Revelation 7:13 Revelation 7:13-14 And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? 14 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. These two verses contain in inquiry and an answer unto it, made by one of the twenty four elders. He inquired, first, who they where, and secondly, whence they came; unto whom John replied, Sir, thou knowest: As if he had said, Sir, I know not but thou dost certainly know. The elder’ s reply, for John’ s information consists of two particulars. First, he told him whence they came, These are they that came out of great tribulation; that is, persecution, and all kind of sufferings for Christ and the gospel, under the Roman pagan anti-Christian emperors, that the Christians endured. Secondly, he testified their present state; And have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Which they did, first, by faith, applying the precious blood of Jesus, in the promises of the new-covenant of grace: And secondly, by sufferings, wherein they overcame all their persecutors; viz. Satan and all his instruments, by the blood of Christ, and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives unto death. \