EVERY TRIBE, TONGUE, AND NATION By Parris by thebaileydrink
Merry Saturday
“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” Rev.7:9-10
When the seasons change, my mind drifts away sometimes to distant lands that Frank and I were able to travel to and be apart of in Christ’s body- “another tribe, tongue, and nation”. I can see their smiles. I prayed in their homes, sang their songs and we worshipped the Lord together. Each time we left, God imparted to me something holy. Heaven is huge and the body of Christ is beautiful. Spurgeon says, “But God sees them as what they are to be, as what he intends them to be, as what he makes them to be, and in this respect they are the desire, they are the choice of all nations. To God, his people are his royal treasure, his secret jewels, the treasury of kings—they are very precious in his sight. Their very death is precious. He keeps record of their bones, and will raise their dust at the last day. Those who fear God are the very soul, and marrow, and backbone of a nation. “Ye are the salt of the earth”: the earth were putrid without them. “Ye are the light of the world”: the world would be dark without them. He has made these to be the desirable ones out of all nations—that with these choice and elect ones he will build up his Church.”You could say that he has excavated each one of us from the quarry. It is not happenstance that you have met the Christ. This huge ingathering of Christ exalting diverse people are here to display the glory of Christ. Haggai 2:7 says, ”And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of Hosts.” The desire of all nations has come and Christ comes to redeem, to buy back, purchase and take ownership from every tongue, tribe, and nation. Not only have I gleaned from so many other tribes, tongues, and nations throughout my lifetime but I’m gleaning from “the tribe” I’m surrounded with in New Orleans church and Mary’s Song. Maybe you find yourself with people that are “incongruously varied in appearance or character” and maybe the language you hear is a “form of language regarded as barbarous, debased, or hybrid”. When the heavenly language is sounded from your voice the ears are opened.He will fill his house with his glory which is us. We are singing a new song and taking on a new language and changing this broken down world.