PROPHECY

The Servant To Restore Israel

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Thus saith the LORD, “In an acceptable time have I heard Thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped Thee: and I will preserve Thee, and give Thee for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages; that Thou mayest say to the prisoners, ‘Go forth;’ to them that are in darkness, ‘Shew yourselves.’
“They shall feed in the ways, and their pastures shall be in all high places.  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.  And I will make all My mountains a way, and My highways shall be exalted.
“Behold, these shall come from far: and, lo, these from the north and from the west; and these from the land of Sinim.
Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O earth; and break forth into singing, O mountains: for the LORD hath comforted His people, and will have mercy upon His afflicted.”
Isaiah 49:8-13

Chapter 49 is the beginning of the Servants song; a prophecy of the work of the Messiah known to most Christians as the Christ. So here we have a prophecy of the Savior of the world, and what He comes to do.

  1. He came at an acceptable time.
  2. He is helped by the LORD, who is His Father.
  3. He is promised to be preserved.  Could that be a hint of His death, burial and resurrection? I believe so.
  4. He is the covenant with the people.
  5. He is given authority to set prisoners free.
  6. He is the light to those in darkness.
  7. He makes a way through the earth, and for life eternal.
  8. He is the source of sustenance, and strength.
  9. He calls people from all nations to Himself.
  10. He brings joy, and singing to the heavens and the earth.

Because the LORD has comforted His people, and will have mercy on the afflicted.

He is still alive, active and still calling the lost to Himself. His name is Jesus Christ, and He is the Son of God who left the glory of Heaven, to become a Man, to die for our sins on the old rugged cross. He was buried, and He rose again.

The LORD God Is Speaking; Hear Him

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Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else. I have sworn by Myself, the word is gone out of My mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto Me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.  Surely, shall one say, in the LORD have I righteousness and strength: even to Him shall men come; and all that are incensed against Him shall be ashamed.  In the LORD shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory.
Isaiah 45:22-25

The Covenant

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The following verses from Psalm 89 gives us the reminder of God’s covenant with David. Will his kingdom be eternal?

If his children forsake My law, and walk not in My judgments; If they break My statutes, and keep not My commandments;  Then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes.
Nevertheless My lovingkindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer My faithfulness to fail. My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of My lips.
Once have I sworn by My holiness that I will not lie unto David. His seed shall endure for ever, and his throne as the sun before Me. It shall be established for ever as the moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven. Selah.

Psalm 89:30-37

God says in the Psalm “My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of My lips.” So God is always faithful to fulfill His word. David will always have an heir on the throne of Israel.

That Heir on the eternal throne is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. He came the first time to die for the sins of His people in all nations of the world. He died on an old rugged cross, He was buried, and three days later came out of that grave alive.

That same Jesus is returning some day, and will set up His kingdom over the whole world. That’s right. He will rule the whole world in holiness, righteousness, truth and justice. There will be peace on earth for a thousand years.

I call Him, Lord. I call Him, Savior. I also call Him, King, because He is the King of kings; and He is also Lord of lords, and He will put away sin and evil forever and forever.

His will is for you to call on His name today, and be saved to eternal life.

The LORD’S Presence – His Glory

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Blessed be the LORD God, the God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things.  And blessed be His glorious name for ever: and let the whole earth be filled with His glory; Amen, and Amen.

Psalm 72:18-19

This Psalm is a Psalm written for Solomon by David while he was the king of Israel. The Psalm is one which is called a Messianic Psalm, which means that is prophetic of the coming Messiah of Israel.

I want to spend a few moments thinking on what verses 18 and 19 are speaking of; the LORD God, the God of Israel. “Blessed be His glorious name,” and “Let the whole earth be filled with His glory.

What is the “Glory of the LORD?” In short it is His presence. This is seen by the events of First Samuel 4 when the ark of the covenant is taken from the Israelites by the Philistines. The warriors of Israel thought that if the ark was with them God was with them, and they found out something else. Phineas’s wife had a son, and as she was dying she named her son Ichabod which means, “the glory is departed.” The ark was gone from Israel, but the Philistines decided after the glory of the LORD was with them awhile that they did not want it any longer.

The glory of the LORD, is His presence. How do we know the presence of God? He is always present with His people, but sometimes not believed to be by that same people. Why would that be? Because sometimes His people have unconfessed, unrepented of sin.

There are many who are turning their backs on God, because they do not see Him, His presence is not real to them. Sin, hanging on to sin, will cause blindness to His presence.

You can see the presence, God’s glory in that storm that came through the night when I was just a boy. You can see the LORD’S glory in that bolt of lightening that may have struck a tree, and killed a family member. You can experience the glory of God by looking down into the vast and beautiful  Grand Canyon; or looking up at the height and majesty of the Rocky Mountains. You can see His glory by standing on a beach in Florida or a beach on the west coast in California, and know that it was He who keeps the oceans of the world from proceeding any further than those beaches.

If you have not experienced the presence of the LORD it is because you do not know Him. There is only one way to know Him, and have His presence with you daily; and that is through the cross of Jesus Christ, His burial, and resurrection. Turn from your life of sin and rebellion against God and to the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Word Of God Fulfilled

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Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying,
“Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, The LORD God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and He hath charged me to build him an house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all His people? His God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the LORD God of Israel, (He is the God,) which is in Jerusalem. And whosoever remaineth in any place where he sojourneth, let the men of his place help him with silver, and with gold, and with goods, and with beasts, beside the freewill offering for the house of God that is in Jerusalem.”
Ezra 1:1-4

Second Chronicles ends with this same record of Cyrus’s declaration of building the house of the LORD God of Israel. This one has more details to it, however, chapter 36 and verse 21 tells us why the people of God were seventy years in captivity in this foreign land.

To fulfil the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths: for as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath, to fulfil threescore and ten years.  2 Chronicles 36:21

It could be that someone might be reading this and thinking, “I don’t believe in prophecy, so I don’t believe the bible is the truth.” You know what? It matters not at all what you think. It does matter what God says. If He said it; He will do it.

Jeremiah prophesied that Israel would be taken captive to Babylon, would be there seventy years, so that the land of Israel would make up the Sabbath days that were missed. The people of Israel and Judah were guilty of violating the Sabbaths of the LORD; because they had turned their backs to Him, and served other gods; which were no gods at all, but the works of men’s hands.

God’s word is true from Genesis 1 through Revelation 22, not including the apocrypha, which is not reliable, not inspired, and cannot be the word of God. If God said it, it will come to pass, just the way He said it.

It is true of every thing it says about Jesus Christ as well. Jesus is the main character of the Old Testament. In the Revelation it is written, “…For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy” Revelation 19:10. That includes the Old Testament. Jesus existed before there was creation. He is seen many times in the Old Testament revealing Himself as the Angel of the LORD. He is the One who walked in the Garden of Eden with Adam. When Adam and Eve had eaten the forbidden fruit of the tree, and they hid themselves when they heard God calling out, “Adam, where are you?” That was Jesus, known as the Word of God (John 1:1-5).

If you deny what God says about His Son, then you also deny God. If you deny God, you deny His Son. If you deny God, and the Son of God you are still in your sins, and still need the cleansing and forgiveness of sin that only the death of Jesus Christ on the cross can give. He died, He was buried, and He rose again, coming out of the grave alive forever more.

Believe God. Trust in the finished work of Jesus, believing that only Jesus can deliver you from sin, death, hell and the grave.

According To the Word of the LORD

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Know now that there shall fall unto the earth nothing of the word of the LORD, which the LORD spake concerning the house of Ahab: for the LORD hath done that which He spake by His servant Elijah. So Jehu slew all that remained of the house of Ahab in Jezreel, and all his great men, and his kinsfolks, and his priests, until he left him none remaining.
2 Kings 10:10-11

Jehu is a character of contradiction. I say that because he is chosen to be the next king of Israel, and he is ordained by God’s word to rid the population of Israel of their king Joram, a son of Ahab, an family that was doomed by the word of he LORD. Jehu does everything just as the LORD has told him, of the destroying of Ahab’s wife Jezebel, and his heirs. Just as the LORD had said.

I say Jehu is a character of contradiction due to the fact that he was also a man who never turned away from the path of Jereboam, who had set up golden calves in Bethel and Dan (2 Kings 10:31).

Nevertheless, he did do the will and word of the LORD in his actions, but no heart for God. How is this possible? That is the part I cannot grasp.

The point I want to make with this post is that there  is not a word which the LORD God has spoken, that will fail to be fulfilled. Not one. There are many, and many may be reading this and thinking that the Bible is not the word of God, and there is no way you can prove that it is. How about the issue of these prophecies?

The LORD had spoken through Elijah in First Kings 21:17-26, all that He would do to Ahab and Jezebel, and now we read that it happened just as Elijah had said. Do you realize that there are prophecies that have been spoken by God, that have not yet been fulfilled? There are probably hundreds that are yet to come to pass. They will in the LORD’S own time.

Many of those are of the second coming of Jesus Christ; His return to Jerusalem (Zechariah 14). Jesus said, “I will come again” (John 14:3). He said this before they crucified Him. His death did not stop Him from returning, it gives greater meaning to His coming again. Why? Because He did not stay dead. He rose from the grave with a new body that can never die. That is also what happens to everyone who has repented of their sins, by turning away from sin, toward Christ Jesus. When this body of flesh dies we too shall receive a new body that shall never perish.

Since the promises of the Old Testament were fulfilled, yet many of them have not been; then we must believe that they are being fulfilled, or they will be fulfilled just as GOD has spoken. The prophet Isaiah wrote,

“So shall My word be that goeth forth out of My mouth: it shall not return unto Me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.
Isaiah 55:11

If we trust the LORD God, then we will trust His word, and His Son Jesus Christ.

The Judgment of the LORD Has an Appointed Time

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O thou sword of the LORD, how long will it be ere thou be quiet? Put up thyself into thy scabbard, rest, and be still.  How can it be quiet, seeing the LORD hath given it a charge against Ashkelon, and against the sea shore? There hath He appointed it.
Jeremiah 47:6-7

Whose Words Shall Stand?

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Therefore hear ye the word of the LORD, all Judah that dwell in the land of Egypt; “Behold, I have sworn by My great name,” saith the LORD, “that My name shall no more be named in the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, ‘The Lord GOD liveth.’  Behold, I will watch over them for evil, and not for good: and all the men of Judah that are in the land of Egypt shall be consumed by the sword and by the famine, until there be an end of them. Yet a small number that escape the sword shall return out of the land of Egypt into the land of Judah, and all the remnant of Judah, that are gone into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, shall know whose words shall stand, Mine, or theirs. And this shall be a sign unto you,” saith the LORD, “that I will punish you in this place, that ye may know that My words shall surely stand against you for evil…”
Jeremiah 44:26-29

Joy and Gladness Again

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Thus saith the LORD; “Again there shall be heard in this place, which ye say shall be desolate without man and without beast, even in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, that are desolate, without man, and without inhabitant, and without beast, the voice of joy, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the voice of them that shall say, ‘Praise the LORD of hosts: for the LORD is good; for His mercy endureth for ever:’ and of them that shall bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the LORD. For I will cause to return the captivity of the land, as at the first,” saith the LORD.
Jeremiah 33:10-11

They Shall Be My People, and I Will Be Their God

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And now therefore thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning this city, whereof ye say, “It shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence; behold, I will gather them out of all countries, whither I have driven them in Mine anger, and in My fury, and in great wrath; and I will bring them again unto this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely: and they shall be My people, and I will be their God: and I will give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear Me for ever, for the good of them, and of their children after them: and I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put My fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from Me. Yea, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will plant them in this land assuredly with My whole heart and with My whole soul.”
Jeremiah 32:36-41

Hope In The Midst Of Judgment

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“Turn, O backsliding children,” saith the LORD; “for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion: and I will give you pastors according to Mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding. And it shall come to pass, when ye be multiplied and increased in the land, in those days,” saith the LORD, “they shall say no more, ‘The ark of the covenant of the LORD:’ neither shall it come to mind: neither shall they remember it; neither shall they visit it; neither shall that be done any more. At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the LORD; and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of the LORD, to Jerusalem: neither shall they walk any more after the imagination of their evil heart. In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I have given for an inheritance unto your fathers.”
Jeremiah 3:14-18

To Stand Before The Son of Man

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“…And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.”
Luke 21:34-36

You Be Ready

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“Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning; and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord, when he will return from the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately.
“Blessed are those servants, whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching: verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them. And if he shall come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants. And this know, that if the goodman of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched, and not have suffered his house to be broken through. Be ye therefore ready also: for the Son of Man cometh at an hour when ye think not.”
Luke 12:35-40

Discern Between The Righteous And The Wicked

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Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon His name. And “They shall be Mine,” saith the LORD of hosts, “in that day when I make up My jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.” Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth Him not.
Malachi 3:16-18

Returned To Jerusalem

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Again the word of the LORD of hosts came to me, saying,
“Thus saith the LORD of hosts; I was jealous for Zion with great jealousy, and I was jealous for her with great fury. Thus saith the LORD; I am returned unto Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and Jerusalem shall be called a City of Truth; and the Mountain of the LORD of hosts the Holy Mountain. Thus saith the LORD of hosts; There shall yet old men and old women dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, and every man with his staff in his hand for very age. And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets thereof.”
Zechariah 8:1-5

Mercy On The Whole House Of Israel

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Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD;
“Now will I bring again the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy upon the whole house of Israel, and will be jealous for My holy name; after that they have borne their shame, and all their trespasses whereby they have trespassed against Me, when they dwelt safely in their land, and none made them afraid. When I have brought them again from the people, and gathered them out of their enemies’ lands, and am sanctified in them in the sight of many nations; then shall they know that I am the LORD their God, which caused them to be led into captivity among the heathen: but I have gathered them unto their own land, and have left none of them any more there. Neither will I hide My face any more from them: for I have poured out My Spirit upon the house of Israel,”
saith the Lord GOD.
Ezekiel 39:25-29

They Shall Be Sanctified

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Thus saith the Lord GOD; “When I shall have gathered the house of Israel from the people among whom they are scattered, and shall be sanctified in them in the sight of the heathen, then shall they dwell in their land that I have given to My servant Jacob.  And they shall dwell safely therein, and shall build houses, and plant vineyards; yea, they shall dwell with confidence, when I have executed judgments upon all those that despise them round about them; and they shall know that I am the LORD their God.”
Ezekiel 28:25-26

Be Ready and Speak All the Commands of God

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Thou therefore gird up thy loins, and arise, and speak unto them all that I command thee: be not dismayed at their faces, lest I confound thee before them.  For, behold, I have made thee this day a defenced city, and an iron pillar, and brasen walls against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against the princes thereof, against the priests thereof, and against the people of the land.
Jeremiah 1:17-18

The First And The Last

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Thus saith the LORD the King of Israel, and his Redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the First, and I am the Last; and beside Me there is no God.  And who, as I, shall call, and shall declare it, and set it in order for Me, since I appointed the ancient people? And the things that are coming, and shall come, let them shew unto them.  Fear ye not, neither be afraid: have not I told thee from that time, and have declared it? Ye are even My witnesses. Is there a God beside me? Yea, there is no God; I know not any.
Isaiah 44:6-8

Many Nations Shall Come

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But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it.  And many nations shall come, and say, “Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.  And He shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.  But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the LORD of hosts hath spoken it.  For all people will walk every one in the name of his god, and we will walk in the name of the LORD our God for ever and ever.
Micah 4:1-5

The King In His Beauty

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Thine eyes shall see the King in His beauty: they shall behold the land that is very far off.  Thine heart shall meditate terror. Where is the scribe? Where is the receiver? Where is he that counted the towers?
Thou shalt not see a fierce people, a people of a deeper speech than thou canst perceive; of a stammering tongue, that thou canst not understand.  Look upon Zion, the city of our solemnities: thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that shall not be taken down; not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be removed, neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken. But there the glorious LORD will be unto us a place of broad rivers and streams; wherein shall go no galley with oars, neither shall gallant ship pass thereby. For the LORD is our Judge, the LORD is our Lawgiver, the LORD is our King; He will save us.
Thy tacklings are loosed; they could not well strengthen their mast, they could not spread the sail: then is the prey of a great spoil divided; the lame take the prey. And the inhabitant shall not say, “I am sick:” the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity.
Isaiah 33:17-24

Seek Good, Not Evil

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Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live: and so the LORD, the God of hosts, shall be with you, as ye have spoken.  Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate: it may be that the LORD God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph.
Amos 5:14-15

Throw Her Down

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And when Jehu was come to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it; and she painted her face, and tired her head, and looked out at a window.  And as Jehu entered in at the gate, she said, “Had Zimri peace, who slew his master?” And he lifted up his face to the window, and said, “Who is on my side? Who?” And there looked out to him two or three eunuchs.  And he said, “Throw her down.” So they threw her down: and some of her blood was sprinkled on the wall, and on the horses: and he trode her under foot.  And when he was come in, he did eat and drink, and said, “Go, see now this cursed woman, and bury her: for she is a king’s daughter.”  And they went to bury her: but they found no more of her than the skull, and the feet, and the palms of her hands.
Wherefore they came again, and told him. And he said, “This is the word of the LORD, which He spake by His servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying, ‘In the portion of Jezreel shall dogs eat the flesh of Jezebel: and the carcase of Jezebel shall be as dung upon the face of the field in the portion of Jezreel; so that they shall not say, ‘This is Jezebel.’ ”
2 Kings 9:30-37

Dwelling By The Brook

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And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, “As the LORD God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.”  And the word of the LORD came unto him, saying,
“Get thee hence, and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan. And it shall be, that thou shalt drink of the brook; and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there.”
So he went and did according unto the word of the LORD: for he went and dwelt by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan.  And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening; and he drank of the brook. And it came to pass after a while, that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land.
1 Kings  17:1-7

Made White In The Blood Of The Lamb

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After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; and cried with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.”  And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God, saying, “Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen.”  And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, “What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they?” And I said unto him, “Sir, thou knowest.” And he said to me, “These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.  Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple: and He that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. 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.”
Revelation 7:9-17