By Linda R. Rubingh
Read: Revelation 7:9-17
“There before me was a great multitude … from every nation, tribe, people and language.” (v. 9 NIV)
Mosaics are works of art made out of small, sometimes irregular or broken pieces of colored stone, glass, or ceramic, held in place by an adhesive base. Their beauty is stunning because of the vast array of shapes, colors, and materials so exquisitely gathered and held together into one uniform whole.
The term mosaic exactly describes the “testimony” taking place in Revelation 7. God’s people have been gathered “from every nation, tribe, people and language” (v. 9), an enormous, diverse crowd, to do one uniform thing: worship the Lamb who sits on the throne (vv. 10-12)!
How they arrived there, how they made it through, is “by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony” (Rev. 12:11). Their testimony — “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen” (7:12) — is the exquisite whole, the sealant holding that vast array of people together from the north, south, east, and west.
Can you picture it? Can you imagine your own day of arrival into that glorious hymn of praise? What testimonies will you hear? From Ghana and Iowa, from Paraguay and California, from Ukraine and Japan — and billions, billions more. From every Christian tradition, from every culture, from every time in history. Each testimony makes the mosaic of God’s people more exquisitely beautiful!
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Linda R. Rubingh is a parent, pastor, therapist, and writer with a passion for sharing the gospel with youth nationally and internationally. She is the co-founder with her husband, Trevor, of New City Kids, and more recently New City Networks, and is completing her first children’s book, I Love to Tell the Story: Stories of Meeting Jesus from Every Nation, Tribe and Tongue. Linda is a New Jersey native but now lives in Grand Rapids.
Read: Revelation 7:9-17
“There before me was a great multitude … from every nation, tribe, people and language.” (v. 9 NIV)
Mosaics are works of art made out of small, sometimes irregular or broken pieces of colored stone, glass, or ceramic, held in place by an adhesive base. Their beauty is stunning because of the vast array of shapes, colors, and materials so exquisitely gathered and held together into one uniform whole.
The term mosaic exactly describes the “testimony” taking place in Revelation 7. God’s people have been gathered “from every nation, tribe, people and language” (v. 9), an enormous, diverse crowd, to do one uniform thing: worship the Lamb who sits on the throne (vv. 10-12)!
How they arrived there, how they made it through, is “by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony” (Rev. 12:11). Their testimony — “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen” (7:12) — is the exquisite whole, the sealant holding that vast array of people together from the north, south, east, and west.
Can you picture it? Can you imagine your own day of arrival into that glorious hymn of praise? What testimonies will you hear? From Ghana and Iowa, from Paraguay and California, from Ukraine and Japan — and billions, billions more. From every Christian tradition, from every culture, from every time in history. Each testimony makes the mosaic of God’s people more exquisitely beautiful!
—————
Linda R. Rubingh is a parent, pastor, therapist, and writer with a passion for sharing the gospel with youth nationally and internationally. She is the co-founder with her husband, Trevor, of New City Kids, and more recently New City Networks, and is completing her first children’s book, I Love to Tell the Story: Stories of Meeting Jesus from Every Nation, Tribe and Tongue. Linda is a New Jersey native but now lives in Grand Rapids.
