Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship's Bible study in the Book of Revelation. Tonight is study #14 of Revelation, chapter 7, and we are going to be reading Revelation 7:15-17:
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. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. 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.
These are wonderful and beautiful verses and they are very comforting to the child of God. Yet, we have to regard and take note of the context. This is referring to the great multitude that came “out of great tribulation,” and we saw that they are “before the throne of God” because the earth is God’s footstool; they are serving him “day and night in his temple,” and “day and night” is a time reference that indicates that time is still taking place on earth; that is, the earth has not yet been destroyed. They are serving him in His temple and in our last study we saw how the body of believers is the temple of God. As we serve God, as individuals, we are spiritually part of the spiritual house which God has constructed as He saved each of His elect and we are serving Him in His temple: “and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them.”
Once God saved the last one of His elect, He now indwells every single one that He had predestinated to become saved – the complete house of God (the complete temple) has now been finished. Therefore, just as with the earthly example of Solomon’s temple, once the house was finished, then the Spirit of God entered in. Now God indwells every single one that He had determined to save and, therefore, He “fills” the whole house, the entire spiritual temple of the body of Christ.
Yet, this “great multitude” still lives on the earth in the Day of Judgment. There is no problem to understanding this verse as having application to our time, but what about verses 16 and 17? Revelation 7:16 says:
They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat.
Now, certainly, this must be speaking of heaven; it cannot be speaking of this present earth – or, can it? Is it possible that it could be said of God’s elect that they will “hunger and thirst no more?” Is it possible that it could be said that “the sun shall not light on them, nor any heat”? Yes, it is very possible, once we look at it in the correct way; and that is to look for the spiritual meaning of what God is saying; that is, God is not speaking of physical hunger or physical thirst, nor of the heat of the physical sun. He is not talking about those things, but it is a completely spiritual statement that has to do with salvation, for instance, as we read of in Luke 6:21:
Blessed are ye that hunger now: for ye shall be filled. Blessed are ye that weep now: for ye shall laugh.
Here, God is speaking of those that “hunger” now because they will be “filled.” But this verse still leaves us wondering exactly what God is referring to: hungering for what? It is not until we go to the parallel Gospel account that we learn exactly what is in view. It says in Matthew 5:6:
Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
Now we have a completely different picture than someone hungering or thirsting after literal bread and water. This is someone that is hungering and thirsting “after righteousness.” Once we understand “righteousness,” we will have a complete picture. Righteousness is really embodied by the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ. It says in 1st Corinthians 1:30:
But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:
Christ is made unto us “righteousness.” The Book of Romans tells us: “by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.” Through the obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ, He saved a people for Himself and made them “righteous” in the sight of God. They are then able to have the covering (or garment) of the righteousness of Christ to put over their “nakedness” (their sinful acts and thoughts and all the evil they have done); they have the covering of Christ’s “righteousness,” so, “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness,” or “after the salvation of God.” If God grants salvation to anyone (when it was still the day of salvation), then this “hunger and thirst” would be filled. They would receive the righteousness of Christ.
Of course, we can see how this fits in with the “great multitude.” The “great multitude” will no longer hunger and thirst after righteousness because they have received the righteousness of God, in receiving God’s grace; they are born again and they no longer need to obtain righteousness. No longer do they have a need to become saved – they are saved. This is why God, in Revelation 22, is speaking of our present time, the Day of Judgment, and how everyone’s eternal state has been settled – God has completed His salvation plan; all the elect have been “made righteous” and all those that are not elect are still in their sins and are spoken of as being spiritually filthy or unjust. We read in Revelation 22:10-11:
And he saith unto me, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand. He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.
You see, the righteous are “righteous still,” and there can be no change to their spiritual condition and no change to anyone’s spiritual condition. The door is shut and if you are on the “earthly side of the door” (the side where there is no Saviour), then your condition is settled. If you are on the other side of the door (if you have entered in when you became saved and are seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus), then your spiritual condition is settled; you will remain “righteous still.” Therefore, this great multitude that was granted this tremendous mercy to enter into the door before it was shut shall not “hunger” any more and shall not “thirst” any more because they have received the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Do you see how nicely that fits with our present situation? The great multitude (which we are, if we are saved) that came “out of the great tribulation” when the Great Tribulation ended on May 21, 2011, after a full and complete 23 years, and we have obtained the righteousness of Christ and, therefore, we no longer hunger or thirst after righteousness. None of God’s elect hunger or thirst after righteousness because none of them still require the redemptive work of Christ to be applied to their hearts so that they can obtain righteousness. It is all finished and done. Just as God’s program of salvation was finished and accomplished from the foundation of the world, so, too, the work of sending forth the Gospel to apply that redemption to all those individuals whose names were recorded is now finished. Another aspect of God’s salvation program has been completed.
What about the next part of the verse? It says in Revelation 7:16:
… neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat.
What does this mean? God is speaking of the “sun,” again, so the meaning would be Eternal God Himself, as Psalm 84:11 tells us: “For JEHOVAH God is a sun and shield.” God is typified by the sun. Christ is pictured by the sun – that is why He is the Light of the world. The word “light on” in Revelation 7:16 is only translated as “light on” here. It is overwhelmingly translated as “fall” or “fell” or some variation of “fell.” It really should read: “neither shall the sun fall on them, nor any heat.” It is the same Greek word that is in Revelation 9:1:
And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth…
The word “fall” is the same word translated in our verse as “light on.” It really has in view the anger of God. When the “sun” falls on them, it is picturing God’s fury coming down upon the wicked; that is, if it were to fall on you. But, here, God is saying that the sun’s heat shall not fall on the great multitude and that is because they are not under the wrath of God. So, this is very important language, especially since God knows that His people will be alive and remain on the earth in the Day of Judgment. So it is very comforting and assuring to hear God say, “You have no worries because the wrath that is being poured out upon the wicked all around you – the cup of my wrath which they are drinking – will not fall upon you. The wrath of God will not fall upon you; you will not feel the heat of it and you will not be the recipient of my wrath. You are not the one being punished.”
We are here and the fire that is burning up the wicked and destroying them is not harming the true believer. It certainly can be a means of “trying” us; and that is happening. God is severely trying His people to see whether we are children of God, but the fire will not consume us and, ultimately, will not harm us in any way. We will come through the fire and this is a verse that assures us of that fact: “They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun fall on them, nor any heat.”
We have a verse in Isaiah where this verse in Revelation comes from. We will see that rather quickly in Isaiah 49:8-12:
Thus saith JEHOVAH, In an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee: and I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages; That thou mayest say to the prisoners, Go forth; to them that are in darkness, Shew yourselves. They shall feed in the ways, and their pastures shall be in all high places. They shall not hunger nor thirst; neither shall the heat nor sun smite them: for he that hath mercy on them shall lead them, even by the springs of water shall he guide them. And I will make all my mountains a way, and my highways shall be exalted. Behold, these shall come from far: and, lo, these from the north and from the west; and these from the land of Sinim.
Here, we see the very similar language in verse 10: “They shall not hunger nor thirst; neither shall the heat nor sun smite them.” That is the difference – in Revelation 7, it says the sun shall not “light on” them or “fall on” them, but the meaning is that it will not “smite” them. The word “smite” is a word that can mean “kill.” For instance, it is the same word that is used in Psalm 78:51, where it speaks of the Lord smiting the firstborn in Egypt and we know that He “killed” them. There was a plague that killed all the first born and that is what it means to be “smitten” by the “sun.” And God says that those that experienced salvation during the day of salvation shall “neither hunger nor thirst,” and, again, we understand that to mean that they will not hunger or thirst for righteousness, because they have obtained it through that salvation: “Neither shall the heat nor sun smite them: for he that hath mercy on them shall lead them.” If God does not have mercy upon you, He will “smite” you with the “sun” and “heat.”
This reminds us of the Book of Jonah, if you remember when Jonah had fulfilled his task which God had assigned him in going to Nineveh and proclaiming that they had “forty days.” Then the men of Nineveh, from the King on down, cried out to mercy and the Lord repented of the evil He had intended to do unto them and did it not. Then Jonah went outside the city and was praying and waiting to see what would happen. Then we read of that situation in Jonah 4:4-8:
Then said JEHVOAH, Doest thou well to be angry? So Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city, and there made him a booth, and sat under it in the shadow, till he might see what would become of the city. And JEHVOAH God prepared a gourd, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd. But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered. And it came to pass, when the sun did arise, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die, and said, It is better for me to die than to live.
In this historical parable we have Jonah, in chapter 4, as a “type” of Christ. That is why the statement is made that he “wished in himself to die, and said, It is better for me to die than to live.” Of course, that statement is true of the Lord Jesus Christ – it was “much better” for Him to die than to live. If He did not die, He could not have saved His people from their sins. So, Jonah is a picture of the Lord Jesus under the wrath of God; and notice that the sun beats upon his head, causing him to faint and to wish in himself to die. Again, the “heat of the sun” is a type and figure of God’s wrath.
I just want to go to one more place in the Book of Revelation, to a place that describes our present period of Judgment Day. Revelation 16 discusses the outpouring of the seven vials of the wrath of God upon the earth. It says in Revelation 16:8-9:
And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire. And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory.
Here, we find the “sun” and the vial of the wrath of God is poured out upon the “sun” and then men are scorched with fire and notice that it says in verse 9: “And men were scorched with great heat.” That word “heat” is the same word as used in Revelation 7, where it says that the sun and the heat will not fall upon the great multitude, but it will fall on everyone else, and that is what Revelation, chapter 16, is describing: the Day of Judgment, the day of the wrath of God and this time, since May 21, 2011, which (in all probability) will continue for 1,600 days and then be completed. During this 1,600 day period, the “sun” is “falling upon” the unsaved people of the earth, scorching them, spiritually, and they are being “scorched with great heat.”
The word “scorched” is an interesting word. It is interesting because it is only found four times in the Bible – two of those times are in the verse we just read that refer to being scorched with fire and scorched with great heat. The other two times – once in the Gospel of Matthew and once in the Gospel of Mark – it is found in the context of the parable of the sower. It says in Matthew 13:6:
And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away.
It is also found in Mark 4:3-6:
Hearken; Behold, there went out a sower to sow: And it came to pass, as he sowed, some fell by the way side, and the fowls of the air came and devoured it up. And some fell on stony ground, where it had not much earth; and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of earth: But when the sun was up, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away.
This is referring to the “seed,” or the Word of God, that is sown in the hearts of men. Then God uses the picture of seed that does not find “depth of earth” and it does not go very deeply into the ground, so it has no “root” in itself. When it says, “it had no root,” it means it did not have the Lord Jesus, as He is the “root of Jesse.” Yet, it is the scorching heat of the sun that reveals this and that is the character of this time period; we are living in a time when the “sun” is bearing down and there is “great heat” (scorching heat) that will burn up all seed that has “no depth of earth,” and, therefore, “no root” in itself. Anyone that is not a true believer (a true child of God) and does not have the Spirit of Christ will be “scorched” with this burning sun that God has lit.
Of course, God speaks of this as a time of “darkness,” but this is another parabolic statement to instruct us that it is a time of intense and severe trial – the trial of our faith. The “sun” will burn up and will “fall on” the wicked and all of them that profess to be Christian; no matter what their profession was; no matter how many tracts they handed out or how often they proclaimed that May 21, 2011, was Judgment Day; no matter what they gave up of their resources and funds. Now is the time when God is trying them and testing them to see if they have “root” in themselves.
The true believers (those that are saved and part of the great multitude) are going to endure the burning sun. They are going to endure the heat. It is as if the sun will not “fall” on them, nor any “heat,” because God will bring them through it. They do have root in themselves; they do have Christ within and this will bring no harm to them. It is really a very encouraging verse for each one of us today: God is letting it be known and He is speaking to us: “Though it is difficult and though it is very trying, you will come through. You will endure to the end.”