At this point I’m concluding my study of chapter seven of the Apocalypse. Having discussed the identity of the 144000 and the great multitude, and discovering when the Great Tribulation occurred, I am now ready to discuss the service of the multitude, standing before the Throne of Christ, where they serve him day and night in the Temple (Revelation 7:15). It is from this place that the Messiah rules, i.e. from the Most Holy Place of the Temple.
Although we are told that Jesus rules from the Temple, this is not a temple built with hands, that is to say: it is not a temple that is built by man. Rather, this is the Temple of the Living God (2Corinthians 6:16), where every stone is a believer (1Peter 2:5; cf. 1Corinthians 3:9, 16; Ephesians 2:19-22), and this Temple of the Living God is not only the Church of the Living God (1Timothy 3:15), but also the City of the Living God (Hebrews 12:22). It is where God dwells.
In other words God dwells with his people, and participates in his creation in and through his people, just as was his intention from the very beginning in Genesis 1:27. We are his images—the only image of himself that he created, and we have been given governorship over all other things God has created, but he directs our hearts, so that we image him in all his ways, as we govern and care for the things he created.
The last two verses of chapter seven represent a free citation of the prophet Isaiah. Notice:
Revelation 7:16-17 They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. (17) For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.
Isaiah 49:10 They shall not hunger nor thirst; neither shall the heat nor sun smite them: for he that hath mercy on them shall lead them, even by the springs of water shall he guide them.
The prophet, Isaiah, pointed to the restoration of the two houses of Israel, the House of Judah and the House of Israel, in this prophecy. In Isaiah the Jews find themselves in a hopeless state, thinking they had been forsaken (Isaiah 49:14). However when the Lord calls for them, their original homeland is too narrow for them and their children (Isaiah 49:19-20). Therefore, the Messiah (49:8) goes before them as a Shepherd and brings them to a good pasture and leads them to springs of (living) water (Isaiah 49:9-10).
This theme of uniting the houses of Israel is also reproduced in the Gospel of John. There, Jesus identified himself as the Good Shepherd (John 10:11, 14). He says that he knows those who are his, and they know him. However, his sheep stretch far beyond the borders of Judea and Galilee to those scattered abroad (John 10:16; cf. 7:35; 11:50-52). The fact is, Jesus sent his Apostles to the lost sheep of the House of Israel, saying that it was to them they were sent, not to the gentiles or to Samaria, but to the lost sheep of Israel (Matthew 10:5-6). Moreover, they wouldn’t get to every one of their cities until Jesus’ Second Coming (Matthew 10:23; cf. Matthew 24:14).
Therefore, it is in this context that we must understand the words we find in Revelation 7:16-17, which, as we have seen, is nothing more than Isaiah 49:10, freely quoted here in the Apocalypse. The context of not hungering or thirsting has to do with spiritual matters, dealing with knowing and understanding the word of God and seeing it applied in their lives. These things occur before the Throne of the Messiah in heaven, but they are brought into physical reality here, on earth in the Church of the Living God, which is also his Temple, and Zion, his City.
The idea that the sun would not beat down upon the children of God, has nothing to do with what we see in the heavens. Rather, it concerns the protection God offers his people. Psalm 121:6 says: “The sun shall not smite you by day, nor the moon by night.” This has to do with God sheltering his people (Psalm 121:5). They lift their eyes to the Lord, from whom they expect their help—he is their Savior (Psalm 121:1-4). Not letting the sun scorch his people has to do with the Lord preserving them from evil in all the things that are done in his name from this time forth (Psalm 121:7-8).
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