Rev 7 - The Great Multitude in White Robes

1 After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth to prevent any wind from blowing on the land or on the sea or on any tree.

2 Then I saw another angel coming up from the east, having the seal of the living God. He called out in a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm the land and the sea:

3 “Do not harm the land or the sea or the trees until we put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.”

4 Then I heard the number of those who were sealed: 144,000 from all the tribes of Israel.

5 From the tribe of Judah 12,000 were sealed, from the tribe of Reuben 12,000, from the tribe of Gad 12,000,

6 from the tribe of Asher 12,000, from the tribe of Naphtali 12,000, from the tribe of Manasseh 12,000,

7 from the tribe of Simeon 12,000, from the tribe of Levi 12,000, from the tribe of Issachar 12,000,

8 from the tribe of Zebulun 12,000, from the tribe of Joseph 12,000, from the tribe of Benjamin 12,000.

9 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 before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands.

10 And the cried out in a loud voice: “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.”

11 All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshipped God, 12 saying: “Amen!”

12 Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honour and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!”

13 Then one of the elders asked me, “These in white robes – who are they, and where did they come from?”

14 I answered, “Sir, you know.” And he said, “These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”

15 Therefore, “they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence.”

16 “Never again with they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat down on them,” nor any scorching heat.

17 For the Lamb at the centre of the throne will be their shepherd; “he will lead them to springs of living water”. “And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

Dear reader – please read this wonderful encouraging Scripture again!

John’s Reflection Concerning His Time and/or All Lifetimes

7:9 “A great multitude…every nation, tribe, people and language…” – an awesome unveiling of not only the reality each elect’s position in Jesus at the end of an individual life but also the ‘not yet’ the end time after the rapture.

7:14 The answer of true reality, hope and salvation – “robes…white in the blood of the Lamb. “Whatever their (our) pain, trials, suffering and/or tribulation “Salvation belongs to our God…” Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

7:9-17 is a blessed picture of the reality at the end of a faithful and obedient lifetime – gone from this life – next breath to 7:9 with Jesus at the end of our history in Jesus’ eternity.

Times of Total Confusion and Disorder I

In each elect’s lifetime in history confusion and disorder occur at the same time as treacherous actions by evil power-hungry usurpers who want, at the devil’s direction, to enslave and kill.

Daniel 7:2 says “In my vision at night I looked and there before me were four winds of heaven churning up the great sea.” Here we see a “great sea” which symbolises many nations, many peoples in the world. The “winds” represent forces of Almighty God which are destructive. They may not be symbolic but actual as in Judges 5:20, 1 Kings 18:38 and Daniel 8:10 not yet discussed. In Jeremiah 49:36 we see four winds “from four quarters of the heavens” which tell us God’s destruction will be from every direction but He will save His people from eternal destruction (cf Ezekiel 37:9). But there is more about the “four winds”:

Zechariah 6:1-7

1 I looked up again-and there before me were four chariots coming out from between two mountains-mountains of bronze!

2 The first chariot had red horses, the second black,

3 the third white, and the fourth dappled – all of them powerful.

4 I asked the angel who was speaking to me, “What are these, my lord?”

5 The angel answered me, “These are the four spirits of heaven, going out from standing in the presence of the Lord of the whole world.

6 The one with the black horses is going toward the north country, the one with the white horses toward the west, and the one with the dappled horses toward the south.”

7 When the powerful horses went out, they were straining to go throughout the earth. And he said, “Go throughout the earth!” So they went throughout the earth.

In the above verses, notice v5 “four spirits” also means “four winds”. Here in v5 the Hebrew word is “ruwach” also meaning wind, this time a destructive wind of the Lord of heaven (“shawmeh”).

With the above in mind, Revelation 7:1 teaches us that the Lord is in total control, this time stopping destruction and harm to the elect.

You have noticed we are proceeding by reference (7:5 – bear cf 8:3 – ram). This time the ram represents the Medo-Persian empire similarly, there is the comparisons (7:6 – leopard cf8:5 – goat). This time the goat represents Greece and the “prominent horn” is Alexander the Great whose conquests were rapid. I believe that our LORD God ordained these rapid changes to bring the whole then known “civilized” world under Greece so that the language (Koine Greek) would be used for when the Lord Jesus came. But total evil persists. Remember Daniel’s vision here is c551BC and is an accurate prophecy of the events c170-165BC which are c380 years in Daniel’s future. This shows the reality of our LORD God’s truth which corresponds accurately with the LORD’s vision to Saint John in c95AD. Further we come to the main reference:

Daniel 8:9-12

9 Out of one of them came another horn, which started small but grew in power to the south and to the east and toward the Beautiful Land.

10 It grew until it reached the host of the heavens, and it threw some of the starry host down to the earth and trampled on them.

11 It set itself up to be as great as the Prince of the host; it took away the daily sacrifice from him, and the place of his sanctuary was brought low.

12 Because of rebellion, the host of the saints and the daily sacrifice were given over to it. It prospered in everything it did, and truth was thrown to the ground.

Notice “another horn” (v9), “started small”. This was the vision’s prophecy of Antiochus IV Epiphanes who in 168-164BC killed many Israelites for their faith in the LORD. This happened just as the prophecy defined, and continues to happen in every lifetime including today. Satan’s evil is powerful even to the extent of physical “trampling” by sending “stary host” to earth. This leads clearly to the way in which Satan uses electronic secret and silent warfare technology against people today. Many of the super greedy elite are totally evil and controlled by the devil. But their “success” only lasts for their individual lifetimes when they end up in eternal hell.

I have said many times it is so important to read Holy Scripture. There is little more to add since the main discussion concerns Daniel 7 and 8. However there are several more related references below which need to be read in context with the remaining Revelation chapters which follow these references:

Revelation 9:20 cf Daniel 5:4

Revelation 9:21 cf Daniel 5:23

Revelation 11:2 cf Daniel 7:25

Revelation 11:15 cf Daniel 7:14

Revelation 12:3 cf Daniel 7:7

Revelation 12:4 cf Daniel 8:10

Revelation 13:1 cf Daniel 7:3

Revelation 13:2 cf Daniel 7:4, 6

Revelation 13:5, 6 cf Daniel 7:8, 11, 20

Revelation 13:11 cf Daniel 8:3

Revelation 16:6 cf Daniel 7:25

Revelation 17:12 cf Daniel 7:20, 24