I was listening to the music of 17th century composer Thomas Tomkins and noticed that one of his pieces is entitled: "O Praise the Lord, all ye Heathen". Not exactly the way one speaks of people who don't follow God in the 21st century. We use kinder, gentler language. Heathen sounds quite nasty to our ears for some reason.
But the words of Tomkins (which come from Psalm 117, "Praise the LORD, all nations! Extol him, all peoples!") do remind me that the day is coming when all will praise and extol God. Isaiah speaks of the nations streaming to the mountain of the Lord (Isaiah 2) and Paul says of Christ that every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of the Father.
In this season of advent, when we prepare for the coming of the Christ child and look to shepherds and magi worshipping him (those who come from God's people and those who come from the nations), one can't help but wonder what the day will look like when every knee finally does bow. Not only so, but the importance of getting the story out that this day will come: as surely as their was a first advent, so shall there be a second.
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