Revelation 7:14 - Printer Friendly

ESV: I said to him, "Sir, you know." And he said to me, "These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

NIV: I answered, "Sir, you know." And he said, "These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

NASB: I said to him, 'My lord, you know.' And he said to me, 'These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

CSB: I said to him, "Sir, you know." Then he told me: These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

NLT: And I said to him, 'Sir, you are the one who knows.' Then he said to me, 'These are the ones who died in the great tribulation. They have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb and made them white.

KJV: 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.

NKJV: And I said to him, “Sir, you know.” So he said to me, “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

In the prior verse, an unnamed elder asks John to name the people he sees. The purpose of this is not to gain information, but to prompt a response from John. According to this verse, John answered the elder wisely. He did not know the identity of the white-robed multitude. So, he simply said, "Sir, you know." Although John accompanied Jesus for three years as a disciple and listened to Jesus' teachings, he did not know everything. Nor can believers today know everything. However, we are accountable for what we do know (Luke 12:48).

The elder informed John that the multitude was coming out of the great tribulation and had been washed in the blood of the Lamb. Jesus had described the time before His coming to earth to reign. He said it would be a time of famines, religious deception, international warfare, afflictions and death, stellar and global catastrophes, and persecution (Matthew 24). He also promised that "the one who endures to the end will be saved (Matthew 24:13). All who belong to the white-robed multitude had endured the perils of the tribulation and had come through them safely.

Revelation 7:9–17describes an innumerable multitude standing before the throne and the Lamb. They ascribe glory to God and the Lamb, affirming that salvation belongs to God and the Lamb. This sets off a crescendo of praise from all the angels, the elders, and the four living creatures, all of whom prostrate themselves before the throne and worship God. John is not able to identify the multitude or indicate where they came from, but an elder identifies them as saved survivors of the great tribulation, Further, he explains they are now safe in God's presence, and will never again hunger or thirst or be scorched by the sun. The Lamb, the elder says, will be their shepherd, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

Revelation 7 occurs after the opening of the sixth seal, and before the seventh. John sees four angels standing at the four corners of the earth and another angel ascending from the rising sun with the seal of God. He seals 144,000 saved Jews on their foreheads. These 144,000 sealed servants of God are instrumental in leading a great number of people from all parts of the world to faith in Jesus Christ. This multitude of believers have passed through the tribulation and will serve God perpetually in the millennial temple. Their troubles and tears will be behind them.

The last and largest section of Revelation began in chapter 4, where John is shown events yet to come (Revelation 1:19). Chapters 4 and 5 describe what John saw in heaven, including a scroll of God's judgments. Chapter 6 focused on the events that transpire when Jesus opens six of the seven seals on that scroll, one at a time. Now, in chapter 7, an interlude occurs between the opening of the sixth seal and the seventh seal. In the interlude an angel seals 144,000 saved Jews as God's servants. Chapter 8 will describe the seventh seal, and the beginning of the ''trumpet'' judgments.

The word ''revelation'' means ''an unveiling or disclosure.'' This writing unveils future events such as the rapture, three series of judgments that will fall on the earth during the tribulation, the emergence of the Antichrist, the persecution of Israel and her amazing revival, as well as Jesus' second coming with His saints to the earth, the judgment of Satan and his followers, and finally, the eternal state. This content, combined with the original Greek term apokalypsis, is why we now refer to an end-of-the-world scenario as ''an apocalypse.''