Revelation 7:15

Revelation 7 is a pause between the sixth seal and the seventh. The sixth seal brings terrifying disturbances in the heavens (Revelation 6:12–17), and the seventh seal and the trumpet judgments follow in Revelation 8. Between them, in Revelation 7:1–8, God seals 144,000 from the twelve tribes of Israel as a pledge of his protection. Then “after this” John sees something far larger. A numbered company from Israel is followed by an uncountable company from all humanity, and the whole of Revelation 6–7 gives God’s people hope and assurance in the middle of judgment.

John received these visions in exile on Patmos, late in the first century and probably in the reign of the emperor Domitian. Christians in the Roman province of Asia were under pressure to join in the worship of the emperor as a civic duty and a test of loyalty, and refusing could cost them their lives. To them, a multitude from every nation giving its worship to God and to the Lamb, while Caesar claimed worship for himself, was a strong encouragement. Their suffering would end in Christ’s victory and their own vindication.

The great multitude is the whole company of the redeemed, gathered from every part of the earth, who have come out of the great tribulation (verse 14). The word for multitude, óchlos, is the ordinary word for a crowd or throng, and this crowd is so large that “no man could number” it. God’s saving work has gathered far more people than any human count could reach.

They come “of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues.” Éthnos means a nation or people, and it is also the word the New Testament uses for the Gentiles. Kindreds are tribes or clans, people means the population at large, and glōssa, the tongue, here means a language. Revelation brings glōssa together with phylḗ (kindred), laós (people) and éthnos more than once, as when the elders sing that the Lamb was slain and “hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation” (Revelation 5:9). Each of the four is joined to the next by “and”, so that every ethnic, family, national and language group on earth is included.

God promised this long before. He told his Servant, “I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth” (Isaiah 49:6). Zechariah saw men “out of all languages of the nations” taking hold of a Jew and saying, “We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you” (Zechariah 8:20–23). Jesus sent his disciples to “teach all nations” (Matthew 28:19), and through his cross he has broken down the wall between Jew and Gentile to make “one new man” (Ephesians 2:14–16). Here every one of those promises is kept, and every language is heard at God’s throne.

Their white robes stand for purity, righteousness and victory. Verse 14 tells us how they became white, “in the blood of the Lamb,” so the robes are a gift of salvation. Among the Jews, the Greeks and the Romans, white garments marked those who had triumphed or were set apart for sacred service, and Revelation uses white again and again for those whom God approves. Jesus promises, “He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment” (Revelation 3:5), and white robes are given to the souls of the martyrs under the altar (Revelation 6:11).

When the elder asks about them in verse 13, the robes are described in three words. They are “arrayed” with peribállō, to throw something all around, which means the robes are worn and wrap the whole person. The robe is a stolḗ, a long gown worn as a mark of dignity, which suits people who now serve in God’s court. And it is leukós, white.

The palms carry the joy of Israel’s feasts. At the Feast of Tabernacles the LORD told Israel to take “branches of palm trees” and rejoice before him seven days (Leviticus 23:40). In Jewish practice the palm branch, the lulav, belonged to that joyful harvest festival, which remembered God’s provision and his dwelling among his people, and it stood for joy and deliverance. In Rome, palm branches were carried in triumphal processions to honour victorious generals and emperors. So the palms in their hands show joy and victory. The redeemed celebrate God’s final triumph and their own deliverance from tribulation through the Lamb, and the picture of God dwelling with his people returns in verse 15.

The multitude “cried with a loud voice.” Krázō is to cry out, and the loud voice is phōnḗ, voice, with mégas, great. A countless crowd crying out together makes an enormous sound, and the cry is fervent, united and public. People of every language speak with one voice about the one thing they share.

What they cry is “Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.” Sōtēría means rescue, safety, deliverance, preservation, health and wholeness, everything God has done to bring them through. They are declaring where it came from, as the psalm says, “Salvation belongeth unto the LORD” (Psalm 3:8), and as Jonah prayed from inside the fish, “Salvation is of the LORD” (Jonah 2:9). Paul says the same: “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2:8–9). The whole of the credit goes to God and to the Lamb.

They call him “our God”, theós with hēmōn, “of us”. Theós is the word for God, and with the article it names the one supreme God. The plain “our” tells us that the God they praise is the God they belong to. He “sitteth upon the throne”: káthēmai is to sit, and epí is “upon”. God is seated as King, and the throne shows his authority over all creation and history.

The Lamb is arníon, a diminutive meaning a little lamb or simply a lamb, and Revelation uses it as a name for Jesus Christ. It recalls his sacrifice, the Passover lamb and the Suffering Servant of Isaiah, and John the Baptist’s words, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). Salvation is given “to our God… and unto the Lamb,” joined by the simple kaí, “and”. The praise that belongs to God is given in the same breath to the Son, which shows his divine nature and his central part in our redemption. When he had purged our sins he “sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high” (Hebrews 1:3), every knee will bow to him and every tongue confess that he is Lord (Philippians 2:9–11), and in the holy city God and the Lamb are its temple and its light (Revelation 21:22–23).

When the redeemed cry out, heaven answers. “All the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God.” Ángelos means a messenger, from a verb meaning to bring tidings, and it is the word for God’s angels, who serve him and attend his throne. They stand, with the same verb hístēmi used of the multitude in verse 9, and then they fall on their faces, as Abram fell on his face before God. Proskynéō, worship, means to bow down or prostrate oneself in homage. If the highest beings in heaven worship like this, all creation owes God the same humble adoration: “O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker” (Psalm 95:6).

The throne room, the elders and the living creatures follow the visions God gave his prophets: Isaiah’s sight of the LORD on his throne (Isaiah 6), Ezekiel’s vision of the living creatures and the glory (Ezekiel 1), and Daniel’s Ancient of days, with thousands ministering before him (Daniel 7:9–10).

The angels worship God, and the same heaven worships the Lamb. Angels praised God at Jesus’ birth (Luke 2:13–14), and God says of his Son, “let all the angels of God worship him” (Hebrews 1:6).

The angels begin with “Amen” and end with it. Amēn is a Hebrew word carried into Greek, from a root meaning to be firm, and it is a strong affirmation, “verily” or “so be it”. The first Amen agrees with the multitude’s cry, and the last one affirms the angels’ own praise, so the doxology is framed by agreement and certainty.

Between them come seven words, each joined by “and”: “Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might.” Seven often stands in Scripture for completeness, and here it gathers up every side of God’s worth. Blessing is praise for his goodness and the good he gives. Glory, dóxa, a word that comes from the idea of seeming or opinion, is his splendour and majesty and the honour that is his due. Wisdom praises his perfect understanding and plans. Thanksgiving is gratitude for his grace and his saving acts. Honour gives him the highest regard. Power, dýnamis, is his ability and authority, and might, ischýs, is his strength put to work. David prayed in the same spirit: “Thine, O LORD, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty” (1 Chronicles 29:11), and the psalm says, “Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable” (Psalm 145:3).

All of it is “unto our God for ever and ever.” The phrase is built on aiṓn, an age, so his worthiness and his reign run through all the ages.

The Lamb receives this same praise. Earlier the angels say, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing” (Revelation 5:12), so the Father and the Son are worshipped together. Christ shows God’s glory (“we beheld his glory”, John 1:14). He is “the power of God, and the wisdom of God” (1 Corinthians 1:24), and God’s mighty power was shown when he raised him from the dead (Ephesians 1:19–20). Our thanksgiving goes to the Father, who has given us redemption through the Son’s blood (Colossians 1:12–14). Of the Son God says, “Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever” (Hebrews 1:8), and he is “Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end” (Revelation 22:13).

One of the elders “answered”, though John had said nothing aloud, and asked two questions: “What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they?” The elder knows the answer. He asks in order to lead John to it, in the way heavenly guides in prophecy draw a visionary further into what he sees. Póthen, “whence”, asks about place, origin, condition or cause, and it can carry a note of surprise, and érchomai is the plain verb to come. So the elder asks who they are and how they came to be here.

John replies, “Sir, thou knowest.” He leaves the answer humbly with the one who knows it, and the explanation that follows comes from heaven.

“These are they which came out of great tribulation.” Thlîpsis means pressure, and in the New Testament tribulation, affliction and distress. With mégas, great, it names suffering of the severest kind, the oppression and persecution God’s people endure for Christ. Many in the multitude suffered greatly, and some died for their faith. They are known by what they came through, whatever their nation.

Jesus told his disciples, “In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33), and he warned them that they would be afflicted, killed, and hated of all nations for his name’s sake (Matthew 24:9). Paul asks, “shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution… separate us from the love of Christ?” and answers, “in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us” (Romans 8:35–39). The multitude won their victory by enduring their tribulation in the power of Christ’s sacrifice, and God brought them out of it.

“And have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” Plýnō is the verb for laundering clothes. Greek has louō for bathing the whole body and niptō for washing part of it, and plýnō is the one used for garments. The robes stand for their character and standing before God, and the washing has made them wholly clean. Haîma, blood, here means the blood Christ shed in his sacrificial death.

“Therefore are they before the throne of God.” The “therefore” ties their place to verse 14. They are there because the Lamb’s blood has made them clean, just as believers now have boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus (Hebrews 10:19–22). After all they suffered, they have direct access to God and the honour and protection of his presence.

They “serve him day and night in his temple.” Latreúō is the word for religious service and worship, the service priests render to God. “Day and night” means without ceasing, like the Levites in the earthly temple who were employed in their work day and night (1 Chronicles 9:33), and like the living creatures who “rest not day and night” in their praise (Revelation 4:8). The temple is the heavenly sanctuary, God’s own presence. Their service is joyful, the gladness the psalm calls for, “Serve the LORD with gladness” (Psalm 100:2), free of the weariness of work on earth. Jesus spoke of the temple of his body (John 2:19–21), and he is the one in whom God’s presence dwells and through whom we come to the Father’s throne.

“And he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them.” Skēnóō means to pitch a tent, to tabernacle. It recalls the tabernacle in the wilderness, where God’s presence dwelt among Israel. He told Moses, “let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them” (Exodus 25:8), and when it was finished his glory filled it (Exodus 40:34–35). From the garden where the LORD God walked (Genesis 3:8), to the tabernacle, to the Word who “was made flesh, and dwelt among us” (John 1:14), God has wanted to live among his people. Here that desire is fulfilled, and at the close of the book a great voice says, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them” (Revelation 21:3). His presence brings fellowship and protection together, and it lasts for ever.

“They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat.” Isaiah gave the same promise to God’s returning people: “They shall not hunger nor thirst; neither shall the heat nor sun smite them: for he that hath mercy on them shall lead them, even by the springs of water shall he guide them” (Isaiah 49:10).

Peináō is to hunger, to famish or crave, and dipsáō is to thirst, literally or figuratively. For the first readers, hunger and thirst were constant threats, and the sun of their lands could bring sunstroke, dehydration, failed crops and even death. “Light on them” comes from píptō, to fall, and pictures the sun’s rays falling on them with harmful force. Kaûma, from a word meaning to burn, is scorching heat, and “nor any heat” takes in every kind of it. God will be their shade: “The LORD is thy keeper: the LORD is thy shade upon thy right hand. The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night” (Psalm 121:5–6). He fed Israel with manna and gave them water in the wilderness, and here his provision is complete and permanent.

The promise reaches the soul as well as the body. “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled” (Matthew 5:6), and Jesus said, “I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst” (John 6:35). The sun and heat also picture the heat of persecution and affliction, and that too is over. Every longing for righteousness, truth and nearness to God is satisfied in his presence.

“For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them.” The “for” gives the reason for verse 16: the Lamb’s care is why their hunger, thirst and heat are ended. John has already seen him “in the midst of the throne” as a Lamb that had been slain (Revelation 5:6), sharing God’s throne and authority. In Revelation arníon is used of Jesus 28 times, and here the sacrificed Lamb reigns and cares for his people.

The KJV’s “feed” is poimaínō, to tend as a shepherd, which takes in feeding, guiding and protecting a flock. So the Lamb is also the Shepherd. David sang, “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters” (Psalm 23:1–2). God led his people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron (Psalm 77:20), and he told David, “Thou shalt feed my people Israel”, making Israel’s king a shepherd of the people. Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep” (John 10:11), and “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” (John 10:10).

He “shall lead them unto living fountains of waters.” In the Greek these are springs of the water of life, pēgai hydatos zoēs, a supply that keeps flowing from God himself, unlike earthly springs that dry up. Living water in Scripture often speaks of spiritual life and of the Holy Spirit. Jesus offered the woman at the well water springing up into everlasting life (John 4:10–14), and he cried, “If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink,” speaking of the Spirit (John 7:37–39). The prophets saw water flowing from God’s presence, a river from the temple (Ezekiel 47:1–12) and living waters going out from Jerusalem (Zechariah 14:8).

“And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.” Exaleíphō means to smear out, to wipe away or erase, and it pictures a complete and final removal. God does this himself, with the tenderness of a parent drying a child’s face, and every cause of sorrow, pain and grief goes with the tears. Isaiah promised it: “He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces” (Isaiah 25:8). Revelation repeats these very words when the new heaven and earth come: “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away” (Revelation 21:4).

These verses let us see the end of the story while the seals are still being opened. God is gathering a people from every nation, kindred, people and tongue, larger than anyone can count, and the Lamb who was slain is the one who gathers them. Every one of them says the same thing about how they came: salvation belongs to our God and to the Lamb. Their way led through tribulation, their robes were made white in his blood, and their end is his presence, where they serve him day and night and he dwells among them.

So the passage shows us who God is. He is the King on the throne, worshipped by all the angels with blessing and glory for ever. He is also the God who wants to live among his people, who feeds them, shelters them and leads them to living water, and who comforts them with his own hand. Because the multitude comes from every tongue, the command to teach all nations (Matthew 28:19) has its end in view here. Paul wrote that “the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18), and these verses show us that glory. Whatever tears you carry now, verse 17 promises that God himself will wipe them away.