God seekers must understand the lesson presented in Revelation 7:13,14: “And one of the elders said to me, ‘Who are these who are arrayed in white robes? and from where do they come?’  I said to him, ‘Sir, you know.’  And he said to me, ‘These are they who have come out of the Great Tribulation and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.'”  Notice that the great multitude had been in the Great Tribulation because of their sins, which had caused their robes to be filthy.  Notice that they had washed their robes in the blood of Jesus Christ and had come out of the Tribulation.  Let us not forget that John’s vision was for the latter days of this life, at least 2,000 years from the time he received and recorded it.

A dirty robe is symbolic of sin.  These people had been cast into the great tribulation because they had rebelled against God by not believing and obeying His Holy Scriptures.  Many, if not most of these people will have spent most of their lives within the Catholic/Protestant Church System.  Many will have been ministers in those organizations.  Notice that THEY, THEMSELVES had to wash their robes and make them white–symbolic of sinlessness.  They will do this the same way any other true convert does this today–BY BELIEVING GOD’S LAW/WORD, REPENTING OF HAVING BROKEN IT AND  OBEYING IT HENCEFORTH.  The irony found here is that they will have spent their church lives “knowing” that their robes were clean because of Christ’s death, “knowing” that Christ had obeyed God for them–“in their stead”–and “knowing” that before the Great Tribulation would begin, they would be snatched up to heaven in a “rapture.”  But there having been no “rapture” to “take them home” prior to the Great Tribulation.  These deceived souls will have found themselves in the midst of that time of unimaginable horror and will have realized that they were being held responsible for those sins Jesus was supposed to have forgiven as quickly as they repented of them.

The great multitude will have found themselves in the midst of the greatest tragedy the world had ever experienced.  Jesus said that it will be worse than all of the tragedies the world had suffered since its creation–COMBINED.  Throughout their lifetimes God will have put them through those previous horrors in order to correct them.  But they will have rejected His correction and will have believed what their false prophets had told them.  Two examples of such Satanic drivel come to mind.   God arranged for me to hear both of these false prophets when they said the following:  One famous t.v. pastor told his audience: “You’re all saved, that’s already been settled.”  Another false prophet told his people: “Don’t try to be righteous, you’ll just make yourself sick.  You are nothing but a society of sinners.”  According to these two “ministers of righteousness,” all was well in both instances.   All of their parishioners, both present and on television, belonged to “the church” and were therefore “saved, sanctified and ready for the rapture.”  Isn’t is amazing how pleasing Satan’s voice can be? how assuring his gospel always comes across?  As Jesus said in Revelation 21:9: “Satan has deceived the whole world.”  This includes the church world.

Those who will be in the great multitude could have avoided the horror they will endure by listening to God’s messengers, believing and obeying His Word today.  They are not embracing God’s Truth today because they are involved in “that unclean thing” (2 Cor. 6:14-7:1) known as “the church.”  These supposedly saved people, finding themselves in the midst of hell on earth and having no hope, will remember hearing a voice crying out in the wilderness of modern Christendom.  They will remember the words that voice had proclaimed.  They will believe those words, confess their rebellion against them and wash their filthy robes in the blood of Jesus Christ.  They will realize two things: First, that they had lived their lives in spiritual filth known as sin.  Second, that they had been deceived into believing that because they had “taken Jesus as their personal Savior,” that they were automatically righteous because of Christ’s sinless life and death in which He had been “righteous in their stead.”

This innumerable multitude will be composed of people who will remember having heard or read God’s warning message before the beginning of the Great Tribulation and, because of what they will have heard, will realize their error, believe what they had heard, repent of their sins and will be converted.  To remember someone’s words one must have actually heard or read those words at some point in the past.  Those in the multitude will have heard God’s Truth.  However, they had rejected the Truth.  They are not today believing God’s Law, are not repenting of breaking it and are not washing their robes.  However, in the midst of the Great Tribulation they will remember those rejected words, will believe them, will repent of transgressing them and will wash their robes in the blood of Jesus Christ.

God, speaking to the Prophet Ezekiel, tells him, as well as those who minister the Truth today, that there will come a time when some of those who are now hearing and rejecting their words today will remember them and embrace them.  As God told the ancient prophet and those who have preached His Truth since: “They come unto you, sit before you as my people and listen to your words.  BUT THEY DO NOT DO THEM. With their mouth they show much love for you, but in their hearts they want only to please themselves.  And behold, you are to them as a very lovely song, having a lovely voice ….  They hear your words, but do not do them.  But when My prophesies (about the coming terror) come to pass they will remember your words and will know that a prophet was among them” (Eze. 33:31-33).  The great multitude will have heard God’s Word and will have rejected it.  This is business as usual for anyone who speaks or writes God’s Truth.  People have heard me teach God’s Truth, knowing that it is His Truth, then have rejected it.  Hopefully, some of them will be in the great multitude.

The great multitude is not embracing God’s Truth now.  They will “change their (spiritual) tune” when they find themselves in the midst of the Great Tribulation.  It will be at that point that they will realize that they had been lied to by those they trusted to tell them the Truth of God.  Their realization of and embracing of the Truth will prevent them from experiencing even greater tribulation during the Day of the Lord–the one year long period following the Great Tribulation in which God will pour out His wrath on sinners.  Their conversion will cost them their lives, which they will freely give, knowing that the future will make their martyrdom worthwhile.  Plus, they will not have to endure the “Day of the Lord,” the final year of the Tribulation Period that will make the terror of the previous 2 1/2 years (the Great Tribulation) pale by comparison.  L.J.