Every
Tongue
“After
these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude
which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples,
and tongues, standing before the throne and before the
Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in
their hands” (Revelation 7:9)
Many believe that if we do enough
good things it will get us to the place called “heaven.”
Like the famous book title of a few decades ago, “I’m
OK – You’re OK,” – there is an assumption that
if we TRY to be “nice” people, then we ARE nice! We
mostly MEAN well, so we must BE – good! We compare ourselves
to others, concluding, “Well, we’ve never MURDERED anybody;
never robbed a store; we tell the truth most of the
time, and considering that there are people who do commit
such things, therefore compared to them we must be ‘OK”
in the sight of God!
Evangelical Christians often
don’t see it that way, pointing out well-known Scriptures
like Ephesians 2:8-9 – “For by
GRACE you have been saved through faith, and that not
of yourselves; it is the gift of God, NOT of works,
lest anyone should boast.” Salvation is a “gift,”
not something we can earn. Merely being “nice” does
not save us. The next verse in the Book of Ephesians
is also important – “We are His
workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works,
which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in
them” (Ephesians 2:10). Notice what is being
said in these verses: There is something wrong with
the human race as a whole; otherwise we wouldn’t need
the “grace” (the unmerited
favor) of God. Salvation is a rescue from a situation
in which humanity is like a person dangling high on
the side of an earthquake-ruined building – we need
help or we will fall to our deaths; for the stairway
is no more and we cannot get to safety by ourselves.
Time is running out. “Faith”
in that context is a condition of TRUSTING that God
can and will do what we cannot do.
“Good
works” as mentioned in Ephesians 2:10 are the
RESULT of salvation, not the cause. We are “HIS
(Christ’s) workmanship, created
in” and through – Him! Those who seem to NOT
know the Lord Jesus, and yet are “nicer” than many “Christians”
are a problem - What if they die without ever hearing
of Jesus Christ? Will they go to hell?
There are many answers and hints
in the Bible, but the one we will focus on is found
in the Book of “Revelation,” where we meet the Apostle
John, who was intensely writing about his time “in
the Spirit” when he saw “a
throne set in heaven and One…
on the throne” (Revelation
4:2). John was trying to see and hear as much as possible
from the perspective of that throne, and one of the
groups he saw was “a great multitude
which no one could number, of ALL nations, tribes, peoples,
and TONGUES…” dressed in “white robes” (Revelation
7:9). Their “robes” symbolize
that they are CLEAN in the sight of God.
When you were in school, did
you have to memorize the “Prologue
to the Canterbury Tales” by Geoffrey Chaucer?
I did, and here’s a portion of it, best as I recall:
“Whan that aprille with his shoures
soote, the droghte of march hath perced to the roote,
and bathed every veyne in swich licour of which vertu
engendred is the flour; whan zephirus eek with his sweete
breeth inspired hath in every holt and heath, tendre
croppes, and the yonge sonne hath in the ram his halve
cours yronne …” There’s more, but you get the
idea – most today probably wouldn’t recognize Chaucer’s
words as English at all.
Chaucer’s “English” is a “tongue”
from 1300, so different from modern English, that if
he could meet you, he would not understand what you’re
saying. It’s the same with all languages. In China,
in say, 3000 BC, languages that can be called “pre-Chinese”
or possibly “pre-Mandarin” were being spoken. These
were “tongues” that were widely in use, but they have
not been spoken for literally millennia on earth. And
yet, if those from “EVERY tribe
and tongue” have been “redeemed…
to God” by the “blood”
of Jesus Christ, then people of the languages (and tribes)
from thousands of years ago are going to be represented
in “heaven.” The phrase “every
tongue” means that people who lived and spoke
BEFORE the time of Christ will be in heaven just as
surely as those who came after; and they are saved,
“redeemed” by the “blood”
of the Lamb (Revelation 5:9), just like us.
“Faith”
is our recognition that God does what we cannot do –
We trust HIM for salvation; not ourselves. “By
FAITH Abel (the fourth human being on earth)
offered to God a better sacrifice than (his brother)
Cain…” (Hebrews 11:4).
By FAITH Enoch was taken up so
that he should not see death…” (Hebrews 11:5).
“By FAITH Noah…
prepared an ark…” (Hebrews
11:7). By FAITH Abraham, when
he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which
he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out,
not knowing where he was going” (Hebrews 11:8).
And so it was with Isaac, Jacob, Moses and the rest.
They did not have anything like the INFORMATION you
do; they just BELIEVED, and it was enough.
If you were able to go back
in time, and considering the difference in culture and
language, managed to communicate with Abel, Noah, and
Abraham, you would probably want to ask a lot of questions.
One such question might be: “What do you know about
Jesus Christ?” Not what they know NOW, but what they
KNEW during their time on earth. Note that Abraham did
not even know “where he was going”
(Hebrews 11:8). He did not have all the answers, just
like we don’t. Even if you got the language somewhat
right, and asked Abraham about “Yeshua
HaMashiach,” the Hebrew form of the Greek name,
“Jesus Christ;” Abraham
still likely would shrug and say, “I don’t understand.”
Abraham was God’s “workmanship,”
saved by the grace of God, which became operative for
him through the cross of Christ, when he BELIEVED in
the Person and the love of God. Because of his faith,
the events of the cross saved him, even though they
were still far in the future. When humanity fell from
grace, it meant Abraham fell, too, just like you and
me. And all of us are redeemed (bought back) through
the price Jesus Christ paid on the cross, by grace,
through faith, whether or not we have ever heard of
Him by Name.
When missionaries speak of their
experiences, it is always interesting, and I have heard
the following from more than one. Corrie Ten Boom told
of such an event and others had this experience also:
The missionary spoke to the people of Jesus in their
language, and someone afterward thanked them, saying,
“I KNEW Him in my heart and NOW
I know His Name.” Those of every tribe, every
nation, every time and place, will be in eternity with
the Lord, by His grace, through FAITH. The cross, the
blood of Christ has made it so.
Lord, there is so much I
do NOT understand, but I have FAITH in You. Please forgive
me of my sins and let me live in heaven with You – forever.
In Jesus Name. Amen.
Ron
Beckham, Pastor
Friday Study Ministries
First Church On The Net
www.FridayStudy.org
Ron@FridayStudy.org
"While
we were yet sinners, Christ died for us"
(Romans 5:8)
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