9After this I saw a vast crowd, too great to count, from every nation and tribe and people and language, standing in front of the throne and before the Lamb. They were clothed in white robes and held palm branches in their hands. 10And they were shouting with a great roar, “Salvation comes from our God who sits on the throne and from the Lamb!” 11And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living beings. And they fell before the throne with their faces to the ground and worshiped God. 12They sang, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honour and power and strength belong to our God forever and ever! Amen.” 13Then one of the twenty-four elders asked me, “Who are these who are clothed in white? Where did they come from?” 14And I said to him, “Sir, you are the one who knows.” Then he said to me, “These are the ones who died in the great tribulation. They have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb and made them white.”15“That is why they stand in front of God’s throne and serve him day and night in his Temple. And he who sits on the throne will give them shelter. 16They will never again be hungry or thirsty; they will never be scorched by the heat of the sun. 17For the Lamb on the throne will be their Shepherd. He will lead them to springs of life-giving water. And God will wipe every tear from their eyes.”
(Revelation 7:9-17)
Allow me to take us back in order to move forward. At the end of Chapter 6 we were left with the question:
17For the great day of their wrath has come and who is able to survive?”
Revelation 6:17
Do you realise this question applies to the Vast Crowd from every nation, tribe, people and language just as much as it applies to the 144,000 saved from the tribes of Israel? Who can survive the wrath of the One who sits on the throne and of the Lamb? We all need saving from the wrath of God and the Lamb of God. There is none righteous, no not one. No one gets into heaven without the white robes of righteousness! I have discussed that matter in earlier Gems in this series. Therefore these two groups: the 144,000 saved from tribes of Israel and the vast innumerable multitude saved from the nations. [I won’t keep adding: tribe, people and language; it’s redundant, but you know why I have added it twice now.] I suspect this vast crowd are representative of those saved from among the Gentiles, non-Jews. After all Paul wrote:
For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes—the Jew first and also the Gentile. This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.”
Romans 1:16-17
The verses which follow this quote from Romans are all about God’s wrath on the Unrighteous and the discussion about how you can become righteous in God’s sight. I have told you enough about that too. There is only one way to be made righteous in God’s sight. By being covered with God’s righteousness and to be given the white robe of righteousness. You can’t buy it with gold, silver, precious stones, paper money, nor by any digital currency. The people of Sardis were told that. Are you getting the point, that all of this letter fits together in unity? The commentators discuss the difference between the make up of 144,000 servants of God and the vast multitude. Are the first group those saved from among the Jews and the second saved from among the non-Jews? That could be the case, but equally the latter group could be drawn from both Jew and Gentile after the great tribulation. I lean more toward these two groups in Revelation representing Jews and non-Jews. After all, Paul did write salvation is for everyone who believes – the Jew first and also the Gentile. But I am not adamant about it. It could well be applied either way.
I want to draw your attention to one other feature of the text which I believe is of prime importance. As I have told you before, John uses the verbal tenses in a fluid way. Past, present and future are merged together in these series of visions. Understandably so; I can’t imagine trying to keep all of this detail straight in my head as the visions poured forth. The verses in this block of text related to the great multitude that I want to focus our attention on are 7:13-14.
Then one of the twenty-four elders asked me, “Who are these who are clothed in white? Where did they come from?” And I said to him, “Sir, you are the one who knows.” Then he said to me, “These are the ones who died in the great tribulation. They have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb and made them white.
Revelation 7:13-14
I think you will agree these two verses are highly relevant. One of the twenty-four elders has asked John who are these people clothed in white? John responded, “How am I to know? You tell me.” to which the elder ( I have suggested is a representative of the redeemed) says, “These are the ones who died in the great tribulation. They have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb and made them white.” I believe that is a highly relevant response. But I don’t like the way it has been translated in the NLT and a number of other versions. I think it is misleading. The actual words in Greek are:
οὗτοί εἰσιν οἱ ἐρχόμενοι ἐκ τῆς θλίψεως τῆς μεγάλης,
these are those {coming out} from the persecution the great
The first aspect I want to draw your attention to is the tense of the verbal participle [ἐρχόμενοι]. It is present tense and it was present tense when spoken to John! I don’t like the use of the word tribulation here. [θλίψεως] from [θλίψις] – thlipsis is a noun which means “affliction”, “trouble”, “persecution”, oh yes and “tribulation” or “times of great trouble”. But it doesn’t necessarily mean ‘The Great Tribulation’. The fact that it is present tense in the midst of John’s visions and the elder is talking to him in the present tense, suggests it could include the present times of conflict the seven churches were experiencing at that time. When modern translators use the word ”tribulation’ it takes on the connotation of The Great Tribulation. But I don’t think that is what is meant here in this verse. A survey of the translations is called for:
The NLT translation I think is unfortunate. It is correctly written as “the great tribulation”. But by choosing those words, I think most of us would read it as The Great Tribulation. In other words, the time of tribulation has now become specified and narrowed to one specified time period at the end of time. But I don’t believe that is what was intended here if we add to our thinking the present tense of the participle ἐρχόμενοι. I.e. those coming out of great persecution.
Here is a list of the ways the various translations handle this phrase:-
Definite
- the great tribulation – AFV, ASV, CSB, HCSB, LITV, MKJV, MSG, NASB, NENT, NET, NIV, NLT, RSV, RV, TLV, WEB, WEBA, YLT.
- the Great Tribulation – LB, LSV
- the Great Persecution – CJB
- the great distress – TS2009
- the great oppression – JB Phillips
- the great pressure and ordeal – TPT
- the great suffering – CEV, ERV, ESV.
- the great testing – BBE
- the big pressure – GNT Interlinear
- the terrible persecution – GNB
- the terrible suffering – GW, ISV
Indefinite
- from great affliction – Murdock
- great tribulation – KJV
My key point here is that using the word tribulation and adding ‘The Great Tribulation’ to it, narrows it down to one particular time period of great persecution. Capitalising The Great Persecution makes it even more specific. I am convinced in the minds of most readers, we think “The Great Tribulation” when we read ‘the great persecution’. I am now convinced that the elder (from among the 24) meant all those coming out of times of immense persecution or times of trouble. That has to include all those at the time of persecution for each of the believers in the seven churches. Not just at the time of persecution in John’s day but on-goingly through the intervening centuries.
Add to that the fact that the list of martyrs has been kept open ended, and the number of the 144,000 can still be added to. It’s symbolic only and not a finite number. Neither is it an infinite number and it certainly doesn’t include those from every religion nor those who once followed the Messiah but turned back. This is a warning for all those who have heard (have ears) and persevere to the end. It applies to all of us; that is why there are seven churches in focus. Seven = the number of completion, perfection and totality. I am convinced that John on hearing these words had to have thought initially of those coming out of persecution in the time period which lay immediately ahead. But included also times in the future when the persecution or tribulation (there is that word again) would get far worse than the believers could imagine. The believers who received this letter were those in the first instance whose coming out of great persecution was already happening. These believers could name the names of those who had already been martyred. Their great persecution was happening as they read or heard the message of the revelation Christ had revealed to John in vision form. Oh a cryptic and encoded message but one which was clear and as up to date for them as ever it could be. But a message nonetheless which had relevance for the seven churches from then until now. And wonder of wonders which has relevance for us reading the same revelation in the 21st Century and until the time of The Great Tribulation at the end of the Age. This message, this Revelation from the Lamb of God is for all believers in any time period to prepare them for the Life of the Age to Come. [Use the tag system to know more].
Now we are beginning to dive deeper into the words of the text before us. There are further revelations to come in this Chapter which some consider to be an interlude; but an interlude pregnant with meaning. Watch this space. I promise you there is more to come. The Lamb promises you There Is More To Come.
Don’t forget the telling words: John was told to look for the Lion of Judah (Rev 5:5) but he saw the Lamb of God looking as though it had been slain. (Rev 5:6)
Ian
Do you realise the Lion of Judah doesn’t appear anywhere in the pages of Revelation at all? Only the Lamb of God can be seen and heard.
Ian
Soak yourself, as a believer in Christ, in the reassurance this message of Revelation gives to you. Suck it like a sweetie and hang on to its every word.
Dr Basil Brown
What makes this both possible and certain is that the redeemed have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
Gordon Fee
The protection promised here is for all those coming out of times of great persecution in any age, who are wearing the white robe of righteousness only Christ can give.
Ian