Who Can Stand? (Revelation 6:17)
Revelation 6 begins with the Lamb opening the first of seven seals on the scroll taken from the one on the throne. After a quick progression of events, Jesus opens the sixth seal. Kings and nobles, generals, the rich and the poor, and the free and the slaves realize the coming judgment of God. To the mountains they flee, pleading with the rocks to fall and them so that by their physical death they might escape the face of the one seated on the throne. Revelation 6:17 ends with their question: "Who can stand?"
Translations have rendered this differently, but the question remains. Who is able to stand in the face of this wrath? Unfortunately, the NET renders the word, ἵστημι (histēmi) as "withstand." The NLT paraphrases the meaning as "survive." The NIV-11 changed the NIV-84's "stand" to "withstand." It may not seem to make much of a difference when viewed as a single translation in a single verse, but it makes a world of difference when seen next to the additional three uses of ἵστημι (histēmi) in the following verses in Revelation 7.
The question of people under wrath and judgment asks, "Who can stand?" Then John, inspired by God, shows us the answer. Engaging a keen eye for repeated words, ἵστημι (histēmi) is attention-grabbing. There is it three times. Revelation 7:1, 9, and 11.
Don't overlook the great multitude from every nation, tribe, people, and language standing before the throne and before the Lamb. Those asking the question, "Who can stand?" want to be hidden from the one seated on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. Who can stand? John wants the reader to see that the answer is undoubtedly those. In Revelation 7:13, one of the elders in heaven asks John who these standing before the throne are. He could have just told John, but by asking, it's as if John is questioning the reader. Who are these people standing before God? The elder answers, "These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb."
Undoubtedly, the question, "Who can stand?" and the answer lead us to the more meaningful theme of Revelation 6 and 7. It is tempting to get sidelined in the seals and the meaning of the 144,000, but those details must be submitted to this more central, more significant point. Who can stand? Now we know.