Bible Gem 2262 – The Promised Protection for the Vast Crowd From Every Nation (Revelation 7:9-17)

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)

Once more we have the theme of God’s protection given to the vast crowd from every nation, tribe, people and language. We need to consider this group as well in the light of the question asked at the end of Chapter 6.

¹⁷For the great day of their wrath has come and who is able to survive?”

Revelation 6:17

Once more I ask, what saves you from the wrath to come? To answer that question we have to gather all I have shared with you to this point. Many non-Christians make light of the idea of ‘salvation’ or the idea of God needing to save people. I have seen the comments people write on signs like “Jesus Saves”. Comments like, “I save at the ASB“, “I saved someone from drowning.” “Assuming people need saving.” Many think this is religious nonsense. I used to be a part of that thinking; I had no use for religious talk. But I came to realise the truth and began my own relationship with Christ on the 19^th of August 1973. That’s right 50 years ago. Before August ’73 I didn’t understand why people needed saving. I know now why as I have told you in the build up to this Gem. We can only enter “heaven” on God’s terms. We must get ‘right with Him’. In biblical terms that means symbolically wearing white robes of righteousness; being in right relationship with God. Most people, including me before 19/8/1973, live life as if the Creator of Life doesn’t exist. But He has made it very clear in the Bible no-one reaches the Life of the Age to Come without being in right standing with God.

I used to think it was all about living a good life and having my good deeds outweigh my bad deeds at the end. As long as I lived a good life I thought I was basically a good person. “Keeping the rules equates to being a good person.” What rules are foundational to being a good person? Well, the Ten Commandments really, but without the religious connotations. The commands from 5 to 10, leaving out the Godward stuff (1-4). But Jesus made it very clear in Matthew 5:17-22, 27-28. I won’t include those verses here, rather I ask you to find them for yourself. Take the time to search for Truth yourself.

Essentially, we think the standard is the old Mosaic standard but Jesus came to make God’s standard clear. Murder is not the bench mark, just harbouring anger in your heart is enough to exclude you from God’s standard. No, the mark to aim for is not just ensuring we don’t commit adultery but rather not looking with lust. Who can measure up to that standard? That’s right, it is unattainable without God’s help. Believe it or not, you need God’s help and His Guidelines for Life book to show you how to really live as He intended. That book is called the Bible – Be Informed Before Leaving Earth. [Actually we are not bound for Heaven; we are bound for earth, the new restored earth, under the new heaven. But that is another story, yet to be revealed at the end of Revelation – just saying.]

To be able to enter The Life of the Age to Come you have to be Running The Race Of Life in the manner that God requires. I have already spelt out the process of living life as God requires in the Gems series highlighted above. All of that to explain why you need to live life on God’s terms in order to “get to heaven”. Having said that, now let’s look at the protection God offers those who run the race well and attain to the Life of the Age to Come.

We already know that God has all who have been martyred in the name of Christ and for the Gospel safe and secure. We also know He has the perfect number (without losing any) safe and secure among those saved under the Old Testament system. Now we need to turn our attention to those saved out of the nations, tribal groups, people groups and language groups of the world. We need to carefully examine what is said about this uncountable number of people saved out of the ethnic [ethnē] groups of the world.

I believe from Revelation Chapter 4, the vision has been building steadily in terms of cumulative praise and worship to the Lamb.

• 4:9 – the four living beings give Him glory, honour and thanks.
• 4:11 – the four living beings and 24 elders give Him glory, honour and power.
• 5:12 – the four living beings, 24 elders and thousands of angels see Him as worthy to receive power, riches, wisdom, strength, honour, glory and blessing.
• 5:13 – Every created being in heaven, earth, under the earth and in the sea sang blessing, honour, glory and power to the One on the throne and to the Lamb.
• and the four living beings pronounced the amen.

Now let’s pay careful attention to what is said about the vast crowd in Revelation 7 concerning their protection. I will list the relevant portions for you and then we will look into them more thoroughly in the following Gem.