The Reward Of The Faithful
After that I saw a vast host, which no one could count, from every
nation and tribe and people and language, standing before the throne
and before the Lamb, dressed in white robes, with palm branches in their
hands. They cried aloud, "It is to our God who is seated on the throne
and to the Lamb that we owe our salvation!"
Then one of the elders turned to me and said: "Who are these dressed in
white robes,
and from where have they come?" I said to him, "You know,
my lord." So he told me, "These are the people who have come through the
great persecution and have washed their robes and made them white in the
blood of the Lamb. For this reason they are now before the throne of God
and serve him day and night within his temple. He who is sitting on the
throne will shelter them; never again will they be hungry or thirsty;
never again will the sun or any scorching heat smite them, for the Lamb
that stands in the space before the throne will be their shepherd and
will guide them to fountains of living water; and God will wipe away all
tears from their eyes."
Then I saw another angel flying in mid-heaven with an eternal message of
good news for the inhabitants of the earth, for every nation, tribe,
language, and people. He cried aloud, "Revere God, praise him, for the
hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made heaven and earth,
the sea and the flowing springs."
And I saw a great white throne and One seated upon it from whose
presence earth and sky fled away, and were no more to be found. And I
saw the dead, the great and the lowly, standing before the throne. Then
books were opened; also another book, the Book of Life, was opened, and
the dead were judged by what was written in the books according to what
they had done. The sea gave up its dead, and Death and the Abode of the
Departed also gave up their dead, and all were judged according to what
they had done.