Everyday Life in Revelation: Part 5 The PeopleSample

We see a great multitude, made up of every tribe and tongue, worshiping the living Lord. This is the army of God. We are clearly looking at believers. This is the true Israel, not made up of one race or specific ethnicity. Instead, these people possess faith in God and live under the allegiance of king Jesus.

We can learn several truths from this passage. First, if God is receiving worship from every ethnic group, the church has a responsibility to be open and not turn any away on account of race or nationality. Racism has no place in the body of Christ. How can the church reject any whom God receives?

Another lesson we can learn is in the sufficiency of the Gospel. In our age of materialism and secularism, it is easy to be frustrated in our view of the power of the gospel. It is easy to believe that the message of Scripture is irrelevant the kingdom of God is few in number. As we read of more people embracing atheism in western countries, we can be fooled into believing that the kingdom of God is shrinking. This is not the case! We can be confident the gospel will not fail. The Holy Spirit is still active in this world and calling people to repent and turn their life over to the living God. The Spirit is not reaching just a few men and women, boys and girls. Instead, we see a vast host of people drawn together worshiping before the throne.

Finally, we see that the success of the gospel reveals it’s power. John wrote in a day of persecution. The church had no political clout, nor any cultural advantage All it had was the message of the gospel and this picture we read today shows us that the gospel is enough. It will accomplish what God has designed for His church, even when preached by the weak and powerless.