Revelation 7:9-17

9 After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”

This is a glorious scene of worship in heaven. A multitude so vast that no one can number it from every nation standing at the throne and before the Messiah crying out that salvation is only found in God and in the Messiah! Everyone is represented hear. There is no group, no race, no nation that hasn’t heard the gospel. All who would listen and believe are here. This is the answer to God’s promise to Abraham that the number is like the stars in heaven or the sand of the sea.

Four things are said about these people:

1. Their location. They stand as the answer to the question in 6:17. They stand before the throne of God and before the Lamb. The redeemed are the ones who are able to stand.  
2. Their clothing. They are clothed in white robes. They stand forgiven by the blood of the Lamb. 
3. They are instruments of worship. They have palm branches of joy, celebration, and praise.
4. They are confessing. They cry out that salvation is of God and the Lamb.

11 All the angels stood around the throne and the elders and the four living creatures, and fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12 saying:

“Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom,
Thanksgiving and honor and power and might,
Be to our God forever and ever.
Amen.”

This is very representative of 5:11 when there were thousands of thousands around the throne. The blessing has seven elements to it. The blessing is upon God forever and ever.

In Genesis 22 God told Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac. Isaac asked where was the lamb for the offering and Abraham responded saying “God Himself will provide the lamb for the offering”. God provided a ram.

In Exodus 12 a lamb without blemish had to be sacrificed so that the people would be passed over from the judgment of God.

In John 1 we see John baptizing at the river look up and proclaim, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world”.

Here, we see the Lamb of God at the throne of God standing as the Shepherd to His followers who are worshipping God as the Living Lord.

13 Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, “Who are these arrayed in white robes, and where did they come from?”

14 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. 15 Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple. And He who sits on the throne will dwell among them. 16 They shall neither hunger anymore nor thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any heat; 17 for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of waters. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

I love John’s answer to questions from the elders. The next time someone asks me a question to which they already know the answer, I’m going to answer “Sir, you know”.  I wish I'd have known that is an answer in the Bible when I was a teenager.  I'm sure my teachers would have loved to hear that answer.

The great tribulation is the hour of trial that will precede the end. Jesus referred to this in Matthew 24:21, “For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be.”

The metaphor of washing their robe and making them white in the blood of the Lamb is opposed to what we know physically and in our common sense. It is that the Lamb took our filthy, soiled, ugly rags of sin and plunged them into His red, pure slain sacrificial blood and miraculously they come out white and pure and clean (no sin).

They serve Him, they are in His presence, He provides for their needs, and He is their Shepherd.  He leads them to living fountains of life.  David wrote that He leads us beside still waters.  Jesus told the woman at the well "the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life." (Jn 4:14)

Finally, God comforts them and takes away their sadness and pain.  They are healed inside and out.