Will a Majority of People be Saved? (Revelation 7:9)

Revelation 7:9–10 ESV After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”

The “great multitude that no one could number” in Revelation 7:9 is sometimes understood to indicate that out of all the people who will ever live, a majority of all people will be saved, such that only a small minority will be lost and end up in Hell.

Firstly, it should be noted that the expression “no one could number” does not mean that there will be so many people that they literally cannot be counted. After all, there will not be an infinite number of people throughout history, let alone an infinite number of saved people.

At most, the expression “no one could number” only signifies a large number of people. However, this does not mean that the majority of people would be saved. Elsewhere in the Bible, this language of “cannot be counted” is used to signify a large number of people that is not a majority (Gen. 16:10; 1 Ki. 3:8).

Indeed, there will be a great number of people who are saved in Jesus Christ—perhaps even billions of people! Yet, they will still be a minority compared to the total number of people who will ever live throughout history. As Jesus himself put it: “For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” (Matthew 7:14 ESV)