Text for the Week: The White Robes

Scripture: Revelation 7:9-17

⁹ After this I looked, and there was a great crowd that no one could number. They were from every nation, tribe, people, and language. They were standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They wore white robes and held palm branches in their hands. ¹⁰ They cried out with a loud voice:

“Victory belongs to our God
        who sits on the throne,
            and to the Lamb.”

¹¹ All the angels stood in a circle around the throne, and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell facedown before the throne and worshipped God, ¹² saying,

“Amen! Blessing and glory
        and wisdom and thanksgiving
        and honor and power and might
            be to our God forever and always. Amen.”

¹³ Then one of the elders said to me, “Who are these people wearing white robes, and where did they come from?”

¹⁴ I said to him, “Sir, you know.”

Then he said to me, “These people have come out of great hardship. They have washed their robes and made them white in the Lamb’s blood. ¹⁵ This is the reason they are before God’s throne. They worship him day and night in his temple, and the one seated on the throne will shelter them. ¹⁶ They won’t hunger or thirst anymore. No sun or scorching heat will beat down on them, ¹⁷ because the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them. He will lead them to the springs of life-giving water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

Questions

1. Why is John so detailed in describing the crowd as “From every nation, tribe, people, and language”?
2. John seems to equate suffering with the normal Christian experience, do you think all Christians should suffer for Christ or is this a product of John’s culture?
3. The scene of the crowd around the throne is meant to represent scene of humanity glorified in God’s presence, how would you update this vision for modern audiences unfamiliar with kings and courts?

Background

Related Scriptures: Genesis 1:28, 1 John 3:1-3

Revelation 7 depicts a scene of a heavenly court where God honors those who have completed their work and they in turn offer glory to God and then are given a new arena of service.

The crowd is described as made up from “every nation, tribe, people, and language” so that we can understand there is no social distinction that will remain before God.

The white robes in this passage are a clear allusion to the fulfillment of the promise to the church of Sardis (3:5); these ones conquered and are given white robes. These are meant to show the purity and glory of those gathered around the throne.

For more background you can watch my video here

Reflection

When I come to Revelation 7 and see John’s description of the triumph of the Church, it often makes me think about C.S. Lewis’ words in The Weight of Glory

“It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare.”

Lewis is not imagining that humans go through some sort of physical change after death and become frightening, rather his words understand, as he says, the weight of glory. This is a picture of humanity when we finally encounter the promise that God has given us in Scripture. What he is describing is humanity taking on the likeness of Jesus that is described in 1 John 3:1-3.Scripture consistently uses an overwhelming brightness or majestic and even somewhat terrifying language to describe God’s presence. This language is not meant to frighten us, rather it is meant to overwhelm us with the sheer magnitude of God, and this is what we loosely call God’s glory. In Hebrew this attribute is God’s kaved or weight, it is easy to see how weight can be identified with glory since a person’s presence can be so overwhelming that it feels weighty. In fact this is the picture that John gives us of Jesus in Revelation, I think of John’s description of Jesus in chapter 1 and again his power in chapter 5. It is easy to recognize how God’s presence can be overawing, what is less obvious is our own participation in God’s glory.

The white robes, given to each of the saints in front of God’s throne in Revelation 7:9, are a representation not simply of purity but also of the glory that they are given by God. Those believers gathered around the throne are granted a real importance or gravitas. Normally we use these words in relation to other people to indicate special honor or dignity within society, but in Revelation humanity regains its original glory over creation.

The picture John paints in Revelation 7 is not simply a group of worshipers gathered around a deity to sing for eternity. The word “worship” in verse 11 is more than singing or praying, it means to “take care of God and the sanctuary” and the sanctuary in Revelation 7 is all of creation. This means that humanity is going to take on the original command of Genesis 1:28, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.” To do that we are going to be changed into what we were meant to be, creatures that reflect the purity, holiness, love, and wisdom of their creator.

This is where we pick up Lewis again because not only do we look forward to the glory that we will receive when we are united with Christ, but: “All day long we are, in some degree helping each other to one or the other of these destinations.” As we live our lives recognizing the glory that we will one day inherit we help one another on the path to glory. We are to some degree either helping people realize the potential of being Christlike or pushing them down the path toward being a monster. We are not idle in this life we are either pursuing the glory that God has for us or not, either we are witnessing to our future role, or we are not. And this is one of the blessings of All Saints Day, it is a time to remember the people in our lives who in death continue to witness to our glorious potential. We remember their struggles and strife here on earth and reflect on the glory they have now inherited as conquering heroes. This provides us with more strength and determination to walk our own path in the hope of our own triumphal entry into God’s kingdom.

Takeaway

As Christians, our lives are pointed toward God and living in a restored creation. This new life will include a restored glory that we do not recognize but strive to anticipate in this life.