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 and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.”
– Revelation 7:9–10
What a scene. Can you just imagine this? Opening your eyes and looking, “I looked and beheld a great multitude that no one could number.” So you might picture a stadium full of people, with tens of thousands of people. But that’s just it. You can number that. Picture a multitude. That it’s impossible to number like no one. No one can number this multitude, not just their number, but their makeup from every nation.
Revelation 7:9–10 shows us every ethnicity in the world represented around the throne of God.
Just like we prayed according to Revelation 5:9–10, all the tribes, all the peoples, all the languages, every one of them has representatives around this multitude. There is not one people group in the world.
Some say there are over 11,000 distinct ethnic groups in the world. Some say over 16,000 ethnic groups in the world based on how you divide or identify them. Regardless, all of them, all 11,000 or 16,000 of them, represented in this multitude that no one can number. So every color, every background, every ethnicity in the world is represented around the throne, and they’re singing, crying out with a loud voice, and it just makes you wonder, “What does this sound like? Is it all in different languages? Is it in one language?” Clearly, there’s an ability to understand what’s being said, so they’re all crying out in a loud voice together, “Salvation belongs to our God.” Our God, all the nations saying he is our God who’s on the throne, and to the Lamb, Jesus, at the center of it all.
Revelation 7:9–10 reminds us history is leading us to stand before the throne of God.
This is the goal toward which all of history is heading. This is the culmination of history, and I say the culmination of history. There’s going to be trillions upon trillions of years after that, and it will just be the beginning, eternal life flowing from this moment. At the same time, Revelation 7:9–10 will mark the end of the history of this world as we know it. As a result, I just want you to think for a moment about the purpose of your life in light of this picture. Why are you here on the earth right now? What is the purpose of your life? And the Bible is telling us in Revelation 7:9–10 that the train of history is headed toward this moment.
So if you want your life to count in this world, then jump on this train and live for this picture. Live to lead people from every nation, tribe, and language to the throne of God on that day, to know the Lamb of God, Jesus. This is why the Great Commission from Jesus is so clear. Make disciples not just generally but of all the nations. This is why we, as the church, must be resolutely focused on making disciples of all the nations. Every follower of Jesus is a disciple-maker for the nation. This is who you are. This is what the purpose of your life revolves around, living for this goal.
This verse encourages us to embrace our identity as disciple-makers.
So God, help us. We pray to live for this goal. God, I pray, especially for people in the country where I live, that you would deliver us from the American dream and help us to live for this biblical dream. Help us all as followers of Jesus to live for the dream, for the sight of a multitude that no one can number from all the tribes and peoples and languages, every nation standing before your throne.
Lord, help us to live for Revelation 7:9–10. Help us to live for this today. God, help us to share the good news of the Lamb today with people around us who don’t know you, Jesus, so that they might be around your throne that day. Help us this week and our lives, our families, our churches, to lead people to be around the throne on that day and to help us to be resolute in our focus on all the tribes, peoples, and languages until all of them are represented around your throne.
Prayer for the Razihi People
Oh God, we pray specifically today for the Razihi people of Yemen. 82,000 of them speaking this distinct Razihi language in Yemen that even Yemen’s Arabic speakers can’t understand, dwelling in Yemen’s Houthi-controlled northwestern desert. Oh God, we pray for the spread of your salvation to the Razihi people of Yemen. God, we pray that they would be reached with the good news of your love, that you would raise up laborers for that harvest field. The harvest is plenty, but the workers are few. So we’re praying, Lord, send out laborers into Yemen. God, we pray for the small number of Christians who live in Yemen.
God strengthen them. Help them in every way. Build them up. Cause your grace in and through them to multiply. Please bless all who are working with brothers and sisters in Christ in Yemen to strengthen them. God, help them give missionaries from other countries grace, wisdom, and power from your Spirit, and raise up more who are going into Yemen amidst all the challenges that are there, knowing that there’s going to be Razihi people around your throne one day, based on Revelation 7:9–10. Bring it about, we pray and use our lives, all that we have, our families, all that we have, our churches, all that we have, and the little bit of time that we do have here to bring about this goal in history. In Jesus’ name, we pray, amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
