Revelation 7:15

These saints are in God’s presence because they have believed in Jesus Christ and have died in the first half of the Tribulation. Evidently they will have intermediate bodies until their resurrections (cf. Matthew 17:1-3; Luke 16:19-25; Revelation 6:9-11). This appears to be the condition of Christians who die before the Rapture too (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:2-3). These Tribulation saints will serve God continually in His present heavenly sanctuary. There will be no temple in the new Jerusalem (Revelation 21:22), so what John saw here was not a vision of the new Jerusalem. God will protect them and share fellowship with them there. The elder’s description of God spreading His tabernacle over them recalls Old Testament instances of God dwelling among and protecting His people (cf. Exodus 13:21-22; Exodus 40:34-38; 2 Chronicles 7:1-3) and His promises to do so (cf. Leviticus 26:11-12; Isaiah 4:5-6; Ezekiel 37:27; Zechariah 2:10-11; Zechariah 8:3; Zechariah 8:8; cf. Revelation 13:6; Revelation 21:3).