And there are people there. How many? Again John tells us:
“After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count” (Revelation 7:9).
Where do all these people come from? How many nations are represented?
Listen to John describe the universal scope of the heavenly population:
“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)
What a scene! What a God!
Yes, God is the God of the nations – all nations. He is building His church from every nation, tribe, people and language.
God has always been the God of all peoples. This is why God told Abraham, “All peoples on earth will be blessed through you” (Genesis 12:3).
And so I want to say “Thank you” for reading this blog post today. You are part of a group of people from many nations. The other day I was looking at the countries represented in my list of blog subscribers and was delighted to find the following nations:
South Africa
Canada
United Kingdom
India
United Arab Emirates
El Salvador
Philippines
Guyana
Malaysia
Czech Republic
Poland
Ghana
Jamaica
Uganda
Thailand
Mexico
Trinidad and Tobago
Denmark
Nigeria
New Zealand
United States of America
The list above is in no particular order, and it is not complete. So I apologize if you happen to live in a country not mentioned.
God is the God of all peoples! This is the teaching of Scripture from Genesis to Revelation. Michael Barrett expresses this thought so well in his book Beginning at Moses: A Guide to Finding Christ in the Old Testament.
“The promise of Messiah was never a uniquely Jewish promise. Gentile inclusion in the gospel of Christ is a frequent theme of Old Testament theology and revelation . . . The only unique claim that Israel has on Christ is that He came into the world physically through them . . . Adam and Noah and Abraham were not Jews . . . It is significant that in each of the covenant institutions, there is a word of hope for the whole world of sinners. Abraham’s line was chosen for the identity of the Messiah, but all the nations of the earth would benefit from the Messiah.”
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