Exploring Revelation 7:9. # 183. 03/12/2024

Out of Many, One People

Welcome. Again an Advent theme, with my limited attempt to explore one of the richest and now widely used texts that point us to the life of the heavens and eternity.

Exploring Revelation 7:9.

After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands.

As culturally diverse congregations have gained a higher profile over the past decade or so, and especially since the ‘racial reckoning’ of 2020, so Revelation 7:9 has rightly become a central focus in asserting the significance of becoming an ethnically diverse church. John ‘looked’ – he saw not just a theoretical vision of ethnic diversity but a reality being enacted. He goes on to recount how he heard the song of praise that came in these diverse languages. It was a visible and aural unity.

Revelation 7:9 it not just an isolated proof text, rather it has an important history in the Old Testament, whilst the key words are also a running theme through Revelation itself. It needs to be central to the church’s sense of identity, mission and above all, worship.

The four words.

The great multitude of worshippers in Revelation 7:9 are described with four words – translated in the NRSV as nation, tribe, people and language. As regards their separate meanings, in Greek the four words are:

ethnos, translated as ‘nations’. The reference is to people outside Israel, that is Gentiles and its meaning lies midway between our sense of nations, as clearly defined political entities, and of ethnic groups – that is people defined by a sense of common identity.

phyle, translated as ‘tribe’, again can refer to the different peoples of the world. In Rev 1:7 it is ‘all the tribes of the earth’ who will wail as they see Jesus ‘coming with the clouds’. The word connects more particularly with the twelve tribes of Israel, who have been listed immediately before 7:9.

laos, translated as ‘people’, referred to a multitude of people, but was especially used in the Greek translation of the Old Testament for the people of Israel, and subsequently for the church. Thus Acts 15:14 refers to a laos for God’s name taken from among the ethnos.

glossa, translated as ‘language’ is straightforward, though it is significant to note it is the same word used in Acts 2 and 1 Corinthians 14 for speaking in ‘tongues’.

So there are no simple parallels between the four words used in Revelation and the words we use today, but the effect of the cumulative list of words is to build up a sense of size or completeness – we are dealing with the whole of humanity. Whilst the order of the words above follows Revelation 7:9, in the six other lists in Revelation (discussed below) the order of the words varies considerably, with only glossa never taking priority.

The Old Testament roots.

The Lord’s promised Abram in Genesis 12:3 that “in you all the families of the earth will be blessed”. Repetition reinforces the point: at critical times in his life we are told Abram is to be ‘the ancestor of a multitude on nations’ (17:5); ‘shall become a great and mighty nation, all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him’ (18:18); ‘by your offspring shall all the nations of the earth gain blessing for themselves’ (22:18); and (to Isaac) ‘all the nations of the earth shall gain blessing for themselves through your offspring’ (26:4). So Revelation 7:9 ‘is a direct trajectory of the promise made to Abraham here in Genesis 12:1-3’ (J Daniel Hays ‘From Every People and Nation’, p 62).

As to who these nations were, immediately before the Lord’s call to Abram, in Genesis chapters 10 and 11 the context is set, listing ‘the nations spread abroad on the earth after the flood’ (Gen 10:32). The descendants of each of Noah’s sons are described ‘by their families, their languages, their lands, and their nations’ (vv 31, see also vv 5 & 20); words which are picked up in Genesis 12:3 (families) and 18:8 (nations, ethne in the Septuagint). They are picked up too in Revelation where ‘tribe’ (= families), ‘language’ and ‘nation’ all pick up on the words used in the Septuagint of Genesis 10.

Genesis 10-12 and Revelation, therefore, form a vast arc which covers the whole human race (note that Genesis 10 sees humankind starting afresh after the Flood.) A mid-point pillar in this arch, as it were, comes in Daniel 7:13,14. Daniel takes forward the vision of Genesis 12, by reference to the Table of the Nations in Genesis 10 and expressing confidence in the victory of God over the rebellious nations. In a breath-taking prophetic vision ‘one like a human being coming with the clouds of heaven’ will receive from the Ancient One ‘dominion and glory and kingship, that all peoples, nations and languages should serve him’. Daniel’s words here also take up the reversal of Nebuchadnezzar’s idolatrous command that all the ‘peoples, nations and languages’ should worship the golden statue (3:4 & 7). This is reversed – following the miraculous deliverance of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego – by the protection of ‘the Most High God’ from blasphemy by ‘any people, nation or language’ (3:29; 4:1).

These peaks of awareness of human differences being gathered together in God’s purposes also underlay other expressions of the calling of all nations to worship the one true God, notably in the Psalms and the later part of Isaiah. ‘There is none like you among the gods, O Lord, nor are there any works like yours. All the nations you have made shall come and bow down before you, O Lord, and shall glorify your name’ (Psalm 86:8,9).

The use of the four words elsewhere in Revelation.

In looking at the significance of these four words, we note firstly that they constitute a common formula, with seven similar passages in Revelation, using the words in different order, or occasionally bringing in other words: so dropping ‘tribes’ for ‘kings’ in 10:11, and ‘tribes’ for ‘multitudes’ in 17:15. (Ian Paul’s Tyndale Commentary on ‘Revelation’ has a chart of the various listings, p 136). It is also noteworthy that whilst the first two references (5:9 and 7:9) are in the context of worship of the Lamb, the other usages have different foci.

In 10:11 John is commanded to prophesy, with ‘kings’ rather than tribes in the list, emphasing the role of the leaders of the nations, and possibly taking up Jesus’ prophetic warning in Matthew 10:18. In similar vein 14:6 refers to the four categories receiving the angel’s proclation of ‘an eternal gospel’.

In contrast in 11:9 it is members of those four groups who will gaze over the dead bodies of the ‘two witnesses’, refuse them burial, and gloat and celebrate over their death. In 13:7 the Beast has authority over the four categories, and is to receive the worship of ‘all the inhabitants of the earth’, that is ‘everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb that was slaughtered’.

In 17:15 ‘multitudes’ – the comprehensive term for all the categories of worshippers in 7:9 - is used instead of ‘tribes’. Here the whore, ‘the great city that rules over the kings of the earth’, is sitting on the waters which hold the ‘peoples and multitudes and nations and languages’, but is shortly to be overthrown. So John’s last use of the term holds out hope to the whole multitude. Richard Bauckham writes: ‘In Revelation, four is the number of the world, seven is the number of completeness. The sevenfold use of this fourfold phrase indicates that reference is being made to all the nations of the world. In the symbolic world of Revelation, there could hardly be a more emphatic indication of universalism’ (In ‘The Theology of the Book of Revelation’ p 326). The seven uses together then refer to the varied ways of all humanity, whether presented as worshippers, listeners or opponents.

God’s purposes are fulfilled in the new Jerusalem of Revelation 21, where ‘the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them ; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them’ (21:3). It is important that the NRSV uses the plural ‘peoples’ here in contrast to the common OT phrase ‘They shall be my people’, therefore also indicating the newness and originality of the concept. As one commentator writes: “The plural suggests that the men (RSV text) God is with are not simply ‘Israel’, but the diversity of peoples witnessed to by the church” (John Sweet, SCM Pelican Commentaries on ‘Revelation’ p 298).

The vision concludes with the city lightened by the glory of God and the Lamb: “The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. . . . People will bring into it the glory and the honour of the nations” (21:24, 26). The distinctiveness of the nations and their kings, despite Revelation’s strong awareness of the evils in which they have participated (18:3), is yet retained and brought as an eternal worship offering to God. Ethnicity/nationhood/peoplehood, in ways beyond our tracing, is yet cleansed, restored and honoured in eternity, in the distinctive offerings of the varied worshipping peoples.

Some Consequences flowing from Revelation 7:9.

1. Over the long run these categories are fluid and change.

The nations, peoples and languages of the time when Revelation was given mostly no longer exist, just as those of today were not around then. So we have not just cultural differences across geographical area but over time. We also have cultures that are hybridised or being newly formed. Worship in heaven will be extraordinarily rich and complex.

2. But ethnic identities are sustained in eternity.

Gathered before the throne are recognisably different peoples, visually and orally. You could tell the differences. John’s vision is not of an homogenised soup, but rather a salad of varied identities. The distinctives of each people are to be cherished. That needs to be recognised and celebrated in church life today.

3. The long arm of salvation history.

Revelation 7:9 does not just appear out of the blue - as it were a sudden realisation by God that the good news of Jesus actually brings all peoples together in worship. (Perhaps echoing that the churches in Britain, Europe and North America seem to have only recently woken up to the idea.) Rather the vision of blessing all the nations comes together in Genesis 12 and sees its fruition in the united worship in Revelation 5:9 and 7:9.

4. Unity in diversity and diversity in unity.

The inter-ethnic unity we experience in worship on earth and the ethnic diversity of worship in heaven underline both their unity in the worship of the Lamb, and yet the diversity of the worshipers. Both emphases belong together and holding the two together is a constant calling and challenge for the church.

5. Unity can be negative.

Inter-ethnic unity is not of itself automatically good. We see nations, peoples and languages being combined together by evil powers to destroy the people of God just as possibly as being joined together in worship.

6. ‘Territory/Land’ is never mentioned.

Whilst nations and languages are taken over from the three references in Genesis 10 , the reference to ‘land’ disappears. Given how closely people and land are aligned together in the Old Testament, the omission of land or territory in Revelation indicates a startling theological change. In the midst of wars over territory in Ukraine and Palestine it is important to be reminded that territoriality is part of the old covenant. It has no place in God’s eternal kingdom.

7. ‘Colour’ is never mentioned.

The unity-in-diversity celebrated (or feared) in Revelation does not fully align with contemporary concerns. The use of big racial categories – ‘Black’, ‘White’ – is alien to the more humane concerns with local affinities and close cultural identities. It is free from the over-simple polarisation of much modern debate. Revelation is not ethnicity or culture-blind; it is colour-blind.

8. Languages are important.

Unity does not mean homogenisation. God destroyed the linguistic unity of Babel. Today we risk re-creating it, not least with the tendency to the universalising of the English language. The efficiency of a common tongue - in politics, business, academia or church – must not flatten out the richness of local, linguistic identities.

9. Worship of the Lamb of God is central to the life of the church.

Our worship together is the central and most important consequence. Revelation 7:9 is a description of worship. In 5:9 the fourfold categories are actually included in the text of the worship being offered. Ian Paul writes: ‘Rather than fleeing fearfully from God, here are people who stand with confidence, joy and praise in His presence’ (‘Revelation’ p160). Praise God that we increasingly experience that today; so make every effort for that to become more foundationally part of the local, national and international church; and joyfully look forward to a reality that our limited imaginations can only partially grasp hold of.