Salvation in the Tribulation. Rev. 7:4-8

Revelation 7:9 ^NASB “After these things…” John is shifting the focus, he moves to his next vision in vv. 9-12. The first part is what is seen in the throne room of God in heaven. In vv. 13-17 the explanation of this scene is recorded. In the first part six groups are mentioned: the innumerable multitude which no one could count; the one who is on the throne, referring to God the Father; the Lamb, the second person of the Trinity; a group of angels that are also surrounding the throne; the elders, a reference to the 24 elders who are a representative of the church; the four living beings who are identified probably as cherubs who are there be3fore the throne. The only addition that we have to the scene in chapters five and six is the innumerable multitude. These will be identified as those who come out from the Tribulation period. The context is that of worship again. Those who are now worshipping the Lord are those who have come out of the Tribulation, those who have been martyred and those who were killed during the judgments. This shows that those who are saved, even during the beginning period of the Tribulation, is a tremendous number so great we can’t count it. This is a manifestation of God’s magnificent grace even in the midst of judgment.

“… I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and {all} tribes and peoples and tongues [languages], standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches {were} in their hands.” What are these white robes and what are the palm branches in their hands? There are those who will look at this and say they must have their resurrection bodies because they have hands and they are wearing these robes. That is not a valid conclusion. In Luke 16:19ff we are told about the rich man and Lazarus. The rich man went to torments; Lazarus went to Paradise. The rich man looked up and could see across the great gulf to observe that Lazarus was in Abraham’s bosom. He calls to Abraham: ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue, for I am in agony in this flame.’ This indicates some form of interim body that is not the physical body which we have now and it is not the resurrection body which we receive at the Rapture. The Greek phrase for “white robes” is stolas (white) leukas (robes) [stolaj leukaj]. It is the same term that we have back in 6:11. In 6:9-11 we have the description of the fifth seal judgments. These are the same individuals, those who are martyred during the Tribulation period. The white robe indicated in 7:9 is the same white robe as indicated in 6:11. The term for robe here refers to a long, white garment. Sometimes this word is used to refer to the robe of a priest. It is a different word from the word that is used in Revelation 3:5 in the letter to the church at Sardis. That was a promise of a reward to those who are victorious in the Christian life, those who overcome: “He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments…” It is a different Greek word, himation [i(mation], which usually refers to an exterior robe or garment. It would be something that indicates a position, a reward, a place of distinction. So stolas is what we see all of these martyrs receiving and it is distinct from the himation.

There is another thing in context which tells us about these white robes. In verse 13 there is a reference to white robes again in answer to the question as to who these clothed in white robes are. In the answer given to John in v. 14 we have: “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” The white robes that these martyrs are wearing are not said to be rewards such as the garments of Revelation 3:5 but are robes that are specifically said to have been white because they were washed in the blood of the Lamb. This is imagery that is used to indicate the possession of imputed righteousness. When the believer puts his faith alone in Christ alone at that instant God imputes to the believer perfect righteousness. This is depicted as being clothed with righteousness, because what is underneath is our unrighteous, fallen nature. We are granted the imputation of perfect righteousness. This imagery is used in Zechariah chapter three where we have the Joshua of the period after the Jews’ return from Babylon, Joshua the high priest, in a scene where he is being accused by Satan of not being worthy to be high priest. In that scene it is the Lord who says to remove his garments which he had on and to clothe him in white. It is a picture of what happens at our salvation. When we trust in Christ we are then clothed with the righteousness of Christ. The phrase “blood of the Lamb” is a term that refers to His substitutionary spiritual death on the cross. So these robes that are worn by the martyrs are robes that were washed in the blood of the Lamb. This is a soteriological possession, not a reward possession. Everyone has this because they have put their faith alone in Christ alone. This is also seen in Isaiah 1:18 ^NASB “‘Come now, and let us reason together,’ Says the LORD, ‘Though your sins are as scarlet, They will be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They will be like wool’.” This is an emphasis on the fact that God has made them clean positionally and that is the basis for their salvation.

What is the significance of the palm branches? This is an allusion to one of the feasts of Israel that comes in the autumn. It is called the feast of tabernacles or Sukkoth, described in Leviticus 23:39ff. It was to come on the 15^th day of the 7^th month in the Jewish calendar when they would have this eight-day festival which looked back to the time when the Jews were living in temporary quarters in the wilderness. It was a reminder of how God provided for them during the time that they were in the wilderness. It also anticipates His future provision of a home for them in the Millennial kingdom, and this is seen in Zechariah 14:16 ^NASB “Then it will come about that any who are left of all the nations [in the Tribulation period] that went against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to celebrate the Feast of Booths.” So this is a feast that will continue to be celebrated during the Tribulation period as it is a reminder of how God has provided for His people in the past. The waving of the palm branches were a symbol of God’s blessing upon the nation and reminder of how God had freed them from slavery in Egypt. So the waving of palm branches had the significance of expressing victory and freedom, and the waving of the palm branches in this scene in heaven is a reminder that they have been delivered from sin and that God is the one who has given them the victory over physical death.

It is also interesting that this festival was also celebrated through a pouring out of water, a libation sacrifice. Each day the high priest would go down to the pool of Siloam and would draw out water and then come up to the temple and pour out the water. When Jesus came into Jerusalem during the feast of booths in John chapter seven, in vv. 38, 39 He related this pouring out of the water to the gift of eternal life, the gift of the water that springs forth eternally, and the gift of the Holy Spirit. So this connects this idea of water, and this is going to be seen again on Revelation 7:17 ^NASB “for the Lamb in the centre of the throne will be their shepherd, and will guide them to springs of the water of life …” So what we see as a backdrop to this scene in heaven is the feast of Sukkoth, a celebration of victory and the free gift of eternal life.

Revelation 7:10 ^NASB “and they cry out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Salvation to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb’.” Again we see this distinction made between God the Father and the Lamb, the two distinct personages. They are offering praise to God the Father as the author of salvation and to the Lamb because He is the one who carried out the work of salvation when he died on the cross for our sins.

The word that is translated “salvation” is the Greek word soteria [swthria] which indicates more than simply redemption, more than justification. It is a broad term that includes the entire plan of God, from paying the penalty for our sins to bringing all of His plans for salvation to completion, which occurs through the Tribulation period and culminating with the return of the Lord Jesus Christ to the earth. Salvation is one of the major things that is ascribed to God throughout the Scripture. One of the great chapters on this is the 49^th of Isaiah which is part of the servant song. Isaiah 49:6 ^NASB “He [God the Father] says, ‘It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant To raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also make You a light of the nations So that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth’. [7] Thus says the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel {and} its Holy One, To the despised One, To the One abhorred by the nation, To the Servant of rulers, ‘Kings will see and arise, Princes will also bow down, Because of the LORD who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel who has chosen You’.”

In the New Testament we have this same thing mentioned. 1 Timothy 2:4 ^NASB “who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” 2 Peter 3:9 ^NASB “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.” This is one of the reasons why God continues to extend His plan. It is so that more and more can be saved.

The first mention of the gospel is in Genesis 3:15. From that point on God begins to reveal more and more about His plan for salvation as we move through history. Then we come to Genesis chapter twelve in relation to the Abrahamic covenant, that God said to Abraham he would be a blessing and that in him all the families of the earth (Gentile nations) would be blessed. Israel understood that part of their role was to be a missionary nation, that they were to take the gospel to the Gentiles. They failed to do that but it is clear in Psalm 67:1, 2 ^NASB “God be gracious to us and bless us, {And} cause His face to shine upon us—Selah. That Your way may be known on the earth, Your salvation among all nations.” From the very beginning God chose Israel to be a channel through whom the blessing of salvation was to flow to the whole world. This was never fulfilled in the Old Testament but it is fulfilled through the 144,000 and other Jewish evangelists during the Tribulation period. The picture of this multitude before the throne is just one example of how that is fulfilled in the Tribulation period. Psalm 67:7 ^NASB “God blesses us, That all the ends of the earth may fear Him.”

Psalm 98:3 ^NASB “He has remembered His lovingkindness and His faithfulness to the house of Israel; All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.” This will be fulfilled during the Tribulation period.

Revelation 7:11, 12 ^NASB “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 worshiped God, saying, ‘Amen, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might, {be} to our God forever and ever. Amen’.” That particular ascription of honour mirrors that which is ascribed to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb, in Revelation 5:13. So this is a focal point of their worship and it flows out of an understanding of God’s work of salvation on the earth. It is not simply an empty, mindless reiteration of these kinds of statements.

Beginning in Revelation 7:13 we have the explanation of these events through the instrumentality of one of the elders. ^NASB “Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, ‘These who are clothed in the white robes, who are they, and where have they come from?’” He asks this question in order to focus John’s attention to think through who these are and why they are there. [14] “I [John] said to him, ‘My lord, you know [so tell me].’ And he said to me, ‘These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.’” This is a simple answer connecting these who are before the throne with those who are martyred in the fifth seal judgment. [15] “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.” The word for “tabernacle” is a word that means His dwelling. What we see here is a foreshadowing of something that does not take place for all of mankind until Revelation 21. In Revelation 21 we have the creation of the new heavens and the new earth in verse 1, and then John says in v.3 ^NASB “And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, ‘Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, [4] and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be {any} death; there will no longer be {any} mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away’.”

These martyrs in Revelation chapter seven get a foretaste of that as the Father spreads His tabernacle over them and there is this special ministry that occurs related to the fact that they have been martyred and have gone through this intensified suffering in the Tribulation period. Revelation 7:16 ^NASB “They will hunger no longer, nor thirst anymore; nor will the sun beat down on them, nor any heat,” indicating that there would no longer be the suffering associated with living in the fallen cosmic system and that not only would there be an end to this suffering but there is a special ministry of grace to them, and this is seen in verse 17. ^NASB “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 [the Father] will wipe every tear from their eyes.”

As we look at these two verses there is this statement that “they will hunger no longer, nor thirst anymore; nor will the sun beat down on them, nor any heat.” This comes right out of a passage in Isaiah—49:10. This is applied to Israel in the original context. ^NASB “They will not hunger or thirst, Nor will the scorching heat or sun strike them down; For He who has compassion on them will lead them And will guide them to springs of water.” What we are seeing is how these events in Revelation are predicted in Old Testament and that there are many things in Revelation which have their background in things that are said to Israel in the Old Testament, indicating that there is a definite Jewish orientation to the seven-year period of the Tribulation.

Revelation 7:17 ^NASB “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 every tear from their eyes.” “Their shepherd” also comes out of the “my servant” passage in Isaiah 49. He is the one who guides them, and that is the verb that is used here. He is the pone who guides them, leads them, and he leads them to the springs of the water of life. This is emphasised again at the end of Revelation in 22:17 ^NASB “The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come.’ And let the one who hears say, ‘Come.’ And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost.” It is the water of life that pictures eternal life that is given freely on the basis of faith alone in Christ alone. It is the Lamb who leads them to eternal life.

Then the final statement: “God [the Father] will wipe every tear from their eyes.” This answers the question that comes at the end of Revelation chapter six: “Who is able to stand?” God has a reason and a purpose for allowing evil and suffering to continue. In His character God is righteous and just, and so His righteousness and justice have to deal with the sin problem. But He is not simply a righteous and just God, He is a God of love and He is going to do that which is best for His creatures. Because He is omniscient he is the only one who knows all of the facts and can thus deal adequately with the problem of evil and suffering. God’s character is demonstrated most fully in a universe where evil is allowed to continue for a time. This entails injustice and suffering in our lives, injustice and suffering that we see throughout the course of human history. But this is necessary for the final purpose of God in bringing evil and suffering to an end as He fully judges them, and that is what is depicted in the Tribulation period. Our conclusion is that God has a purpose for all of this, even though we may not fully understand it. We must understand that because He is omniscient and knows all the facts, facts that we do not know, and because He is perfectly righteous all he can do is consistently His righteousness, and because he is love He is going to do that which is best for His creatures. So the conclusion is that God allows evil to exist and to continue in order to demonstrate something. He is demonstrating His integrity in the context of Lucifer’s revolt against God and the angelic conflict. We also see that God is extremely gracious and there is never a time of of judgment when His grace is not extended in a magnificent way, and His grace is always there to provide for us, to supply us our every need, and to sustain us in whatever suffering there may be.