A Revelation Invitation

After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” (Revelation 7:9-10)

What a marvelous portrayal of the people of God—numberless, ethnically diverse and victorious! John had heard their number (144,000 in a symbolic reckoning). Now he sees the multitude—and there are so many that no one can count them. It’s a sea of people. And they come from the four corners of the earth. They represent every nation and every ethnic people. They speak every language heard on earth. They are members of every tribe under heaven. They have become one people united in their devotion to God and in their rescue by the Lamb.

With one, loud voice they sing a song of salvation, a chorus of deliverance. They know that they have been redeemed by the Lamb. They were purchased by the one who sits on the throne that rules the world. They wear the white robes of moral purity, a purity derived from the cleansing power of the blood of the Lamb. Those same white robes and the palm branches that they wave celebrate the victory they have won—a victory over sin and death. The rulers of the world cannot take this from them. They rejoice in their triumph as they sing this song of salvation.

These Christians know that they must hold onto this assurance in the midst of truly difficult times. Roman persecution was only going to intensify. But the Lamb had already won the victory. The Romans crucified him, but the grave could not hold him. As a palm tree in a storm bends without breaking, this multitude understood that their tribulations might require them to bend. And they celebrated knowing that persecution and even death would never break them. Even though rejected, they knew they had been rescued. Even though harassed, they were exuberant. Even facing death, they knew that they would be triumphant. Today, the Lamb offers Christians that same hope. We can face similar trials with the same joy as our first-century brothers. Realizing that victory is ours as well, we celebrate as having already won. That’s not arrogance or a delusional fantasy. Our confidence comes by faith in the Lamb who having been slaughtered now stands.

O God who sits on the throne, I praise you for the salvation I have received from you. You rescued me from sin and death. I will sing of your victory through Jesus which you have made my victory. And you have revealed that I do not celebrate alone. I sing of your rescue together with my brothers and sisters the world over. Amen.