“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 commemorate the feast of All Saints, it is fitting that we read of the great vision of the Church Triumphant from the book of Revelation. Saint John records this 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 followers. 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 number includes we who are still living as well since it is a vision of all that takes place at the end of time.
This great gathering of the saints reminds us that the Kingdom that God has designed is made up of peoples of different races, nationalities, languages and cultures, many alien from our own here in America, types of people we may not like, people we may actually hate. But because they are all in the Kingdom of God by His choice not ours, we must love them. There is no place in God’s church for prejudice or nationalism for we are 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.
In keeping with the global nature of the Kingdom of God, we must preach the gospel to everyone especially those who are in our neighborhood mission field. These the Lord desires to come to faith are unknown to us but all these He has placed at our doorstep. Because the Lord desires all to come to faith He will use us to do His work.