750,000⁹⁹⁹

Happy New Year! Someone at work mentioned to me today that at least once in her life, on New Year's Eve, she would like to be among the throng at Times Square in New York City. She told me she is not really into big crowds but would just like to experience the annual frenzied spectacle for herself, just to see what it's like.

I don't know about you, but I'm really not into being amidst hoards of people. The closest I've come is probably in attending a professional football or baseball game- and those crowds were only around 50, 000 at best.

Some estimates have the Times Square crowd at around three quarters of a million people.

That got me to thinking.

Let's look at Revelation 7:9, authored by the apostle John as he shares what Almighty God has revealed to him in a vision:

"After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude, which no man could number, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands; and they cry out with a loud voice, saying, "Salvation to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb".

Later, in verse 14, we learn this multitude is comprised of those who have come out of the great tribulation, and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

You think there's electricity in Times Square? I used the astronomical number in the title to this posting only to demonstrate the sheer vastness of the crowd of people John describes. It reminds me of God's promise to Abraham (Genesis 22:17) where He promises to makes his descendants as the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore.

Whatever the head count is, we do not know because John tells us in Revelations 7:9 that no man could number it. Now, imagine being in the middle of that crowd. And it's a crowd that will indeed one day be gathered. Perhaps it will make Times Square seem like an average day down at the public library!