All throughout the Bible, we see the story of God’s mission being told. Rarely, however, do we think about God’s mission being finished. From the beginning of the story, God’s mission has been that his image would be spread throughout the whole world. In the book of Revelation, in the final book of the Bible, we can see that God’s mission will be finished.
As we look to the end of the story, we see that there is a time that will come where the final judgment of God will be imposed upon the world. In that time, a scroll that is closed with seven seals will be opened. When that scroll is opened, a series of judgments will be unleashed upon the world and it’s systems that continue to perpetuate rebellion and evil against God.
The Apostle John, who was allowed to have the vision that became the book of Revelation, wrote that he wept because it seemed that no one in heaven or on earth was found to be worthy to open the seals. At that critical moment, though, he reports that the Lamb stepped forward before the throne of God and all of the elders and the living creatures who were there before the throne fell down in worship before the Lamb. The Lamb is Jesus Christ himself, and he receives the worship that is due to him:
Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing at the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. The Lamb had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. He went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne. And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of God’s people. And they sang a new song, saying:
“You are worthy to take the scroll
Revelation 5:6-10
and to open its seals,
because you were slain,
and with your blood you purchased for God
persons from every tribe and language and people and nation.
You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God,
and they will reign on the earth.”
This scene is so important because we can see that God’s mission is coming to completion.
How is it coming to completion?
The four living creatures and twenty-four elders help us to see God’s mission being completed within the song that they are singing. The lyrics of their song say that, with his blood, Jesus purchased people from every tribe and language and people and nation.
This was God’s plan – this was his mission! God intended that his image would be spread all over the face of the earth, and that is what happened…and that is what the living creatures and the elders are singing. God’s mission is coming to a final completion.
It is finished
Just two chapters later, we see these people, those of whom the living creatures and the elders had been singing, arrive on the scene. Just after the 144,000 from the tribes are Israel are sealed for God, we then see a great multitude come to worship God themselves, a great multitude that comes from every corner of the earth:
After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice:
“Salvation belongs to our God,
Revelation 7:9-10
who sits on the throne,
and to the Lamb.”
God’s plan has fully come to fruition. Every nation, every tribe, every people, every language – each of these peoples have been part of God’s mission. This has been his intent from the beginning – even directly commanded to the first man and woman in Genesis 1 – and this same commandment and plan continued forward throughout both the Old Testament and the New Testament.
The mystery of God
The mystery of God is concurrent with the mission of God – that his image, namely Jesus Christ himself, would reach to the Gentiles, to the ends of the earth. This is the same message that the prophets told. This is the same message of which Jesus spoke, and this is the same message that Paul spoke to the church at Colossae and to the Corinthians. The mission and mystery of God is that his image would reach all nations.
The seventh seal
Let’s finish with the seventh and final seal opened by the Lamb.
As the Lamb opened the seventh seal, silence fell over all of heaven for a half an hour. All of time since creation had culminated in that moment that the seal was broken. God’s plan would now fully come to completion.
Opening that seventh seal, seven angels, each with a trumpet, come forward to sound their trumpet and bring forward a new judgment on the earth. There is hail and fire. There are rivers and seas turned to blood and bitter waters from mountains and stars falling from the sky. There are creatures that sting, bringing agony such that people wanted to die but will not be able to until their appointed time.
After that, there are angels of death and there are armies of hundreds of millions that will come to wage war. John tells us that large numbers, incredible percentages of people will die all across the earth and large portions of the earth will be destroyed. We can’t even begin to imagine the devastation that is taking place on the earth.
It is in this moment that a certain angel arrives on the earth and declares that the end has come. The angels are blowing their trumpets, but the final angel, the seventh angel will finish God’s mission, the mystery that has been spoken of since the beginning. This certain angel, who stands on both the land and the sea, says this:
“There will be no more delay! But in the days when the seventh angel is about to sound his trumpet, the mystery of God will be accomplished, just as he announced to his servants the prophets.”
Revelation 10:6-7
God’s mission, the mystery that has been kept hidden – in other words, the mission that has been stated but not fully understood up until now – is coming to fulfillment. This angel specifically speaks about this happening when the seventh angel sounds his trumpet, so we should look to see what happens when his trumpet is blown:
The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, which said:
“The kingdom of the world has become
Revelation 11:15
the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah,
and he will reign for ever and ever.”
These loud voices call out and speak of the fact that God’s image has arrived into all of the world, amongst all nations, amongst all peoples and all tribes and languages. In fact, it has come not just to each of the people, but also to the systems of the world that have created the kingdom that rules the world, even our world today. In this passage, the voices that cry out specifically refer to it as the kingdom of the world, but I think the kingdom of darkness of which Jesus spoke would be another way to understand this kingdom. That kingdom that has stood in opposition to the kingdom of God throughout all of time has now, instead, become the kingdom of God, where Jesus is the king. The kingdom of the world has been defeated and all peoples everywhere who follow Christ as king have now inherited the image of God, the true image of God in the form of Christ amongst their people, everywhere, in all of the earth.
What does this mean for us?
What difference does this all make? Why should we understand the mission of God and what impact should that mission make upon our lives?
Understanding and living within the mission of God gives us both our identity and our purpose. As we understand that God has made us in his image, we understand that he is our creator and he made us to represent and reflect him, to make him known through who we are and what we do to tell others about him and what he has done for us.
This is the state and the mission with which Jesus has sent each of us. As we said in the last article, the Great Commission, some of the final words with which Jesus left his disciples as well as to each of us, gives us the mission that he has called upon us to carry out, yet it is a restatement of the same mission that God has been carrying out since the creation of mankind. Jesus tells his disciples to make his disciples. They are called to multiply the image of God all throughout the earth. This is the calling and command that God gave Adam and Eve in the beginning, the same call that Jesus gave to the disciples before leaving the earth, and it is the same call and command that we have even today.
Join us as we seek to join God in carrying out his mission, a mission that, as we have seen, will one day be finished!
