How many?!?!

Revelation 5 verse 11  “Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand.”

For many years, my wife and I have ended our breakfast with (so-called) easy-peel satsumas and most mornings I picture the stacked shelf in my local supermarket. Based on the size, each pack (or bag) contains a minimum of 5 and I once bought a bag containing 13.  Despite my love of accountancy, my mind boggles trying to estimate how many satsumas are eaten every day. Calculating the number in the supermarkets in our town, the county, or even the country and that is before adding in various countries worldwide is too big a challenge.

Invariably, this reminds me of a comment I heard a while ago, “There are more Christians in China than members of the Communist party”.  In response to an inquiry I made to Open Doors two years ago, I was advised “There are some 90 million Christians in China- more, some estimate, than members of the Communist party”. That is surely a WOW comment. This led me to consider how many Christians there are in the world today, add to that number all the Christians who have died and it reminds me of the quotation from Revelation 5 – and that is just referring to angels! And all the  Christians will be there as well!

Many readers may attend churches that have only a few in the congregation, and it is an amazing experience at Christian festivals and concerts to join with thousands of others to sing as part of our spiritual worship – Romans 12 verse 1, depending on the translation.

As I anticipate being part of that amazing heavenly choir, I recall the words of a song from many years ago –

Heaven is a wonderful place, filled with His glory and grace, I want to see my Saviour’s face 

Heaven is a wonderful place – I want to be there!

What am I – or you – looking forward to most – in heaven?

Another hymn I recall, especially used in communion services included the phrase, –

If such a glimpse of love is so divinely sweet,

What will it be, O Lord above, Thy gladdening smile to meet.

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, may our relationship with you, whether alone or in fellowship with others, enable us to experience a foretaste of heaven. AMEN