A Glimpse At A Glorious Crowd

A GLIMPSE AT A GLORIOUS CROWD!

Revelation 7:9-12

Have you ever been in a large crowd, I mean, a really large crowd?

Although I have been in some pretty big crowds, when I think about the giant crowd

mentioned here in Revelation 7, I simply cannot fathom it! I can’t imagine seeing a crowd that is

so large that it cannot be numbered.

I was visiting the website for the Guiness World Book of Records, and out of curiosity, I

thought I would look up some records for large crowds. I discovered that

1. The largest crowd to be “slimed” was 731. Yes, on March 12, 1999 in Birmingham, England,

840 litres of slime was poured upon 731 people in a fundraiser for Comic Relief.

2. The largest crowd to gather for the purpose of blowing bubbles, met in Upton Park, London

England, in May of 1999; 23,680 people assembled there in order to blow bubbles

simultaneously. (The British do like to gather for the strangest purposes!)

3. The largest crowd for a regular season football game is 102,368, for the Los Angeles Rams

against the San Francisco 49ers, at the Los Angeles Coliseum, California, USA, on November

10, 1957.

4. The largest number of visitors to a single department store in one day (and it’s not

WALMART!!) is an estimated 1.07 million who shopped at the Nextage Shanghai, in Shanghai,

China on December 20, 1995.

5. The greatest number of live spectators for any sporting event is 10,000,000 over a

three-week period at the annual Tour de France cycling race..

All over the world, people gather in large crowds for many purposes, but as exciting as some of

those gatherings might be, they all pale in comparison to the innumberable crowd of Rev. 7.

I want you to try to envision this giant crowd of people in Heaven. Take a moment to try to

imagine such a sight. People from every walk of life, every culture, every nationality -- so many

people that they cannot be numbered. And then, notice the angels who join in on the praise and

worship of Jesus Christ! WOW! Can you imagine what it would be like to be in the midst of

that glorious worship service?

But as we envision this fantastic heavenly host of angels and men giving praise to God, it

ought to cause us to think. This Heavenly vision should cause us to think about the great scope

of the Great Commission. Let’s notice 4 things as we consider a glimpse of this glorious crowd:

I A GREAT MULTITUDE

A John says of this crowd, that it was so large that “no one could number it.”

1. All John saw was a crowd, so large that it was impossible to count!

2. There were obviously a lot more than the 144,000 (since he knew their number)

B But here’s the exciting part! Notice who made up this crowd.

1. It is a crowd made up of all nations. “Ethnos” = ethnic groups.

2. It is a crowd made up of all tribes. The word “tribes” = “offspring, generations of

people.” To me that suggests large families of people.

3. It is a crowd made up of all “peoples”. Peoples = “laion” (leity) = “all populations”

4. It is a crowd made up of all “tongues” or “languages”

C So who makes up this great and glorious heavenly crowd?

1. All ethnic groups and their offspring.

2. All peoples of every language.

3. In other words, from every background and breed, every country,culture, and clan,

from every district and dialect, from every region, race, and rank, from every lineage,

locale and language, GET THE POINT? Every group will be represented.

D I am blessed to live in an area of great cultural diversity. In our small congregation, we

now have 17 nations represented: Canada, U.S.A., Mexico, England, Scotland, Germany,

Czech. Republic, Poland, China, Japan, Philippines, Jamaica, Bahamas, Barbados, Guyana,

Trinidad and Nigeria. (Every populated continent now, except Australia!)

1. When I look out on Sunday Morning, I see a lot of different shades and colours and

hear a lot of different accents.

2. But that is just a SMALL sampling of what it will be like in HEAVEN!!

II A GREAT CELEBRATION

A John describes this crowd as wearing white robes.

1. The word for “robes” is “stolas”, which were “long robes, fancy robes for leisure”

White is symbolic of purity or righteousness.

2. They are also waving palm branches, another symbol of celebration.

B Can you imagine how exciting such a celebration would be? I mean, get this picture ...

1. Here they are WAVING palm branches, and “crying out with a loud voice.”

2. WHAT? No Baptists in the group?

3. Folks, we need to learn to worship, because we’re going to be doing it for a long time!