Apocalyptic Joy

Some of our executives were invited as guests to an evening concert by the Kirov Orchestra. Predictably, they featured selections from Tchaikovsky and Stravinsky, Russian masters whose musical style featured tension between disquieting discordance and soothing harmony, the blaring blasts of the former ultimately giving way to the melodious measures of the latter. At intermission, I quipped to a colleague, “This is the music of a cold climate.” He chuckled and replied, “That’s true. You don’t hear a lot of dissonance in the [Caribbeans], do you?”

By way of “the Revelation,” the apostle John witnessed things yet to come, and by command, he wrote them down. We tend to think of this “apocalypse”¹ in dissonant terms of natural catastrophes, spiritual warfare, and divine judgment, and rightly so, for these will come. Yet like the symphonic masterpieces we enjoyed in the theater that evening, this apocalyptic discord ultimately resolves into apocalyptic peace, joy, and worship from a diverse people unified in Christ. John writes:

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!”²

On Friday evenings, Peggy and I are privileged to a preview of this vision, for gathered in our family room for an International Friendships (IFI) Bible study is a symphony of sorts, young men and women from Rwanda, Korea, China, Taiwan, Ghana, Nigeria, Bolivia, Cameroon, Uganda, Philippines, and the US. In the past (and likely the future), there have been students from Argentina, India, Chile, Iran, Iraq, Guinea-Bissau, Congo, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, and other countries that do not immediately come to mind. We eat together, sing together, and delve into the Word, many as believers in Christ and others still seeking.

I find it fascinating this global church has emerged through a command obeyed—“Go . . . and make disciples of all nations”³—and a promise kept: “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses . . . to the end of the earth.”⁴ After speaking these things, Jesus left, He ascended. Yet two thousand years later, His Kingdom continues its global march, its alluring melody calming discordant hearts of all generations and cultures. Then taking confidence from promises kept, may we work toward the vision that awaits—a harmonious multitude from all nations, tribes, peoples, and languages.

Father, You reveal an eternity of shared gladness and joy in Christ. May Your vision of unity and peace in Your Kingdom stir us to share Your power, love and truth here on Earth. In Christ, we pray. Amen.

¹ “Apocalypse” is the English word for “apokálypsis,” a Greek word meaning “revelation.”
² Revelation 7:9-10
³ Matthew 28:19
⁴ Acts 1:8