Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship's Bible study in the Book of Revelation.  Tonight is study #10 of Revelation, chapter 7, and we are going to be reading Revelation 7:9-12:

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; And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb. 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, Saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen.

We were discussing this in our last study.  We began to discuss this “great multitude” that was before the throne of God.  Keep in mind that “before the throne” would be the “footstool” and God speaks of the earth as being His “footstool,” so it is very possible that this “great multitude” could be on earth, living in the Day of Judgment, and still be in view as “before the throne of God.”  We will get into a further discussion of that later in this chapter.

We saw that the “great multitude” from all the nations “stood” before the throne; we looked at that word “stand” and we saw that God is able to make people “stand” before him by bestowing His grace upon them and by granting them salvation through the faith of the Lord Jesus.  That salvation “clothes” sinners (who, of themselves, are spiritually filthy, dirty  and polluted), with the saving work of atonement by the Lord Jesus on their behalves, they are washed with the baptism of the Holy Spirit, as the Lord cleanses all sin and iniquity and sees it no more.   They are now righteous before Him and that is typified by “white robes,” to represent purity and holiness and that which is without sin. 

They also had “palms in their hands.”  We saw that there was a reference back in the Gospel of John to “palms” when the Lord Jesus had his triumphant entry into Jerusalem and the people were crying out, “Hosanna,” and they also had “palms in their hands.”  We saw that “Hosanna” means, “Oh, save,” or “Oh, Saviour!”  And that was exactly the context we saw in Revelation 7:10:

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

There are not two Gods, but one God and, of course, God shows Himself as Three Persons in the Bible, yet One God.  The Lamb, the Lord Jesus, is also eternal God and to “sit” on the throne means that God is ruling over all His kingdom; He is ruling over all of these people that have now become saved; they have been translated out of the kingdom of darkness and into the kingdom of God’s dear Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.  They are crying out with a loud voice, in recognition of the glorious fact that they have become saved and they have been delivered from their sins and the consequences of their sins – death; that will not happen to them, as they have experienced God’s mercy and His salvation, so they are rejoicing and joyfully crying out to the One who has done this, the One seated upon the throne: “Salvation to our God.”  It is God’s salvation plan and salvation is of the Lord, the Bible says.  It is not of man, as we read in John, chapter 1, where it speaks of being born again.  It says in John 1:13:

Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

Salvation is of God.  It is not performed by the will of man.  God matter-of-factly and definitively declares, in John 1:13, that no man is “born again” by his own will.  God declares that “free will” is another gospel – it is a lie.  It is completely false for anyone to think they can exercise the will of man (the will of their own flesh) and be “born again.”  It is by the will of God and only the will of God:  “He will have mercy upon whom He will have mercy,” and, therefore salvation belongs to God – it is of God; it was designed by Him; implemented by Him; carried out by Him; all the works were finished by Him before the foundation of the world, as the Lord Jesus died for sin at that point.

Some people do not like to hear that and I cannot help but think that one of the reasons is the fact that Jesus was “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world,” and this fact so far removes the possibility of man doing any work (whatsoever) in his salvation, and that it is disturbing on a deeper level to some people.  And, perhaps, these people might say, “Oh, yes, God does everything,” yet they are disturbed by this beautiful truth that God did all the work of salvation before man was ever created.  This would put a stamp of absolute verity about man inability to play any role in salvation because man was not even there: “Of the people, none were with me,” we read in the Book of Isaiah.  The Lord Jesus Christ is the Saviour: “Hosanna to the Son of David. Hosanna to the Lamb,” now seated upon the throne; and “Salvation to our God,” is the cry of the great multitude that God has saved.  We are that “great multitude,” if we are true believers living at this point in time – living in the world in the Day of Judgment – and we have come “out of great tribulation,” just as we find that this great multitude is said to have come out of great tribulation.  Therefore, we are in view in this beautiful picture of all of God’s elect that are declaring praise unto Him.

It goes on to say in Revelation 7:11-12:

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

Notice that everyone is falling down “before the throne on their faces.”  They are prostrating themselves; they are bowing down; they are taking the posture of humility and submitting themselves before God.  That is what the posture or action of “bowing down” points to.  The Bible says that anyone that bows down in this kind of way is “worshipping.”  Now it may be very insincere worship – it may be superficial outward worship – to take the posture and perform the act of “bowing down,” but God still calls it worship.  For instance, it says in Matthew 18:26:

The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.

In this parable, this individual owed his Lord a great debt, and it says in Matthew 18:27:

Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt.

So he “fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.”

Then the debt was forgiven.  It would really seem that this was indicative of a true believer, yet we find that not very long afterwards, he is taking his fellow servant by the throat, demanding that a much smaller debt be paid to him.  So, this same man that fell down and worshipped is later judged; and his Lord is wroth with him and he is delivered to the tormenters until he would pay all that debt.  Therefore, we see that this person was never saved and had never received the new heart and, yet, he performed the act of falling down and worshipping.  We read in Mark 15 of some others that are taking the posture of worship, but they are definitely not worshipping.  In this case, the Roman soldiers are mocking the Lord Jesus, and it says in Mark 15:17-20:

And they clothed him with purple, and platted a crown of thorns, and put it about his head, And began to salute him, Hail, King of the Jews! And they smote him on the head with a reed, and did spit upon him, and bowing their knees worshipped him. And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple from him, and put his own clothes on him, and led him out to crucify him.

Now, obviously, they were not bowing down to Christ in sincerity.  They were not bowing to Him as Lord and Master or as God and Saviour.  They were playing around.  They were reviling and mocking Him.  They were doing this because they thought He was just somebody usurping the Roman crown, making claim that He was King.  Yet, of course, He was truly King of kings and Lord of lords and worthy of the worship of all mankind, including those soldiers, as God was the Creator of man – He has created every human being.  Therefore, as Creator, He is due worship by His creatures.  Man was created a creature that was designed to worship God and, yet, when we fell into sin, that worship of God was perverted.  It was ruined because in order to worship God aright, we must worship Him “in spirit and in truth,” and let me read a section of Scripture where God discusses “true worship,” in John 4:19-24:

The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

Do you see, here, how the Lord refers to “true worshippers?”  We speak of “true believers,” to distinguish a true believer from a professed believer, because there is a difference with someone that is a true believer (someone whom God has made a true believer by saving them).  They have a different understanding of the Word of God and a very real relationship with Him and, therefore, they are in a different category of belief.  They are “true” believers. 

Likewise, there are “true worshippers” and simply “worshippers” of God.  The “worshippers” of God take upon themselves the posture or the action of bowing down.  That is not to say that the true believer would not also perform this action, as it is very appropriate and good for a “true worshipper” of God to bow the knee, literally, or to fall down to the ground, or to bow down beside his bed and pray to God.  Since God recognizes “posture” as an indicator of worship, it is very good for us to do this, even though a “true worshipper” can worship God while standing up, or while sitting down, or in any other posture.  God does not absolutely require everyone to bow down every time they want to worship Him, praise Him, or speak to Him in prayer, but since the Bible lets us know that simply “bowing the knee and lowering the head” is a physical indicator of worship, there is nothing wrong with a true believer doing that.  Sometimes, taking that physical posture may help us in preparing ourselves to worship God, as it is simply an acknowledgement that we are coming before the LORD of Glory, the King of kings and Lord and lords and the great God of Heaven.  He is seated upon His glorious throne and we are on the earth, His “footstool,” and let us bow down.

But that is not the point here.  The point is that the “true worshipper” of God is one that will serve Him and “worship him in spirit and in truth.”  In the “Spirit of God,” the true worshipper will have the indwelling Holy Spirit and, therefore, God will receive our worship in a much different way than He views the worship of others that have not that spirit. 

We must also worship Him “in truth.”  We worship God when we believe the truths of the Word of God, as the Lord Jesus Christ is truth.  Christ said in John 14:6: “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”  So we worship God in “spirit and in truth,” and both of those things identify with Christ and they identify with the Word of God.  God’s word is “spirit.”  The Law is “spirit,” and God’s Word is truth: “Thy word is truth.” 

Therefore, we faithfully follow the teachings of the Bible and we hold onto them, no matter what man says; and regardless of what the world thinks; or what pressures are put upon us by the church or family or neighbors; or what pressures are put upon us by society because the Bible teaches something contrary to what society teaches.  Whatever the circumstances, if we are standing upon the Word of God and trusting the Word of God, we will not turn from the course that the Word of God has set, but we will follow the direction of God’s Word.  This is “true worship” and this is glorifying to God; and the “true worshipper” of God is worshipping God in doing this. 

Before we move on to verse 13, I should mention one more thing about Revelation 7:12:

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

There are seven praises mentioned here that are recognizing particular attributes of God and glorifying Him.  That points to the “perfection” of all these things: the perfection that God is blessing and His word is blessing, and so, too, they are glory and wisdom and thanksgiving, and so forth.

Then it goes on to say in Revelation 7:13:

And one of the elders answered, saying unto me…

The “me” is referring to John.  Remember John is receiving this vision contained in this Book of Revelation, while he was on the island of Patmos.  The Lord appeared to him to give him this divine revelation.

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

Now, this is an interesting verse because one of the elders who answered John is really a reference to Christ Himself.  If we were to look at this literally, in the Greek, it says: “One out of the elders answered.”  First of all, God Himself could be considered the Elder, since He is the “Ancient of Days,” and since He is triune in nature (three Persons in One God), and He could be spoken of in the plural, as “elders.”  But I do not think it is referring to the Godhead.  It is referring to the “twenty four elders” that we saw earlier and they were round about the throne.  They have been mentioned several times already in the Book of Revelation.  There were twenty four elders: twelve from the Old Testament, pointing to the twelve tribes of Israel and twelve from the New Testament, pointing to the apostles that were selected to be with Christ and, therefore, the “twenty four” would point to the completeness or fullness of all of God’s elect that would be saved throughout the Old Testament and New Testament. 

Who indwells these “elders?”  It is the Spirit of Christ.  Christ is the midst of the elders.  He is indwelling each child of God.  We read back in Revelation 5:5-6:

And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof. And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain…

So, there is a reference to Jesus (as the Lamb that had been slain) “in the midst of the elders.” So, we could say, as we read in Revelation 7:13: “And one out of the elders answered: What are these which are arrayed in white robes, and whence came they?”  So the Lord Jesus is asking two questions of John and, of course, John does not know the answers.  The One asking the question does know the answer – Christ knows the answer.  That makes us wonder, “Then why is He asking the two questions?”  The only answer to that has to be that He wants to draw attention to the answer to these questions; He wants to emphasize this truth; He wants us to know exactly what the questions are.

The first question is: “What are these which are arrayed in white robes?”  Now that sounds awkward in the English, when it says “What are these?” because it is referring to people and we want to change it to “Who are they?”  And that is permissible because the word “what” here is often translated as “who,” depending on the context.  Since people are in view (the great multitude, clothed in white robes, in verse 9), it would be more accurate to say, “Who are these?” or “Who are they which are arrayed in white robes?”  The Bible permits this and it is much more understandable to hear the question asked that way. 

The second question is: “And whence came they?”  The word “whence” is an Old English word that we do not use too often in our modern day, but it means, “from where.”   So it would mean, “From where did they come?”  These are two every important questions and the answer, especially to the second question, is going to help us very much in understanding something else in the Bible, as we read of those knocking in the door in the Day of Judgment, for instance, in Luke 13; one of the things said to them is: “Depart from me, ye workers of iniquity.”  Actually, it is not put exactly that way, but it says in Luke 13:25:

…Lord, Lord, open unto us; and he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are:

Is that not interesting that God uses the same word, “whence ye are”?   In Revelation 7, the question is: “And whence came they?”

We are out of time.  The next time we get together, we will pick this study up and we will try to answer some of these questions.