And they shall come from the east and from the west and from the north and from the south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God. Luke 13:29
The United Nations has 192 countries on its membership list, alphabetically from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe. These countries represent most of the people of the world, and include all imaginable types of government. The UN member countries cross all ethnic, racial, religious, ideological, and financial boundaries. It would be hard to imagine a more inclusive organization than the United Nations… unless you are a Christian. If the United Nations has any gaps or shortcomings in its inclusiveness, those do not exist in the Family of God.
Where people who live in some member nations of the United Nations shoot at people who live in other member nations (or even at people in their own nation), this ought never to occur between members of God’s family. Hatred, bigotry, and bitter rivalries are rampant among members of the United Nations, but these undesirable aspects of human behaviour should be absolutely absent among God’s children. Mind you, there are sad exceptions. But Christians are able to achieve a level of appreciation, cooperation, and harmony that the United Nations can never even dream of. And the good thing, is that the wonderful relationships among fellow believers here on earth is just a little taste of the glorious eternal togetherness that awaits us in Heaven.
Who will be seated at the great banqueting tables of the Marriage Supper of the Lamb? I think our text today tells us a little of the makeup of that banquet crowd. Go as far north or south as you can, and you will find those who will be at that Supper. Go east or west, and encounter the same. As small as the percentage of believers is in earth’s population, God has His redeemed in every quarter of the globe.
A Christian had come back from a scientific expedition to the far north, where he participated with a team that was measuring the movement of Arctic ice near the north pole. While there, they encountered a small hut that had been used by some soldiers who had trekked through the area a few months earlier. On the wall of that hut was pinned a Gospel tract; perhaps that is as far north as the Gospel has reached. But it was evidence that God is moving, speaking, and gathering souls to Himself absolutely everywhere.
Do you feel alone or weak today? Lift up your head, dear child of God, and listen for the call to that great Supper! You are about to begin celebrating with the greatest victory band ever, forever with the Lord, and with His own. -Jim MacIntosh