I Know It Was the Blood
What does Jesus blood do for you?
Jesus’ blood give us confidence to overcome?
came—‘come:’ implying, they are just come. great tribulation [tēs thlipseōs tēs megalēs]—‘THE great tribulation:’ ‘the tribulation, the great one,’ to which the martyrs were exposed under the fifth seal; which, Christ says, is to precede His coming (
Meanwhile, in contrast with their previous sufferings, they are exempt from the hunger, thirst, and scorching heats of their earthly life (v. 16), and are refreshed by the Lamb of God Himself (v. 17; ch. 14:1–4, 13): an earnest of the post-millennial final state (ch. 21:4–6; 22:1–5).
They have come out of the great tribulation. The words have come are more correctly translated “are coming” (present tense in Greek). This crowd has been arriving in heaven from earth and has continued to increase throughout the period of tribulation.
The Great Tribulation is the final time of suffering that the earthly Jesus predicted would happen before his return: “There will be great distress [Greek thlipsis, tribulation], unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again. If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive” (
QUESTION—To what does τῆς θλίψεως τῆς μεγάλης ‘the tribulation the great’ refer?
1. It refers to the great tribulation spoken of in
2. It refers to all the tribulation that believers have gone through from the beginning [Alf, Lns, NTC, TNTC]. It indicates the great tribulation, but also includes all the trials that believers have endured (see
The fact that they have come out of the great suffering (AT) cannot mean ‘They have been removed from the suffering and avoided it’ (as the theory of ‘the rapture’ supposes, whereby Christians are removed to heaven before the ‘tribulation’),
The servants of God are protected from the wrath and judgment we see in
Jesus’ blood provides certainty of my salvation?
washed their robes … white in the blood of the Lamb—(
white in the blood of the Lamb Christ’s blood cleanses from sin, hence the paradox of red (blood) making white (pure or victorious). Compare 1:5; 22:14;
The elder further informs John that these triumphant ones have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb (both verbs are aorists, in each case indicating once-for-all action).
The complete efficacy of Christ’s atoning death is being strongly asserted. It is on the grounds of his death that people are able to stand before the throne properly clothed. This is a further indication that the throng comprises all the saved and not simply the martyrs or some other group. For all are saved in this way and no other.
The symbolic portrait of Christians as those who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb is meant to be strange and unnatural. How could washing clothes in blood make them white? This is supernatural washing.
Washed their robes. The reason for the purity of the robes is given. The saints are triumphant, not on their own account, but because of the victory won by Christ on Calvary (cf. on ch. 6:11).
The battle is against sin; righteousness is the victory; Christ’s righteousness has won the victory; and upon accepting His righteousness sinners become both righteous and victorious.
QUESTION—How can these people make their robes white in red blood?
This is figurative language in which whiteness symbolizes forgiveness of sins by means of Christ’s sacrificial death [TH]. The figure indicates that their ability to stand in God’s presence has been earned through the sacrifice of Christ [NTC]
Here washing robes symbolizes believing in and receiving Christ’s sacrificial death for oneself (
The paradox of making something white by washing it in something red which would naturally cause staining captures the paradox of the cross: that something apparently shameful and unclean (
