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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comRobertson Word Pictures - Revelation 7:14 - 7:14
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
I say (eirēka). Perfect active indicative of eipon, “I have said.” “To the Seer’s mind the whole scene was still fresh and vivid” (Swete) like kekragen in Joh 1:15 and eilēphen in Rev 5:7, not the so-called “aoristic perfect” which even Moulton (Prol. p. 145) is disposed to admit.
My lord (Kurie mou). “An address of reverence to a heavenly being” (Vincent), not an act of worship on John’s part.
Thou knowest (su oidas). “At once a confession of ignorance, and an appeal for information” (Swete), not of full confidence like su oidas in Joh 21:15.
They which come out of the great tribulation (hoi erchomenoi ek tēs thlipseōs tēs megalēs). Present middle participle with the idea of continued repetition. “The martyrs are still arriving from the scene of the great tribulation” (Charles). Apparently some great crisis is contemplated (Mat 13:19.; Mat 24:21; Mar 13:10), though the whole series may be in mind and so may anticipate final judgment.
And they washed (kai eplunan). First aorist active indicative of plunō, old verb, to wash, in N.T. only Luk 5:2; Rev 7:14; Rev 22:14. This change of construction after hoi erchomenoi from hoi plunēsantes to kai eplunan is common in the Apocalypse, one of Charles’s Hebraisms, like kai epoiēsen in Rev 1:6 and kai planāi in Rev 2:20.
Made them white (eleukanan). First aorist active indicative of leukainō, to whiten, old verb from leukos (Rev 7:13), in N.T. only here and Mar 9:3. “Milligan remarks that robes are the expression of character and compares the word habit used of dress” (Vincent). The language here comes partly from Gen 49:11 and partly from Exo 19:10, Exo 19:14. For the cleansing power of Christ’s blood see also Rom 3:25; Rom 5:9; Col 1:20 : Eph 1:7; 1Pe 1:2; Heb 9:14; 1Jo 1:7; Rev 1:5; Rev 5:9; Rev 22:14. “The aorists look back to the life on earth when the cleansing was effected” (Swete). See Phi 2:12. for both divine and human aspects of salvation.
In the blood of the Lamb (en tōi haimati tou arniou). There is power alone in the blood of Christ to cleanse from sin (1Jo 1:7), not in the blood of the martyrs themselves. The result is “white,” not “red,” as one might imagine.