June 19

They Were Wearing White Robes

After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and   language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.”

Revelation 7:9-10

The setting was a women’s neighborhood Bible study—not around the dining room table of a suburban ranch house, but on the dirt floor of a thatched house in Bolivia. Joyce Prettol, a Bible translator, was the leader and the passage under study was Revelation 7, the portion of Scripture she had been translating for the Ese Ejja people.

The women listened with interest, but the phrase that caught their attention more than any other was the reference to white robes. People from every tribe and nation would be wearing these white robes, and that meant them. They were excited at the thought. White was an uncommon color of clothing in their remote tribal region.

But would everyone be dressed in white? “As we continued to discuss the lesson,” writes Joyce, “we mentioned that it was only those who had received Jesus as Savior who would go to heaven and receive a white robe.” Would that include Asha? she asked the women. Asha had been crippled from polio as a young woman, and as a second wife with no children had always been outside the village women’s clique. She was ridiculed and often the butt of jokes.

Now, however, the reality of heaven had suddenly been impressed upon these women. They previously had no interest in sharing the gospel with her, and Joyce herself had been unsuccessful in communicating with her. So it was, spurred on by the anticipation of being attired in white robes before the throne of God, the women decided that Asha should not be left out.

 

“We filed over to Asha’s house, stooped and entered the low, dark room,” writes Joyce. “Our eyes slowly became accustomed to the darkness and we could see Asha lying curled up on a thin woven mat. A tattered, stained blanket covered her thin body and her faded dress hadn’t been washed in a long time. If anyone needs a new white robe, Asha does, I thought. Oh God, let this be the day of salvation for Asha . . .

“As I watched the Ese Ejja women sitting there, holding hands, touching, caring and reaching out to God in prayer with Asha, my heart began to swell. I knew it was time to let go of them. God would show them how to share His Word in an infinitely better way than I ever could . . .

“Asha died only a few weeks later. But her transformation was apparent.” So, too, had the Christian women who reached out to her been transformed. Asha had exchanged her rags for a white robe, and they could identify with that. ¹⁹