Coming as it does in the last book of the Bible and pointing to the final consummation of things, at ages'-end . . .
Revelation 7:9 paints a picture of a great multitude “from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and tongue” standing before the throne of God, worshipping the Lamb.
This phrase records socio-polical difference (nations) as well as cultural (tribe), ethnic (peoples) and linguistic (tongues) diversity. The image pulls together the pieces of God’s activity in history: the multitude of tongues at Babel is dispersed because of worship inappropriately placed; all the families of the earth are represented in the promise to Abraham. Peoples who were once strangers and aliens to the covenant are now gathered in the presence of God as a multicultural community of faith . . .
This is a God who invites each person, with his or her own personal, cultural, and linguistic identity intact, to come into this presence and take on his character, which inevitably discards those aspects of that identity not compatible with a holy God (Rev. 21:22-29).
Revelation 7:9 paints a picture of a great multitude “from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and tongue” standing before the throne of God, worshipping the Lamb.
This phrase records socio-polical difference (nations) as well as cultural (tribe), ethnic (peoples) and linguistic (tongues) diversity. The image pulls together the pieces of God’s activity in history: the multitude of tongues at Babel is dispersed because of worship inappropriately placed; all the families of the earth are represented in the promise to Abraham. Peoples who were once strangers and aliens to the covenant are now gathered in the presence of God as a multicultural community of faith . . .
This is a God who invites each person, with his or her own personal, cultural, and linguistic identity intact, to come into this presence and take on his character, which inevitably discards those aspects of that identity not compatible with a holy God (Rev. 21:22-29).
- Dan Sheffield, p. 32. The Multicultural Leader: Developing a Catholic Personality
