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Revelation 7:11
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11 And [kai] all [pas] the angels [aggelos] stood [histemi] round about [kuklo] the throne, [thronos] and [kai] about the elders [presbuteros] and [kai] the four [tessares] beasts, [zoon] and [kai] fell [pipto] before [enopion] the throne [thronos] on [epi] their [autos] faces, [prosopon] and [kai] worshipped [proskuneo] God, [theos] KJV-Interlinear
11 And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures; and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, NASB
And now John has a clear picture of heaven, filled up with hosts and hosts of people and angels, with numbers so great that only God can count them.
Standing around the throne, the center of all that exists, Jesus Christ on whom all life rests and balances, are innumerable angels, who have been living for all of the time that creation has existed, and have seen all of history, both prior to, and during the existence of humanity.
They fall down to worship, and to recognize that it is God, Jesus Christ, who is the ultimate authority and sovereign in all of existence.
This then, gives us an indication of Satan’s rebellion, not just against God the Father or God in general, but against Jesus Christ in particular, just as Jesus Christ is our focus, so too, the angels here, demonstrate that they too point their worship toward Him, and to no one else.
Likewise, assembled are the glorified believers who already have their resurrection bodies, elders with golden crowns, or Church Age believers who were already Raptured away from the earth.
And, then there are the believers in white robes, who are the believers who have died, as of that point in the Tribulation, not yet glorified, not yet resurrected. And from this verse, we know that they will be coming to heaven in huge numbers. That means that of all the people who refused to believe in Christ, or simply were not interested, prior to the Rapture, were in fact going to believe in Christ, once the heat of life was turned up really high. And their high heat of life means their death. This also is a further indication of the horrible conditions on the earth, that will exist during the Tribulation.
Why are the Old Testament believers not mentioned here? They have not yet received their resurrection, and certainly with over four thousand years of history, their numbers will be huge as well.
But what is emphasized here, is the fact that even during this brief period in history, only seven years, the numbers of believers pouring into heaven, will be huge. As the population on the earth declines, the population in heaven will be increasing.
The missionary work of the Israelites of the past which failed, will be totally successful, even under the most extreme of circumstances.
What John is seeing is a snapshot of heaven as a result of the history being carried out on earth during the Tribulation. And though we have not yet covered all of the events of the Tribulation, this summary demonstrates that even under massive extremes of life, people will still turn to God, through Christ.
One might wonder, if they can and will, do it then, when the world is literally falling apart, why can’t people do it now (believe and/or advance in their spiritual life), when we have a much better world to live in now?
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