Tastes of Heaven
Have you ever wondered what Heaven might be like? Is this wonder ever heightened by something you witness happening around you?
A couple of months ago I with some Ukrainian friends had the opportunity to attend a Hillsong Australia concert in Budapest, Hungary. The concert was held at a small outdoor stadium. There were no seats and the weather was already quite cool. I estimated approximately six thousand people in attendance – enough to fill the grounds. The excitement and anticipation were everything one would expect at such an event.
Most of those attending were from Eastern Europe and it was great to see such an enthusiastic turnout for a Christian worship concert. A poll by the speaker revealed that attendees had come from Slovakia, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and (if I remember correctly) Romania. I may have been the only Canadian there, but I knew that other friends of mine, a missionary couple from Sweden, were also there, and I was with friends from Ukraine. I’m sure there were probably smaller numbers of people from a few other countries, too. The Hillsong members were from Australia, of course, and together we all represented an assortment of nationalities.
Any speaking from the stage throughout the concert was done first in English and then translated into Hungarian. This suggested to me that at least some portion of the people there that evening didn’t have any idea what was being said.
What struck me part way through the concert was that I was standing in the midst of brothers and sisters in Christ whom I had never met before and whom I would likely never see again, and that we were all part of a prelude to worship in Heaven. As Hillsong led us in worship I looked around and saw people from different nations singing out and worshiping God together in one language. We had all come to the same place for one purpose.
If you’d have held a microphone to each mouth uttering praises that night you probably would have heard that not everyone got all of the words right and that pronunciation wasn’t perfect, but I’m confident that your thoughts, as did mine, would have journeyed ahead to the time when we all “from every tribe and nation” will stand before the throne of God and worship Him in unity.
We certainly do have an indescribable hope.
