Rev. 7:14b ... "These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb."
A thousand years before Christ came David asked, "O Lord, who may abide in Your tent? Who may dwell on Your holy hill? (Psa. 15:1). David was concerned with who would be allowed to dwell in the precincts of the proposed temple to be built on the mountain in Jerusalem. It had been his ambition to build this temple, but because he was a man of war David was denied the project by Jehovah. However, he was told that he could make preparations and assemble materials so that his son Solomon would be able to build it. David then spent the rest of his life engaged in these preparations and in meditations about their implementation.
There are some parallels between David's subject in Psalm 15 and the status of Christians. The question for us is, "Who shall dwell in God's presence in that eternal, perfect, celestial Temple of heaven? Remember that Jesus said, "In My Father's house are many dwelling places ... I go to prepare a place for you ... I will come again, and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also, (Jno. 14:2-3). It is to be noted that heaven is a prepared place, but only for those who prepare them-selves for it. But what is the nature of this preparation?
In Rev. 7, John had a vision of a multitude of people who were sealed by God, (to signify His recog-nition and approval of them). Upon seeing them invested in robes of pure white, John inquired of one of the elders about their identity. The elder's answer is our featured text: "These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." The "great tribulation" means the earthly experience of the struggle against temptation, which is directed at Christians throughout their lives by the evil forces at large in the world, (Eph. 6:10-17). The white robes they wore represent the righteousness of these saints, (Rev. 19:8). However, this righteous-ness was not of themselves. The elder made it clear to John that the whiteness of the robes was due to the cleansing power of the "blood of the Lamb," i.e., the purifying blood Jesus shed on Calvary, (Heb. 9:14). In fact, even the robes themselves are a gift from Christ. (See Gal. 3:27, where "put on" is the usual word for putting on clothing, as the NASB so translates it). The reference, of course, is to bap-tism, for that is the active response of the believer in which Jesus' blood cleanses the soul of sin, (Acts 20:28 and 22:16; Rom. 6:3-7). After baptism, a Christian must be diligent to keep his soul pure, (Jas. 1:27), uncontaminated by the myriad defilements of the polluted world in which he lives, (I Jno. 2:16).
Therefore, the answer to the question, "Who shall be permitted to live forever in heaven before God?" is: Everyone who has his soul washed clean of sin in the blood of Christ in baptism, and who thereafter resists the worldly pollutions and keeps his soul pure unto death. Those whom John saw in the vision in Revelation 7 had accomplished this and were receiving great blessings in their new and eternal glorious home. First, they were permitted to come before God on His throne and serve Him there forever, (v.15). Second, all the distressing problems of their former earthly lives were forever banished from them, (v.16). And third, Christ their Savior will give them the food and water of life to sustain them eternally, (v.17).
The wonder of this message is that anyone can be one of these people clothed with white robes in the company of Jesus in heaven, if he will gladly submit to the preparations of "wash(ing his) robe and mak(ing it) white in the blood of the Lamb" while the time and opportunity are still at hand.
