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Revelation 7:9

After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;

10

And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.

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And 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,

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Saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen.

13

And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they?

14

And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them ° white in the blood of the Lamb.

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Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them.

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They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither ° shall the sun light on them, nor any heat.

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For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.

Revelation 7:9

7:9 no man could number. In contrast to the specific number of saved Israelites which have just been given, “a great multitude,” some in every ethnic group, will be saved during the tribulation period (Revelation 7:14). Though no man could be capable of knowing how many people there will be, their number is known to God.

Revelation 7:13

7:13 elders. Note that both the elder and John himself are individual men. Yet, since they clearly are not a part of this great assemblage, they represent another multitude of saints who were already in heaven before this new multitude arrived there.

Revelation 7:14

7:14 great tribulation. This phrase is, literally, “the tribulation, the great one.” It will follow immediately after the Antichrist has his great image, “the abomination of desolation,” set up in the new temple at Jerusalem (Matthew 24:15-16,21; Revelation 13:6-8,11-18). This will be the signal for the most intense of all persecutions, and a great multitude of new believers will be executed, with their souls joining those of the martyrs of the early years of the tribulation (Revelation 6:9-11) who also have “white robes” and are waiting for them.

Revelation 7:15

7:15 his temple. This scene is parenthetically inserted for John’s benefit between the events of the judgments of the sixth and seventh seals. It is apparently set at the end of the yet-to-come “great tribulation” (that is, the last half of the seven-year tribulation period). It does not look forward to the ultimate eternal age, when there will be no temple and there will be no night (Revelation 21:22; 22:5). Therefore, it must refer to the millennial temple of the thousand-year reign of Christ on earth (Ezekiel 43:1-7).

Revelation 7:16

7:16 nor any heat. During the three-and-one-half-year reign of the Beast, there will be an intense effort to kill all Christian believers and to keep them from even buying food or drink without the mark of the Beast (Revelation 13:15-17). Their only hope of escape will be to flee to the wilderness (note Matthew 24:16; Revelation 12:14), and try to live off the land. Multitudes will die, either by the Beast’s executioners or by hunger, thirst, or heat, but then they will enter into a very special realm of service in the presence of Christ.

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