Sunday School Notes: Revelation 7:9-10

⁹ After these things, I saw and behold a great crowd which no-one was able to number it from every nation and tribe and people and tongue standing before the throne and before the Lamb, having been clothed with white robes and [with] palm branches in their hands. ¹⁰ And they cry out with a loud voice saying, “Salvation belongs to our God, to the one sitting upon the throne and to the Lamb.”

Last time we looked at the 144,000, and concluded first that this was not a literal number, but a number representing a vast number of people encompassing both Old and New Testament saints (12 x 12 x 1,000–12 tribes of Israel, 12 Apostles, multiplication and “1,000” indicating a very large quantity). We also concluded that John groups the 144,000 according to the 12 tribes of Israel to make the point that this is fulfillment of the promise made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that their seed would be vast in number. See the notes on 7:4-8 for more details.

Verse 9 presents us with a great innumerable crowd from every nation, tribe, people, and tongue. It would be easy to think of this crowd as a different crowd from the 144,000. First, we are given a number for the first group, yet no-one can number this group. Second, the first group are described as “sons of Israel,” whereas this group are from all tribes and nations across the earth. But if we bear in mind the meaning behind “144,000,” its perhaps better to see these two groups as the same vast number of people but looked at from two different perspectives. The first view (4-8) shows us this group as a fulfillment of the Abrahamic prophecy–something that’s picked up again in v.9. God’s New Covenant people are not different from His Old Covenant people. Christ is the fulfillment of the Covenant: that which was anticipated in the Old Testament came to pass in Christ. The OT saints looked forward to the cross, we look back at it, but we’re all looking to the cross. John’s point is to emphasize that continuity both in the numeric symbolism and in the division by tribe. In verses 9ff., the emphasis seems to be on the quantity of the redeemed–their large number and their diverse origin, though the Abrahamic promise is still in sight.

This great crowd “that no-one is able to number” appears to be a reference to the promise first given to Abraham, and later reiterated to Isaac and Jacob. In Genesis 13:16, after Abram and Lot go their separate ways, God promises Abram that his seed will be so numerous they will be like the dust. If the dust can be counted, so can Abram’s seed. This is a positive way of expressing the same idea in 7:9: they will be innumerable. We see a similar promise in Genesis 22:15-19, after Abraham offered Isaac as a sacrifice. A further indication that John is deliberately referencing the Old Testament here is the fact that there’s a grammatical anomaly. We’ve noticed this before, where John deliberately introduces a grammatical inconsistency to make us stop and pay attention to what he’s saying, usually to flag that he’s pointing us back to the Old Testament. In this instance, there is a disagreement between “every” (pantos, which is singular), and nation (ethôn, plural), tribe (phulôn, plural), people (laôn, plural), and tongue (glôssôn, plural). Each of those should be singular to agree with “every.” Also, you might notice in my translation I said, “a great crowd which no-one was able to number it.” This is a literal rendering of the Greek that would make the skin of every English grammarian crawl. That final “it” is redundant, both in English and Greek. But this is an acceptable Hebrew grammatical form. Why might John suddenly switch to using a Hebrew expression? Could this be a further indicator that he’s pointing us back to Genesis 13?

John describes this vast multitude as being clothed in white robes and holding palm branches. I think we understand the “white robe” symbolism by now. The saints under the golden altar in chapter six were given white robes, for example. It’s clear this represents purity, particularly righteousness before God, being spiritually clean. And this is a robe given to God’s people with which they are clothed. The use of the passive voice here reminds us that this is not a righteousness they earned, and it is not one that comes from their own effort. Rather, it is a righteousness given to them by God by virtue of Christ’s death and resurrection. It was the Lamb who was slain to provide them with robes of righteousness. As a result of being clothed in Christ’s purity, they are able to stand before the throne without fear.

But what of the palm branches? This sounds a bit like a Palm Sunday service! The best explanation we can come up with is that this is a reference to the Feast of Tabernacles. In Leviticus 23:40, we are told that this sabbath, or feast, was to be celebrated with a variety of offerings, and with palm branches. For the duration of the seven day festival, the participants were to dwell in tents, or booths, as a reminder of the wilderness wanderings of Israel after their escape from Egypt. Tabernacles was both a reminder of God’s faithfulness, bringing them deliverance from the hands of the Pharaoh, and a reminder of God’s judgment upon His people for their lack of faithfulness, even though God remained true to them and brought them into the Promised Land. We’ve already noted how the picture of Christ as the Lamb of God draws a parallel between the Passover lamb whose blood saved Israel from death, and Christ whose blood redeemed his people from the death penalty of sin. The palm branches here celebrate Christ’s victory over sin and death on our behalf, and also serve to remind us that even in the midst of God’s judgment upon the earth, He remains faithful to His people.

The song of the saints in verse 10 declares that salvation is God’s, but it does so in an interesting way. There are two parts to this verse:

1. Salvation belongs to our God
2. to the One who sits upon the throne and to the Lamb

It’s tempting to join these parts together with “and”–but there is no “and.” Indeed, in the Greek, these two parts are in apposition. In other words, they share grammatical similarities such that we should take the second part as a further description of the first part. An English equivalent would be, “That wheel belongs to the bus, the big, red, and noisy one.” “Big, red, and noisy” give further description to “the bus” telling us more about the bus in question. In this song of praise, the saints around the throne are telling us:

1. Salvation is God’s and God’s alone–He is the One who saves.
2. The One who sits upon the throne that we’ve referenced since chapter 5–in case anyone missed it–He’s our God.
3. The Lamb is also our God, since only God saves and salvation also belongs to the Lamb. But he’s not a separate God–He’s the same one.

In other words, this is another affirmation of Christ’s deity, and also of the unity of the Godhead.

As we talked about the 144,000 and the great multitude, we noted that good and godly men have disagreed over how these verses should be understood. Some are convinced (as I am) that these are the same group of people, yet some are equally convinced they represents two different groups. Some believe the first group is a literal remnant of Israel, while others (like me) believe they are figurative of all God’s people. What’s important, however, is what John is telling us through this imagery. Revelation is a letter of hope. In the midst of the sin and decay that’s around us, where violence, injustice, and persecution are every day experiences, we need to keep our eyes on the end game. Your church may be small and struggling, you may feel as if you’re the only believer left in your town, you might feel isolated as you make a stand for Christ in the face of overwhelming pressure to conform. In Revelation 7, John pulls back the heavenly veil to remind us of what’s promised to God’s people. We are not alone. Indeed, we are an innumerable multitude spanning centuries of time. We may feel like we stand alone, but there is a vast number of our brethren standing with us. And as we glimpse into eternity, we see them before the very throne of God, praising Him for the victory He has wrought over sin, death, and Satan on our behalf. That’s what we have to look forward to. The victory has been won, and one day, we will all join that mighty throng singing the same song of praise: “Salvation belongs to our God!”

We’ll start at verse 11 next time, and get as far as we can!