Revelation 7:9-10
9 After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
Some cults claim that Revelation 7:4 is proof that only 144000 will go to heaven, and the rest of us must forget about it. Well, according to Rev 7:9-10 they very wrong! Whereas the previous passage cites the number of Jewish saints who will be sealed and preserved during the Tribulation, our text today cites five facts about the believers who’ll make it to the very throne of God.
Firstly, their number is innumerable. That means although the straight and narrow road to heaven is less trodden than the road to perdition, the number of the redeemed is far greater than we can count.
We do have a great cloud of witnesses, beloved (Hebrews 12:1). Even the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea (Isa 11:9). This should help us overcome the illusion of isolation and loneliness that afflicts many earnest believers today.
Haven’t you at times felt like Elijah, who after his Mt Carmel showdown, was convinced he was the only prophet left in Israel (1 Kin 19:10, 14)? Yet God had seven thousand other prophets who had not bowed their knees to idols. Imagine how wrong Elijah was!
Heaven is not some boring, lonely place, beloved! Let us not be discouraged by the apparent popularity of godlessness. Let us not be fooled by the seeming majority of sinners versus saints. Heaven shall be saturated with throngs of ardent followers and worshippers of Christ. “Lord, I want to be in that number–that innumerable number!”
Pastor Josh