The Book of Revelation: Part 16, A Multitude too large to Count

Revelation 7:9-17 (BSB)

Today we are looking at the second half of chapter seven in the Book of Revelation. So far, six of the seven seals have been opened by the Lamb. It is not until chapter eight that the seventh seal will be opened. In the first half of the chapter, we had read about a pause, and how the angels held back the wind so the servants of God could be sealed with a mark on their foreheads. And it seems that mark is similar to how the Lord has marked His people in the past; protecting them from His judgment that He has brought against disobedient people. In that vision, John heard that 144,000 people from the twelve tribes of Israel were to have a seal placed on their foreheads.  

Now, as that pause continues, let’s read this other vision John sees before the next seal is opened. Revelation 7:9-17 says:

9 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. They were wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands. 

10 And they cried out in a loud voice: 

“Salvation to our God, 

who sits on the throne, 

and to the Lamb!”

11 And all the angels stood around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. And they fell facedown before the throne and worshiped God, 

12 saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”

13 Then one of the elders addressed me: “These in white robes,” he asked, “who are they, and where have they come from?”

14 “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. 

15 For this reason, 

they are before the throne of God 

and serve Him day and night in His temple; 

and the One seated on the throne 

will spread His tabernacle over them.

16 ‘Never again will they hunger, 

and never will they thirst; 

nor will the sun beat down upon them, 

nor any scorching heat.’

17 For the Lamb in 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.’”

There is quite a bit to go over, but before we do, I want to read Alexander MacLaren’s summary of this chapter. He says: “In the pause before the storm [John] sees two visions: one, that of the sealing of the servants of God—the pledge that, amidst the world-wide calamities, they shall be secure; and one, this vision of my text—the assurance that beyond the storms there waits a calm region of life and glory.”

And indeed, the promises at the end of the chapter do paint a beautiful picture of security and calm. But what does all of this mean for us today? Does any of this apply to us now? Is this a picture of the future that all Christians can look forward to? Or is this scene before the throne merely symbolic? Or is it only available to certain Christians who experience “The Great Tribulation”? To find out, let’s go back through the text and take it a verse or two at a time and answer those questions.

Verse 9 begins by telling us this is a new scene, for John uses the words, “After this.” He says, “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. They were wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands.”

Earlier in the chapter, we read about 144,000 people who were sealed, and how John heard a voice saying that those people were from the twelve tribes of Israel. But, as I mentioned last week, it seems like those numbers are symbolic. No matter what these numbers represent, though, the fact that it’s a finite number, and the fact that only God’s servants receive a seal on the forehead, shows us that only people who worship the Lamb will be saved from His coming judgment. This is consistent with the many other verses in the Bible that show us only those who “believe in the Lord Jesus” will be saved, such as Acts 16:30 states.

And here, as we see clearly, the number of people who stand before the throne and before the Lamb is far greater than 144,000 people. It’s so large that John says it was far too large a number to count. And the people present are not from one nation and twelve tribes, but rather, are “from every nation and tribe and people and tongue.”

This multitude of people are “wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands.” We had also just read about martyrs under the altar, and they, we were told, were also dressed in white robes. But this time, John sees that the great multitude is also wearing white robes. Does that mean all these people were martyred? It could. But you probably remember, in other verses in Revelation we’ve heard about white robes. In the letter to the church in Laodicea, they are counseled to buy white garments from the Lord. Also, in the letter to the church in Sardis, it says that some of them have not soiled their garments, and so they will walk with Jesus in white. And it adds that, “Like them, he [meaning any believer] who overcomes will be dressed in white” (Revelation 3:5). Then also, Revelation 4:4 tells us that the twenty-four elders around the throne are also wearing white robes. So, even just basing it only on what Revelation says, it does not seem like a person has to be martyred to be clothed in white.

These people are also waving palm branches. Verse 10 says: “And they cried out in a loud voice: ‘Salvation to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!’”

Some commentators link the palm branches to victory and think they were waving them in victorious shouts. But others, like MacLaren, see in the palm branches a sign of joy. He points out that in the Old Testament during the Feast of Tabernacles, the people waved palm branches for seven days as a sign of joy. 

But I can’t help but link these palm branches to the crowd of people who waved palm branches as Jesus entered Jerusalem, riding on a donkey. That crowd cried something very similar to what we see this multitude before the throne cry. In John 12:12-13, we see that a “great crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. They took palm branches and went out to meet Him, shouting: ‘Hosanna!’ ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’ ‘Blessed is the King of Israel!’”

Hosanna means “Oh save!” or “Please save!” The crowd, at that time, largely abandoned Jesus. But here in Revelation, this uncountable multitude of people cried, not for the Lord to save them, but that He had indeed brought salvation to them. Jesus had already given them salvation, for they were present with Him and would be with Him for all eternity. This vision seems to fulfill that earlier event.

But that’s not all that John sees. He continues and says in verses 11-12: “And all the angels stood around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. And they fell facedown before the throne and worshiped God, saying, ‘Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God forever and ever! Amen.’”

In case we have forgotten, it’s good to be reminded again of who is present in this throne room. In addition to this vast multitude, there are numerous angels around the throne, twenty-four elders, and four living creatures who have the appearance of specific animals. All of these beings stood around the throne. And all of these beings seem to be the ones who then all fall facedown and worship God.

Earlier, they had cried out, “Salvation to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” And now they cry out, “‘Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God forever and ever! Amen.’”

Their salvation is because of what the Lamb has done. God sent Jesus to earth to be the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world. And God is to be blessed and glorified for what—because of His great wisdom—He has done. And He is to be thanked and given honor forever and ever because of His great power and strength.

Then, while this praise is going on or maybe once it had ended–we don’t know–John adds, in verse 13, that “Then one of the elders addressed me: ‘These in white robes,’ he asked, ‘who are they, and where have they come from?’”

This is the question we want answered, too, isn’t it? Are these the same people who were numbered among the 144,000? Are these more martyrs? Are they different people all together?

John doesn’t know the answer to this either. He says in verse 14, “’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.’”

The great tribulation? Is this the big event that Revelation describes later? Is this tribulation The Tribulation that makes people pick a side and say whether they are ‘pre-trib,’ ‘mid-trib,’ or ‘post-trib’?

Regardless of where you land in your end-time theology, I wonder if we’ve interpreted the idea of a tribulation correctly, because as I read it now, after all these months of reading and re-reading Revelation, it seems to me that it’s possible that “the great tribulation” is what we’ve all been experiencing on this earth, and not some future, onetime event.

The reason I think it’s not a singular event is because the word for tribulation is the same word that is used 45 different times all throughout the New Testament. But even if the great tribulation is one specific tribulation, how could we ever know which one it references? Because even if it is a singular moment in time, then it could have already happened before John has this vision, because John sees this great multitude worshiping around the throne before the seventh seal is even opened. So, for example, it could be showing us what Matthew 24 prophesied about. In Matthew 24:21, Jesus said, “For at that time there will be great tribulation, unseen from the beginning of the world until now, and never to be seen again.” The word translated tribulation is the same Greek word in Matthew and in Revelation. It is “thlipsis” and it means, “Tribulation, Affliction, Distress, Persecution.”

About the passage in Matthew, many scholars agree that the warning by Jesus about pending tribulation was not about the end of the world. Jesus was speaking to His disciples about the great tribulation that they would face in A.D. 70 when the temple would be destroyed.

Theologian Charles Ellicott says about that verse in Matthew, that, “Such as was not since the beginning...The words come from Daniel 12:1. One who reads the narrative of Josephus will hardly hesitate to adopt his language, ‘that all miseries that had been known from the beginning of the world fell short’ of those of the siege of the Holy City (Wars, v. 13, §§ 4, 5).”

And we know that John most likely wrote the book of Revelation after Jerusalem had been attacked and the temple was destroyed. In my opinion, the earliest and most authoritative historical source for the dating of Revelation is Irenaeus (c. A.D. 180). In his work Against Heresies (5.30.3), Irenaeus states that John received his vision “almost in our own generation, at the close of Domitian’s reign.” Irenaeus was a disciple of Polycarp, who was a disciple of John himself. And Emperor Domitian reigned from A.D. 81 to 96. And so, it’s possible that when the elder says, “These are the ones who have come out of the great tribulation,” the great tribulation he speaks of could be the tribulation in A.D. 70. Not to mention, the way the elder words it to John makes it sound like he knew John knew exactly what he was talking about.

But there has been horrible tribulation since that time as well. Following the temple's destruction, the early Christian church suffered untold persecution. For centuries, Christians were jailed, tortured, and executed. As just one example, in the year AD 249, Emperor Decius came to power in Rome. He made a decree that everyone must sacrifice to an image of him. After you did that, you were given a paper that proved you had made the sacrifice. Those who didn’t possess such a paper faced torture and execution (p.53 The Story of Christianity, Collins & Price).

So, because throughout history Christians have constantly faced persecution, I think the tribulation is not a onetime event. Ellicott agrees with that and says: “It is the great tribulation; but while there may yet be in store for the Church of Christ trials so great that they may be called, in comparison with those which went before, the great tribulation, it yet seems out of harmony with the spirit of the Apocalypse and the complexion of this vision to limit the phrase to some special season of trial. Is not the great tribulation the tribulation which those must encounter who are on the side of Christ and righteousness, and refuse to receive the mark of worldliness and sin on their heart, conscience, and life? In all ages it is true that we must through much tribulation enter the Kingdom of God; and the vision here is surely not of those who will come safe out of some particular trials, but of the great multitude from every age and every race who waged war against sin, and who, in the midst of that protracted conflict, endured the great tribulation which is to continue until Christ’s return.”

And indeed, I think we can see how that is true, if only from the vision John had just before this of the martyrs who were clothed in white and were under the altar in the throne room. They too were clothed in white, just as this multitude of people are. They too had suffered great tribulation.

But we will all suffer tribulation, and often great tribulation, as we follow Jesus. And we all must be washed and clothed in robes of white that have been made white in the blood of the Lamb if we want to be with Him in eternity. That is what Jesus is talking about when He says to Peter in John 13:8, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.” We also see this same idea in 1 John 1:7 which says, “But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.” The blood of the Lamb cleanses us and washes away our sins as we walk with Him in righteousness. And as Jesus’ parable of the wedding banquet tells us, we all must be clothed in wedding garments of white to be admitted into the party (Matthew 22).

So, I don’t think we should limit what the elder says to one specific terrible time of tribulation. For another thing, if the elder is speaking about a onetime event which will be so terrible it earns the name The Great Tribulation, then I don’t know if we can apply the following promises to all of us believers. Because then, wouldn’t those promises pertain only to those who had to endure that specific tribulation? But from looking at the rest of Scripture, I don’t think these promises pertain just to them. Just as the white robes are not just given to a particular people who suffered through a particular tribulation or even who were martyred.

But let’s look now at what these promises are. The elder explains what all these people clothed in white are doing, and what they are experiencing. He says first that they are worshiping the Lord, serving God wholeheartedly, and as they do that, they find their purpose and home in God. Verse 15 says, “For this reason, they are before the throne of God and serve Him day and night in His temple; and the One seated on the throne will spread His tabernacle over them.”

This word for tabernacle is the Greek word skénoó, and it means, “To dwell, to tabernacle, to pitch a tent.” It only occurs five times in the New Testament: four times in Revelation and once in John 1:14, which says, “The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” Something else to note, too, is the uniqueness of this word “tabernacle” is also more evidence, in my opinion, that the disciple John who wrote the Gospel of John is the same John who wrote this book of Revelation.

But when it says the Word made His dwelling among us, it means that Jesus set up His tabernacle among us; He set up camp among us. And in that tabernacle, in that dwelling with Him, is where we live with Him.

Also, though, I want us to consider another place in Scripture we see a similar idea. In the Book of Ruth, the young widow named Ruth is told by her mother-in-law to go to her relative Boaz at night and lie down at his feet. Ruth does, and when he wakes up, she says to him, “I am your servant Ruth…Spread the corner of your garment over me, for you are a kinsman-redeemer.”

At that time, when a man spread his garment over a woman, it symbolized that he was taking her into his home to be his wife; to be under his care. I can’t help but wonder if that same concept isn’t happening in this text, too. Because doesn’t it mean, when it says, “The One seated on the throne will spread His tabernacle over them,” that God will take them into His home and they will be under His care?  

What’s interesting is that the verb tense changes in this verse. They are before the throne and they serve Him, but then it says that He, “will spread His tabernacle over them.” The verb moves from the present tense to the future tense. As these people in white robes worship and serve Him in His temple, then “the One seated on the throne will spread His tabernacle over them.” It seems to be a cause and effect: they do something, then something happens. But as these people worship and serve the Lord, they find their purpose for being. And then He covers them with His presence. He provides a home for them and cares for them as a husband would for his wife or children.

The second thing we see happening is that they experience not just a place to dwell, but they receive complete care for all their physical wants and needs. Verse 16 says, “Never again will they hunger, and never will they thirst; nor will the sun beat down upon them, nor any scorching heat.”

This verse is written with quotation marks because it seems to be quoting Isaiah 49:10, which says, “They will not hunger or thirst, nor will scorching heat or sun beat down on them. For He who has compassion on them will guide them and lead them beside springs of water.”

And third, not only are all their physical wants and needs met, so are all their spiritual, mental, and emotional wants and needs. Verse 17 says, “For the Lamb in 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.’”

If the Lamb becomes their Shepherd, they will receive a complete filling of their spiritual health by drinking of the living water. As we know, all people require water to live. We drink and must drink again. In John 4:13-14, Jesus said to a Samaritan woman that if she drank the living water He had, then she would never be thirsty again. He said to her, “Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a fount of water springing up to eternal life.” Later in Revelation, we will see that the springs of living water flow from the throne of God and the Lamb. So, the living water that Jesus offers is water for our spirit, and the metaphor is that when we drink of the living water, we receive eternal life: our spiritual health is made whole.

But also, their mental and emotional health will be made perfect. The Good Shepherd Himself will be present with them, and so they will not need to fear or worry about anything. They don’t even need to fear grief any longer. It is as Isaiah 25:8 prophesied: “He will swallow up death forever. The Lord GOD will wipe away the tears from every face.”

Earlier, though, I had asked if any of this applies to us now or if it is only a picture of the future. I think the answer is both, because these three things that this multitude is experiencing are the same three things that are available to us now by faith in Jesus. That means that we don’t have to wait until we die and join this multitude before we can experience these blessings. These three things are promised to us now, if we will have faith to receive them.

First, if we worship and serve the Lord, then we too can find our purpose for living, and we can find our home with Him. For through faith in Jesus, we belong to God and have become a part of His family. This is something that is available to us today. As Paul said in Acts 17:28, in Jesus “we live and move and have our being.” That is not only to be looked forward to in the future, but it is how it should be now.

Second, Jesus has promised us today that if we seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness, then we can trust Him to meet our physical needs, just as He said in Matthew 6:33. In that verse, He promises us that if we make Him the number one priority in our lives, then we do not need to worry about what we will eat or wear, for He will provide for us. It says, “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.”

And third, He is today the living water that we all have drunk from if we have believed in Jesus Christ for our salvation. Today, we can be confident that when we die, we will go to be with the Lord. And today, we have His promise that when we are brokenhearted, He draws near to us and comforts us with His presence. He may not be physically present with us in a form that our eyes can see, but He is there. He is present with us. He is near us, wiping away our tears. That is why Paul could say in 2 Corinthians 1:3-4, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.”

MacLaren had summarized this chapter, and I want to read one more part of what of he said: “The vision is meant to brace all generations for their trials, great or small, to draw faith and love upwards and forwards, to calm sorrow, to diminish the magnitude of death and the pain of parting, and to breed in us humble desires that, when our time comes, we too may go to join that great multitude.”

If we follow Jesus Christ and strive to serve Him, we will face trials. As Jesus said in John 16:33, “I have told you these things so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take courage; I have overcome the world!”

That means we all face trials. The question is: what is the outcome of those trials? Do they overcome us? Or can we, by the power and strength of the Lamb, be people who overcome and wear white before the throne?

To be a part of that uncountable crowd of people around the throne, we must put on the garments of salvation. We must be marked by the Cross of Christ, having been washed clean through the blood of the Lamb, through faith in Jesus.

So, let me ask you: Are you marked by the Cross? When people look at you, can they see that you are a servant of the living God? Are your robes white? Have they been soiled like the people in the church at Sardis? Or have you been forgiven and washed clean, and now walk in a manner worthy of what the Lamb has done? As we saw in the letters to the churches, the people who overcome are the people who will be wearing white.

How you answer those questions determines whether you will join that multitude of people before the throne of God or not. It is not too late to repent and be washed clean by the blood of the Lamb.

Let me leave you with one last question to ask yourself; one that MacLaren asked in his commentary. He said this: “That great multitude reaped what they had sown, and rejoiced in the reaping. Shall I?”

Pray: Heavenly Father, as we wait to join the multitude of people around Your throne, please open our hearts and minds to see and do the things You have called us to do here on earth. Please help us by the power of the Holy Spirit to overcome all the trials and tribulations we face. We want to overcome so we can walk in white. Thank You for sending us Jesus, who overcame the world so we can have peace. In His name, we pray. Amen.