,, And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. 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.”
Rev. 7: 13-17
After this we read that an elder asked John:
"And one of the elders answered and said unto me, Who are these which are arrayed in white robes? And whence came they?
and John answered him,
"And I said to him, 'Lord!' You know."
John does not know this people because if they were Old Testament believers, John would recognize them as it happened once when he recognized Moses and Elijah with Peter and James on the Mount of Transfiguration.
,, And it came to pass about an eight days after these sayings, he took Peter and John and James, and went up into a mountain to pray. And as he prayed, the fashion of his countenance was altered, and his raiment [was] white [and] glistering. And, behold, there talked with him two men, which were Moses and Elias:”
Luke 9: 28-30
Also, this naod was not the Church either because John was a member of the Church, he was a preacher of the church in Ephesus and many members of his church were killed because of their faith but John does not recognize them.
In the study so far, we have seen four living beings at the throne. Representatives of the Cherubim and Seraphim, then around them or in the second row twenty-four elders who are representatives of the Church, then behind the Church in a circle of millions of angels and behind the angels a great multitude. this people stand before the throne in service and have palm trees in their hands. The members of the Church sit with crowns on their heads, harps in their hands and cups full of incense.
So these people are not Old Testament believers, they are not the Church either, and who is this people, the answer is given by the elder,
"And he said unto me, These are they which came out of great tribulation;" These people are believers from the great tribulation which shall last for seven years, and it shall be the seventh week of the prophecy of Daniel's prophecy. The Church will take and about it the prophet Daniel wrote:
,,... and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation [even] to that same time:..."
Daniel 12: 1
while Jeremiah says;
,, Alas! for that day [is] great, so that none [is] like it: it [is] even the time of Jacob's trouble; but he shall be saved out of it.”
Jer.30: 7
and the Lord Jesus said:
,, For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.”
Mt.24: 21
Throughout history, there have always been troubles for God's people, but the troubles that await this world in the near future cannot be compared to any other troubles that have been so far, and all those troubles will begin when the Church is taken to safety by God in heaven.
This numerous people is the "late rain" prophesied by the prophet Hosea:
,, Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth. "
Hosea 6: 3
This is a people who will be in great trouble on earth, of course Israel is among them, there is only no Church because all the prophets who prophesied about the last events did not see the Church in those events. The prophet Joel writes about the last events but after the outpouring of the Holy The Spirit sees signs in heaven and on earth which means that the age of the Church in which we live has been skipped.
,, And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy: And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke: The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come: And it shall come to pass, [that] whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
Acts 2: 17-21
So in the great tribulation after the preaching of one hundred and forty-four thousand missionaries, a great awakening occurs and a great many will believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as we have seen in the previous quotations.
"We have already seen that white robes are a symbol of spiritual purity, and this practically means that they are trained in Christ's justice and purity, or Christ's justice is ascribed to them. When someone is born again, he wants to do justice and behaves in this way, and that results in praising and praising God, but also in doing good deeds as a product of salvation and not as a condition of salvation.
When someone is saved, he is washed in blood and thus receives forgiveness based on the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ,
,,…and without shedding of blood is no remission.”
Hebrews 9:22
Here in our text, the same thing is written about this people, "they washed their clothes and whitened their clothes in the blood of the Lamb."
The word "forgive" speaks of their justification and "whitewashes" of their sanctification, which leads us to the conclusion that both justification and sanctification are the work of Christ, that is, the work of Christ's blood shed. From this text we can also see that when Christ saves us he does not leave us under the law but further sanctifies us until we go to heaven.
"That is why they are before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His church;" centuries and also applies to us today.
"He who sits on the throne will dwell in them" this practically means that God will always be with them and they will never be separated from God, whose glory will always be with them.
"They will no longer be hungry or thirsty" is the second promise given to them because we have already seen that there will be terrible catastrophes in great trouble which will cause a shortage of food and water and on the other hand the Antichrist will not give them food and water because of the faith they profess.
,, And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.”
Rev. 13: 7
so a large number of them will die due to lack of food or water, so we have a promise here that it has come to an end and that something like this will never happen again.
"and the sun will not fall on them, nor any heat." This refers to the fact that at that time the Jews will have to flee to deserts and mountains to avoid persecution. This is what Jesus himself recommended them to do as soon as possible. great troubles have come and they recognize that moment because they will not have much time.
,, When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.”
Matthew 24: 15-21
And when they are in the deserts they will be exposed to great heat without much food and water which will make many hungry and thirsty but we see promises
"They shall neither hunger nor thirst any more, neither shall the sun fall upon them, nor any heat." What we have read will never be repeated, but all those who are in heaven will enjoy God's abundance. Here is what the psalmist wrote.
,, The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.”
Ps.23: 1-3
"And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes." These peoples who will find themselves in great trouble because of various troubles will shed many tears because they will be persecuted, killed, hungry. Thirsty and catastrophes will be all around them.
And as the crown of everything at the end of this chapter, God gives them the promise that there will be no more tears, which is logical because all the troubles are over for them and as we have seen so far, they are in heaven and there will be no earthly problems causing human suffering. tears.
That all these catastrophes, torments and problems would not happen to us, God kindly calls us:
,, Come unto me, all [ye] that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.”
Mt.11: 28-29