376. [verse 13] 'And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, These [people] clothed with white robes, who are they, and whence have they come? [verse 14] And I said unto him, Sir (Domine), thou knowest' signifies a longing to know, and a will to ask, and the answer and information. The reason why John was questioned about these is because it is a general thing in all Divine worship that a man should first will, desire and pray, and that the Lord should then answer, inform and do; otherwise the man does not receive anything Divine. Now because John saw those who were clothed with white robes, and desired to know and to ask who they were, and this was perceived in heaven, therefore he was first asked and then informed. The prophet Zechariah was treated similarly when he saw many things represented to him, as can be established from chaps i 9; i 19, 21 [H.B. ii 2, 4]; iv 2, 5, ii, 12; v 2, 6, 10; vi 4. Moreover in the Word very often it is read that the Lord answers when they call and cry, as in Ps. iv 1 [H.B. 2]; xvii 6; xx 9 [H.B. 10]; xxxiv 4 [H.B. 5]; xci 15; cxx 1; also, that He gives when they ask (Matt. vii 7, 8; xxi 22; John xiv 13, 14; xv 7; xvi 23-27). Nevertheless the Lord gives them to ask, and what to ask, and the Lord therefore knows this beforehand, but still the Lord wills that a man should ask first to the end that it maybe as from himself, and thus be appropriated to him; otherwise, if the asking itself were not from the Lord, it would not have been said in those places that they would get whatever they were asking.