Rad with Me
Revelation 7:13-17 (NET)
Then one of the elders asked me, “These dressed in long white robes – who are the and where have they come from?” So I said to him, “My lord, you know the answer.” Then he said to me, “These are the ones who have come out of the great tribulation. They washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb! For this reason they are before the throne of God, and they serve him day and night in his temple, and the one seated on the throne will shelter them. They will never go hungry or be thirsty again and the sun will not beat down on them, nor any burning heat, because the Lamb in the middle of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
Listen with Me
The people that this elder is referring to are the “crowd that no one could count” that were standing before God’s throne (7:9-10). Even though they were gathered around God’s throne and dressed in white, there was no way to identify who they were, where they had come from, or why they were around the throne. So, when John was asked who they were, he deferred to the elder for the answer, since his question seemed to imply that he himself knew the answer.
The answer was that these had come out of the Great Tribulation. In other words, they had been executed in the great persecution that had been unleashed against the church by the emperors Nero and Domitian. John knew that many had been executed or had died of privation during the years of persecution. But he had no idea how many had suffered or died until he saw them all gathered together around the throne. It was a huge crowd!
The whiteness of the robes of these martyrs, in other words the purity of their souls, is attributed not to their own suffering and death, but to the suffering and death of Jesus, the Lamb of God. There is no way that an individual’s own suffering, or even their death for their faith, can purify them or provide forgiveness for even a single sin. Instead, these had already received forgiveness and cleansing through faith in the finished work of Jesus. It was that faith that had enabled them to stand firm until the end, and to arrive at God’s throne when their earthly journey was completed.
Because they were now before God’s throne, their sufferings and privations were done for ever. Now they were under God’s shelter, His protection, and their every need would be provided for all eternity. Nothing impure, sinful, hurtful, or violent will ever be allowed into God’s presence, so they no longer have to live in fear. And the Lamb of God, Jesus the Son, provides them with eternal life, effectively removing every cause they have for grief or fear forever.
Pray with Me
Father, I can see where this would be a huge comfort for all those who had lost loved ones in that time of persecution, or who were suffering themselves. Pain and death do not have the last word. Instead, those who maintain their hold on You until the end will find themselves permanently beyond the reach of all those who have hurt them, receiving comfort and provision from the Savior who really had prepared a dwelling place for them in your presence (John 14:1-4). And this is a comfort not just for those who suffered in John’s day, but for faithful believers who have suffered and who do suffer for the sake of Your kingdom and Your gospel all through the Church Age, all the way down to today. Lord, help me to keep my eyes on the prize, on an eternal place around Your throne, no matter where my earthly journey leads me. Amen.