John, one of Jesus’ closest disciples, had become an old man – perhaps an old man before his time. He had done much to glorify his Saviour, and he had suffered much in the process. Perhaps while still in exile, or while still under torture, the Lord gave to him the revelations in this book. It was a vision of what the world will be like when the Lord finally deals with man’s great wickedness. What a terrible, tumultuous, tragic time awaits the world that lives without the Saviour. The Book of Revelation has fascinated and frightened people for nearly two thousand years. It is filled with prophecies about the wrath of God poured out upon humanity. But there are still a few little islands in the midst of that ocean of blood, and chapter 7 is one of them.
Half way through this paragraph “one of the elders asked John, What are these which are arrayed in white robes, and whence came them?” Rather than offer a guess, John deferred to the wisdom of the glorified being before him, “Sir, thou knowest.” Then there was a brief explanation. Let’s take our cue from this elder and ask a few more questions about the “white robed throng” which are standing before the throne of God.
We begin with a WHO question – Who the people described here?
The simple answer is that the subject of this scripture are people – not angels, demons or anything else. The people of this passage are distant descendants of the three sons of Noah. They are people like you and me – sinful children of the first man to rebel against Jehovah the Creator. But they seem different here as they humbly stand before God.
They are the same as us, but there are differences too. They come from every race, every language group, every major religion and every region of the world. They are not the 144,000 Hebrews, which are mentioned earlier in the chapter. These are a numberless multitude of, primarily, Gentile – non-Israelite people. But even though they come from all nations and kindreds, they do not stand before God as representatives of various races and countries. They are now a new race – they are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
And with that we come to a second question: WHERE are they?
Verse 9 says that they are standing before the throne. And verse 15 says that they are in the Temple, where apparently the throne of God is to be found. This does not appear to be an earthly temple, and certainly not the temple in Jerusalem during the first half of the Tribulation. Nor does it appear to be any rebuilt, rededicated temple after the Tribulation. There is still a great deal of detailed description about the Tribulation yet to come. This must be a Heavenly temple, where sit God the Father and God the Son – in the form of the Lamb.
This throne may be the same that is described in chapter 20, a huge White throne, or a Great White Throne. But at this time, these people are not kneeling before the throne, nor cowering before it. For these people, this is not a time of judgment, but a time of service, rest and reward.
That leads us to our third question – WHEN is this taking place?
Judging from the comment of John’s personal tour-guide in verse 14, this must be taking place towards the end of the seven years of the Tribulation. The 1, 260 days, called “Jacob’s Trouble,” designed to bring Israel to its knees before the Lord, is going to mean the deaths of a great many people – Jews and Gentiles alike. The vast majority of those people will die as Christ-hating, God-haters. But there will be a great multitude which no man will be able to number, who humble themselves before the ancient cross of Christ. And turning from their sins, they will be delivered from the sentence of eternal death. Most likely the vast majority of these redeemed souls will be slaughtered by the wicked. But blessed is the death of those who die in the Lord.
When will the events of Revelation 7 take place? Probably toward the close of the Great Tribulation.
Now lets become more practical: WHAT are those people doing?
There is a fellowship, there is giving and taking, taking place between those on the throne and those standing before the throne. The men and women are all dressed in the same kind of garments – white robes. They aren’t dressed in orange sarongs, or grey pin-strip suits. Nor are they wearing shorts and tank-tops, but robes washed white in the blood of the Lamb. Is this costume literal or figurative? Probably both. I don’t think that God is pleased to accept our worship, when it is causal, careless and carnal. I don’t know if it just me, but sometimes I am ashamed of the way people dress when they profess to worship the Lord. Everywhere I look in the Bible I see commands or examples of worshipers at their best when they come to stand before God. This great multitude, when they finally get to physically stand before God, are dressed appropriately.
But those robes are allegorical as well as literal – they tell a spiritual story. They have been washed into brilliant whiteness through the bright red blood of the Saviour. Those robes represent the righteousness of the Lord Jesus, given to those who were before were thoroughly unrighteous. Except our righteousness exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and the Pharisees, we are fuel for the fires of Hell. And the only way that we can exceed the righteousness of other human beings, is to be clothed in the righteousness of Christ. In other words, this white robed throng is covered with the blood-bought righteousness of Christ.
And they are carrying palm branches, a significant symbol. Among the Greeks and Romans, palm branches were symbols of peace gained through victory. Without doubt that symbolism is appropriate for these who have come into peace through victory in Christ. But perhaps this a symbol of the Hebrew idea of connected with the Feast of Tabernacles. Tabernacles was an harvest festival about the time of our October. During that festival the people of God moved out of their homes into tents and arbors for seven days. Not only was it a thanksgiving time, but also one of remembrance and memorial. Tabernacles celebrated those days when Israel was in the wilderness and Jehovah met their needs miraculously. Once a year Israel was to remember how God delivered them from Egyptian and other enemies. In much same way, these who are gathered around the throne were pilgrims, miraculously delivered.
And what are these white-robed saints doing around the throne of God? They are praising God for the salvation that can be found only in Him. “Salvation (belongeth) to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.” Obviously, there is no genuine salvation anywhere else, but in these two upon this throne. What are these people doing? They are standing, ready to serve the Lord, day and night.
And what are they NOT doing? Well, they no longer hunger or thirst, and the heat of the sun, no longer plagues them. During the seven years of the Tribulation, disasters in various forms will increase and intensify. There will be disasters on earth, some of which are caused by disasters in space. It appears that our star, the sun, will begin to flare and cool, unlike anything that man has yet seen. The Revelation describes how that radiation from the sun will scorch and scald the people of earth. Sadly, that will include the righteous and the wicked. It will not be like some of the Egyptian plagues, where Israel was spared. But – by the time of this chapter, these good people are being comforted. And these people will no longer hunger or thirst, bought about by the laws enacted against anyone who doesn’t bear the mark of the beast. On earth, for a few months these people will not be able to buy or sell. They will be at the mercy of nature and neighbors. And neither of those will be very kind to these saints of God.
But by Revelation 7 the Lord will be very busy whipping away all their former tears. Jehovah is indeed a God of great comfort. He will personally see to it that they will be fed. They will feast on, among other things I suppose, the Tree of the Life.
One more question: WHY is this in the scripture?
This chapter tells us a couple of very important and practical things. The first is one upon which we’ve already touched – These people were delivered from their sins and from their spiritual enemies the only way any has ever been delivered. They have been saved by God’s mercy and grace. These people didn’t deserve the Lord’s kindness because they have suffered. We don’t find them in the Heavenly Temple because they were better than the rest of humanity. They were there because their have been robes in the blood of the Lamb. And it was the Lamb who did the scrubbing.
Another reason that they are presented to us, is to give us an opportunity for comparison. Again, what are those saints doing before the Lord? They are praising Him for salvation. They are wearing garments that honor the Lord – garments which set them apart from the wicked. They are being fed and comforted by the Lamb. And they are standing ready to serve Him at a moments notice. Should these be activities confined to Heaven? Shouldn’t we be doing the same sort of things?