“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, . . .” (Revelation 7:17)
As we commemorated the feast of All Saints, it was fitting that we read of the great vision of the Church Triumphant from the book of Revelation. The apostle John recorded the great gathering of the saints in heaven around the throne of God. These saints have endured suffering, persecution and death at the hands of our enemy Satan and his minions. This vision reveals the full number of those who have been redeemed by faith in Christ: a vast uncountable number of people from every tribe and nation. These have all faithfully suffered and endured through the great tribulation and now have received their reward.
This great gathering of the saints is made up of men, women and children of every tribe, tongue and nation. This passage reminds us that the Kingdom that God has designed is made up of different peoples, races, nationalities, languages and cultures, many alien from our own here in America. Therefore there is no place in God’s church for prejudice or nationalism for we all one in Christ and we are to love all of our brethren. We are to accept our Saviors’ choice of who will be in His heavenly Kingdom now on earth. We must welcome into our fellowship those the Lord sends to us. We must preach the gospel to everyone especially those who are in our neighborhood mission field. These the Lord desires to come to faith; these He has placed at our doorstep. Because the Lord desires all to come to faith and works toward that goal, He will use us to do His work. We cannot let our personal feelings get in the way of His love.