Revelation 7:9-17

 

(Rev 7:9 KJV)
After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;

John now sees the entire redeemed church in Heaven. It was a great number which were redeemed from the earth. John sees the culmination of thousands of years of evangelism and missionary work and preaching as every one of God’s Elect is now in glory. We see that there are people from every nation under heaven. The Great Commission is now completed and all the true believers are now safe in Heaven. All the believers are dressed in white robes which means they are now totally pure and never again have to worry about the physical body causing a war between the flesh and the spirit. They also have palms in their hands. When the Lord Jesus Christ rode into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday the crowds had strewn the road with palm branches. Here we have a figure of the rejoicing that crowd in Jerusalem had but that rejoicing was very limited as the same crowd called for the crucifixion of Jesus the next week. The crowd in heaven which is said to have palms in their hands are rejoicing with an unfettered joy, one which will never end.

(Rev 7:10 KJV)
And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.

When the Lord Jesus rode into Jerusalem, the crowd had yelled “Hosanna.” Hosanna means “save now or succour now.” The crowd in glory is now saying the truth that Salvation is of God and the Lamb. God orchestrated His salvation plan and the Lord Jesus Christ completed it on Calvary. Man never initiates salvation by mythical free will or else why would the crowd be saying that salvation belongs to God. They would be saying that salvation belongs to them since they made the decision. All the focus for salvation is on God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Notice that the crowd is now yelling in a loud voice and not just a moderate tone. The word “loud” carries with it the meaning of “great.”

(Rev 7:11 KJV)
And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God,

Then John not only sees all the believers praising the Lord, he now sees all the angels joining in. Then the twenty four elders, the living creatures all prostrated themselves before the throne of God and worshipped Him. If you notice the angels, they are standing around the throne. This shows that they are ready to obey the commands of the Father when He sends them forth to do a certain job. The angels are always ready to obey, we should follow the same line of thinking.

(Rev 7:12 KJV)
Saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen.

All heaven is in agreement when they pronounce their praise in unison. Blessing is the praise which God is given from all those He has created and those whom He has redeemed. The angels are not redeemed but belong to the created order. Then God receives all the glory for the miraculous salvation plan He has administered on behalf of His Elect. Man gets no glory in any of this but is the recipient of God’s grace. Then wisdom is applied to God not only for His salvation plan but the very wisdom which is seen in all of creation. Nothing happened out of pure chance but all was founded upon the wisdom of the Creator. Those who have been redeemed from the earth give thanksgiving unto God for His great salvation which has saved them from Hell and elevated them to kingship in Heaven. Then honor is given to God. The word “honor” in the Greek carries with it the meaning of “recognition or respect.” Then all power in the universe belongs unto God who showed His power by creating a vast universe beyond the understanding of man. Then might is attributed to God. The word “might” carries with it the meaning of “strength.” God is called the “Strength of Israel.” (1 Sam 15:29 KJV) And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent: for he is not a man, that he should repent. All these attributes are eternal. The word “amen” signifies finality. It basically means “it is so.”

(Rev 7:13 KJV)
And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they?

Notice that no question was asked by John but in anticipation of the question, John receives an answer in question form. He was probably wondering who the great multitude was that he was looking at. The two question are who are these which are dressed in white robes and from where did they come?

(Rev 7:14 KJV)
And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

John is told that these have come out of the great tribulation. Tribulation has always been part of the believers life, from the time of Abel who was murdered by Cain up to the last day. There is going to come a time of tribulation which is going to be both spiritual and physical. The 20th century had more Christian martyrs than in any other century in history. As we progress toward the last day, the spiritual attacks on the true Gospel will intensify. These attacks will tend to either neutralize or degrade the true Gospel until it will be impossible to find any true Bible teaching. Along side will come physical persecution of the Christians and that is escalating every day, especially in Islamic and Communist countries where Christians are killed without conscience. We read in Revelation 6:11 that there were yet many more who are going to die for the sake of the Gospel. We are not told in this verse if John is speaking of the entire multitude which he saw before the throne or if he is seeing a select group who were martyred for the Kingdom in the final days. It would seem that John in this verse was speaking of a specific group of martyrs which would go to glory in the final days right before the return of Christ as we read that a certain number had to be killed and that these should rest until that happens and then the end will come.

(Rev 7:15 KJV)
Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them.

“Therefore” means what we just read which gives us the reason they are before the throne of God. Since they were redeemed by the Lamb and are made pure by His blood, they are now qualified to be before the throne of God. Here they are seen as serving the Lord constantly. The term “day and night” would be for the purpose of trying to give us understanding. When we, on earth, refer to day and night, we are in essence stating that something is continuous without stopping. God is in the midst of all His redeemed children and dwells among them for eternity. Here we are seeing the children of God who have now begun to serve Him for eternity. The earthly temple was a pattern of things in heaven and the child of God is allowed to enter the Holy of Holies since they have been washed in the blood of the Lamb. Now there is no physical temple in heaven but the temple of God is the entire New Heaven and New Earth which God creates after the last day. The Temple of the Old Testament was only a shadow and was abolished when Christ went to the cross. The term “temple” was transferred to the church of God. (1 Cor 3:16 KJV) Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? The pattern here is that as God was with the Israelites in the desert wandering, He will be in the midst of His redeemed people for eternity.

(Rev 7:16 KJV)
They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat.

No longer will the true believer be spiritually hungry nor will they thirst for the water of the gospel because all will have been fulfilled in Christ plus the days of evangelism and missions are over. The spiritual hunger and thirst of the believer will be fulfilled in the presence of God and the Lord Jesus Christ. Then the sun will no longer light on them. The word “light” in the Greek carries with it the meaning of “fall on or fall in ruins.” They shall not face any more heat. These two terms are telling us that the days of suffering are all behind and there will be no suffering in heaven as all those things have passed away with the old earth and the old heaven. Now the saying of Psalm 23:1 will have its ultimate fulfillment. (Psa 23:1 KJV) The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. No longer will the believer have any wants because the Lord, the Shepherd, has met all their needs.

(Rev 7:17 KJV)
For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.

The Lord Jesus Christ who is the lamb of God will feed us forever. The word “feed” in the Greek is the word for “Shepherd.” When we look at Jesus leading us to the living fountains of water, we see a final fulfillment of the living waters from John 4:14 and
7:38 which will sustain and plentifully satisfy for all eternity.

(John 4:14 KJV) But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

(John 7:38 KJV) He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.

We also see a great fulfillment of the eternal peace the believer will enjoy. (Psa 23:2 KJV) He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. The waters in the believer’s life are very calm because Christ our Shepherd leads us. The waters on earth are very restless because of sin but when we are in Heaven, there will be nothing which will disturb the waters of eternal peace. Then we read that God will wipe away all tears. Since sorrows surrounded the believer on earth all their lives, only with brief periods of joy, God Himself has promised to wipe all the sorrows away which caused heartache in the life of His children. God wiping all the tears away tells us that God will eradicate all those things which caused those tears in the first place. Heaven shall be a place of eternal joy and peace for the believer. His children are now safe forever from all and anything which can cause them heartache.