In yesterday's study we saw 144,000 people from the twelve tribes of Israel receive a divine seal from God. This placed God's protection upon them so they could share the light of the gospel in the darkness of a world under the rule of the Antichrist. Today we see the fruit of their labor: a great multitude who came to Christ.
Right after John sees the 144,000 sealed, he says, "After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: 'Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.'" (Revelation 7:9-10) One of the twenty-four elders will soon explain to John that these people were saved during the Great Tribulation, and this is in large part due to the 144,000 Israelites who accepted Christ and who preached Him to their nation and to the world. This is similar to what happened right after the resurrection of Christ. The gospel was first accepted and preached by the apostles who were Israelites. Though the majority of Jesus' nation didn't accept Him, the first sermon was preached in Jerusalem by the Apostle Peter, and the gospel spread out to the Gentile world from there. In Revelation we find Jewish men preaching the word of Christ to their own people---many of whom come to faith in Jesus---and from there the gospel spreads out to the world where a great number of Gentiles also believe.
I think in the end times the largest revival of all time breaks out, in spite of all Satan tries to do to stop it. We can understand why so many people are willing to hear and accept the gospel if we think about all that they've experienced so far during the Great Tribulation. Not only have they witnessed war and natural disasters, but before these things happened, right before the Great Tribulation began, millions of people disappeared from the earth when Christ called His church out of the world. Imagine how shocking this was. Imagine the chaos that ensued when so many human beings vanished while performing their jobs, while driving cars, while flying planes, and while operating buses or trains. Those left behind will have to come up with a satisfying explanation for this mass disappearance. This will cause many to look for a spiritual explanation, even if they've previously ignored God all their lives. They will search the Scriptures. They will listen to those who preach the gospel, they will understand what has happened, and they will give their hearts to the Lord Jesus Christ. What do a lot of people tend to do in troubled times, even if they don't think much about the Lord during the good times? They turn to the Bible. They turn to prayer. They turn on their TVs and radios to religious programs. They attend church services. When the world is turned upside down during the last days, millions will seek a spiritual answer and they will find it, and John sees these people gathered around the throne.
What about those who don't want to accept that there is a God who is holy and that someday they will have to appear before Him to answer for their rebellion and their refusal to repent? They won't accept the explanation of the Scriptures but will come up with alternate theories. Some years back I read a commentary on Revelation which suggested that a number of people on earth will think that the missing people have been abducted by aliens. When I first read that line in the book I laughed out loud, but as time has gone on I'm beginning to think the author was onto something. Just turn on your TV to the Guide channel and see how much programming involves shows about aliens. Take a look at how many books are on the market regarding UFOs and alien abductions. Right now there's a plan in place for thousands of people to storm Area 51 later this year. It started out as an internet joke but it has picked up so much momentum that it looks like it may literally take place. There are people in just about every nation of the world these days who believe there are aliens; this belief is now so strong within them that they might actually try to get inside a heavily guarded military installation. So the explanation of those left behind who don't want to believe Christ took on flesh and blood to redeem mankind from sin, and who don't want to believe He removed His church from the world just like He promised, may go something like this: "Jesus was an alien! He wasn't the Son of God but an extraterrestrial. He took on the form of a human, not so He could die for man's sins (because we aren't sinners!), but so He could interact with man and try to teach man a better way to live on this planet. He didn't actually die and rise from the dead. He's an alien who either lives for thousands of years or who is immortal. People didn't understand this so they thought He was a God. Now He's actually beamed up the people who believed in Him."
The Antichrist himself may offer an explanation to the world for what has happened. He may use the alien theory or he may use something else. We don't know whether the explanation will fully satisfy anyone, but human beings are masters at deceiving themselves when they want to. Some, however, won't accept any explanation the Antichrist or the unbelievers put forth. They will have heard just enough Scripture in their lives to suspect what's going on. It won't be lost on them that everyone who disappeared was a Christian and, unlike those who want to think Jesus is an alien, they are going to acknowledge that Jesus is exactly who He always said He is: the Son of God---the Lamb who came to take away the sins of the world.
After this multitude gives praise to God, the angels join in. "All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying: 'Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God forever and ever. Amen!'" (Revelation 7:11-12)
John knows the multitude dressed in white robes must represent people who have been redeemed by Christ, but he doesn't recognize them. By now he knows the twenty-four elders dressed in white robes represent the church that was called up to heaven before the Great Tribulation. By now he knows that the souls under the altar who have been given white robes are those who were martyred for their faith. But this group is a new group. One of the elders sees the puzzled look on John's face. "Then one of the elders asked me, 'These in white robes---who are they, and where did they come from?' I answered, 'Sir, you know.' And he said, 'These are they who have come out of the Great Tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.'" (Revelation 7:13-14)
When I was a child and would hear anyone preach on the book of Revelation, I didn't understand that people would still be given the opportunity to repent and be saved during the Great Tribulation. I thought that, following the rapture of the church, those left behind were doomed. John may have thought that too, until the Lord appeared to him on the Isle of Patmos to explain the things to come in the end times. I imagine John's soul must have rejoiced along with the great multitude before the throne when he found out that the Lord will continue to extend mercy and offer forgiveness even during the Great Tribulation.
Did this multitude die during the Great Tribulation? Is that why John sees them in heaven at this point in the book? No one knows for certain, but I think their presence in heaven at this point suggests that they are from among those who came to Christ in the last days and died during the last days. Some scholars think they may have died due to the wars, famines, diseases, and natural disasters that occur in the end times. If any of this group had been martyred for their faith, we would expect to see them under the altar as we previously saw the martyrs of the end times, but we can't exclude the possibility that some of this multitude died for their faith either by execution or by being imprisoned under inhumane conditions.
A special blessing is pronounced upon these saints who gave their hearts to the Lord during the Great Tribulation. "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 shelter them with His presence. 'Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat down on them,' nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; 'He will lead them to springs of living water.' 'And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.'" (Revelation 7:15-17) The elder quotes from Isaiah 49, a chapter in which the Lord promises a future glory for the people of Israel. In that chapter the Lord calls Israel His servant and promises to gather Israel back to Himself and to restore her twelve tribes. The elder also quotes from Isaiah 25, for in that chapter the Lord promises to be a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat, and He promises to wipe away the tears from all faces. This multitude, made up of both Jews (the promise to restore the nation and her tribes) and Gentiles (the promise that tears will be wiped from all the faces of those who trust in Him), has endured the storm and the heat of a world gone mad. This multitude shed some tears while on the earth. What John sees them doing, as they rejoice before the Lord, is the fulfillment of God's promise in the book of Isaiah that "In that day they will say, 'Surely this is our God; we trusted in Him, and He saved us. This is the Lord, we trusted in Him; let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation.'" (Isaiah 25:9)
The multitude who came to Christ during the last days has experienced the things the Lord promises to protect them from forever. They have hungered and thirsted. They have endured the fierce heat of trials and tribulations. But the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Bread of Life (John 6:35) and the Living Water (John 7:37-39), will supply everything they need for eternity. They wept many tears on the earth, but the Lord will gently wipe their tears away. There will be nothing to ever cry about again once they enter His presence.
But our study of the terrible times of the Great Tribulation has only just begun, and after assuring us that people will still be saved during those dreadful days, in tomorrow's passage we will see the Lord opening the seventh seal. This will usher in the worst part of the Great Tribulation, and in the coming days we are going to study in detail the natural disasters that are going to take place and the tyranny that will ensue during the reign of the world dictator who will be under the control of Satan himself.
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