Well, the scene we’re going to see this morning in the Word of God will be the consummate heavenly reality of what we’ve just experienced in our worship here, and it will be vastly more wonderful and amazing. I’m going try my best to let the Word of God speak to you about what heavenly worship will be like by having you look at Revelation chapter 7. You can open your Bibles to Revelation chapter 7; and in our ongoing study of this incredible book of visions that were given to the apostle John at the end of the first century, we have come to another vision of heaven. There have been two chapters which took us to heaven; I read one of them earlier, Revelation 5. And Revelation 4 also was a scene of the throne in heaven. What’s happening is we’re accumulating an understanding of the glory of heaven. So let me read to you chapter 7, verses 9 through 17.

“After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands; and they cry out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Salvation to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.’ And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures; and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, ‘Amen, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might, be to our God forever and ever. Amen.’

“Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, ‘These who are clothed in the white robes, who are they, and where have they come from?’ I said to him, ‘My lord, you know.’ And he said to me, ‘These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. For this reason, they are before the throne of God; and they serve Him day and night in His temple; and He who sits on the throne will spread His tabernacle over them. They will hunger no longer, nor thirst anymore; nor will the sun beat down on them, nor any heat; for the Lamb in the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and will guide them to springs of the water of life; and God will wipe every tear from their eyes.’”

It’s an amazing picture. It depicts a global salvation event, a coming, global salvation event.

Now remember, the book of Revelation is going back to the future, back in the first century to understand the end of all human history. And here is the next vision of John, and he sees this incredible, global work of salvation. The theme comes in the words of verse 10, “Salvation to our God.” This is about a coming salvation event which has had no historic equal. It exceeds anything in human history and will exceed anything human up to this point, when it is fulfilled.

Now we have always prayed, obviously, for the salvation of sinners; that’s why the church exists. We have always preached the gospel for the salvation of sinners; that’s our calling. We give testimony. We witness to the work of Christ in our lives for salvation for sinners. We pray to God that He would save sinners; and God, who is by nature a Savior, desires to save sinners. “The Son of Man came to give His life a ransom for many.” He “came to seek and to save that which was lost.”

God is a saving God, and that’s why the church is in the world as His instrument: to bring about the proclamation of the gospel and the work of the Holy Spirit to change hearts, to give sinners salvation—salvation from death and hell, eternal judgment. This is the work of God. This is the will of God.

And I guess at this point in time, our period of time where we are now living, we have wondered whether or not there might be some great, global work of salvation, some massive response to the gospel across the entire earth. And I suppose in these days we think about that more than, maybe, in the past, even though it was hoped for. We think about it more today because there is media that makes possible the proclamation of the gospel to the ends of the earth in ways that was never possible in the past.

So we could ask the question, Is there going to be a global work of salvation unlike anything that’s ever happened in human history? And the answer to that question is yes; and you just read the biblical description of that amazing, astonishing event in Revelation chapter 7.

Now in order to understand this, you have to understand that the setting here is in the book of Revelation; and chronologically, chapter 7 comes right after chapter 6; and chapter 6 is where you have the beginning of the final period of time before the kingdom of Christ, which is called in the Bible the Tribulation, the Trouble, or the Great Tribulation by our Lord Himself.

Now we look at the first three chapters of the book of Revelation, which see the church on earth. Chapters 4 and 5, we find the church is in heaven, represented by the twenty-four elders who represent the church. So the church has been removed from the earth—the rapture of the church we talked about in detail from 1 Thessalonians 4 and 1 Corinthians 15. So we’re living in church history. This period will culminate when the Lord raptures us, gathers us, takes us out of the world into His presence. And that’s why we see the scene in heaven in chapters 4 and 5, and what’s going on in heaven is worship. But at the same time, the machinery of God’s wrath is warming up in chapters 4 and 5, and it breaks loose in chapter 6; and you have from chapter 6 all the way to 19 the prophecies of divine judgment to come on the earth. After the church is already in heaven, on earth God will release judgments under seven seals, seven trumpets, and seven bowls, and that carries us to the end of the Tribulation, chapter 19, the return of Christ to set up His kingdom.

During that time, there will be a great global work of salvation unlike anything that has ever happened before, and it won’t be because Christians have somehow taken control of all the institutions and organizations of the world and got control of the levers of power and media, and we can spread the gospel more freely than we are able to now. That’s not going to be the reason. In fact, during this period of time, it’ll be the worst of all times in history. The church will be gone, gone—not in the world, gathered to heaven.

So the world is without the church. Satan is unleashed at this time. Full fury comes from his forces, his demonic herds. It even pictures, in the book of Revelation, hell coughing up demons that have been bound there, so that the full force of Satan’s demonic power is unleashed on the earth. There have always been antichrists, the Bible says, but there will be a final Antichrist who will be the worst of all of them, a terrorizing dictator with hellishly murderous intentions toward any who trust Christ, who perpetrates a reign of terror, the likes of which the world has never seen. So horrific, so destructive, and so deadly that there’s nothing to compare with it.

You not only have that going on in this time, the force of Satan, but you have the wrath of God unfolding in all its power. The seven seals, the seven trumpets, the seven bowls describe these wrathful events of divine fury as God sets loose His judgment on sinners. So think about this. This is a time when Satan is unleashed at a level never seen before. All bonds are removed from Satan’s demonic forces, and they run rampant over the face of the earth. Evil will be at a level never seen in human history.

At the same time, God is going to be pouring out furious judgment. There will be wars. There will be famines. There will be earthquakes. There will be diseases, pestilence. Wild animals will do destruction. There will be plagues. There will be collapsing sky, a collapsing earth, polluted water; and billions of people are going to die: a fourth of the population of the world, and then a third of the population of the world. So you have the full blast of hell’s force and the full blast and divine judgment in the Day of the Lord.

This would be a time when there would be no useful strategy to try to overcome the evil of the world or the divine wrath. You would expect, then, that there would be no possibility of a great global salvation—but if you believe that, you would be wrong, because what God is going to do in salvation never ever depends on—listen carefully—the accommodation of the culture. It never depends upon that. When the culture is literally hell on earth, and God’s fury is unleashed so that if people have some kind of offense from the God of the Bible now, one could only imagine what they will think of the God of the Bible as He unleashes His terror in that future time.

But it is exactly in the time when the greatest work of salvation in human history will take place, which reminds us of a very important truth: that the advancement of the kingdom of God is not connected to the culture in any way. When the earth is at its worst, when men are collectively at their worst, when Satan is offering his most optimum arsenal, and when God doing everything possible to demonstrate to people how hostile, how angry, how furious, and how raging He is about sin and evil, it is precisely in that environment that this global salvation will occur. And what that says to us is salvation is a work of God; and that’s exactly what that will be.

Now we already learned—and we’ll see more about it in the days to come—but we already learn in the opening part of this seventh chapter, verses 1 to 8, that the salvation of Israel is going to take place. That’s right, the salvation of Israel. We learned that there will be 12,000 from every tribe in Israel, making 144,000 Jews who will be protected by God to evangelize the nation of Israel and the world. It would be a time when you would assume that Jews who have resisted the truth since Jesus was on the earth—at least as a nation, as an ethnic group of people—would in that future time be less likely to want to acknowledge Christ and God and the gospel. But just the opposite is true because God is going to save Israel. That’s His promise. He promised it throughout the Old Testament, and He promised that in the New Testament, particularly Romans chapter 11. So all Israel will be saved, and it’s going to take place during that period of time.

So first of all, the salvation of Israel will be part of this global work. But secondly, it’ll be the salvation of nations. Notice verse 9, every nation, all tribes, peoples, tongues, all of them “standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes.” This is Gentile salvation, and that is something the Bible promises all throughout the Old Testament—Genesis 12; Psalm 67, 68, 98; all through the book of Isaiah, Jeremiah. The promise of not only Jewish salvation, but Gentile salvation.

And in the New Testament, listen, for example, to Acts chapter 2, verses 17 and 21. “‘And it shall be in last days,’ God says, ‘that I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind . . . . And it will be that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’” What’s going to happen under the fury of Satan and the fury of God: People are going call on the name of the Lord, people from every part of the planet.

Matthew 24:14 says it this way: “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be proclaimed in the whole world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.” Christ will not return until global proclamation of the gospel has occurred.

Luke 2:32, Simeon, when he saw the baby Jesus, said of this child, “A Light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for the glory of Your people Israel.” Simeon knew that the Messiah came not only to save Israel but to save the nations.

Listen to John 11:51-52, the bizarre prophecy of Caiaphas, who had no idea what he was saying, but what he said was true. He said “Jesus was going to die for the nation [Israel], and not for the nation only, but in order that He might also gather together into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.” God’s final work of salvation will be Jew and Gentile together.

Listen to Romans 3:29-30, “Is God the God of the Jews only? Is He not the God of [the] Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, since indeed God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith is one.” One God, one salvation for Jew and Gentile; and it will come. All Israel will be saved, and all the world will experience this salvation.

So let’s start by looking at the text and just seeing the introduction that comes in verse 9. This is what we have: We have a global work of salvation involving every nation, tribe, people, tongue—all possible angles, looking at national identity—and they’re “standing before the throne”—and we know that throne from chapters 4 and 5; it’s the throne of God—“and before the Lamb,” who also is at the throne, as we remember from chapters 4 and 5. They are “clothed in white robes” with “palm branches . . . in their hands.” This is this unique, massive multitude. It’s defined in simple language: “a great multitude,” “a great multitude” in addition to the 144,000. This is an indefinite number. You can’t even count, there are so many. This from every tongue and tribe and people and nation.

There have been some remarkable works of salvation in redemptive history. Certainly, the salvation of the city of Nineveh was amazing, under the preaching of a reluctant prophet by the name of Jonah. Some people estimate it could be as high as a million people in Ninevah who repented and turned to the true God. That’s an amazing thing. We remember the Day of Pentecost, 3,000 saved; and a little bit later in the book of Acts, 5,000 saved.

There have been times in history when there have been outbreaks of gospel response that we would say kind of fit the category of a widespread salvation work of God. But nothing comes close to this, nothing, nothing. This is for the whole world.

How is it going to happen? How do they become washed in the blood of the Lamb? How does this take place? Well, they’re going to have to hear the gospel. Well, the church is gone, so how are they going hear to the gospel? Well, the 144,000 who will come to understand the gospel become missionaries to Israel, and the world will begin to preach the gospel, and people will be converted. There will also be two witnesses we’ll meet in chapter 11, two witnesses who literally witness to the entire world; and they are killed, and then they come back to life, and the whole world sees that, and that has powerful impact for the gospel.

But there’s a unique way the gospel is going to be proclaimed to everyone, and I want you to look at chapter 14 of Revelation, verse 6. Now in order to come to faith, you have to believe the gospel, so the gospel has to be preached, Jesus said. I quoted that in Matthew 24. The gospel of the kingdom would be preached through this period, and then the end will come.

But how will it be preached? Well, chapter 14 says John had a vision of an “angel flying in midheaven.” That would be where you could be seen, not the heavens of the dwelling place of God, and not the atmosphere immediately on earth where we breathe our air, but in the sky above, midheaven. There’s a flying angel “having the eternal gospel to preach to those who live on the earth, to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people.”

So how are every nation, tribe, and tongue, and people going to hear the gospel from a flying angel? And I’ve heard people say, “Oh, wow, that’s cool because that’s got to be a satellite. And there’s even a satellite called Angel.” You can have your satellite; I’m going to stick with my angel.

Look, I am not going to speculate because I don’t need to. God says there will be an angel. I do not know whether this is a skywriting angel. I don’t know whether he’s going to have a booming, angelic voice. But it’s an angel, it’s an angel—showing the power of that kind of being.

But what is important for you to understand is the whole world can’t respond to the gospel until they hear it. It’s not going to be necessarily the only means, because I said there would be two witnesses, there will be 144,000 Jews who also proclaim the gospel. But somehow the whole earth is going to be given the message in some amazing, supernatural way.

Now, what do we learn about these people in this opening verse? They are “standing before the throne and before the Lamb.” So John sees these people in his vision. This is a vision of the future. John sees that in the future this massive crowd from all over the earth are going to be standing before the throne of God and before the Lamb. So they are to be added to the group in chapters 4 and 5, and that group was the angels, four living creatures, also certain angels, and the elders representing the church. So we’ve already seen the church and the angels around the throne praising God and the Lamb. And now we have this new multitude that appears and are added to the hosts of heaven.

This is interesting because they’re “clothed in white robes.” How does that happen? How do you become clothed in white robes? Well, if you go down to verse 14, the end of the verse, it says about them that they “washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” So they have been washed by the blood of the Lamb. They had been justified. They have been declared righteous by the blood of the Lamb. So here is a truly redeemed group that gathers around the throne in heaven in addition to the ones that are already there.

They have palms in their hands, palm branches, which we know were used in celebration. Even the Greeks and the Romans used them for that in parades of certain jubilation. We know the Jews used them as well for the Feast of Tabernacles, and they even used them to construct the roofs on the booths that they built for that commemorative celebration. You see that in the eighth chapter of Nehemiah.

So this is a celebration. This is a celebration of people who have been literally washed and been given white robes, the symbol of righteousness covering them. So this is the description that John sees.

And the location, what is that location of this? “Standing before the throne and before the Lamb,” in heaven. John sees the vision of their exaltation.

Now, many of them obviously had been praying for this to happen. We saw that back in chapter 6, verses 9 to 11, where the saints were under the altar praying for deliverance from persecution. And persecution will go on during the time of the Tribulation. It’ll be like no persecution ever. However, Satan will be persecuting those who believe. Antichrist will be slaughtering those who believe. But John sees them here in heaven.

So the description and the location and the action—what are they doing? “They cry out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Salvation to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.’” So, what are they doing in heaven? This is just pure praise. They “cry with a loud voice,” joyful exuberance.

So if you’re wondering what heaven is, and you think it might be something that is passing in terms of its experiences, like you have one experience in heaven today and another one tomorrow, know this: There’s no tomorrow, and there is no today; there’s just infinity, just eternality, no passing time. So what you have is an unending experience of joyful, exuberant worship and praise in which you are crying out, “Salvation to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.”

Salvation will ever and always be the theme of heaven’s praises—salvation, salvation. It’ll be a moment that never ends, in which we constantly, without limit, without cap, without boundaries, without weariness, without exhaustion, explode in praise for our salvation. What will motivate that? Two things: You’re in heaven, and you’re realizing what God prepared for you. And you’re perfect, so you have nothing to drag down your exuberant praise. This is heaven. This is heaven.

Now there’s an association, also, that these folks join, and that’s in verses 11 and 12: “And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders”—and we saw that in chapters 4 and 5—“and the four living creatures”—referring to four particular angels—“and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God.” And what are all these angels and the glorified church represented by the elders—what are they saying? “Amen, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might, be to our God forever and ever. Amen.” This is heaven.

It’s not that somebody’s going to lead you in praise. It is not there’s going to be a praise band or a worship leader. It’s that your sanctified, glorified, perfected being will do nothing but praise. You won’t need someone to lead you; it will just come pouring out of you, as it does the angels and the glorified church. “Amen, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might, be our God forever and ever. Amen.” That’s just a summation of the categories of our praise in heaven.

So we will enter into an intimate association with the angels when we go to heaven, and this group in the future, this particular group, will join us in everlasting praise. So there’s this massive circle of angels and glorified saints pouring out endless praise to God and to the Lamb.

This is the theme of all heavenly worship: salvation. You say, “Well, angels don’t experience salvation.” No, but they can glorify God for what He did to save sinners. There will be no weariness of worship in heaven. There will be no sense of isolation. You’re not going to be sitting by yourself on your own cloud plucking your harp. The picture is of the saints all gathered around the throne.

What an amazing association this is for the persecuted, murdered, humble, faithful believers who have been praying for deliverance, praying for rescue, praying for God to judge the enemies, to all of a sudden awaken, find themselves in the company of angels around the throne of God, praising Him for salvation, and realizing that they have the capacity to praise God for salvation in a way the angels don’t because they have never known salvation. They have never known victory over sin and temptation.

Do angels rejoice? Of course. But over what do they rejoice? Luke 15 tells you three stories: the lost coin, the lost sheep, the last son. And every time, when the coin and son and sheep were found, there was a celebration. And the comment of our Lord, of course, is that “there is more joy in heaven among the angels when one sinner repents.” All heaven forever will celebrate salvation.

Now, who are we talking about, specifically? We talked about the description of this vision, the location. John sees Him in heaven; the action is praise. The association is there—gathered with the angels and the glorified church. What is the origination? This is key to understanding this group, verses 13 and 14: “Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, ‘These who are clothed in the white robes, who are they, and where have they come from?’” The elder poses that question to John. This is a representative of the church, so it’s not the church as we know it today. Who are these? Where have they come from?

“I said to him, ‘My lord, you know.’ And he said to me, ‘These are the ones who come out of great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.’” Oh, these are the Tribulation saints. They came out of the Great Tribulation. That defines the time specifically. The Tribulation is that seven-year period after the rapture of the church, before our Lord returns to set up His earthly kingdom, the time of Jacob’s trouble, the seventieth week of Daniel, the time of Tribulation.

In particular, it is the time of Great Tribulation. That’s what our Lord called it in Matthew 24:21. They have come out of the Great Tribulation steadily, through that period of seven years, and particularly mostly out of the second half of that period, these people have been coming out. They literally come out of the Great Tribulation.

You notice it’s spoken of in a present tense: “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation.” The period of time will feature the worst of hell and the worst of divine wrath, but also the preaching of the gospel, people being converted, and then being martyred. And as they are martyred, they are immediately assembled around the throne of God.

They were rejecters when the time began because if they weren’t, they would have been taken with the church. These are ztribulation saints, and they are coming out—present tense, continuous action, prolonged processes in view. And anyone who loves the Lord, anyone who loves people would rejoice in the incredible reality of this. The gospel will triumph and it’ll triumph in the worst of times. It’s a good reminder that you can trust it to do its work now. I don’t know why there are so many preachers who think the gospel is not sufficient to save and that God doesn’t save by His own sovereign power; and they think they can somehow manipulate the culture in a way that overcomes the sinner’s resistance. In the worst of times, God will save the most people. This is His promise; this is His plan; and we are looking forward to that wonderful reality. It will come to pass.

How did they get there? “They have washed their robes, made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” It’s not blood that stains; it’s blood that cleanses the stain of sin.

So we see the description in verse 9. We see the location in heaven; the action, worship; and the association with all those who are gathered around the throne. The origination of this particular group, they came out of the Great Tribulation. And then we see something of their function in verse 15: “For this reason, they are before the throne of God; and they serve Him day and night in His naos, in His holy place.” Unbroken service. So in the midst of all this worship and praise and adoration, there will be service.

And the Lord said a lot about that. He talked about the fact that if you’re faithful over little, He’ll make you lord over much in the future. He talked about heaven being a place of rewards, and your rewards in heaven will be related to the ministry that you have there as you serve Him. This is a group of those who are serving the Lord, even in heaven. We will do our best work there.

And then just two other things to see. The term protection comes to mind when I get to verse 15. The second half of the verse, “He who sits on the throne will spread His tabernacle over them”—God will tent over them. God will shelter them in His tent. It’s just a wonderful promise of everlasting protection and security.

Listen to Revelation 21:3, “I heard a voice—a loud voice from the throne, saying, ‘Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them.’” Where are you going to be, when you go to heaven? In the presence of God, around the throne. His presence will cover you. He will cover you like a canopy of Shekinah shelter, with His glory over you so that you enjoy the immediate reality of His glorious presence.

Now remember, God is a spirit. God is invisible. But in some way, His Shekinah presence will literally cover all of those in heaven gathered around His throne, so that we are in the fullness of His presence, in the midst of His glory forever.

And then finally, provision. Verse 16 says, “They will hunger no longer.” Not only do we get protection from His presence, but provision. “They will hunger no longer, nor thirst anymore; nor will the sun beat down on them, nor any heat.” You’ll never have anything missing.

When it says no hunger, no thirst, it simply means that everything will be provided for you, everything to sustain that eternal life. There is the tree of life in heaven—we see later in Revelation. There’s the river of life in heaven, symbol of God’s full provision. That’s the positive. And the negative is there will never be anything that could harm you. If you follow the book of Revelation, as we will, we’re going to see a time when God turns up the heat on the sun and scorches the whole earth. Nothing like that could ever, ever happen in heaven. You’ll have everything you need, full supplied, and there will be nothing that can bring any harm at all.

Why is this so? Verse 17, “For the Lamb in the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and will guide them to springs of the water of life; and God will wipe every tear from their eyes.” What’s going to happen to us in heaven, in the beauty of this protection and provision, is going be done for us by our Shepherd. In a wonderful play on words, the Lamb becomes the Shepherd, our Shepherd, and guides us to all that we need, symbolized by the “springs of the water of life.” That’s what shepherds do: They guide their sheep to the water of life.

“And God will wipe every tear from their eyes.” That beautiful promise means nothing will ever disappoint, nothing will ever sorrow. Everything will be perfect provision, perfect protection, perfect joy, and perfect praise.

Just in closing, go over to chapter 21 of Revelation and verse 3, and I’ll just read this and make a comment. Revelation 21:3, “And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, ‘Behold, the tabernacle [or the tent] of God is among men’”—we just read about that. “‘And He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, God Himself will be among them.’” That’s what it means, that He pitches His tent with us. We’re going to be in the middle of His glorious presence.

“And He will”—as we just read in chapter 7—“wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; [those are] the first things [that] have passed away. And He who sits on the throne said, ‘Behold, I am making all things new.’ And He said, ‘Write, for these words are faithful and true.’ Then He said to me, ‘It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost. He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son.’”

How do you overcome? Well, John writes in his epistle that faith is the instrument by which we overcome, putting our faith in the Lord. So to those who have put their trust in Him, we will be given everything we need from the springs of the water of life without cost. We will overcome insofar as our faith grasps salvation, and thus inherit all things, “and I will be his God and he will My son.”

And then, shattering—verse 8, starkly in contrast to all those heavenly promises: “But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” That’s stunning.

It’s one of the two for you, for everyone. It’s either heaven and all the joys of heaven, as it will for the Tribulation saints and the glorified church, or it’s the lake that burns everlastingly with fire and brimstone. That’s the choice. You have to wonder how it is that God can promise us such bliss in heaven, and people can reject it and choose hell. But they do. Some of you do. That’s why we’re still here as a church. Our Lord said, “Go and preach the gospel. Preach the gospel to the whole world, to every creature. Tell them of the good news of heaven.” Let’s bow in prayer.

We feel so inadequate in trying to explain heaven. You’ve given us such magnificent truth, and yet our minds can’t fathom it. But we can understand this: Whatever we know about heaven is wonderful, and whatever we know about hell is horrible, and both are forever. So, Lord, open the hearts of those who hear and have not bowed the knee to Christ, believing Him and His gospel and His saving work, confessing Him as the Lord and thus receiving eternal life; Lord, open their heart to believe today, to turn from death to life, from darkness to light, from wrath to blessing, from hell to heaven.

We thank You for Your mercy in the midst of our own sinfulness. Thank You for opening our blind minds and our darkened hearts. Do that, Lord, for Your glory even today. And we rejoice that You will have the last word in human history. With all the powers of hell unleashed, You will still generate the greatest work of global salvation in history as You gather that final collection of Your saints into glory before Christ returns to set up His kingdom.

Lord, help us to be faithful to proclaim the gospel, to live it and make it attractive by our love and the truth which we live and proclaim. And we long for the day when we will be around the throne, with You and all the hosts of redeemed people and all the angels of heaven, and forever praise Your saving grace. Keep us faithful to that end, we pray in Your Son’s name. Amen.