Revelation 7:9-17 Clothed with White Robes
Revelation 7:9-17 (Evangelical Heritage Version)
9After these things I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people, and language, standing in front of the throne and of the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and with palm branches in their hands. 10They called out with a loud voice and said:
Salvation comes from our God, who sits on the throne, and from the Lamb.
11All the angels stood around the throne, the elders, and the four living creatures. They fell on their faces before the throne and worshipped God, 12saying:
Amen. Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and might belong to our God forever and ever. Amen.
13One of the elders spoke to me and said, “These people dressed in white robes, who are they and where did they come from?”
And I answered him, “Sir, you know.”
14And he said to me:
These are the ones who are coming out of the great tribulation.
They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
15Because of this they are in front of the throne of God,
and they serve him day and night in his temple.
He who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them.
16They will never be hungry or thirsty ever again.
The sun will never beat upon them, nor will any scorching heat,
17for the Lamb at the center 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.
Clothed with White Robes
I.
It really kicked into high gear just over 100 years ago. Cyrus Scofield released a study Bible that popularized Dispensational Premillennialism. I know; that’s a Big Scary Theological Word. Basically, what Dispensational Premillennialism involves is reading Revelation as if it were a linear timeline. To be sure, there had been some who had done this before Scofield, but he really popularized what has become the End Times belief for lots of Christians to this very day.
Here is my slide from my Second Year catechism class in which I lay out their idea of the End Time. The whole view of the End Times gets very muddy. Every little detail from John’s vision gets put in there as something that must happen before Jesus’ final judgment of the world. There are other Millennialist views of the End Times that don’t include all these elements; this one is just the most extreme. Now look at the slide of the Bible’s view of the end times. The only detail that’s still in there is “Satan’s ‘Little Season,’” but the Bible doesn’t really tell us where and when to expect it. We might be living in it right now, for all we know.
I mention the different views of the End Times because John mentions the “great tribulation” in today’s reading. Look in that mess of details in the Dispensational Premillennialism timeline and you’ll see the Great Tribulation label sticking up from the timeline. This is one of the things that is misunderstood.
The writer to the Hebrews says: “In the past, God spoke to our forefathers by the prophets at many times and in many ways. 2In these last days, he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe” (Hebrews 1:1-2, EHV). From what he says we can clearly see that Old Testament times were “the past” and the whole New Testament era, from the birth of Jesus onward, is “these last days.” The viewpoints of those who believe in a millennial thousand-year reign of Jesus in this world do not comport with Scripture.
Right now is the End Times. It has been since Jesus walked the earth. The great tribulation is a synonym for the End Times or the Last Days. Rather than reading Revelation as a timeline, we need to realize what God was giving to John in his vision; John was looking at “these last days” from a number of perspectives.
The last time I preached on this reading, I used the pulpit as my illustration. If the pulpit is the last days, or the end times, it can be viewed from different perspectives. From your side it looks like this; there is a cloth parament for the color of the church year hanging from the top, it has a cross glued to the front, and there is someone standing behind it with a stole of the same color of the church year draped around the white robe he is wearing.
From where I am standing it looks completely different. There are shelves with a bottle of water. There are electronic devices so the white-robed guy knows when to click for the next slide and one that mirrors the screen over his head so he can see what’s up there. John’s vision gets more than two perspectives from which he is permitted to see the last days.
II.
Just before the sermon we sang a Scandinavian hymn. It began: “Behold a host, arrayed in white, like thousand snow-clad mountains bright! With palms they stand; who is this band before the throne of light?” Do you recognize the source of those words? The hymn was based on today’s First Reading—the sermon text.
John said: “After these things I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people, and language, standing in front of the throne and of the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and with palm branches in their hands” (Revelation 7:9, EHV).
The hymn writer asks: “Who is this band?” One of the elders in John’s vision asked the same question: “These people dressed in white robes, who are they and where did they come from?” (Revelation 7:13, EHV). Do you know? Who are they?
“I answered him, ‘Sir, you know’” (Revelation 7:13, EHV). The John immersed in his vision doesn’t answer the question. He is willing to listen to an answer from someone who understands far better than he can.
“And he said to me: ‘These are the ones who are coming out of the great tribulation’” (Revelation 7:14, EHV). There are some versions of the Bible that translate “have come” rather than “are coming.” They are trying to make sure that John’s vision sounds appropriate to their pre-conceived timeline. Seen from the proper perspective of John’s vision, those in white robes are the people who are coming out of the great tribulation as God carries them into heaven.
Just a few minutes ago I asserted the great tribulation is the same as the End Times or the Last Days. Way back at the beginning of Revelation John had some things to say about how his vision came to be: “I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingship and patient endurance in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony about Jesus” (Revelation 1:9, EHV). What he was going through in exile on Patmos was part of the great tribulation. John’s vision of the Seven Seals in Revelation describes the same thing Jesus said about the last days—that there would be wars and rumors of wars as well as all kinds of other troubles and hardships that would plague Christians and things in general that would mark this time as the end of days. Think about it: it’s impossible to survive this great tribulation with your faith intact.
III.
No human being deserves to survive the great tribulation. None of the things that mark the last days of the world would be present if there were no sin. God’s just and holy wrath over sin is the first cause of the great tribulation.
Not one of us could stand in the face of God’s wrath. Every one of us ought to be a victim of the great tribulation, not among those coming out of it.
Of course, God makes the impossible possible. Weak and mortal people survive the great tribulation! How do they do it? “These are the ones who are coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (Revelation 7:14, EHV).
Jesus did the impossible. On the cross Jesus shed his holy precious blood for you and me and every victim of the great tribulation. His trial before Pilate and the Jews and his painful execution were part of the physical torture he endured for our sins. But his cry from the cross: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46, EHV) showed a much deeper torture and agony; God abandoned God so that we could be declared righteous and holy when we are called out of the great tribulation.
IV.
“I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people, and language, standing in front of the throne and of the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and with palm branches in their hands” (Revelation 7:9, EHV).
Have you ever been out at night someplace that isn’t filled with light pollution? As city dwellers, we’re amazed when we get a clearer view of the night sky. One clear night God told Abraham to go outside his tent and look up at the sky. God reiterated the promise of a special son who would carry on the line of the Savior, but he made another promise, too. God promised that Abraham’s spiritual descendants would be too numerous to count, just like the starry night sky he was gazing on.
The Heavenly Father didn’t abandon Jesus on the cross just for a few people. The Apostle Paul wrote: “[Christ] died for all” (2 Corinthians 5:15, EHV). God’s grace—his undeserved love for sinners—is universal. That means it is also there for you. When John looked around in his vision, he saw a “great multitude that no one could count,” the same as Abraham’s look at the night sky.
Remember the wedding feast from the gospel a few weeks ago? (Matthew 22:1-14) One guest was thrown out of the banquet because he refused to wear the wedding clothes that were provided for him. The white robes of the righteous in John’s vision are the same as the wedding clothes in Jesus’ parable (Matthew 22:1-14). They are the robes of Jesus’ own righteousness that you wear as your garment of faith.
Threats to your faith will still come at you fast and furiously. Satan’s goal is to rip you away from the Savior. Your goal is to die with the same faith you have today, and to be among those “coming out of the great tribulation.”
And then comes the best part of all. Because you come out of the great tribulation as a believer you will be among the many who “are in front of the throne of God, and they serve him day and night in his temple. He who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them. 16They will never be hungry or thirsty ever again. The sun will never beat upon them, nor will any scorching heat” (Revelation 7:15-16, EHV). Heaven means that you will dwell in safety and security under God’s cover and protection. You will be in the inner sanctuary of the temple, where God’s presence is.
To top it all off: “The Lamb at the center 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” (Revelation 7:17, EHV). What more can be said than that? Amen.