3 Lessons From Revelation 7

“Who are these, robed in white, and where have they come from?”

 I said to him, “Sir, you are the one who knows.” 

Then he said to me, “These are they who have come out of the great ordeal;

 they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

(from Revelation 7:9-17)

Revelation is widely misunderstood and misinterpreted

A deeper understanding of Revelation’s meaning is its theology of baptism and the sealing of the saints.

Revelation claims we are not baptized from sickness, betrayals, wars and other disasters but prepared to face them in our faith journey.

Rather we are baptized into two types of churches: The church triumphant, the one in heaven with those dressed in white robes and the church militant, the ones still on earth.

The church militant, in the final period awaiting God’s coming, is called to face terrorism, HIV/AIDS, hunger, wars, and any form evil with enduring faith as Jesus Christ did.

Christians wanting to go to heaven, miss the point of making it through the Great Tribulation means being part of the celebrating triumphant Church in 7: 9 – 17.

The First Lesson: all Christians are candidates for tribulation in some form and whatever comes their way, it is paramount to follow the Lamb’s way.

The being clothed in white robes with the Lamb’s blood is the spiritual state of those holding on to their faith in the midst of life’s chaos

The Second Lesson: the imagery of washing robes in the Lamb’s blood is symbolic of aligning our life with the cause of Jesus Christ.

Christians are called not to be comfortable in the distorted standard values of the contemporary empire but to always focus their joy on the coming heaven mentioned in Revelation 21 – 22.

The Third Lesson:

God does not inflict pain on his people but he is compassionate and tender to all who believe and follow in the steps of the Lamb.