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 though there were great numbers
converted in many nations, kindreds, people, and tongues, yet not
in all; nor do the characters of this great multitude, and the
happiness they shall enjoy, seem to suit with persons in a state
of mortality and imperfection, ( Revelation
7:14-17 ) ; wherefore many interpreters understand this
vision of the saints in heaven: but it rather respects the
millennium state, or thousand years' reign of Christ with his
saints on earth, with which all that is here said agrees; compare
( Revelation 7:14 ) with
( Revelation 20:4 ) ; and
( Revelation 7:15 ) with
( Revelation 22:3 ) ; and
( Revelation 7:16
Revelation 7:17 ) with
( Revelation 21:4
Revelation 21:6 ) . And
the design of this vision is to show to John, and every diligent
observer, that after the seventh seal is opened, the trumpets are
blown, and the vials poured out; during which time there will be
a number sealed that will profess Christ; and at the close and
winding up of all things, in the days of the voice of the seventh
angel, Christ will descend, and all the saints with him; their
bodies will be raised, and the living saints changed, and make
one general assembly, who are shown to John here, as in (
Revelation 21:9
Revelation 21:10 ) ;
to relieve his mind, and support his spirits, in a view of the
calamities ushered in by the opening of the seventh seal.
And lo, a great multitude, which no man could
number;
which design all the elect of God in the new Jerusalem church
state, the bride, the Lamb's wife, or the new Jerusalem
descending from God out of heaven; these will appear to be a
great multitude, not in comparison of the inhabitants that shall
have dwelt upon earth, nor of the professors of religion in one
shape or another; for, with respect to each of these, they are
but a few, a seed, a remnant, a little flock; but as considered
in themselves, and so they are many who are ordained to eternal
life, whose sins Christ has bore, for whom his blood has been
shed, and whom he justifies, and who are called by his grace, and
are brought to glory; and who make up such a number as no man can
number: God indeed can number them, but not man; for they are a
set of particular persons chosen by God, and redeemed by Christ,
and who are perfectly and distinctly known by them; their number
and names are with them; their names are written in the Lamb's
book of life; and God and Christ can, and do call them by their
name; and when they were given to Christ, they passed under the
rod of him that telleth them; and he will give an exact account
of them, of every individual person, another day. But then they
are not to be numbered by men; and they will be
of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and
tongues,
and therefore must consist both of Jews and Gentiles; these were
not all nations, &c. but "of" all nations, some of all
nations; and such God has chosen, Christ has redeemed, and the
Spirit calls; God has not chosen all the Jews, but a remnant,
according to the election of grace, nor all the Gentiles, but has
taken out of them a people for his name; and so Christ has
redeemed, by his blood, some out of every kindred, tongue,
people, and nation, of Jew and Gentile: and hence the Gospel has
been sent into all the world, and to all nations, for the
gathering of these persons out of them; and when they are all
gathered in, they will all meet together in the new Jerusalem
church state, and make up the body here presented to view.
Stood before the throne and before the Lamb;
the throne of God, and of the Lamb, will be in the midst of the
new Jerusalem church; the tabernacle of God will be with men, and
he will dwell, among them; and before the presence of his glory
will all the saints be presented; and the Lamb will then present
to himself his whole church, without spot, or wrinkle, or any
such thing; and they will behold his glory, and see him as he is:
and as they are described before by their number, and their
descent, so here by their position and situation, and, as
follows, by their habit and attire,
clothed with white robes;
agreeably to their princely and priestly characters: it was usual
for princes and noblemen to be arrayed in vestures of linen, as
Joseph was in Pharaoh's court; and the Jewish priests wore
garments of linen, in their daily ministry and service; and in
the thousand years' reign the saints will appear to be kings and
priests, ( Revelation
5:10 ) ( 20:6 ) ;
and accordingly will be clothed as such: and this may also be
expressive of their entire freedom from sin by the blood of
Christ, ( Revelation
7:14 ) ; and their complete justification by his
righteousness, which is sometimes compared to white raiment, and
is called fine linen, clean, and white; and likewise their
spotless purity and holiness, sanctification in them being now
perfect, which was before imperfect: and these robes may also
design their shining robes of glory and immortality; for they
will now be clothed upon with their house from heaven, and will
have put off mortality and corruption, and have put on
immortality and incorruption, and appear with Christ in glory;
for such will be the then state of things:
and palms in their hands;
or branches of palm trees, as in ( John 12:13 ) as an
emblem of their uprightness and faithfulness, which they had
shown in the cause of Christ, even unto death, the palm tree
being a very upright tree, ( Jeremiah
10:5 ) ( Song of
Solomon 7:7 ) ; or of their bearing up under a variety of
pressures and afflictions, by which they were not cast down and
destroyed, but bravely stood up under them, and were now come out
of them; the palm tree being of such a nature, as is reported,
that the more weight is hung upon it, the higher it rises, and
the straighter it grows; see ( Psalms 92:12
) ; and chiefly as an emblem of victory and triumph over their
enemies, as sin, Satan, the world and death, which they had been
struggling with, in a state of imperfection, but were now more
than conquerors over them; the palm tree is well known to be a
token of victory. So Philo the Jew F6 says, the palm tree is
(sumbolon nikhv) , "a
symbol of victory". Conquerors used to carry palm tree branches
in their hands F7: those who conquered in the combats
and plays among the Greeks, used not only to have crowns of palm
trees given them, but carried branches of it in their hands
F8; as did also the Romans in their
triumphs; yea, they sometimes wore "toga palmata", a garment with
the figures of palm trees on it, which were interwoven in it
F9: and hence here palms are mentioned
along with white garments; and some have been tempted to render
the words thus, "clothed with white robes", and "palms on their
sides"; that is, on the sides of their robes F11. The
medal which was struck by Titus Vespasian, at the taking of
Jerusalem, had on it a palm tree, and a captive woman sitting
under it, with this inscription on it, "Judaea capta", Judea is
taken. And when our Lord rode in triumph to Jerusalem, the people
met him with branches of palm trees in their hands, and cried,
Hosanna to him. So the Jews, at the feast of tabernacles, which
they kept in commemoration of their having dwelt in tents in the
wilderness, carried "Lulabs", or palm tree branches, in their
hands, in token of joy, ( Leviticus
23:40 ) ; and in like manner, these being come out of the
wilderness of the world, and the tabernacle of God being among
them, express their joy in this way; (See Gill on 12:13).