After these things I saw, and lo, a great crowd, which no one could number, out of every nation and tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palm branches in their hands.
God has just sealed a fixed number out of the twelve tribes of Israel. Now John sees a second crowd, far larger, drawn from every nation on earth. Who are they? Where did they come from? And why does their praise sound so different from the songs earlier in the book?
Commentators keep this crowd separate from the other groups the book has already shown.
This is not a picture of the redeemed of all times. Scripture says plainly that it is a countless crowd of Gentiles, set in contrast with Israel, and seen in relation to God ruling as judge. So it is not universal. These Gentiles stand in clear contrast with the sealed ones out of Israel. One of the elders spoke about them and explained them to the prophet, who would have been at a loss without it. ... They are a crowd of Gentiles whom God will preserve by gracious power in these last days. They are not said to be glorified, and there is no reason to doubt that they are still in their natural bodies.
The chapter counts Israel exactly, then gives no number at all.
Do not confuse the twenty-four elders with the sealed one hundred and forty-four thousand of Israel. Do not confuse them with the great multitude of chapter 7 either. Each company is distinct. As to the one hundred and forty-four thousand sealed, what is that? Measured grace. God's faithful grace to Israel is absolute and perfect. He keeps every promise He made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and He blesses their descendants. But after all, it is what I may call measured grace. But "a great multitude that no one could number" tells of unmeasured and immeasurable grace. Its very largeness is refreshing.
The sealed of Israel were marked before the judgments fell. This crowd comes out the other side of the trouble.
Another thing also marks the two companies apart. God seals the elect of Israel, marking them out for preservation, before His more direct judgments begin. The Gentile multitude wears the white robe of righteousness and holds the palms of victory, having come out of the great tribulation. The one case, then, shows that God knows how to secure those already in relationship with Him before the judgment begins. The other shows how God can overrule tribulation, even of the fiercest kind, to reach people who had no relationship with Him before. He brings them into relationship with Himself and carries them through the tribulation in victory.
Their robes and their palms are symbols. Each answers something in the scene of judgment around them.
The wicked will fall before the judgments of God's throne and of the Lamb who acts in judgment. But there will be those who stand in safety before the throne and the Lamb. When God judges the nations for their wickedness, there will be those whom He accepts as righteous, as the "white robes" show. The devil, the beast and the Antichrist will lead the world into rebellion against God. Even then there will be those who are victorious over all the power of the enemy, as the "palms in their hands" symbolise.
Does this crowd stand in heaven? One writer gives two reasons for reading the scene as earthly:
Notice again who asks the question: one of the twenty-four elders, one of the heavenly saints. He asks, "Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?" John said, "Sir, you know." The elders understand who the earthly companies are. Clearly they are not the church, which the elders stand for. This must also be an earthly scene, because the temple is there (v. 15). In Revelation 21, where the church is seen in glory, there is "no temple."
Why does redemption not fill their praise here? One writer points to where they stand.
It comes from their circumstances. The throne they stand before is not a throne of mercy but of righteousness. Here the Lamb appears not as slain for sin but as carrying out judgment... For them, Christ's coming means rescue from tribulation on earth and a settled place of blessing on earth. They are not thinking here about God's grace in giving His Son, or about Christ's love in redeeming them by His blood. Their minds are on the delivering power that has stepped in with judgment on their behalf.
- Measured. God counts Israel's sealed number exactly. That is grace keeping His promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
- Unmeasured. This crowd is beyond counting, and its very largeness is the point: grace with no ceiling on it.
- Reaching. God secures those already His before judgment falls. He also uses the fiercest tribulation to reach those who were not His.
- Marked. White robes: God accepts them as righteous. Palms: they came through the enemy's power as victors.
- Distinct. They are neither Israel nor the church. Their praise fits their rescue: a throne of righteousness has acted for them.
And they cry with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God who sits upon the throne, and to the Lamb.
Revelation 7 pauses between the sixth and seventh seals, and John sees a countless crowd standing before the throne. Three questions follow: who are these people, why is their praise unlike every other song in the book, and how can they praise God while judgment falls?
This crowd comes from the nations. Commentators mark it off from the two groups nearest it in the book: Israel, and the elders around the throne.
Here they do not sing like the elders. They ascribe "salvation to God" as the One who sits on the throne — in this book, His judicial throne — and to the Lamb. In other words, no one could have raised this cry before Revelation 4… This is far from a picture of the redeemed of all times. The text plainly says they are a countless throng out of the Gentiles, marked off from Israel. And this is not now or long ago. It relates to God as He governs in judgment at a future time.
What they shout is not their own record but the work of God.
Their struggles and trials are over. The throne before which they stand is now and for ever their strength and security… They ascribe salvation, in its fullest sense, to God and to the Lamb. Not a member of that redeemed host is silent… Sovereign grace has done its mighty work. Out of all lands and languages it has gathered a Gentile host beyond all human counting. Each and all were once "dead in sins." Now grace has placed them saved and blessed before God's throne.
They praise the throne and the Lamb that are sending judgment on the world around them.
The devil, the beast, and the Antichrist will lead the world into rebellion against God. Even then, some will be victorious over all the power of the enemy… But if God brings them safely through the judgments, they take no credit to themselves. They ascribe all their blessing to God and the Lamb. On the very day when judgment is going out from "the throne" and "the Lamb," they can say, "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb."
Set beside other praises in Revelation, this cry is bare.
Their song ascribing deliverance to "God who sits upon the throne, and to the Lamb," is very different from the praise of the Church — "To Him who loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood"… These victors say nothing of the blood or redemption. They only ascribe salvation to God on His throne, and to the Lamb. Yet later we see that they had "washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." Why, then, are they silent about this in their praise?
Their circumstances explain the silence.
The throne before which they stand is not one of mercy, but of righteousness. Here the Lamb is seen not as slain for sin, but as carrying out judgment… For them the coming of Christ means rescue from tribulation on earth, and a settled place in earthly blessing… They are not thinking here of the grace of God in giving His Son, or of the love of Christ in redeeming them with His blood. Their thoughts are on the delivering power that has stepped in with judgment on their behalf. This is the constant theme of the Psalms.
The praise names two, yet there is one throne. One writer reads the wording here as a window into how God makes Himself known.
It is Jehovah, but Jehovah in the Son. It is the throne of God, yet the eternal living One in the Person of Jesus. So we see that the Lamb was in the midst of the throne… We may say the Father is seen, but seen in the Lamb, the Son; see also Revelation 7:10, 17, in the Greek. They are never different, but they are distinct — it is "The throne of God and of the Lamb."
This crowd is what the work of the Lamb has won, and its reach is the point.
What an answer! "A multitude that no man could number!" Every race called in to swell the triumph of the Lamb and to proclaim the mighty results of His work on the cross! What a plan is our God's!
- Grace begins it. Sovereign grace gathers a Gentile host beyond counting. Each one was once dead in sins, and grace sets them saved before the throne.
- Grace crowns it. They ascribe salvation in its fullest sense to God and to the Lamb, taking no credit to themselves.
- Grace reaches everywhere. The crowd comes from every nation and language. Every race is called in to proclaim the results of the Lamb's work.
- Grace speaks in its own accent. Their cry mentions no blood and no redemption. It praises the power that stepped in to deliver them. The Church's praise goes to the One who washed us in His own blood.
- Grace has one throne. The cry names God on the throne and the Lamb together — distinct, never different: "the throne of God and of the Lamb."