Why – To The Ends Of The Earth? Series

Today we are asking the question, Why must we all be focused on getting the Gospel out, not just here and around our nation, but to the ends of the earth? First of all, we are commanded.

Acts 1:8b (NKJV) ... you shall be witnesses to Me ...

The Command is clear – “You shall be witnesses to me.” And we will receive power to be that witness and we shall be that witness here at home and around the world. Also in Matthew, Jesus gives the Great Commission:

Matthew 28:19–20 (NKJV) Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.

The main command here is to "make disciples." Baptizing and teaching are participles in the Greek. This are the things we do in making disciples. A disciple is a student, always learning, always following. Notice the command is to "make disciples of all the nations." This brings us to our focal passage today. Why did Jesus command us to this? To take the gospel to the ends of the earth?

If you get nothing else out of this morning message, please do not miss this, it is all about giving glory, honor, thanksgiving, power and might to God. All the world needs to be called to sing His praises. We do it to bring all these things to Almighty God and to the Lamb, which is Jesus. It’s all about Jesus.

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. To look up some records for large crowds I Googled for a few statistics and visited the website for the Guiness World Book of Records for others. I discovered that:

The most people simultaneously slimed is 3026 and was achieved by Nickelodeon Australia at the annual Nickelodeon Slimefest in Sydney, NSW, Australia on 15 September, 2012.

The most people blowing bubbles simultaneously was 34,529 at 198 venues around the UK for an event organized by Flair Plc and Gazillion Bubbles (both UK) on 3 July 2007. (The British do like to gather for the strangest purposes!)

The largest crowd to watch a regular-season college football game was composed of the 113,090 fans who watched the University of Michigan and the Connecticut Huskies on September 4, 2010, at Michigan Stadium.

The largest number of visitors to a single department store in one day (and it’s not WALMART on a black Friday!!) is an estimated 1.07 million who shopped at the Nextage Shanghai, in Shanghai, China on December 20, 1995. (That number over the years have decreased due to online shopping).

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 innumerable crowd of Revelation 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? [1] Any mega-church worship performance, or stadium filled crusade will pale in comparison.

Revelation 7:9 (NKJV) 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,

Can you begin to see the importance of reaching the whole world? There will be someone from every people group, from every tribe, every language, standing before the throne of God. It is arguable that John was seeing all the saved of all history here. There are languages today that did not exist in John’s day. There are people groups and nations that did not exist. For that matter, there are people groups and languages no longer in existence today, that where present a thousand years ago. They will be represented too, before the throne. This verse tells us that all groups will be represented before the throne. There will be so many that one person could not count them all. This means all these groups have been reached with the gospel at some point in time.