Written by Scott B. Hayashi
Revelation 7:4 (NRSV) And I heard the number of those who were sealed, one hundred forty-four thousand, sealed out of every tribe of the people of Israel.
Some of us find it easy to be swept away by the Sturm und Drang we find in Revelation. But what about all the amazing things—giant parties, deep rejoicing, the hymn-sing to end all hymn-sings? These things are in Revelation too. And we would do well to remember this.
The sheer number of people John reports seeing gathered around the throne of the Lamb would have seemed impossible to the men and women of the first-century church. Reporting these kinds of numbers for any given Sunday in any mainline denomination in any city today might seem like an unimaginable, miraculous, inexplicably large and generous head count too.
But we are in the business of serving a God who divides the day from the night, who makes water into wine, who raises what was dead to new life, and who turns sinners into saints. And we would do well to remember this too.
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