Revelation 7:9-17 Series

Revelation 7:9-17

9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”

In Revelation 7:4 we read about the sealing by God of 144,000 from each of the twelve tribes of Israel.

Now as John is envisioning the throne of God John sees this multitude of people he says, a number so great that they can't be counted. These are not the 144,000, they are still on earth sealed for the time of their calling and death. These people are all the deceased believers in heaven that have all come together before the throne of God. They are from everywhere around the world and they have all put their faith in Jesus as lord and savior and upon their death are all now in heaven awaiting this time in which John is seeing.

John says here that these who are dressed in white gowns and carrying palm branches are crying out that salvation belongs to our God and the Lamb. Why does it not mention the saved and their part in salvation? Did not the saved have to accept salvation and if so they had a part in it correct? No, the saved have never had a part in their own salvation or else salvation would be works based and not by grace. Ephesians chapter two is one of the best collections of verses describing salvation and nowhere in it are we mentioned as having a part in it at all.

1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Notice this section of verses starts off by God telling the believer that we were dead, dead is our starting point. Not dead physically but dead spiritually meaning that we are incapable of doing anything spiritual such as being righteous or acquiring our salvation by something we did, WE ARE DEAD and dead people can do nothing.

So dead is the starting point, then it says “But God”, this is the good part, God being rich in mercy because of His love for us, who is the us, those being saved and are saved. Even though we didn't deserve his mercy and love it says, He made us alive together with Christ. That is salvation, God made us alive, alive is being saved, we did nothing and He did everything.

But what about choice? I have spoken about this before, the choice for the spiritually dead unbeliever is always a rejection of God (Romans 3:10-17).

Verse eight of Ephesians tells us that we are saved by grace through faith, and that faith is a gift of God as well. God supplied everything needed because we could offer nothing.

11 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, 12 saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”

What a powerful sight this must have been, this multitude of believers in heaven all giving praise, honor and glory to God and Jesus the Lamb for their salvation. It gives me chills thinking about it. It is so powerful that the angels, elders and the four living creatures all fell on their faces of such an immense fact. We cannot fathom this completely until we are there and in front of God and our Savior ourselves.