REVELATION SIMPLIFIED

 

CHAPTER 7.13

Gleanings from the Book of Revelation:

A Weekly Verse-by-Verse Bible Study Series

 

The

REVELATION TO JOHN

(The Apocalypse)

 

Chapter Seven

A Parenthetical Chapter:

Judgment Suspended

 

Chapter Seven Overview

As Chapter 7 is read keep in mind, the narrative is paused and during this interlude, God temporarily suspends His judgments. The scene is in Heaven, not on Earth. And the reader is observing what is transpiring behind the scenes.

 

The Tribulation Period, not the Millennial Kingdom, is in continuance at this juncture. The group seen in Heaven is quite different from the church saints who were removed at the Rapture. John's vision is thus transpiring after the sixth seal is opened and before the opening of the seventh seal.

 

John has observed:

1.   Four Angels coming forth from each direction of the earth's compass and holding back the winds of wrath: They were told not to harm:

1.  The Earth

2. The sea

3.  The trees

 

2.  A Seal of Protection is marked on the 144,000, twelve thousand from each tribe of Israel, so they would not enter into Tribulation. Their mission:

1.  Be witnesses to those, not part of the church, who were left after the Rapture

2.  Share the Gospel of Salvation

3.  Encourage everyone to accept Christ as Lord.

 

3.  Another Vision – A countless multitude

A. Standing arrayed in white robes and waving palm branches before the Throne

1.  A special gathering

                                        i.    Every Gentile nation

                                     ii.    Every tribe of redeemed Jews

                                   iii.    Every slave or prisoner

                                    iv.    Every person in every language

2.   An entire host of heavenly angels

 

B. Worshipping on their faces before the Throne

3.  The twenty-four church elders

4. The four living creatures

 

C. Giving an anthem of praise to God before the Throne

 

 

(Verse 13)

 

And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What (Who) are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they?

 

Recall, the end of Chapter 6 ended with the living creature's query:

Revelation 6:17 - For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand (withstand, endure, survive)?

 

In this passage, however, one of the elders proceeds to ask John more questions (most likely he had in his heart), to bring him up to date.

 

The Questions:

1.  Who is this crowd of believers clothed in white robes?

2.  Where did they come from?

 

John is perplexed over the identity of this group and most likely reasoned, "If they are the church, I would have recognized them because I once sent letters about love, but this group I do not know."

 

 

(Verse 14)

 

And I (John) said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he (the elder) said to me, These are they which (who) came out of (the) great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

 

By addressing the elder as Sir, John is simply employing a term of respect. John replies to the church elder, "Sir, you know who they are. Tell me." The elder replies, "These are a special gathering of believers from all (1) tribes, (2) tongues, and (3) nations who survived the Great Tribulation."

 

These individuals:

1.  Refused the mark of the beast

2.  Laid down their lives through martyrdom

3.  Accepted Jesus Christ as their Saviour

 

This passage expressively teaches a peculiar group of people (Gentiles), from a particular period, in essence, a sheep of another fold:

John 10:16 - And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear My voice, and there shall be one fold, and one Shepherd.

 

 

And [they] have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

 

Definitions

Robes (Greek, stole) – A long fitting gown or garment, used here wearing the attire of a saint – Those redeemed and translated

White (Greek, leukos) – As in white light

White Robes - Applied together, express the righteousness of Jesus Christ

Revelation 19:8 - And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.

 

This newly formed crowd of blessed ones, shrouded by white robes, has become brothers and sisters in the Lord, reminiscent of…

Old Testament Theology

The Psalmist writes:

Psalm 51: 2, 5, 7 - Wash (literally: a fulfilling process, figuratively, a washing) me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin… Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me…Purge (cleanse, purify, reconcile) me with hyssop, * and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

 

*Hyssop (Hebrew, 'êzôb) – An aromatic plant antitypical to what the Tabernacle and Temple priests used in sprinkling the blood of sacrificed animals on lintel [an ornamented structural horizontal bock atop doors, and doorposts during Passover. Also, hyssop symbolized a purification process, later used in rituals in cleansing lepers (cf. Leviticus 4:4)].

 

Moses instructed by God said:

Exodus 12:22 - And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the bason, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that is in the bason; and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning.

 

Ritualistically, in preparation for receiving the Ten Commandments, the Israelites were to cleanse their garments:

Exodus 19: 10 - And the LORD said unto Moses, Go unto the people, and sanctify them to day and to morrow, and let them wash their clothes.

 

New Testament Theology

The apostle Paul sent a reminder to the church at Corinth that they have been washed and sanctified by the blood of the Lamb.

1 Corinthians 6:11 - And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.

 

Every believing sinner is afforded cleansing from sin by the blood of the Lamb. And so, John sees, standing before the Throne of God a great multitude:

1.  Translated by God

2.  Accepted in God's eyes

3.  Glorified by God

4.  Promoted to pre-eminent dignity before God

5.  Tabernacled by God

6.  No longer hungering and thirsting for God

7.  Serving God day and night in the Temple of God.

 

Christ's substitutionary death on the Cross offers atonement for this body of believers as well. They were justified and reconciled to God.

Romans 5:12 - For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.

 

The blood of the Lamb

Theology of Blood

Blood is referred to hundreds of times in the Bible. It is the life force essential to human life. To the Hebrews, it represented life.

Leviticus 17:14 - For it is the life of all flesh; the blood of it is for the life thereof: therefore I said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall eat the blood of no manner of flesh: for the life of all flesh is the blood thereof: whosoever eateth it shall be cut off.

 

 Used in Scripture:

1.   The blood cleanses or purges us from all sin

1 John 1:7 - But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.

 

2. Blood makes expiation for us

Romans 3:25 – [Jesus] whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance (restraint, tolerance) of God.

 

3.   We become justified by faith in the blood of Jesus Christ

Romans 5:9 - Much more then, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.

 

4.  We have redemption through the blood of Jesus Christ

Ephesians 1:7 – [Christ] In Whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.

 

5.  We are presented without the spot of sin by His blood

1 Peter 1:19 - But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.

 

6.  We have the peace of God through the blood of Jesus Christ

Colossians 1:20 - And, having made peace through the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself; by Him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.

 

7. Blood purges our conscience from dead works to serve the living God

Hebrews 9:14 - How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

 

From the very first sacrifice of Abel to the narrative of Abraham and Isaac --- A prefigurement demonstrating God's sacrifice of His only begotten Son Jesus Christ --- and the millions of slain animals were offered in the Tabernacle and Temple before Jesus Christ came into the world as the once and for all atonement of sin. By this one act, His substitutionary death on the Cross reconciled man back to God - A privilege God's created son Adam lost by his disobedience to God in the Garden.

 

God sent His firstborn Son Jesus. By shedding His divinity and putting on humanity, to lead a sinless life in obedience to the Father as the Lamb of God, He became the ultimate sacrifice as payment for all sins of mankind. Through faith in His death, burial, and Resurrection, man inherits eternal life, is reconciled back to God, and lives life eternal as God originally intended.

 

Subsequently, because of one's faith in this act, there is forgiveness of sin and a person is no longer an alien separated from God but are redeemed adopted sons of the living God,  thus receiving the free, unmerited gift of eternal life that was once lost in the Garden. The decision to accept Jesus Christ as personal Saviour needs to be made now, before going through Tribulation. As you will study – It is a matter of spending eternal life in Heaven or eternal life in Hell. There is no alternative. The choice is yours.

 

During the following study, a glimpse of Kingdom living is revealed. Please read ahead.

 

 

QUESTIONS:

1.   Why is Tribulation suspended?

2.   Who are those wearing white robes?

3.   Why are they waving palms?

4.   Why are multitudes clothed in white robes?

5.   Why is the shedding of blood necessary?

6.   Where is the church during this Chapter?

7.   What does God desire of us?

 

 

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