Expository Study • Revelation 7:14 and the White Robes (KJV)
Isaiah 64:6, Zechariah 3:1-5, and Revelation 7:9-14 on how God cleanses sin through Jesus Christ
This teaching comes from the King James Bible, and every verse I quote is from the KJV.
These are my own convictions from the Word of God, shared through The Prevailing Word of God ministry, and they do not speak for any local church.
A note on the Scripture labels. Each verse I quote carries one of two labels. Prescriptive marks a text that teaches what God requires or declares as true for every believer, such as Ephesians 2:8-9. Descriptive marks a text that records what happened or what was said at a particular time, such as an event in the Gospels or the book of Acts. Both are fully the Word of God, and the label only shows how a verse works in its setting.
When I read Revelation 7:9, I see one of the most beautiful pictures of redemption in the entire Bible. John saw a great multitude that no man could number, gathered from every nation on earth.
Descriptive
“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;”
Revelation 7:9
There is one detail in that verse I do not want anyone to overlook. Every person in this great multitude is clothed in white robes.
Scripture often uses garments to picture a person’s spiritual condition before God. Filthy garments can represent sin, defilement, and iniquity. Clean garments can represent forgiveness, purity, righteousness, and restoration.
Here is the truth that makes those white robes so remarkable. Even our own righteousness cannot make us spiritually clean before a holy God. To see why, I begin with two Old Testament passages, Isaiah 64:6 and Zechariah 3:1-5.
I. Isaiah 64:6: Even Our Righteousnesses Are as Filthy Rags
Before we look at the filthy garments of Joshua the high priest, consider this confession from the prophet Isaiah.
Descriptive
“But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.”
Isaiah 64:6
Isaiah does more than describe the wickedness of the people. He calls even their righteousnesses filthy rags.
The prophet is confessing the uncleanness and unfaithfulness of God’s covenant people, Israel. Their condition was so serious that they could not claim righteousness before God on the strength of their own conduct.
This does not mean every good deed is worthless, or that obedience to God is unimportant. It means something far more serious. No amount of human goodness can erase the guilt of sin or establish our righteousness before a holy God.
Paul carries the same truth to every person, Jew and Gentile alike.
Prescriptive
“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;”
Romans 3:23
Prescriptive
“Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.”
Romans 3:20
If even our righteousness cannot remove our guilt, then attending church cannot make us clean. Religious ceremonies cannot remove our guilt, and keeping religious commandments cannot erase our sins. Water baptism, considered as a human act of obedience, cannot accomplish what our own righteousness cannot.
No religious work can become the basis of our justification before God. We need the cleansing and the righteousness that God Himself provides, and that is why the next passage matters so much.
II. Zechariah 3:1-5: God Removes Joshua’s Filthy Garments
In Zechariah 3, the prophet is shown a vision of Joshua the high priest.
Descriptive
“And he shewed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him.”
Zechariah 3:1
Joshua stands before the angel of the LORD, and Satan stands at his right hand to resist him. Then the vision reveals what is wrong.
Descriptive
“Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and stood before the angel.”
Zechariah 3:3
Consider who Joshua is. He is the high priest, the man appointed to serve God and to represent His people. Yet even this religious leader stands before God in clothing that pictures iniquity and defilement.
Isaiah used the image of filthy clothing to confess the uncleanness of God’s people. Zechariah shows the high priest himself actually wearing filthy garments in a prophetic vision. In both passages, the imagery points to the problem of sin and to the inability of fallen people to claim purity before God.
Then the angel of the LORD speaks.
Descriptive
“And he answered and spake unto those that stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And unto him he said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment.”
Zechariah 3:4
The angel of the LORD commands that the filthy garments be taken away. He then speaks as only God can speak: “I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee.” Removing iniquity belongs to God alone.
Descriptive
“And I said, Let them set a fair mitre upon his head. So they set a fair mitre upon his head, and clothed him with garments. And the angel of the LORD stood by.”
Zechariah 3:5
Joshua is clothed with new garments, and a fair mitre, the high priest’s headdress, is set upon his head. His restored priestly clothing pictures the removal of his iniquity and his restoration to priestly service.
Joshua did not remove his own iniquity. God removed it. Joshua did not make himself clean through his priestly office, his religious activity, or his personal righteousness. God acted on his behalf, and that is a beautiful picture of divine grace.
I want to be careful about what this passage teaches. Zechariah 3:1-5 does not mention water baptism, and it does not describe the shed blood of Jesus Christ. We should not force those details into the text.
The chapter does look forward, though. In verse 8 the LORD promises, “behold, I will bring forth my servant the BRANCH,” a title the prophets give to the coming Messiah. In verse 9 He adds, “I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day.” The cleansing of one priest points ahead to a greater cleansing that God Himself would accomplish through His Servant.
III. Revelation 7:9: A Great Multitude in White Robes
Now return to the multitude John saw before the throne of God and before the Lamb. They come from all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, and every one of them is clothed with white robes.
Isaiah showed that human righteousness cannot overcome the problem of sin. Zechariah showed God removing Joshua’s filthy garments and declaring his iniquity taken away. Revelation now shows a redeemed multitude standing before the throne, clothed in white.
These are not decorative garments. They represent the purity and the accepted standing of the redeemed before God.
That raises a question every reader must face. If our own righteousness is as filthy rags, how did these people receive white robes? Their own goodness could not have done it, and neither could their religious activity or their obedience. Only God could provide a cleansing they could never accomplish for themselves.
IV. Revelation 7:14: Made White in the Blood of the Lamb
Scripture does not leave us guessing. One of the elders asked John who these people were and where they came from. When John answered, “Sir, thou knowest,” the elder told him plainly.
Descriptive
“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.”
Revelation 7:14
Read those words carefully: “made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” The text names the source of their cleansing, and it is the blood of the Lamb.
Isaiah 64:6 describes our righteousnesses as filthy rags. Zechariah 3 shows God taking away Joshua’s filthy garments and his iniquity. Revelation 7:14 shows the redeemed with robes washed and made white in the blood of the Lamb.
What human righteousness could never accomplish, Jesus Christ accomplished through His sacrificial death.
Not one word in Revelation 7:14 credits their cleansing to water baptism. The verse names the blood of Jesus Christ, not baptismal water, as the source of their cleansing. That is not a small detail, because it stands at the very center of how the redeemed are described.
V. The Blood of the Lamb Throughout the Book of Revelation
Revelation 7:14 does not stand alone. From its opening chapter onward, the book of Revelation returns again and again to the blood of the Lamb. In all twenty-two chapters, Revelation never once mentions water baptism. It never credits water with cleansing a single sin.
The first mention of the blood comes in John’s greeting to the seven churches.
Prescriptive
“And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,”
Revelation 1:5
Jesus Christ washed us from our sins in His own blood. Some Greek manuscripts read “loosed us from our sins” in place of “washed us,” a difference of one letter in the Greek. Both readings name the blood of Jesus Christ as the means, and neither reading mentions water.
The blood of the Lamb appears again in the new song sung before the throne of God.
Descriptive
“And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;”
Revelation 5:9
Heaven praises the Lamb because Jesus Christ was slain, and because the blood of Jesus Christ redeemed people to God. Those people come out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation, the same wide gathering John sees again in Revelation 7:9.
Revelation 12 then shows the blood of the Lamb at work against the enemy himself. Verse 9 names him “that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan,” and verse 10 calls him “the accuser of our brethren, which accused them before our God day and night.” This is the same adversary who stood at Joshua’s right hand to resist him in Zechariah 3.
Descriptive
“And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.”
Revelation 12:11
The believers in Jesus Christ overcame the accuser by the blood of the Lamb. They held fast to the word of their testimony, which Revelation 12:17 calls “the testimony of Jesus Christ.” Satan could not condemn them, because the blood of Jesus Christ had already answered every charge he could bring. The verse says nothing about the water of baptism.
The blood of the Lamb carries this power because the work of Jesus Christ on the cross is complete. At Calvary, Jesus Christ declared that complete work with His own lips.
Descriptive
“When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.”
John 19:30
Jesus Christ did not leave His saving work for our baptism to complete. The work was finished on the cross, and the blood shed there is the blood that makes the robes white in Revelation 7:14.
VI. Jesus Christ, the Lamb Who Taketh Away Sin
The Lamb whose blood makes the robes white is named for us in the Gospel of John. John the Baptist saw Jesus coming and pointed Him out to the crowd.
Descriptive
“Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.”
John 1:29
Jesus Christ is that Lamb. On the night before His crucifixion, Jesus Christ told His disciples why His blood would be shed.
Descriptive
“For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.”
Matthew 26:28
Jesus Christ directly connects His blood with the remission, or forgiveness, of sins. The rest of the New Testament says the same thing.
Prescriptive
“In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;”
Ephesians 1:7
Prescriptive
“And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.”
Hebrews 9:22
Prescriptive
“But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.”
1 John 1:7
Scripture speaks with one voice here. Isaiah reveals our uncleanness, Zechariah pictures God’s gracious removal of iniquity, and Revelation names the blood of Jesus Christ as the means by which the redeemed are made clean. The cleansing we so desperately need is accomplished through the finished work of Jesus Christ.
VII. What This Means for Water Baptism
I want to make something very clear. I believe water baptism is important. Jesus Christ commanded it, and every believer should obey Jesus Christ in it.
But we must never confuse the importance of obedience with the finished work of Jesus Christ that provides salvation. Isaiah 64:6 already told us that our own righteousness cannot make us acceptable before God. That includes every attempt to establish righteousness through religious activity.
Water baptism is not sinful, useless, or unimportant. It is a meaningful act of Christian obedience. Yet our obedience never replaces the blood of Jesus Christ as the ground of our forgiveness.
Consider what happened in the house of Cornelius. Peter preached that remission of sins comes through the name of Jesus Christ to everyone who believes in Him.
Descriptive
“To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.”
Acts 10:43
Descriptive
“While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word.”
Acts 10:44
Only after the Holy Ghost fell on them did Peter command them to be baptized in water (Acts 10:47-48). Later, at the council in Jerusalem, Peter explained what God had done in their hearts.
Descriptive
“And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.”
Acts 15:9
God purified their hearts through their faith in Jesus Christ, and He did it before they were baptized in water. This agrees with the whole of Paul’s teaching.
Prescriptive
“Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:”
Romans 5:1
Prescriptive
“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”
Ephesians 2:8-9
Paul even joins faith in Jesus Christ and the blood of Jesus Christ in one sentence. God set forth Jesus Christ “to be a propitiation through faith in his blood” (Romans 3:25).
We are not saved because our obedience makes us righteous. We obey because we have placed our faith in Jesus Christ, who saves us by His grace. Water baptism testifies to our identification with the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The ground of our forgiveness remains the shed blood of Jesus Christ. I have answered the same question from Acts 2:38 in For the Remission of Sins: The Blood, Not the Water.
VIII. Three Passages, One Redemptive Truth
These three passages belong together, and their connection is the key to the white robes in Revelation.
Isaiah 64:6 confesses the problem of human righteousness. The prophet declares that even the righteousnesses of God’s people are as filthy rags, so sinful people cannot establish righteousness before God through their own goodness.
Zechariah 3:1-5 pictures God’s gracious removal of iniquity. Joshua stands before the angel of the LORD in filthy garments, and the LORD takes them away and declares his iniquity removed.
Revelation 7:9-14 reveals the redeemed made white in the blood of the Lamb. John sees a great multitude from all nations before the throne, and the elder tells him plainly how their robes were made white. The rest of Revelation agrees, naming the blood of the Lamb in Revelation 1:5, 5:9, and 12:11 and never once naming water baptism.
Taken together, Isaiah shows our need for cleansing, Zechariah shows that God must provide it, and Revelation names the blood of the Lamb as its source. I am not claiming that Isaiah 64:6 or Zechariah 3:1-5 teaches water baptism or directly describes the blood of Jesus Christ, because they do not. These passages lay the background of uncleanness, the removal of iniquity, and clean garments, and Revelation 7:14 supplies the explicit answer. Keeping that distinction is part of handling Scripture rightly.
IX. What Are You Trusting to Make You Clean?
Let me ask you a personal question. When you stand before God, what are you depending on to make you acceptable in His presence?
Some are trusting their own righteousness, their good works, or their church membership. Others are trusting their religious ceremonies or their water baptism. Scripture points every one of us away from all of these and to the finished work of Jesus Christ.
Isaiah reminds us that our own righteousness cannot erase our sin. Zechariah reminds us that God must remove our iniquity. Revelation shows us redeemed people clothed in robes made white in the blood of the Lamb.
If our righteousness is as filthy rags, our religious works cannot provide the cleansing that only Jesus Christ can accomplish. Jesus Christ came as the Lamb of God to take away the sin of the world. Jesus Christ shed His blood for the remission of sins. Through faith in Jesus Christ, sinners receive the forgiveness and righteousness they could never earn for themselves.
The Central Proclamation
Salvation is only through a personal relationship with God the Father by grace through faith in His Son, Jesus Christ. At the moment of faith in Jesus Christ, the believer is instantly and permanently indwelt by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit regenerates, seals, leads, guides, empowers, and sanctifies the believer in their walk with God.
Scripture for further study: Isaiah 64:6; Zechariah 3:1-9; Revelation 1:5; Revelation 5:9; Revelation 7:9-14; Revelation 12:9-11; John 1:29; John 19:30; Matthew 26:28; Romans 3:20-26; Romans 5:1; Acts 10:43-48; Acts 15:7-11; Ephesians 1:7; Ephesians 2:8-9; Hebrews 9:22; 1 John 1:7.
Descriptive (verses 18, 19, and 21) and Prescriptive (verse 20)
“And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”
2 Corinthians 5:18-21 (KJV)
This study belongs with the Salvation and the Blood teachings and the full Water Baptism series. For a longer study on the same question, read For the Remission of Sins: The Blood, Not the Water. If you have questions about anything you have read here, we would be glad to hear from you.
The Gospel, Stated Plainly
Everything I teach on this site rests on one message from Scripture. Read it in God’s own words from 1 Corinthians 15:1-4, Romans 1:16, and Ephesians 2:8-9.
Watch the teachingNew verse by verse studies go out every week on YouTube, King James Version, with the passage on the screen. Subscribe to The Prevailing Word of God, taught by John Kempf of Melbourne, Florida.