From Every Nation, Tribe, People, And Tongue

These shoeboxes, packed with much love and prayer, will be shipped out quite literally to the ends of the earth. In the past we have had shoeboxes, that we have packed, to the Philippines, Madagascar, Burkina Faso, Mali, Nigeria, Central African Republic, Cameroon and many other places. Where these are going, I do not know but the effect and impact of these boxes are not to be underestimated. Jesus said:

Matthew 24:14 This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.

Why is that? What will be the result of the gospel preached to whole world and to all the nations? John, in his vision of heaven, saw what will take place in heaven one day soon and that is the subject of our focal passage today. You see that what these shoeboxes will have a part in is this: bringing the Gospel to the whole world.

Revelation 7:9–12

There are only 4 words common to all languages: Amen, Alleluia, Okay, and Coca-Cola. The one I want to focus on, amen, is a word we all know and say regularly, regardless of what language we speak. It is the most universal of all words. Listen to someone pray in German, Korean, French, Portuguese or Spanish, and they’ll end their prayer with “Amen.” But what does it mean? Amen is a word that is mostly untranslated in our Bibles. One reason is that the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint/LXX) didn’t translate the Hebrew. Instead of using the Greek equivalent word “genoito,” meaning “let it be”, or “so be it. So the NT writers did likewise and used Greek letters to form the (transliterated) Hebrew word, “amhn.”.[1]

In the book of John, Jesus used the Greek transliterated word “amen” at the beginning of His sayings, often in the Gospel of John He would say “Amen, Amen,” which would be often translated in our English Bibles as “Truly Truly,” or “Verily Verily.”

Looking at our focal passage today, we have the scene around the throne and around the Lamb were the multitudes clothed in white (more on them in a minute) and along with them where the angels and 24 elders and the four living creatures. And what were they, the angels, elders, and living creatures saying?

Revelation 7:12 saying, “Amen, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might, be to our God forever and ever. Amen.”

Notice how they began and ended with Amen. Often when I state a biblical truth, a godly truth, many of you would respond with a “Amen!” It is the same here. The angels, elders and living creatures were giving an “amen” (or "so be it") to what the multitudes were saying, and they were in full agreement. Now who were these multitudes and what were they saying? First let’s look at the multitudes.

Revelation 7:9 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;

Earlier in chapter 7, we read about 144,000 that are sealed from the 12 tribes of Israel. These are not them. Whereas the 144,000 are on the earth and from all tribes of Israel, these multitudes are in heaven. Let’s look further at these people standing around the throne. John was asked who these people were.

Revelation 7:13 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?”

Who are they and where did they come from indeed. John is overwhelmed by it all. He just doesn’t know. The question was asked to explain, not to see what John knew, for it is clear this elder knew.

Revelation 7:14 I said to him, “My lord, you know.” 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.

Remember John is being shown these events and he is not given information on when these things will take place. As far as John is concern, this all was happening in his present and near future. The church in Johns day was experiencing great persecution. The Greek tense for “come out” indicates they have come out and are presently coming out. The great tribulation could come at any time. There are those today that are losing their families and their very lives today by beheading and torture. Try and tell them they are not going through a great tribulation.

Those coming out of the great tribulation here certainly include all that have gone before. But what is important here is the washing of their robes, more on this in a moment. But we are commanded to preach and present the gospel to all nations.