"After these things I saw, and behold, there was a great multitude which no one
(2) "Standing before the throne and before the Lamb." Revelation 4:2 says that "there was a throne set in heaven." This shows that those standing before the throne are already in heaven. This word is recorded after the sixth seal and before the seventh seal. This is an indication that there are four raptures. (3) The word "tribulation" in Revelation 7:14 is the same as the word "tribulation" in John 16:33 [KJV]. Hence, this "great multitude which no one could number" includes the persecuted ones and the martyrs throughout the past generations. Among them are also the believers who were resurrected. (The resurrected ones must be greater in number than those who are first raptured.) Revelation 7:9 through 17 speaks of the situation that begins with the rapture (the first rapture) and continues until eternity (the new heaven and new earth). Those "standing before the throne" must have been raptured; otherwise, how can they be standing in heaven? Verses 15 through 17 are a description of the scene in the new heaven and the new earth in Revelation 21:3-7. This portion is not on the rapture specifically or exclusively; rather, it speaks only in a general way about the rapture. Neither does it go into detail concerning the scene of the enjoyment in eternity; it is only briefly described. We should not misunderstand, thinking that because the church is raptured to the heavens to enjoy the blessings in eternity, we can then assume that the whole church is raptured all at once. Remember that this portion does not say in detail how the rapture takes place; it presents only an outline of the raptured majority. We are given a glimpse in advance of the scene of the rapture of the church in the heavens and the consummation in eternity. Here we are shown only where they are, not how they got there. 1. Revelation 7:9-13 "After these things I saw, and behold, there was a great multitude which no one could number, out of every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes and palm branches in their hands. And they cry with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God who sits upon the throne and to the Lamb. And all the angels stood around the throne and the elders and the four living creatures; and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshipped God, saying, Amen. The blessing and the glory and the wisdom and the thanks and the honor and the power and the strength be to our God forever and ever. Amen. And one of the elders answered, saying to me, These who are clothed in the white robes, who are they, and where did they come from?"
"After these things..., standing before the throne and before the Lamb." Since the rapture begins here, this implies that there is a rapture before the opening of the seventh seal. These are the people redeemed by the Lord's blood throughout the past two thousand years. The positive reasons are as follows: (1) The number. Revelation 7:9 reads "I saw, and behold, there was a great multitude which no one could number." Anything to do with the Israelites is usually numbered. Examples are: the twelve tribes, the seventy going down to Egypt, the number leaving Egypt, the numbers recorded in the book of Numbers, and the numbers at the time of David. From generation to generation, the Israelites were numbered. The Israelites who are sealed are also numbered (vv. 1-8). In regard to the church, although there are numbers, such as the twelve disciples, the seventy sent out by the Lord, the one hundred twenty who gathered together, the three thousand and the five thousand who were saved, and so forth, sometimes the Bible only says, "The Lord added together day by day those who were being saved" (Acts 2:47). Revelation 7:9 says, "Which no one could number." By simple arithmetic we know that these people are not those from the age of tribulation since the world population is 1.7 billion [at the beginning of the twentieth century]. In Revelation 9:16 the horsemen are numbered at two hundred million. This is the largest number in this book. But 7:9 says that "no one could number" them; hence, the number must be more than the two hundred million horsemen! (2) Where do they come from? Revelation 7:9 reads, "Out of every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues." If you refer to 5:9-10, you can see that the "men out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation" are those chosen from the Gentiles to be given to God; they are the church (Acts 15:14-19). In the church age, if the Jews are to believe in the Lord, they do so in the position of Gentiles and are saved according to the principle of the Gentiles. Therefore, the church can be considered as saved Gentiles. It can also be said that in the church there is no difference between the Gentiles and the Jews.
(3) Where do they go to? Revelation 6:17 says, "Who is able to stand?" Yet these people in 7:9-17 are able to stand before God. God gave the promise of rapture only to the church. Hence, only the church is able to stand before God.
(4) When will God return to take care of the Jews? Not until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in (Rom. 11:25-26). Revelation 7:9-17 must refer to the people in Romans 11:25. These people are the church. (5) Regarding the twenty-four elders, the four living creatures, and the one hundred and forty-four thousand, no mention is made of being purchased by the blood. Only these people were purchased by the blood. (6) Although to be clothed in white garments was what God promised the church in Sardis, both Sardis and Philadelphia put together could not have produced such a large number. None could have such a glorious destiny but the church. Therefore, this must be the scene of those in the church who were raptured to heaven. (7) The angels' attitude. The first sentence which all the angels say is, "Amen" (7:12). There is great joy in heaven over one sinner who repents (Luke 15:7). When all the angels see so many people coming, they cannot help praising for joy. (8) Their garments were cleansed by the blood (7:14). Only the church has this kind of special condition. (9) The scene in Revelation 7:15-17 is similar to the scene of eternity in Revelation 21:3-7. The overcoming in Revelation 21:7 is an overcoming by faith (1 John 5:4), since Revelation 21:6 states, "I will give to him who thirsts from the spring of the water of life freely." Some have argued that the whole church will be raptured before the tribulation and that the people mentioned here are those who are saved during the great tribulation. However, this argument cannot stand for the following reasons: (1) This school proposes is that the twenty-four elders in chapters four and five represent the whole church. So the whole church should already be raptured by this time. We know that this is basically wrong. (The reasons have already been given in the discussion on chapter four concerning the twenty-four elders.) (2) In Revelation 7:9 no one could number the great multitude. Let us ask if during the tribulation, under such great persecution, there could be so many people receiving salvation. The total population of the whole world is 1.7 billion. If we can subtract the dead ones which can be counted in this book, how many do we still have? In Revelation 6:8 the fourth part of men were killed, about four hundred million dead ones, leaving approximately 1.2 billion alive. Again, the third part of men were killed in 9:15 and 18, approximately four hundred million men, leaving eight hundred million men. In addition to that number, in Revelation
8:9 there were men who died because ships were destroyed; in 8:11 many men died because the waters became wormwood; and in 11:13 many died of earthquakes, among whom were numbered seven thousand men of renown. (Mr. Govett did some research and concluded that the original language referred to these men as men of renown.) How many more died, who were not men of renown? Furthermore, no one knows how many were killed during the final tribulations in chapters fifteen and sixteen. Since the number of the army of horsemen in Revelation 9:16 was two hundred million, if we subtract from the remaining eight hundred million men these two hundred million horsemen, we are left with only six hundred million men. If we further subtract from these six hundred million the above unaccounted-for number, what is left is much less. Therefore, even if all those who survive the great tribulation were saved, the number would not be so many that no one could number. (3) By this time the great tribulation has not arrived. It is not until Revelation 8:1 that the seventh seal is opened. The first four trumpets which come after that are merely calamities. Only by the time of the fifth trumpet do we have the beginning of the trumpets of woes. Perhaps this is the beginning of the great tribulation. The seventh trumpet is undoubtedly in the great tribulation. How then can there be people who are saved during the tribulation, when the tribulation has not even come yet? (4) Revelation 7:9 says, "Before the throne." If it were not for the rapture, how could anyone be in heaven? Yet during the great tribulation, no one will be raptured. The church is the only group that will be raptured. (5) In the whole Bible, no mention is made of such a great revival during the great tribulation. A biblical prophecy never stands by itself. It is always confirmed by other books. Second Peter 1:20 is definitely a rule of interpreting prophecies. This is the principle according to which the Holy Spirit writes the Bible. Hence, these people do not refer to the believers who are saved during the great tribulation. The phrase "standing before the throne" in Revelation 7:9 only tells us of the fact of the rapture. It does not tell us the process of their rapture. "White robes" here refer to the purity of their conduct as a result of the cleansing by the blood (v. 14). The white garments in Revelation 3:4 are a promise which corresponds with that mentioned in Revelation 19:8. This refers to their victory on earth, that is, their purity. In the future this will be manifested in the heavens and enjoyed in the heavens. The white garments in 4:4 speak of the elders who are without sin. The