Serving Multitudes Rev, 7:9-17

We're going to be diving into the passage here, back into Revelation chapter 7, the verses that Richard read for us, verses 9 through 17. And as we look at this passage this morning, we're going to be seeing some sharp contrasts. A sharp contrast between, one, a group of saints who are called to remain on the earth through this period of unprecedented global disturbance, the 144,000 Jews, 12,000 from each tribe, and we're going to see that group contrasted with a group of people from all nations and languages and tribes and who have been taken out of the earth during the tribulation period through martyrdom. And there are even more contrasts, and we're going to be looking at those shortly here. But for now, let's look, if you would, at Revelation 9, excuse me, 7, 9 through 17.

After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude, which no one could count, from every nation, and all tribes, and peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands.

Now, John uses the phrase, you know, after these things, or after that, in the King James translation. And one of the things that we note is this phrase keeps showing up in the Old Testament as well, numerous times. And there's some examples and there's additional references there. Turns out it's just a common phrase to talk about something that sequentially took place and maybe at some later point in time, not immediately after. And that's a pattern. So he's just drawing on a pattern of word usage that had been used commonly in the Old Testament and common among the Jews.

And so what he does, we notice here, he's used this as he wrote the Gospel. He uses the same phrase. His Gospel of John contains that a couple of times. Dr. Luke uses it a few times in the Book of Acts. And then again, now we notice that it shows up several times in the Book of Revelation, including this one passage that we're looking at this morning. So this is a A phrase that he uses to kind of tie things together.

It tells of sequence. It also speaks of historical reality. This isn't just something he dreamed up. This isn't just something that was a nice idea. But this is something actually taking place. Every Old Testament usage is in a historical, real-world context. Not a made-up story. And this is the same kind of usage. It is historical, real-world things, only in this case it's things that are going to take place in history, not things that have taken place in the past.

Now, then John describes for us what he calls a great multitude. Now, one of the things that we see as he describes this great multitude He uses this pattern here. He says, every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues. He's used this kind of phrase already with us in Revelation 5-9. And now he's using it again with us here in this passage. And what's interesting is he keeps using this phrase or a similar phrase as he goes on into the rest of the book of Revelation. It shows up a few times again. And we're getting a few different messages as we look at this particular set of words, this phrase here. And one message that we're getting out of it, when he uses this set of, he's using like four different descriptors.

And what he's trying to get across real clearly is one, is he's saying this is global. This is worldwide. This is international. The next thing you notice is he's focusing on people. This isn't just about land and sea and air and trees and oceans and things of that sort. It's global, but it's about people globally. It's about human beings.

The next thing is he specifically in this includes Gentiles. This is broad enough in scope that it's including all the Gentiles in here. And then another thing that we notice as we trace this back in the Old Testament, this was a language that was used When emperors were addressing their entire empire, they would use this kind of language. So this is actually a language of rulers of empires. So that's kind of the scope when he uses that phrase there. Now let's take note of the location. Where is this multitude of people he's talking about? They, this great multitude of people, they're described as being before the heavenly throne and before the Lamb.

They're also described as having two things. Have you noticed that? There's two things that they have. One is they have white robes, and the second is that they have palm branches in their hands. And the white robes, as we'll see, are a different kind of white robes, it's a different Greek word, than what we saw with 144,000 earlier in this very same chapter. And we'll take a look at that in a bit to see the contrast and what that means. Let's talk about the palm branches. Interestingly enough, it's almost a poetic sounding word. This is lulavs. They've got lulavs in their hand. We're not told here explicitly why they have them, so the assumption is that it must be pretty obvious what these mean.

One of the things we know is that the Jews used palm branches regularly in their celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles. This is recorded for us in Leviticus 2340. And as we saw a couple of weeks back, palm branches were used by the pilgrims and their processionals as they would go towards Jerusalem with the feasts. They would carry palm branches with them and take those along.

Along with that, they would frequently sing songs in groups alternating back and forth to each other. Remember we talked about the Hallel, which is the Psalm 113 through 118? And they would sing that in groups back and forth, alternating back and forth from one group to the next. Maybe we should do that here some Sunday. This side and then this side. Sing back and forth to each other. But that's what they would do.

And one of the things that's included in that group of Psalms, 113 through 118, is they would sing Hosanna, which means, O save us. So that's why it makes sense, we'll see it here in a minute, in verse 10. So verse 10, let's read that. And they cry out with a loud voice saying, salvation to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb. Here we have another loud voice in heaven. We have a cry for salvation. And that's just similar to what we see in that group of Psalms where it's Hosanna, O save us. This cry for salvation. Now this says salvation too and it doesn't mean that the Lord and the Lamb need to be saved.

What it's doing is it's attributing to Him. He is the source of it all. He is the one who gives credit. He is the one who deserves the credit for this salvation having come. One of the things we were talking about in the Greek elective this morning is God's the one who came up with this whole thing. It's to Him that it's attributed. Entirely His accomplishment given entirely by grace. And so that's what this is calling out. Salvation is attributed to our God and to the Lamb who sits on the throne. Together they've accomplished it.

Now let's take a look at verse 11 and 12 with that. And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshipped God, saying, Amen, blessed in glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever. Amen.

So this is a brief heavenly scene we're returning to, isn't it? We're going back to the heavenly scene here. This is praise from the angels and from the elders and from the four living creatures. And notice how these creatures in heaven don't seem to tire of praising the Lord.

Nobody's looking down at their watches and saying, I wonder if it's time for a coffee break. Are we going to go outside and do something? They don't seem to get exhausted or tired from this at all. They just praise the Lord and praise the Lord. Can you imagine Winnie down here just playing the organ for days on end? That's kind of the picture. Just days and days and days go by by any human measure of time, and yet they don't seem to tire of it at all. They just continuously praise the Lord. In verse 13 it says this, Then one of the elders answered saying to me, and you've got to say, wait a minute, did he ask a question? But we'll get to that.

Saying to me, these who are clothed in the white robes, who are they and where have they come from? I think one of the elders was picking up on, John must have had this question. Maybe even John had a puzzled look on his face, like who are these people? And why are we all of a sudden looking at them?

So here's the elder, and he comes up with, really it's a rhetorical question, right? And he says, where have they come from? He's asking the question, I'm sure, that is in John's mind. He's focusing attention on the answer by doing this as well. So, one of the elders asking basically, who and where? And so, then you recall, remember the last time we looked at this, there was a question that was asked in heaven. And the angel was asking who was worthy to open the scroll. Remember that question? Who was worthy to open the scroll?

And John's response was what? Because he immediately didn't get an answer, so he broke into weeping. Okay? And John's response was to weep loudly. And the elder just basically turned around to him and said, Stop weeping! And one of the things we found was that nobody in heaven wept. He was really out of character.

Nothing to cry about anyway. And so the situation here, you notice John doesn't do the weeping thing, he's learned that lesson. So I guess I won't weep. Alright. So, he comes out with a much more subdued response in verse 14. I said to him, my lord you know, yes that's more subdued, isn't it?

And he said to me, these are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. And verse 15 goes on, For this reason they are before the throne of God, and they serve Him day and night in His temple, and He who sits on the throne will spread His tabernacle over them. They will hunger no longer, nor thirst any more, nor will the sun beat down on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb in the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and will guide them to springs of the water of life, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."

Now, John recognizes and realizes here the question was put to him not because He knew all the answers, or was even expected to have all the answers, but because it was a learning opportunity. And, you know, sometimes the Lord puts us in situations where we're asking questions.

You notice that? He puts us in circumstances where we're, Lord, what are you doing? What's going on here? Why is this happening? He puts us in situations, just like John got put in, where we're kind of puzzled. Lord, what's happening? And guess what that is? It's a learning opportunity, just like John had here. And guess what? It's also a good chance to turn around and say, Lord, you know. Lord, you know. In the middle of those learning opportunities. Here the elder turns around and he gives John these pieces of information.

He says, first, these are the ones who are continuing to come out of the Great Tribulation. The Greek has a sense there They're continuing to come out. They're coming out, and coming out, and coming out. They're progressively coming out. The martyrdom that takes place during the Tribulation isn't just a one single event. Throughout the Tribulation period, there will be martyrdom ongoing. Substantial martyrdom. A major martyr event, unfortunately. Now, the next thing he says is that they've washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

You see, the tribulation isn't over. There's a great many things yet to come. There's about two-thirds of the judgments yet to come, and that's not all. The judgments yet to come are more severe than the ones we've already read about already. So it's going to get worse. Now, beyond that, there's also a great many more to be saved, and a great many more to be martyred.

This is also, in contrast to the horrible things that are happening, a time of marvelous mercy. You see, oftentimes people think of the Tribulation and their minds will get frozen with fear. Oh my heavens, what a horrible time! But, aside from the fact that those in the church, in the church age, will not be taken into the Tribulation, the Lord is also in the midst of this awful time expressing incomparable mercy, because he's continuing in multiple ways to express the gospel and to show his mercy to people and to give them a way out of this horrible thing, from being imprisoned by this wretched tribulation experience.

Now, take note of this. When would you ever wash something in blood? Would that be a good thing to do? There's all sorts of instructions on how to wash things in blood, right? No. Sin, however, is a serious problem. Sin does not leave an ordinary stain. And so, because sin is no ordinary stain, extraordinary blood to do it. This is not just blood from anywhere. This is the blood of the Lamb.

One of the things that Nancy was pointing out from the book that's being used in the Doctrines of Salvation class is just that sin is something that is seriously to be dealt with, but the righteousness of the Lord is not just innocence, it's a positive righteousness. Isn't that a neat insight? Righteousness is not just the absence of sin, it's a positive quality. It took the Lamb with positive righteousness, genuine righteousness, not just simply absence of sin, but genuine righteousness, to shed His blood and to make that available for salvation.

And that's what's being applied here. So when he gives that kind of figure, that analogy to us of these white robes, these are people who are putting on the righteousness of Christ. It's an imputed righteousness. It's a righteousness that they're putting on that is not their own. But the righteousness of Christ is sufficient. That's the analogy and example he's giving here. Now, it's appropriate for us at this time to make some comparisons. We talked earlier about these comparisons and contrasts.

And just a few weeks ago, we looked at the 144,000 Jews, 12,000 from each tribe. The Lord gave each of those special protection in order that they might be preserved in order to serve him through the course of the tribulation period. Now we notice a rather stark contrast between these 144,000 Jews and this multitude, this great multitude we're reading about.

And you have on the back of your handout a chart very similar to this one. Notice these differences between the two groups. The 144,000 has the Israelites only. There are differences of identity. All Jews versus all peoples. You see that? All Jews versus all peoples. The first comparison.

There's also differences of countability. The 144,000 were given a specific number. Not only that, a specific breakdown by each tribe. When we get into this great multitude, John gives us the important piece of information. These are innumerable. Forget it. You're going to set somebody to counting them? The number is vast.

We think of horrible loss of life during the tribulation, and a part of that will be martyrdom. But guess what? This uncountable number of people who are saved, they've placed their faith and trust in Christ for salvation. In spite of, yes, the great loss of life, there will also be immense numbers saved, and that's valuable to know.

There's also different locations. The 144,000 here are set on the earth to remain on the earth protected from the judgment in order that they might continue to minister. Then, the contrast to that, here's the great multitude who are no longer on earth. These are those that are martyred and taken out. There are different protection levels between the two.

One is going to remain through the tribulation the one is taken out of the tribulation. Now, one of the things that we notice here, here's the New Testament, it says there's neither Jew nor Greek, there's neither slave nor free, all are one in Jesus Christ, or the Ephesians passage here. You notice in each of these passages it basically states there is no distinction in Christ between those who are Jews and those who are not. Notice we get into the tribulation period And there is a sharp contrast, a stark contrast, between how Jews are dealt with and those who are not Jews.

You see that? The protection is different, the assignment is different, the location where they are is different, and we'll notice some other differences here as well. But to me, this is one evidence that the Church is not in this picture. The Church has been taken out, and that's why the contrasts are there. That's why the treatment of Jews and Gentiles happens differently.

One of the things that I've noticed, and I wrote to somebody recently, they were asking me, this is somebody I'd known from some years back, are you teaching through Revelation? Are you mid-Trib? Pre-Trib? Which one are you? And I said, every chapter of Revelation I go through, there's multiple messages the Church has taken out before the Tribulation.

This is one. We're going to see some more here in a minute. Now, let's take a look at another comparison, and this is a chart you also have in your handout. This is a contrast between the Church Age Saints, and it says Tribulation Saints, these are the ones we're reading about this morning, this great multitude. And notice these contrasts. One group is kept out of the Tribulation, that's the Church. The other group comes out of the Tribulation. See the difference there? One's kept out altogether, the other group comes out of the middle of.

Different picture, different character. Both are clothed in white, but the Greek word for the white that one wears is different from the other. Notice that difference there in the second line? It's a different Greek word. One is a mantle or a cloak. Those who are in the passage we're reading about today, that's white too, but it's actually called a festal robe, a festive robe that they would especially put on. So different groups, even in their white clothing. Those of the Church Age saints are both promised and in Revelation described as being on thrones, sitting. And even as we've taught here again and again, those Church Age believers positionally are now sitting with Christ and the heavenlies.

Notice these are standing before the throne. See the contrast there? Here's another contrast. One wears victor's crowns. There are five places in the New Testament where the church-age believers are promised victor's crowns. The elders who represent the church in the book of Revelation are described as having victor's crowns. None of these in the great multitude have victor's crowns.

The Stephanas. Not even mentioned. See the contrast again. Here's another one. When you get into chapters four and five, The church is described as having harps and bowls full of incense. What do these have? Palm branches. Contrast again. Here's another one.

The church sings a new song when they get into the heavenly scene. These cry out with a loud voice. And then the last one, the church has been declared to be a kingdom of priests who will reign with Christ. These, this great multitude, serve Him day and night.

I would suggest to you that these consistent and substantial contrasts are more evidence that those in the church, those who believe from Pentecost to the Rapture, are going to experience tribulation within their lives, but will not go into the specific time called the Great Tribulation. See the difference there? We will experience tribulation, lowercase t. We will not go into the Great Tribulation, capital G, capital T. Difference there.

At this point, the Lord has taken great care of those in this great multitude. We can see that. While our position and treatment will be different from theirs in some ways, as we've already seen, there are some things to be learned from this, from the way the Lord treats them. Notice what he does. He spreads his tabernacle over them. This is actually a Greek word that means tenting. It's a verb. It means tenting. Interestingly enough, if you look in the New Testament, only John uses this verb. in the Revelation and in the Gospel of John. The tenting verb is what he's using here.

But notice what happens. This garment of protection, if you will, goes over them. All sighing is ended. The agony is over. The bleeding is done. The price has been paid. The dying has now passed. Sacrifices are now made. You see, Then when we get into this last verse, our brother John here, he actually weaves sort of a tapestry of Old Testament passages. And this is what he's weaving together here, if you will. Here's Psalm 23 about the Lord as our shepherd.

Then he talks, like John 4.14, about this water of life.

And then from Isaiah 25.8, the Lord will wipe away tears from the eye. He weaves these together in this one last verse. Here is the little lamb who is now the shepherd. Do you see that? Here is the little lamb who is now the shepherd. Every tear is wiped away from the eyes.

Every need that went screaming for help while they were on earth is now met and exceeded in abundant and overflowing supply. The Lord's directive to us here and now is to live by the seeding that we now positionally have in Christ. Knowing and reckoning, abiding and resting, depending and walking. Knowing by faith in the spiritual facts that we'll one day have our condition and our position eternally the same.

No longer intention. No longer attention between those two. But right now, we can have by means of faith in those spiritual facts, the confident expectation of what will be ours eternally and untouchably and irreversibly in Him. All sighing will be done. The Lord will resolve that tension once and for all.

As we trust now, we can look forward to that by placing our faith in those facts that He's laid out. Let's pray. Lord, we look ahead and see how you are going to be dealing with this great multitude. And we see similarities in the promises that you've made us here. And many of the things that now cause us sighing, that now cause us grief, we look ahead to a time when that will be passed, when you will indeed wipe away every tear. Between now and the time when you call us home Lord, we just we ask that you would teach us we ask that you would draw us and Indeed we have privileges that this great multitude Is not going to have we have privileges now by who we are in Christ already And we give you thanks for those and we pray that you would teach us of those And we thank you for your precious word Word is all laid out in Jesus name. Amen