Hopefully you do, or at least some type of Bible.
Maybe it's on your phone or whatever you do.
Please open them up to Revelation.
Revelation, chapter 7.
In the late 90s, there was a television show called Early Edition.
I wonder if any of you have seen it.
I just remember glimpses of it when I was a kid on TV.
I don't know if my dad was watching it.
I don't even remember anything that happened in the show, to be honest,
except for one thing.
The basic story of every episode was that this guy would wake up,
and he would open his door, and there on his doorstep was the newspaper,
except that the newspaper was actually tomorrow's newspaper instead of today's.
And so as he would open this up and read it,
he would be able to read all the headlines of what happened in the day
that he was about to live.
It was a really cool idea for a show.
And best I can remember, there was some tension over,
well, can I change the bad things?
Can I save the people that were in an accident?
And he's running to and fro trying to stop all these bad things from happening.
And the question is whether he will be able to do that
and change the future or the present or whether it's fate.
It was a really cool show.
And I remember thinking, wouldn't that be awesome if we had, you know,
maybe if God just gave us a news article or a Snapchat or an Instagram from the future
where we could just kind of look at that and know that that was coming in our lives,
that moment, even if we didn't understand what was in the picture or who the person was?
How would it affect how we live?
I mean, if it was a bad thing, but how would that affect how we live?
If it was a good thing, you know, how would that affect it?
Well, this morning, we're looking at a place where God does this very thing.
He actually gives us a picture of what's coming in the future.
And the question that we're going to be considering as we look at that is,
how will that affect how we live?
And in this series that we're doing on prayer, how will that affect how we pray?
This is the last message in this series.
As a bit of a reminder of where we've come from,
we began this series with Paul urging Timothy.
I urge then, first of all, that prayers, petitions, intercession, thanksgiving be made for all people.
And over the last number of weeks, we've been looking at various groups of all people.
Who does that include?
We've talked about our families.
We've talked about our church, one another.
We've talked about praying for our community.
We've talked about praying for those in our lives that don't believe in Jesus.
And one of the anchoring principles that we've kind of held through this whole thing is this truth that we can have confidence in prayer
when we ask God to do things that He wills, that He desires to do.
And so we've been looking at each of these groups of people in our lives over the past number of weeks and asking that question.
What does God will in my family?
What does He will in our church?
And, of course, in one sermon on each of these things,
we can't really unpack all that He desires for these various relationships that we have.
But hopefully that's helped to get us thinking in that direction so that we're praying more than just,
please bless and be with and bless and be with and bless and be with.
Well, this morning, we come to the final relationship.
We're praying about the world.
We're talking about praying about the world, about the nations.
And even as I say that, I'm aware that some of us are thinking,
oh, the nations, the world.
We tend to be more concerned with stuff that goes on right here around us,
stuff that's not far away but stuff that's close, the people that are close to us.
And, well, the people, the nations, you know, the world, the world is so big.
Those people are so far away.
I have a hard time praying for just my family and my church as it is.
I've got to pray for the world, for the nations.
And so this morning, I want to look at, we want to look together at a snapshot
that God gives us of the end of the story, the end of our story,
that I think will really stir our hearts to see just how important it is that we pray for all people
and that that goes to its widest sense to the world and to the nations.
So, Revelation chapter 7.
We're going to be starting in verse 9.
But maybe before we do, I should probably just give us a little bit of up to speed on what's going on here.
Revelation is a very unique writing in the Bible.
Essentially, the apostle John is on an island where he receives a vision from Jesus Christ,
a revelation from Jesus Christ.
And he describes what he sees through this whole revelation.
Jesus appears to him.
He turns.
He looks.
And there's the Lord.
But it's not your ordinary kind of meeting with another person.
Jesus looks very, you know, there's a sharp two-edged sword coming out of his mouth.
There's all kinds of things.
It's a very dreamlike kind of vision.
Very strange.
Kind of like the visions of the prophets of old or of Joseph back in the Old Testament.
Jesus appears to him.
And Jesus tells him to write down word for word what Jesus wants communicated to seven churches.
And so he goes through this.
He writes down the words that Jesus wants to give to these churches.
And then in chapter 4, he says that after this, he sees a door open in heaven.
And he's invited by the Lord to come up into heaven.
And John describes how in this vision, he sees this great throne in heaven.
And there's one seated on the throne.
And around this throne, there are 24 other thrones and elders seated on these thrones.
And there's four living creatures such as we've never seen the likes of on our planet.
And these elders and these creatures, they're all worshiping the one seated on the throne.
And then John notices that in the right hand of the one who's sitting on the throne, there's a scroll.
And there's kind of this moment of great lament.
There's nobody who is worthy to break the seals on this scroll and open it and read it.
And then all of a sudden, John describes how a lamb comes forward.
And the elders and the angels, they all recognize the lamb is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll.
There's seven seals on this scroll.
And in chapter 6, John is describing what happens as each of these seals are broken.
It's a very interesting vision.
It seems as though as the lamb breaks each seal, something is triggered.
An event happens.
And so the lamb breaks them one by one, the first six seals.
And as he does, things seem to be unleashed or happen on the earth.
And the first number of things that are described are tragic.
They're calamities, war, conquest, plague, killing.
He talks about how there are many who are killed because of the word of God and the testimony that they had maintained.
There's cosmic signs that happen.
There's seismic activity.
And as it comes to this sixth seal, verse 15 and 16 of chapter 6, we're kind of left with this picture of the people of the world running and hiding, looking for cover.
They recognize it.
They anticipate that the wrath of the lamb is about to fall.
Judgment is coming on the earth.
And they're in deep trouble.
After this sixth seal is broken, there's a pause.
And John tells us about how an angel goes out and he puts the seal of God on God's people, on the servants of God, to protect them from the outpouring of God's wrath.
And then we come to our passage, which is in verse 9.
So let's read together.
In verse 9, John says this.
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 before 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.
You can imagine John in this moment just like, what is going on here?
This is strange.
What's happening here?
We're kind of all wondering the same thing.
I mean, this is a very strange vision.
The first thing that we notice that John notices is the size of this multitude.
He uses three different ways to kind of emphasize how big this group of people is.
First, there's the word multitude.
That's a big crowd.
But that's not enough.
It's a multitude of many or a great multitude.
But even that doesn't quite do it justice.
It's a great multitude that no one could count.
Literally, that to number them, no one was able.
We're talking a vast sea of people that John sees standing before the throne.
The next thing that John notices is not the size, but the diversity of this multitude of people.
He notices that there's people represented there from every nation, every tribe, every people, every language.
From there, he begins to describe some of the other details that he notices.
They're standing before the throne and before the Lamb.
And what do they look like?
He says they're wearing white robes.
And they're holding palm branches in their hands.
But verse 10 is where John really begins to draw our attention.
He switches to the present tense, which you won't see this in our English.
But he kind of wants to invite us into this moment.
And they are crying out, he says, in a loud voice.
Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb.
Can you imagine what it would have been like to just hear this sea of people calling out, crying out in a loud voice?
Can you hear the sound of their voices?
And what are they saying?
Salvation is of our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb.
They're giving the credit for their deliverance, their rescue to the one who sits on the throne.
You are the one who has saved us.
You are the one who sits on heaven's throne and rules.
It's a cry of praise.
Of worship.
John goes on to tell us in verse 11.
All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures.
And they fell down on their faces before the throne and worshipped God, saying, Amen.
Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength.
Be to our God forever and ever.
Amen.
So here we have the elders and the creatures and the angels responding to the cry of the multitude.
The multitude before the throne says, Salvation is from you, God, and from the Lamb.
And then all the rest of them there.
I would have loved to have just seen what John saw there.
They fall down on their faces like imagine your mouth talking right into the ground.
And they say, Amen.
Yes, we agree.
Salvation is indeed.
From the one who sits on the throne and from the Lamb.
Indeed, he is worthy of praise.
I like to call this expression here the ten times better version of long live the king.
You can kind of think back to the old days of when, you know, a good king would do some worthy thing
and the people would shout, long live the king.
May you continue to rule and be our leader.
This is like the ten times better version of that.
Yes, we recognize that you are worthy of praise and glory and honor and thanks.
May you continue to rule with your great wisdom and power and strength forever and forever.
Sometimes we hear those words forever and ever and it's just like, literally in Greek, it's unto the ages of eternity.
May there never come a day when you do not rule with your great power and strength and wisdom over us.
May there never come a day when we stop giving you credit and glory and thanks and praise for rescuing us, for saving us.
When people do good deeds, the media gives an appropriate amount of coverage.
This is worthy of two weeks, this SNC-Lavalin thing, well, that's stretching out.
But some people are saying, well, we're sick of that.
That's had enough time.
what these elders, these angels,
these creatures are acknowledging
is that there is no end
to the amount of coverage,
to the amount of praise,
to the amount of credit that you deserve, God,
for what you have done for your people,
for this multitude.
It's a beautiful picture.
Can you feel the passion?
Can you feel the delight and the longing
of these expressions to God?
John's just kind of taking this all in
and we kind of get the sense that he's like
just staring at all this,
watching it going on, speechless.
What is happening here?
And then one of the elders, verse 13,
one of the elders asked me,
these in white robes,
who are they?
And where do they come from?
I answered,
sir, you know.
And he said,
these are they
who have come out of the great tribulation.
They have washed their robes
and made them white
in the blood of the lamb.
Therefore,
they are before the throne of God
and worship him day and night
in his temple.
And he who sits on the throne
will shelter them with his presence.
Never again will they hunger.
Never again will they thirst.
The sun will not beat down on them
nor any scorching heat.
For the lamb at the center of the throne
will be their shepherd.
He will lead them to springs of living water
and God will wipe away
every tear
from their eyes.
So,
John gets asked the question
that we're kind of all wondering.
What's going on here?
Who is this great multitude?
What am I seeing here?
What's the meaning of this?
The elder asked John.
John says,
well,
the only thing that really makes sense
is,
you know better than I do.
You could tell me.
And then the elder does.
He explains a little bit of who they are.
Now,
what I'm about to say,
I want you to know,
is a bit of an interpretive guess.
And sometimes,
you know,
in this kind of writing in the Bible,
when we're looking at visions,
we have to guess
that the symbolism is here,
but there's not the same level of confidence
as there is in other places
if we're getting the symbols right.
But what I can't help but notice
are some of the details
John includes in this vision.
This all takes place
around this great throne.
A throne.
What do the people have
in their hands?
The multitude,
what are they holding in their hands?
Palm branches.
Hmm.
That kind of takes me back
to the triumphal entry.
In fact,
John is the only one
in his gospel
who specifies
what kind of branch
that they were holding.
It's palm branches.
And then you've got this
ten times better version
of long live the king.
I'm not going to say
this is what this means,
but could it be
that this is kind of
that snapshot
that we were talking about earlier,
that picture of the future
when God's people
will get a redo
of the triumphal entry.
When we will acknowledge
with passion
and declare our loyalty,
yes,
you are the worthy king.
May you reign over us
with all your amazing qualities
forever.
The question on the table is
who are these people?
Who is this multitude?
Now,
I'm going to,
I've been around long enough
to know that
many of us
get excited
when it comes to
future events
and prophecy.
And
I'm willing to bet
there are some people
who think that
one of the most
significant details
of this passage
is the first part
of verse 14.
These are they
who have come out
of the great tribulation.
And
as we hear that,
perhaps we're already
racing in our minds.
The great tribulation.
Yes,
let's talk about that.
What,
what is that?
What does it mean
that these are they
who have come out
of the great tribulation?
And how does all of this
fit with the timeline
that I have in my head
about the rapture
and the second coming?
But as a shepherd
and
an elder,
I want to humbly
suggest that
the answer to these
questions
is
the least
important detail
in this whole section.
please don't
misunderstand me.
I'm not saying
it's not important.
I'm saying
it's
the least
important.
What is
this section
about?
This section
is about
the relationship
between God
and his people.
In fact,
the elder
goes on
verse 14
down 15,
16,
17
he doesn't
say anything
about
the fact
that
they
came out
of the great
tribulation
after that.
Everything
after that
is describing
the relationship
between God
and his people
from that day
on and forever
about how
they will
never hunger.
They will
never thirst
again.
All their
longings
will be
satisfied
once and
for all
forever.
He talks
about how
the Lamb
will be
their shepherd,
that he
will lead
them to
springs of
living water,
how God
will wipe
every tear
from their
eyes.
What is
this section
about?
Look at
all the
characters
in this
vision.
The elders,
the four living
creatures,
the angels,
the multitude.
What is their
attention on?
all of their
attention is in
the same
place,
the throne,
the one
who sits
on the
throne,
the Lamb.
He is
the glory
and beauty
of this
whole passage.
what he
has done
for his
people
is the
crown jewel
of this
passage.
In
verse 15,
the elder
makes this
statement.
He says,
therefore,
or on
account of
this,
they are
before the
throne of
God and
worship him
day and
night in
his temple.
On account
of what?
Why are
they there
worshiping so
intensely?
In verse
10, why are
they crying
out with a
loud voice?
Why are
they worshiping
him so
constantly,
day and
night?
It's not
just because
they came
out of the
great
tribulation.
God has
saved them.
It's
because in
the last
half of
verse 14,
Jesus is
the lamb
whose blood
was shed
so that
their robes
could be
washed
white.
Take a
look back
for a
second to
verse 16
of chapter
6.
Where is
the rest
of the
world at
this moment
in John's
vision?
They're
hiding.
They're
seeking
cover.
They have
this sense
of dread
and
anticipation.
They say
this,
fall on us
and hide
us to the
mountains and
rocks.
Hide us
from the
face of
him who
sits on
the throne
and from
the wrath
of the
lamb.
For the
great day
of their
wrath has
come.
And who
can stand?
This
multitude
can stand
before the
throne.
That's why
they're
worshiping.
That's why
they're
praising
God.
The rest
of the
world is
about to
face the
final judgment
God.
But this
multitude
stands
wearing
white and
worshiping,
praising God
because he
has saved
them from
that.
That's why
they worship.
It's a
beautiful picture
of the
relationship of
God and
his people,
a future
picture.
God
will
take a
step back
from all
of that
now,
from the
glory of
that
heavenly
scene,
and consider
for a
moment,
what does
this have
to do
with our
world?
We're
talking about
praying for
our world,
and I want
to suggest
to you that
this moment
that we see
here in
John's
vision is
a snapshot,
is a
portrait of
what's
coming in
the future.
And it's
not just a
snapshot of
us as
the church
and God.
This is a
global picture.
Who is this
multitude?
Look at what
John says.
He says that
this is a
great multitude
beyond numbering
from every
nation,
every tribe,
every people,
every language,
all represented
here.
What is
God doing
in our
world?
What is he
working to
bring about?
This is
amazing.
We have a
snapshot of
what's coming.
We can know
with confidence
what God is
up to.
And it's
not just a
plan to
save us as
a church.
It's a plan
that's global.
Every nation.
Think about
that.
People from
Germany.
People from
Iraq.
People from
Australia.
People from
Saudi Arabia.
People from
South America.
Brazil.
Every nation.
Every tribe.
Think about
that.
That's even
more particular.
You think of
all the
different tribes
of people
in Africa.
You think of
the tribes
of natives
here in
Canada.
The Cree.
The tribes
of South
America.
Every people.
Every people
group was
represented
there.
Every
language.
Chinese.
English,
of course.
We all
believe that.
We all
know that.
Sometimes we
think our
language is
the language.
the good
one.
The one
that's
becoming
the
international
one.
How did
John know
that every
language was
there?
He probably
heard people
praising,
saying this in
other languages
that he didn't
recognize.
Chinese.
Low German.
men.
You get the
picture.
There's one
language that I
don't know if it
will be there.
Think of my
grandma who's
deaf.
Sign language.
language.
This is an
amazing picture.
God is
working to
bring about a
people for
himself.
To save a
people.
And nobody
is excluded
from that
salvation on
the basis of
their nation.
Their political
country that they
live in.
Nobody is
excluded on the
basis of
their ethnicity.
ethnicity.
The language
that they
speak.
God is
weaving this
incredible
tapestry.
This diverse,
beautiful
people.
For himself.
For the
praise of his
glorious grace.
And so we
come to the
question of
prayer.
do the
people on the
other side of
our world
matter?
Think about
this.
Some we
would say
matter less
because of
terrible things
that they
do.
You know,
I've heard
even Christians
saying things
like just
racist comments
about people
that are
Arab.
you know,
people that
are Palestinian,
people that
are native.
All of those
people groups
will be
represented in
this multitude.
God wants
to save some
from every
people.
And when we
have a picture
like this,
we should be
the first
people to
move towards
those people.
In that
multitude,
you may find
yourself standing
shoulder to
shoulder with
an Arab
brother as
you praise
the one who
has saved
both of
you.
And so
when it
comes to
prayer,
I just
want to
give a
few
points of
application.
Jesus said,
the harvest
is plentiful,
but the
workers are
few.
And so
what should
we do
about it?
Just get
started and
start harvesting?
No,
he said,
pray and
ask the
Lord to
send workers
into the
harvest field.
Part of
our regular
prayer list,
our regular
praying should
be that God
would continue
to send
people across
cultural lines,
language lines.
There's not
enough workers.
We need
more.
Part of our
prayer should be
for the
missionaries that
we know who
are already
serving there.
They're doing
this.
They're working
to bring this
picture about
in Lesotho.
And so
we should
pray for
those who
are serving
in those
places,
that God
would continue
to do that
work of
building his
church in
those places.
Lastly,
we should
pray for the
people of
the nations,
the people
themselves.
We did a
little bit of
that at
World Day
of Prayer.
We kind
of focused
in on one
country.
As we
read the
news,
different
countries come
up.
We have
opportunity to
pray for
the people
there.
One really
helpful resource
that if you
don't have,
I really
recommend,
is this
book.
It's called
Operation
World.
This is
essentially
the definitive
prayer guide to
every nation.
It's got
every single
country listed
in here.
It's got the
demographics of
it generally.
It's got
exactly how
many based
on statistics
are in each
denomination.
It's got a
small list of
some of the
answers to
prayer since
the last
edition,
which was
10 years
ago,
and some
of the
challenges
for prayer.
Just very
simply,
ways to
pray.
If you
don't have
this,
I encourage
you to get
a copy
of this,
or maybe
just pick a
few countries
that God
puts on
your heart,
and pray
regularly for
the people of
those countries,
and I would
encourage you
as you do
not to leave
certain countries
out.
There are
certain countries
in our world
that are known
for doing
terrible things,
and terrible
things happening
in them.
We should pray
even more
for those
countries.
Love your
enemies.
And pray
for those
who persecute
you.
God's
heart is
to save
a people
for the
praise of
his glory
from all
around the
globe.
And we
can participate
in that,
even if we
don't go
and cross
a cultural
line of
some kind,
or go
overseas.
We can
participate
in that
simply by
praying and
asking God
to do it.
And so,
let's renew
those connections
that we
have with
missionaries
that we
know of.
Those
newsletters
that we
get in
our inbox
from time
to time.
I get a
few.
I'm sure
you guys
get a
few.
Let's
read through
that again
more carefully.
What do
they need?
How can
we pray
specifically
for them
and the
work that's
going on
there?
Maybe shoot
them an
email if
you haven't
heard from
them in a
while and
ask them,
how can I
pray for
you?
What are
some specific
needs?
things?
And all
of this we
can make
part of
our regular
routine and
habit every
week.
The nations
may not seem
important to
us, but
they are
deeply
important to
God.
Amen.