AM Bible Study; May 27, 2009
Revelation 7:9-17
Theme: God gives a picture of the multitude in glory that comes out of the great tribulation.
The opening words of this morning’s passage are, “After these things . . .” This suggests that the 144,000 sealed Jewish people in verses 1-8 have something to do with what follows. It describes a scene in heaven, because it centers around the throne of God (see chapters 4-5). And the focus of attention is on the vast multitude that appear before the throne of God who are said to, even then, be coming out of the great tribulation (7:14).
This passage shows us that, even in the darkest time that this world will ever know, God’s redemptive love is still evident. It reminds us that, even with all the turmoil we may see on earth, the greater victory celebration in heaven is still a glorious reality.
I. THE APPEARANCE OF THE MULTITUDE (vv. 9-10).
A. John says that, looking, he saw “a great multitude which no one could number”. Whoever this multitude is, it stands in distinction from the angels, the twenty-four elders, and the four living creatures of chapters 4-5 (see verse 11).
B. It is also distinct from the 144,000 sealed children of Israel (vv. 1-8), because this vast multitude is composed of human beings “of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues”. This may describe either a descending order of specificity (i.e., nations, to tribes within those nations, to people groups within those tribes, to languages within those people groups), or it may refer to the ways that people are ordinarily divided from one another. In any case, here—before God’s throne—is that unity that human beings have sought to bring about by their own power from the time of the tower of Babel.
II. THE RESPONSE TO THE MULTITUDE (vv. 11-12).
III. THE IDENTITY OF THE MULTITUDE (vv. 13-14).
IV. THE BLESSEDNESS OF THE MULTITUDE (vv. 15-17).