitude in White Robes

9After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. 10And they cried out in a loud voice:

"Salvation belongs to our God,

who sits on the throne,

and to the Lamb." 11All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12saying:

"Amen!

Praise and glory

and wisdom and thanks and honor

and power and strength

be to our God for ever and ever.

Amen!"

13Then one of the elders asked me, "These in white robes—who are they, and where did they come from?"

14I answered, "Sir, you know."

And he said, "These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. 15Therefore,

"they are before the throne of God

and serve him day and night in his temple;

and he who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them.

16Never again will they hunger;

never again will they thirst.

The sun will not beat upon them,

nor any scorching heat.

17For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd;

he will lead them to springs of living water.

And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."



Dig Deeper

I have known a few people over the years whose eyesight was fading. One thing they had in common was that it was difficult for them to identify people from a distance. People who didn't know them well enough to know that they had eyesight problems had even from time to time been a bit offended because they might have waved from a distance and got no response back. The problem was that they simply couldn't see well enough to be able to recognize people from more than a few feet away. In order to help them, they usually ask their friends to identify themselves verbally before they get into eyesight range so that they know who they're talking to.


In the gospel of John, John describes a situation in which Mary cannot recognize the resurrected Jesus until she hears his voice. Immediately upon hearing him, she is able to open her eyes, so to speak, and see him. John, using a similar formula, describes several situations in the book of Revelation in which he first hears something, and only then can he see it and recognize it. Not only does he continue that pattern here, recognizing that this is what he is doing actually helps us to identify who the great multitude is.


7:9 - The immediate question raised here concerns the identity of the great multitude. Earlier we talked about the pattern of John first hearing, then seeing. This pattern helps us to identify the multitude. In 7:4, John hears the number of those who were sealed and tells us that it was 144,000. Now he sees the great multitude that no one could count. This fact and the fact that both groups are described in language ascribed to the Church (the 144,000 are sealed as the servants of God and the multitude is wearing the robes that symbolize righteousness). The 144,000 and the great multitude are different aspects of the one, universal Church. In the 144,000, John emphasizes the fact that the Church is the remnant of Israel. They are the New Jerusalem. At the same time the great multitude that no one could count is made up of every nation, tribe, people, and language. This confirms Jesus' prophecy to his disciples that this would happen (Luke 13:22-30). In warning the Jews that few would find the road to salvation and the Kingdom, Jesus told them that the doors would be thrown open, as people "will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God" (13:30). The sealed remnant of Israel has become the Church complete with redeemed from every nation in fulfillment of the Abrahamic promise (Gen. 15:5; 22;7-8). John also shows us that this multitude is holding palm branches in their hand, in what is a clear reverse image of the great multitude that greeted Jesus with palm branches (Matt. 21:8). The word phonix translated palm occurs only two times in the New Testament: here and in John's description of the Palm Sunday event in John 12:13. Whereas the the palm branches of the Palm Sunday group bore no fruit, Christ's new nation in Revelation 7 bears fruit and inherits the Kingdom.


7:10 - The uncountable crowd now joins in the heavenly worship service, crying out "Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb." Thus, the crowd attributes to the Lamb what the Caesars would claim for themselves, the power of salvation. Both Julius Caesar and Nero had directly claimed the power to save humanity, but it is the Lamb who truly has this power. We must remember this lesson today, that only Christ, not the State can ever provide salvation.


7:11-12 - With the church engaged in official public worship (liturgy), the angels engage as well. They fall down before the throne giving praise and glory to God on the Throne. Interestingly there are no cases in Scripture of official, public worship where the worshippers are sitting in prayer. Public prayers in the Scriptures are always performed in the reverential positions of either standing or bowing down. Some might dismiss this as irrelevant, but this overlooks the fact that there is a connection in Scripture between the attitude of the heart, and the attitude and position of the body.


7:13-14 - One of the elders asks John if he knows the identity of those in the white robes. When John indicates that he does not know but the elder does, the elder gives him the answer: these are they who have come out of the great tribulation. The elder is referring to the great tribulation of which Jesus spoke (Matt. 24; Mark 13; Luke 21), and is making the point to the first-century church that the tribulation they were about to witness would not destroy them. In the face of tribulation, they have been shown that they are the new Israel, sealed by God, and are also the uncountable victorious multitude. Contrary to what many groups today teach, the early Christians had no expectations that they were to be preserved from hardships and persecution. Salvation is not a call to swallow a magic pill that will lead to a perfect life, it is a call to endure and overcome, and the accompanying strength to do so.


7:15-17 - The elder continues that they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple. Because of this behavior which imitates the cherubim which are before the throne, they receive the most characteristic blessing of the Covenant: He who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them. Literally, He will spread his tabernacle over them. This makes an allusion to the glory cloud that hovered over the earth at creation (Gen. 1:2) and Israel in the wilderness (Deut. 32:10-11). It also brings to the mind images of the "booths" or "tabernacles" that God commanded His people to build during the Feast of Tabernacles (Lev. 23:33-43). Zechariah prophesied that the meaning of the Feast in terms of the conversion of the nations and foreshadowed the Church Age. This Church was now on the verge of a great tribulation, but it was not a death; it was a birth of the spread of the worldwide Kingdom of God.



Devotional Thought

How often do you think about the attitude of your body during worship? Do you agree that the attitude of your body is related to the attitude of your heart? Pay special attention this week to the attitude of your body during worship. See if it helps your overall attitude in worship.