No, It’s Not "Revelations," and It Is Not About That! Reflections on Revelation 7:9-17

October 24, 2014 by John Holbert

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The 144,000 saints of today's passage from Revelation 7 represent nothing less than "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" (Rev. 7:9). Here is no chosen few, but rather a vast, uncountable multitude, all praising the slain lamb, dressed in white robes, made white by the actions of the lamb, not by their own power and victories, by right belief or rejection of those who think differently.

John's Revelation is a great book of the promise of God to create a world where all have a place, where hierarchies disappear, where all live together in harmony and peace. Do not allow anyone to make this book into a thing of scary fear, of partisan choice, of believing rightly lest you end in fire. No! It is a book of hope, founded in love, and the gift of the lamb for all of the people of God. Happy All Saints Day!

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About John Holbert

John C. Holbert is the Lois Craddock Perkins Professor Emeritus of Homiletics at Perkins School of Theology in Dallas, TX.

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