Heaven is multiethnic. Are you ready for that?
The Bible tells us that the congregation gathered around God's heavenly throne will be 'a vast multitude from every nation, tribe, people, and language,' all singing the praises of the Lamb. God's intention has always been to delight for all eternity in a redeemed community of ethnic diversity.
But this diverse community shouldn't have to wait until eternity to begin! It can be a reality in our own local churches here and now. Patterned after a worship service, In Church as It Is in Heaven gives biblical warrant for such a community and shows how multiethnic churches provide a unique apologetic for the gospel. Along the way, the authors tell the story of their own church-a majority-white congregation which is being transformed into a family that reflects the diversity of heaven.
The multiethnic kingdom is not just a nice idea, or an abstract theory. It's a reality-one we can enter into today.
It's time to open your eyes to the freeing power of authentic grace---grace that releases us from trying to earn God's favor, grace that liberates from the tyranny of trying to please others, grace that empowers us to pursue authentic holiness.
That's what the theology of Martin Luther and John Calvin did in their own day for the people around them. Time magazine recently dubbed Calvinism as one of the top ten ideas changing the world right now. And yet most of these discussions center on the issue of predestination or on whether particular people agree with the five points of Calvinism. Daniel Montgomery and Timothy Paul Jones think it's time to rescue the theology of the Reformers from stale scholasticizing and to declare anew the intoxicating joy of the gospel they proclaimed.
PROOF stands for planned grace, resurrecting grace, outrageous grace, overcoming grace, and forever grace. The authors offer proof of God's grace on which people can stand against the attacks of cheap grace and legalism that have led many of God's people to lose sight of the freedom and joy of the gospel. And this proof is intoxicating---it's like a 200-proof drink that will leave you spiritually staggering at its effect on your life. God's grace not only declares us 'not guilty!' in his presence, it changes our relationship with God---forever.
