A Glimpse of Heaven
Monday, November 12, 2012 Posted by Unknown
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Yesterday, I tweeted this:
There is nothing quite like church @kingspark on "Celebrate the Nations" Sunday #GlimpseOfHeaven #ThisIsChurchin response to this:
— Anitra Elmore (@anitra) November 11, 2012
I'd just watched members of our congregation wave the flags of all the countries represented there. We sang "How Great is Our God" together, in English, Indonesian Russian, Spanish, Zulu and Mandarin. As I watched it all unfold, I was undone.
It was absolutely breath-taking (it is every year). My initial thought was that this might have been what it felt like at Pentecost, when devout men from every nation heard the Galilean believers glorifying God in each of their own languages. I prayed for unbelievers from the nations to hear our words and have that same miraculous experience. What a great day to join God's diverse family!
As I looked around, I was reminded of just how blessed I am to worship with such a diverse group of people every week. It is, indeed, a tiny glimpse of heaven. What I know for certain about eternity is that I will spend it worshiping with people who will come from distant nations, look nothing like me, speak other languages and have different cultural experiences. I'm grateful to attend a church that allows me to "practice" that here in this home, and I'm eager to experience the beauty of it all when we're neighbors on the other side.
"After this I saw a vast crowd, too great to count, from every nation and tribe and people and language, standing in front of the throne and before the Lamb. They were clothed in white and held palm branches in their hands. And they were shouting with a mighty shout, 'Salvation comes from our God on the throne and from the Lamb!'" Revelation 7:9-10 NLT
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