Revelation 7:9–17

7:9 “After this” refers to John’s next vision and does not designate an event subsequent to the sealing of the 144,000. John heard the number 144,000 but sees an innumerable multitude, showing that the 144,000 from the twelve tribes of Israel symbolize the people of God from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation. This is the same pattern as in chapter 5, where John is told about a Lion but sees a Lamb—the Lion and Lamb having the same referent. So too here, the 144,000 and the uncountable multitude are the same entity, portrayed from two different perspectives. Here we see fulfilled the promise given to Abraham that all nations would be blessed (e.g., Gen. 12:3; 18:18; 22:18; 26:4; 28:14; Acts 3:25; Gal. 3:8, 16). Those from every people group and tribe stand before God’s throne and before the Lamb. They can stand in God’s presence because of their white robes, showing they are righteous and clean before God and have won the victory (cf. comment on Rev. 7:13–14). John has answered, then, the question posed in 6:17 of who can “stand” in the light of God’s coming wrath: the 144,000 sealed by God. That is, the innumerable multitude with palm branches in their hands, signifying joy and praise in triumph, as when many took palm branches to celebrate Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem and greeted him with cries of “Hosanna” (cf. John 12:13). We see the same theme in 2 Maccabees 10:7—“Bearing ivy-wreathed wands and beautiful branches and also fronds of palm, they offered hymns of thanksgiving to him who had given success to the purifying of his own Holy Place”¹ (cf. 1 Macc. 13:51; Jub. 16:31). The multitude isn’t standing before God and the Lamb with fear of judgment (cf. Rev. 6:16–17) but with great joy.

7:10 The multitude cries out with praise, ascribing their salvation, their deliverance from God’s wrath, to God and the Lamb. The multitude doesn’t deserve praise and honor for escaping God’s wrath. All praise goes to God and the Lamb for their salvation. The Scriptures teach repeatedly that salvation is God’s work, that he is the one who delivers his people (e.g., Pss. 3:8; 37:39; 62:7; Isa. 43:11; Jer. 3:23; Hos. 13:4; Jonah 2:9; Rev. 19:1). In addition, we see once again the Lamb and God sharing the same stature, for salvation is ascribed both to God and to the Lamb.

7:11–12 The salvation of some from every people group fills the angels around the throne with praise. The angels, elders, and four living creatures are placed together here, further evidence that the elders are angelic, distinguished from human beings and performing the same function as other angelic beings. The greatness of what God has done fills the angels with awe, and they fall on their faces to worship God (cf. 4:10; 5:8, 14; 11:16; 19:4). Their worship is expressed in words of delight, saying “Amen” to the salvation of the innumerable multitude. Blessing, glory, wisdom, thanksgiving, honor, and power are ascribed to God forever and punctuated with an “Amen.” God, of course, is already blessed, glorious, wise, powerful, and worthy of all thanksgiving and honor (cf. 4:9, 11; 5:13; 19:1). Thus, the angels don’t give God anything he doesn’t already possess intrinsically. Still, they ascribe to God all these qualities, recognizing they belong properly to him (cf. 1 Chron. 29:10–11).

7:13–14 The narrative moves in a new direction, and the elder’s (i.e., the angel’s) question provokes the reader to take notice of the answer’s significance. The question-answer format calls attention to the situation in a fresh way (cf. Ezek. 37:3) and functions as an effective literary device. The angel/elder asks John to identify those in white robes and explain where they came from. John’s answer (“Sir, you know.”) reveals implicitly John’s ignorance and highlights the wisdom of the angel, who is able to disclose the true state of affairs. The elder explains that John is seeing those who have come “out of the great tribulation.” The phrase “great tribulation” isn’t a technical term with a single meaning. In Matthew it denotes the days when Jerusalem and its temple were destroyed by the Romans (Matt. 24:21). But the phrase also designates the entire period between the first and second coming of Christ. Daniel describes this period as a “time of trouble” from which God’s people will be delivered (Dan. 12:1; cf. Jer. 30:7). It is probable that John sees the entire period before Christ’s return as a time of trouble and great tribulation. In other words, the term isn’t limited to a seven-year period at the end of history, for we have no clear teaching anywhere of such a distinct period before the conclusion of history. John, like Daniel, teaches that those who belong to God are rescued. They are rescued and delivered because they have washed their robes white in the Lamb’s blood, picturing the cleansing work of Christ on the cross (cf. Rev. 1:5; 12:11). The robes of the redeemed are white, not on account of their inherent righteousness but because of the cleansing atonement of the Lamb who gave himself for their sins (cf. comment on 5:6). Often in Revelation white robes and garments designate the righteousness of the saints, the godly lives they have lived (3:4, 5; 6:11; 7:9). John gives us here the ultimate reason why believers have white robes and explains why they have endured the great tribulation. Their salvation is due to the blood of the Lamb, the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the cleansing coming only from him.

7:15 “Therefore” ties the text to what precedes: those who have endured the great tribulation and have had their robes whitened by the Lamb’s blood are now before God’s throne (cf. 7:9). To be before God’s throne means being in heaven, or, perhaps better, in the new creation. The language here is symbolic of eternal life in the new creation. This innumerable crowd is akin to priests serving God constantly, day and night, in his temple. Worshiping God at his throne characterizes the new creation (22:3). The reference to the temple is clearly symbolic, for in the new creation there is no temple, but the temple is God and the Lamb (21:22). God personally dwells with his people, as the entire world is his temple (21:3). The tabernacle/temple imagery continues, for God who sits on the throne will shelter (skēnōsei; lit., “tabernacle over”) his people, protecting them from harm. In the new creation, nothing can touch them (cf. Isa. 4:5); the days of suffering are over.

7:16 The nature of God’s protection and dwelling with his people is expanded upon, and it is even more evident that life in the new creation, life after the resurrection, is pictured here. The days of hunger and thirst have ended. No longer will believers face the intense heat of the sun, where no relief can be found, for the time of bodily suffering and privation has ended. Now they are under God’s protection, and everything is provided for them in his temple, the new creation he indwells (cf. Lev. 26:11; Ezek. 37:27). The second exodus from Babylon is described in similar terms in Isaiah 49:10: “They shall not hunger or thirst, neither scorching wind nor sun shall strike them, for he who has pity on them will lead them, and by springs of water will guide them.” What God promised in the second exodus is fulfilled in a final and ultimate manner in the new creation for the true Israel—the church of Jesus Christ. In Isaiah, God promises Israel he will satisfy their needs as they travel through the desert; but in Revelation, what God did in the wilderness is magnified. He will protect his people from harm forever and ever.

7:17 Every need of those before God’s throne is met by the Lamb, their shepherd. Revelation is full of striking images, but this is surely one of the most striking. Lambs aren’t shepherds; they are sheep. Still, this Lamb is also the shepherd of his people. The psalmist says the Lord is his shepherd (Ps. 23:1), and identifying the Lamb as a shepherd constitutes further evidence of the divinity of Jesus, as he is the shepherd of God’s people just as the Father is the shepherd of Israel. The picture of Jesus as the shepherd of the sheep also finds its roots in John’s Gospel, where Jesus identifies himself as the good shepherd (John 10:2, 11, 14, 16; cf. also Matt. 2:6; Heb. 13:20; 1 Pet. 5:4). Jesus’ role as a shepherd also fulfills OT expectations, for the Davidic king was shepherd and ruler of his people (2 Sam. 5:2). John especially draws here on Ezekiel 34:23. There God promises to establish a “shepherd, my servant David” to “feed” and “shepherd” his people (cf. also Zech. 11:4, 7, 9, 15; 13:7). The Lamb as the shepherd of his people will lead them to refreshing water, just as the Lord leads his people “beside still waters” (Ps. 23:2). With living water Jesus slakes the thirst of those who belong to him (John 4:14; 7:37–38; cf. Jer. 17:13)—those who belong to Jesus “drink from the river of your delights” (Ps. 36:8; cf. Rev. 22:1). Finally, God will wipe all tears from their eyes. It is quite clear the new creation is in view here, for we find the same promise in Revelation 21:4 (cf. Isa. 25:8). Those whom God seals and protects will delight in the Lamb and in God forever. Every joy will be theirs, and the sorrow of the present evil age will be only a memory.