“Which language will we speak?”: Thoughts on Teaching, Revelation 7:9-14, and World Christianity
I teach at a small Bible institute in Northern Thailand. The school is set up and run by Karen Baptist churches to educate and train their future pastors and ministers. At the end of one class, discussing the theology of the Holy Spirit as His attributes and purposes impact mission and evangelism, many students began asking questions on more Charismatic or Pentecostal beliefs. Many had seen or heard Western evangelists, many Charismatic, being “slain in the Spirit” and speaking in tongues “giving one spiritual power” over spirits and demons. There are many layers to these concerns that might be missed without growing up in their contexts. Many of the Karen hill-tribe peoples of Myanmar and Thailand believe in animistic or folk Buddhist beliefs. Concern over spirits who reside in their land and streams, rivers and valleys, are of great importance. For some of the Karen Christians, these spirits are negated by theological differences but, at the same time, translated to concern over evil spirits/demons having “strongholds” or sway in different places, temples, shrines, or nature. Their concern is how to view worship of spirits by Animistic neighbors or Buddhist temple worshipers in their home villages and towns. In other words, one concerned student was asking if she needed to speak “in tongues of angels” (i.e. ecstatic un-intelligible utterance) to gain strength enough to fend off or defeat demons.
The above is pretty mundane and normal discussion which is a typical component of my students’ contexts and lives as Christians. In carrying on the questioning, we eventually turned to the understanding of “tongues.” Pretty typical questions regarding ecstatic utterance, language of angels, or miraculous ability to speak another human tongue was asked. While we looked at Acts 2, 1 Corinthian 14, and other biblical passages, one student popped up with a different question regarding language: “Teacher, in heaven what language will we speak? Does the Bible say?”. His question, asked in his fourth language of English, was not one of esoteric theological investigation. His question was more personal. Which language would he be using after the parousia? Unlike the discussion of demons, this question, embarrassingly but delightfully, caught me by surprise.
Many times I have engaged Revelation 7:9-10 in mission mobilization, communication, and training. Many organizations and groups use it as a picture of all the peoples who, as believers at the eschaton, will be worshiping the Lamb on the throne. However, only recently did I look at that passage and ask, “Did John hear Greek when they all cried out with ‘One voice’?” My guess, the lack of asking this question comes from my mono-lingual upbringing. My student, on the other hand, does everyday life in Thai, family in Karen and Burmese, and school in English. Will he have to learn a new language in heaven? Will he use the language he sings in church? Will he have to use English because that is what he studies and reads theology? Or maybe we all will miraculously worship in Koine Greek because that is what John wrote his vision in.
Rev. 7:9 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, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” 11 And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12 saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”
Rev. 7:13 Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?” 14 I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
I do not think Revelation 7:9-14 is really written to answer the above questions. However, there is an emphasis on language. Whoever one thinks “the great multitude” represents (the martyrs from Rev. 4, the 144,000, those who come through the “great tribulation” as interpreted from pre-trib millennialists) there is an emphasis on believers from all different peoples. This passage highlights their diverse backgrounds, their salvation, and their unity in worship. My guess is that the miracle here is not necessarily an exact reversal of Babel, from many languages to one. Rather a redemption– many languages, one meaning.
In any case, when we discussed this passage in class, my students were smiling. They were excited by “the great multitude.” Some of their excitement could be its ramifications on mission (the course was, “Mission and Evangelism), but a great deal was probably from how they, and Christians from around the world, reflect the multitude.