Revelation 7:9-14

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Revelation 7:1-12

Here we have, I. An account of the restraint laid upon the winds. By these winds we suppose are meant those errors and corruptions in religion which would occasion a great deal of trouble and mischief to the church of God. Sometimes the Holy Spirit is compared to the wind: here the spirits of error are compared to the four winds, contrary one to another, but doing much hurt to the church, the garden and vineyard of God, breaking the branches and blasting the fruits of his plantation. The devil... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Revelation 7:13-17

Here we have a description of the honour and happiness of those who have faithfully served the Lord Jesus Christ, and suffered for him. Observe, I. A question asked by one of the elders, not for his own information, but for John's instruction: ministers may learn from the people, especially from aged and experienced Christians; the lowest saint in heaven knows more than the greatest apostle in the world. Now the question has two parts:?1. What are these that are arrayed in white robes? 2.... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Revelation 7:9-10

7:9-10 After this I saw, and, behold, a great crowd, so great that none could count its number, drawn from every race and from all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes and palms in their hands. And they shouted with a great voice: "Salvation belongs to our God, who is seated upon the throne and to the Lamb." Here we have the beginning of the vision of the future blessedness of the martyrs. (i) There is encouragement. There... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Revelation 7:11-12

7:11-12 And all the angels stood in a circle round the throne and the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell upon their faces before the throne, and worshipped God, saying: "So let it be. Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honour and power and strength belong to our God for ever and for ever. Amen." The picture is of a series of great concentric circles of the inhabitants of heaven. On the outer ring stand all the angels. Nearer the throne are the... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Revelation 7:13-14

7:13,14 And one of the elders said to me: "Do you know who these are who are clothed in white robes and where they came from?" I said to him: "Sir, you know." He said to me: "These are they who are coming out of the great tribulation, and who have washed their robes, and have made them white through the power of the blood of the Lamb." One thing is to be noted before we go on to deal with this passage in detail. The King James Version generalizes the meaning by translating: "These are they... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Revelation 7:13-14

This passage speaks of the blood of the Lamb. The New Testament has much to say about the blood of Jesus Christ. We must be careful to give this phrase its full meaning. To us blood indicates death, and certainly the blood of Jesus Christ speaks of his death. But to the Hebrews the blood stood for the life. That was why the orthodox Jew never would--and still will not--eat anything which had blood in it ( Genesis 9:4 ). The blood is the life and the life belongs to God; and the blood must... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Revelation 7:13-14

Let us now unite the two ideas of which we have been thinking. The blessed ones have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Let us try to express as simply as possible what that means. The white robes always stand for two things. They stand for purity, for the life cleansed from the taint of past sin, the infection of present sin and the attack of future sin. They stand for victory, for the life which has found the secret of victorious living. Put at its very... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Revelation 7:13-14

One thing in this passage remains to be noted, and it is of the first importance. It is said of the blessed ones that "they washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." Here is symbolically laid down man's part in his own salvation; the blessed ones washed their own robes. That is to say, the act of man's redemption is Christ's, but the effect is not passive and man has to appropriate it. There might be available to a man all the apparatus to cleanse his garments, but it... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Revelation 7:9

After this I beheld ,.... What follows is a distinct vision from the preceding one, and is not a continuation of that, as if the sealing of the Jewish believers was designed by the former, and the sealing of the Gentiles in this latter; whereas in this vision there is no mention made of sealing, nor was there, or will there be any need of it in the time it refers unto; and which is not the time of the Reformation; nor when the vials began to be poured out upon the seat of the beast; for... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Revelation 7:10

And cried with a loud voice ,.... To show the strength of their affection, and the greatness of their joy, and how sensible they were of the favour they enjoyed, and how hearty they were in the following ascription of glory to God, and the Lamb. Saying, salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb ; by "salvation" is meant, not only temporal salvation, and those many deliverances, which God had wrought for them, and particularly in bringing them out of great... read more

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