Pray for the World

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.

Revelation 7 · chapter mention

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.

Revelation 7 · chapter mention

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.

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.

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.