This Wednesday in our staff meeting and at prayer gathering, I drew attention to the visions of heaven given to the Apostle John that are recorded in Revelation 4, 5, and 7. Picture it, there’s lowly John in exile on the island of Patmos (1:9), perhaps in chains, probably doing forced labor, when the angel of the Lord comes to walk him through a stunning, elaborate series of visions of what is to come (1:1, 19; 4:1) in this world and the next!
In 4:1 John says, “After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven!” The Apostle peers out of his captivity right into the eternal realm. And he sees a great throne, torches, gems, twenty-four other thrones, crowns, a sea of glass, etc., plus “four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind” (4:6). What!? And there’s unbridled, passionate praise: “Holy, holy, holy” (4:8).
God’s plan is, by the blood of Christ, to gather a global, forever-family out of “every tribe and language and people and nation” (5:9). And this elicits yet more thunderous worship: “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!” (5:12).
But in 7:9, there’s a twist: John doesn’t just hear about God’s missionary purpose, he actually sees the world-wide throng of the redeemed. “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.” Which means: John saw into the future.
Jesus has commissioned us to gather disciples out of all the ethno-linguistic people groups on earth (Matt. 28:18-20). This mission is well under way, but there’s work yet to be done; 7,403 people groups remain un-engaged with the Gospel (Joshuaproject.net). So John was shown the future world of heaven. Which means that John saw YOU. If you know Christ, yours was one of the countless faces he saw gazing upon the Lamb! Just think!
