Revelation 7 cannot be understood apart from the worship and judgment of God, as it is a piece of the whole eschatological throne room scene. This description of the worship of God’s people continues and builds upon chapters 4 and 5. But it’s not enough to simply read Revelation 7 or, for that matter, chapters 4 and 5. We must see and hear with John. For the believer, it is impossible not to worship God the Father and the Son along with the elders, creatures and angels. As active participants, we come to acknowledge that Revelation 4 and 5 vividly describes our identity, purpose and final destination. Judgment begins with worship in Revelation, either to salvation or destruction.

In that same throne room filled with worship of both God and the Lamb, judgment ensues as the seals are opened (Rev 6:1-17). Just prior to the opening of the seventh seal (Rev 8:1-5), the focus shifts from Jesus (Rev 5:1-14) to his people, called “slaves” of God (Rev 7:3). Just as the identity of Jesus Christ that John hears is different from what he sees (Rev 5:5-6), the people of God are likewise presented. John hears 144,000, the complete number of the 12 tribes of Israel (Rev 7:4-8) but sees a “great multitude … from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages” (Rev 7:9). These two descriptions of the people of God are not mutually exclusive, but inclusive. The complete number of Israelites must necessarily be a multitude of all nations and vice versa, just as Christ cannot be “the Lion of Judah, the Root of David” apart from being the “slain Lamb standing” (Rev 5:5-6). The heavenly throne room is filled with the whole number of Israel and people of all ethnic groups from the entire globe.

The logic of the extensive range of races is not simply diversity, but soteriology and Christology. Regardless of race, all people are in the throne room based on a single reason—Jesus Christ, their Savior (Rev 7:10, 14). Their collective voice cries with all fervency: “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” (Rev 7:10).The air itself in the throne room is charged with electricity as people of all nations proclaim the truth that there is only one Creator and by the blood of His Son, they are in God’s holy presence. “All nations” signifies God’s limitless love that exceeds all ethnic boundaries (Rev 7:9); Christ offers salvation to all, both Jew and Gentile. No one is beyond the redemption from sin Christ effected on the cross. To limit the people of God to one ethnic group is to diminish the Triune God as merely a tribal lord rather than the Almighty Creator—Redeemer and Lord of all creation. Simply put, a nationalistic view of God’s people is idolatry.

The people of all nations in the throne room have washed their robes by the blood of the Lamb; hence, they are white (Rev 7:14). The white robes ofthe saints signify both moral and spiritual purity. Proper worship requires ethical living. The ethical standards as outlined in Exodus and Deuteronomy, condensed in the fifth through 10th commandments, are immediately dependent upon exclusive worship of God in the first through fourth commandments. The Old Testament exhaustively describes the failure of the people of God to worship God exclusively as He commands. Jesus Christ’s atoning death on the cross and His resurrection definitively and eternally resolve the problem of idolatry (i.e., sin) that plagues humanity. Spiritual purity necessarily means ethical righteousness. The spiritually unfaithful and morally depraved are excluded from the New Jerusalem (Rev 21:8) as they are unclean and false (Rev 21:27; 22:14-15). Coherently, the elders seated on thrones also wear white robes (Rev 4:4). Later, the saints, the 144,000, are called “virgins” (Rev 14:4). Here, “virgins” does not refer to sexual activity, but reflects Old Testament understanding of idolatry as adultery. These exclusively worship God the Father and the Lamb. But also, they are morally pure: they do not lie because they are blameless (Rev 14:5). “It is these who follow (akoloutheō) the Lamb wherever he goes” (Rev 14:4). In the throne room, there is no spatial distance between Christ and His followers.

Such intimate spatial proximity of the followers to Christ is the culmination of Jesus’ own definition of discipleship. “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it” (Mk 8:34-35). The verb “I follow” (akoloutheō) appears in both passages and signifies discipleship. Luke emphasizes the need for daily vigilance in his parallel to Mark: “take up his cross daily” (Lk 9:23). For Matthew, the one who refuses to take up the cross “is not worthy” of Christ (Mk 10:38). The call for believers to imitate Christ in the cross and participate in connected suffering is repeated in New Testament letters (Phil 2:5; 1 Pet 2:18-25); Paul calls believers to imitate him on the virtue that he himself imitates Christ (1 Cor 4:16; 11:1; 1 Thess 1:6; 2 Thess 3:9). It can be safely assumed that the people of God in Revelation 7 have taken up the cross in their lives prior to death. Those who follow Jesus in heaven are those who "followed" Christ by living cruciformed lives.

Finally, tight conformity to the cross of Christ naturally means enduring suffering in testimony. The “all-nations” group is described as those “coming out of the great tribulation” (Rev 7:14) just as John describes himself as a “partaker” of tribulation, which is necessarily “in Christ” along with citizenship in heaven (Rev 1:9). He is exiled to Patmos because of his testimony of Jesus Christ and God’s Word (Rev 1:10). Once the fifth seal is opened, John sees the souls of those who were slain because of God’s Word and the testimony of Jesus Christ under the altar (Rev 6:9). These are given white robes and are told to wait for the full number of God’s co-slaves, that is, their brothers, who will also be killed for their testimony (Rev 6:11). The authenticity of their faith is unquestionable as they laid down their lives for the sake of Christ. These are the souls under the altar—the same altar on which we celebrate communion. How can we hope to share the same table that represents Christ’s sacrifice on the cross without the same commitment to take up the cross and give testimony to the unbelieving world, even to death?

The throne room scene is not only a vision of the future, but a paradigm for the present. It follows on the heels of the letters to the seven churches, from chapters 2 and 3, for a dual purpose. The reality of the throne room effectively calls the churches to repent of errant praxis incoherent with the holy character of God, the Gospel message of Jesus Christ, true worship in spirit and truth, and cruciformed people of God (Rev 2:1-7, 12-29; 3:1-6, 14-22). It also encourages those who are suffering and dying for Christ to remain faithful to their testimony as they are destined for the throne room (Rev 2:8-11; 3:7-13).

What is our response to the heavenly worship in Revelation? Does it reinvigorate our faith in Christ and faithfulness to Him even to the point of death (Rev 2:10)? Does our present worship reflect the eschatological worship in Revelation 4–7? Or do we find this worship objectionable in its exclusion of nationalists, liars and cowards rather than just murderers and homosexuals? Simultaneously, are we offended by the inclusion of all races with no preferential treatment for our chosen race? What is the evangelical church’s testimony about her worship to the roughly 65% to 75% of Americans who identify as non-evangelical; when Sunday remains one of the most segregated hours of the week? When Christian vigilance against one form of murder (abortion) results in either defense of or silence to other forms of murder, not to mention lies, corruption, rampant sexual immorality and racism, it is time for Christians to rightly order our loves and be committed primarily to acting as citizens of heaven rather than as citizens of any earthly nation. Christian testimony must be comprehensively against all forms of immorality in view of the perfect atonement of Christ’s death and resurrection. It also requires singular allegiance to Christ and the Gospel message. The bride must not pursue any other suitors. The last decade has revealed that the evangelical church has been in an adulterous relationship with political powers. The Almighty Creator has no need of an unbeliever to save His Kingdom, for He has already provided Jesus Christ, the King to establish and build His heavenly Kingdom. Effective resolution to our personal deficiency in terms of morality and singular allegiance to the Triune God, and in terms of our corporate testimony to the Gospel, is participation in the heavenly worship of Revelation 4–7. In this worship, we are convicted of our sins and reminded of God’s grace that leads to sanctification.

If our current worship is to reflect the heavenly worship of Revelation 7, then we must also proactively pursue other nations within our respective local context. A convenient solution to bring about all-nations worship is to connect with various ethnic churches for combined worship. Such worship anticipates the eschatological worship of Revelation 7 and builds compassion and community among all disciples of Jesus Christ. The burden for such worship is not simply on white churches, but all churches.

The more difficult solution toward unified worship is active evangelism and discipleship in our surrounding communities. It is, however, obedience to our Lord’s command to make disciples of all nations (Mt 28:19-20). As this command applies to all believers, no one who claims Jesus as Savior is a benchwarmer, but an active player in evangelism. Obedience to give testimony to the Gospel message through evangelism and discipleship will result in more prayer and faith as we inevitably must trust in the Triune God through the process. The onus to disciple all nations will yield spiritual maturity for each believer as they themselves pursue authentic discipleship with Jesus Christ.

Let us heed the seven-fold refrain: “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” (Rev 2:7, 11, 17, 29; 3:6, 13, 22).