A Foretaste of Glory Divine

“… you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to thousands of angels in joyful assembly. You have come to the assembly of God’s firstborn children, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God himself … . And you have come to the spirits of the redeemed in heaven who have now been made perfect. You have come to Jesus … and to the sprinkled blood… .” (Hebrews 12:22-24, NLT)

“After this I saw a vast crowd, too great to count, from every nation and tribe and people and language, standing in front of the throne and before the Lamb.” (Revelation 7:9, NLT)

Last night I was overwhelmed with the realization that I was experiencing a foretaste of the great eschatological gathering of the nations in jubilant worship to God. I was together with Christians from the southeastern corner of Togo where we work among the Watchi people in our annual “takpekpe”—big meeting. As my teammate Jeff Holland (pictured above -- can you guess which one?) pointed out, the lessons they teach may leave something to be desired, but these people sure know how to worship. I really can’t imagine the richness of our heavenly worship when we have people from every nation and tribe and people and language together, but I do know that it will be infinitely more pleasing to God than the mono-cultural staleness that we sometimes offer. I count myself blessed to be able to participate in worship that would at one time have been utterly foreign to me, and thankful that I have been enriched by the worship of the poor.