Revelation 7: Thanksgiving...In Heaven! (vs 9-17)
Last week, we entered our study in Revelation 7, and saw how everything stopped--how there is a pause in the action of Revelation. During this pause, the four angels charged with the judgments on the earth are told stop the winds and also the judgments while 144,000 "super evangelists" were sealed on the foreheads by a designated angel. This sealing would be authorize these Jewish men, protect them from the evil forces of Antichrist and empower them with a special witnessing ministry.
This week, we will be discussing Revelation 7:9-17, part of the parenthetical passage between the sixth and the seventh seal judgments. This group of people will be radically different from the men mentioned last week, the 144,000 Jewish "super evangelists" that will lead a great soul harvest. Yet, they are related in two key ways.
First, they are united by the blood of the Lamb, Jesus Christ. Faith in Jesus Christ is the great leveler. As it has been said, the ground is level at the foot of the cross.
Second, we will see that many of these men and women will come to faith because of these 144,000 super evangelist's ministry.
I love how God does things, and how He brings things together! This week, we celebrate Thanksgiving; this message is about thanksgiving! We often think of thanksgiving as a time of celebration of food, family...and football. However, if you think that it ends at that, you are sorely mistaken.
Today, we will discover how Heaven is all about Thanksgiving, and how we should have an attitude of thankfulness each and every day.
The Great Multitude
After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!" Rev 7:9-10 NKJV
Have you ever been to a Steelers game? It sure is a lot of fun. And part of the fun is that there are over 50,000 other people having fun. It is an awe-striking thing to be amongst a big crowd with the same mind, the same emotion as you are. The largest crowd I was ever a part of was back in 1997 at the Promisekeepers event "Stand in the Gap", held on the Mall at Washington DC. It was estimated that well over 1 million men were in attendence--all with one mind, all with similar emotion, all with the same Spirit. The worship there was amazing, it was a time of brotherhood that I will never forget.
The scenery changes with the term "after these things", as John gazed upon a great multitude of people that no one could number. The term number is the Koine Greek word arithmeoo, the term which we get arithmetic from. In short, no one could do the math to figure out how large a number the men and women were in this great group! If you think about that, back in Revelation 5:11 the number of people in heaven around the throne could not be calculated but was "ten thousand times ten thousand" (100 million) plus thousands of thousands. Here we see John say that this group could not be numbered.
Who were these people? Of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues. Let's take a quick look at each of these terms.
Nations: ethnos in Koine Greek, meaning ethnic peoples, or from particular nations. Tribes: phule in Koine Greek, meaning kin, tribe or clan--in other words, familial groups. People: laos in Koine Greek, meaning number of people being joined together by the common bonds of society. For instance, the British Empire has different nations (England, Wales, Ireland, Scotland, etc.) but also different clans with in it. Tongues: glossia, meaning different languages. It will not matter where you are from, what your last name is or what language you speak, people from all walks of life--just like now--will be saved during that time.
These people will be wearing bright, shining full length robes and will be waving palm branches; it will be a celebration of victory (represented by the robes and palms), a celebration of togetherness, a celebration of thanksgiving like no time prior has occurred. Not only will it be a happy, joyous time but it will be a loud time! The Koine Greek terms phone megale, meaning loud voice is the term we get megaphone from; it will be a cheering, shoutin' time in heaven. Why? "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!"
Our salvation--soteria in Koine Greek--means "rescue, safety, deliver, health, salvation, save, saving" (Strong's). There is also a flavor of victory to the term. The song "Victory in Jesus" could well be sung here! " Oh Victory in Jesus! My Savior, forever! He sought me, he bought me, with His redeeming blood." We have victory in Jesus because of what Jesus did for us! Talk about thanksgiving!
Heaven Is All About Worship!
All the angels stood around the throne and the elders and the four living creatures, and fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying: "Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom, Thanksgiving and honor and power and might, Be to our God forever and ever. Amen." Rev 7:11-12 NKJV
Isn't it great to be right once in a while? Even if we are right, and people acknowledge us as such as my wife would say "Once in a great blue moon"? We as Christians are often called judgmental because we rightly say that Jesus is "The Way, The Truth, and the Life" (John 14:6). It is said we should be more tolerant, and we should recognize that as long as a person is sincere they can believe what they want. Sure, people can believe what they want. But hey, if a person does not believe in gravity and they jump off the top of the PPG Building in downtown Pittsburgh they will still go splat when they hit the pavement!
Here in verse 11 and 12 we see a consensus of opinion as to what the great, massive throng of men and women in verses 9 and 10 will say. This is the same group of angels, elders and living creatures (most likely cherubim) that we saw in Revelation chapters 4 and 5. The fell flat on their faces--face on the ground--and worshipped God.
The first thing out of the mouths of this group of beings is Amen! Amen means agreement, it means so be it. In short, they are saying that what the group of those in white robes were right: "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!" There will be no words of dissent, no claims of being judgmental, no saying that this or that is not fair. Salvation--being rescued by the victorious Jesus Christ--will not be argued in this establishment!
No, this will be a place of continual worship. Worship is from the old English term "worth-ship"; it means that we are saying "God, you are worth it". You are worth each and every thank you that has ever or will ever exist.
God is worshipped for who He is and what He has done (excerpt from Thomas):
Blessing: Eulogia, "To speak well of" This is the root word for eulogy. We speak well of God, in fact we speak the best of God!
Glory: doxa, is honor derived from earning a good reputation (Vine)
Wisdom: sophia, the divine wisdom of God exhibited in His plan of salvation (Mounce)
Thanksgiving: Eucharista means "well" and "to give freely", denoting gratitude.
Honor: time, meaning honor or esteem in recognition of God's provision of salvation (Jennings)
Power: dunamis, referring to God's omnipotence, being all powerful. Root word for dynamite
Might: ischys, strength refers to a quality that one possesses whether he exerts it or not. God demonstrated his strength or might in delivering this mass of people from the clutches of the enemy, Satan.
God is to be worshipped--told He is worth it--forever and forever. And this mass of beings finish with a loud "Amen!" or SO BE IT.
Beats Me!
Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, "Who are these arrayed in white robes, and where did they come from?" And I said to him, "Sir, you know." So he said to me, "These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Rev 7:13-14
Let's face it: there are times when all of us have been asked a question of which the person asking the question knew the answer already. And worse than that, we had no idea what the answer to the question was! In truth, we have no clue. And our answer is "Beats me!"
Here the elder (one of twenty four also referred to in Revelation 4) asks "who are these white robed people?" When John said "Lord, you know" it was as though he was saying "Beats me!" but in a more formal, honoring fashion. John here knew that the elder knew the answer to the question...and he was most likely sure that the elder knew that he, John, did not have a clue.
This elder then tells John exactly who these people are: saints from the Great Tribulation.
What is the "Great Tribulation"? Most would agree that there are two halves to the tribulation--the first 3 1/2 years, and the second 3 1/2 years, but there are three schools of thought about the term "Great Tribulation". First, is that the first 3 1/2 years are "tribulation" and the second 3 1/2 is "Great Tribulation". The second is that the entire 7 year period is "Great Tribulation". Third is the idea that the whole seven years are Tribulation, but as part of that the last 3 1/2 are the Great Tribulation. Personally, I think that the last is what is actually meant. We will discuss this more at a later date.
In short, these saints (saved, set apart people--yet not the church, it has been Raptured) will die during the Tribulation period. Some scholars feel that the setting of Revelation 7:9-17 is at the end of the Tribulation period, but I feel that it is during the second half; the wording in Greek would appear to be better translated "are coming out of the great tribulation". In other words, these people, a very large number, are still being added to even after John's vision.
Also, it is not said that these people are martyrs, and yes, some may die natural deaths and deaths even due to calamities that fall upon the earth, but most will have died for their faith. It is not their blood, but the "blood of the Lamb" that will save them.
It is against natural thought that anyone could wash garments in blood and for them to come out clean and white. I think that most anyone has had blood stains on clothing, and those stains just do not come out. But the blood of Jesus has that "wonder working power": For all of us have become like one who is unclean, And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment (Isa 64:6, NASB). and To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, (Rev 1:5). We have no ability to present ourselves to God based upon our own works of "righteousness" our "sins are like scarlet"; yet, when Jesus saves us we have been washed in the blood of Christ, and we shall be "white as snow" (Isa 1:18).
Front Row, Standing Room Only
Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple. And He who sits on the throne will dwell among them. They shall neither hunger anymore nor thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any heat; for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of waters. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes." Rev 7:15-17 NKJV
Back in 1978, my sister, a mutual friend and I went to see Electric Light Orchestra in concert at the Civic Arena. I bought what was called festival seats, which were standing only admission on the floor of the arena. When the doors opened up, we mad a mad dash to the floor and ended up on the barrier wall only about ten feet or so from the band. We had such a great time, although we could not hear right for about a day and a half! It was a time I will never forget. What a blast.
These "tribulation saints" have even better seats, they will have front row, standing room only admission with not with a rock band but with the Rock himself (Deuteronomy 32:4a)! And, contrary to modern thought, popular opinion and Philadelphia Cream Cheese advertising, there will be things to do Heaven, first and foremost is worship Him (they will serve Him day and night in His temple). The proper rendering of the term temple should be tabernacle. In other words, there will be things to do in Heaven; it will not be a boring place.
What else is awesome is that not only will they see God, but God will dwell among them. Let that sink in for just a moment. God, the Creator of the universe and all there is, the Creator of every living thing, He who knows how many hairs are on your head and even the thoughts you think--He will dwell among them--and in that time He will dwell among us too as we will have already been Raptured.
These tribulation saints will, for the most part, have suffered during the time of the Tribulation. They will have hungered because of the famine, they will have thirsted because of a lack of clean, sanitary water because of war.
People in the Middle East would know all too well about the heat of the region. This is a reference to Isaiah 49:10: They shall not hunger or thirst, neither scorching wind nor sun shall strike them, for he who has pity on them will lead them, and by springs of water will guide them. The people of the region would understand the thought; the "scorching wind" would have been a reference to a sirocco, a sudden wind during a time of intense heat and sun. I know this thought all too well, from riding my bicycle in 95+ degree heat; I started with cold water in my water bottles but soon the water was hot, and the hot wind dehydrated me pretty fast too. It was like a human convection oven!
But not only will these saints not feel the scorching heat and the sun, but The Lamb--Jesus Christ, the once for all Sacrificial Lamb--will take care of these tribulation saints and lead them to springs of living water to quench the thirsting of their souls forever.
