Saturday
Saturday
The Great International Community
After 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.
Revelation 7:9
The second community, we are told, is international and countless. Just as Abraham was commanded by God to count the stars (which is impossible) and was then promised that his descendants would be equally numerous, so God’s promise is being fulfilled in the huge multiplication of Abraham’s spiritual children today (Gen. 12:1–3; 15:5).
Next, the unnumbered crowd is standing before God’s throne, wearing white robes of righteousness and waving palm branches of victory. They are also singing loud songs of worship, ascribing their salvation to God and to the Lamb. The angels, elders, and living creatures also join in, falling on their faces and worshiping God. For the life of heaven is a continuous joyful celebration, and earthly choirs and orchestras are rehearsing for the eschatological concert.
How, then, can we make sure that we belong to this redeemed international throng? One of the elders expressed this very anxiety by asking the question, “These in white robes—who are they, and where did they come from?” (Rev. 7:13). He then proceeded to answer his own question. On the one hand, “They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (v. 14). We cannot possibly stand before God’s dazzling throne in the soiled and tattered rags of our own morality, but only if we have sought cleansing from the Lamb who died for us. On the other hand, they “have come out of the great tribulation” (v. 14). Since all the redeemed are being described, this cannot refer to the specific period of tribulation between the appearance of Antichrist and that of Christ. It must rather be a description of the whole Christian life, which the New Testament repeatedly designates a time of tribulation (see John 16:33; Acts 14:22; Rev. 1:9). Therefore they are before the throne of God.
Revelation 7 ends with glorious assurances that God will shelter his people; that they will never again suffer from hunger, thirst, or scorching heat; that—in the boldest reversal of roles—the Lamb will be their shepherd; and that God will wipe away all their tears (vv. 15–17).
For further reading: Revelation 7:9–17