There is a temptation for Christians to reject what the world values. Understandably, we would be suspicious of those things which secularism honors. But sometimes there is a baby in the bath water.
There are few things more sacred in the modern West than diversity. But this is a baby worth preserving. Diversity was God’s before it was the world’s.
Let’s consider God’s glorious plan for diversity.
Ethnic diversity enters the biblical picture in a strange fashion, with the odd story of the Tower of Babel. As the descendants of Noah multiply, they form plans to protect their legacy.
Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.” And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. And the Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another's speech.” So the Lord dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth. And from there the Lord dispersed them over the face of all the earth. (Gen. 11:1-9)
Seeing the increasing self-aggrandizing bent in humanity, God shatters the façade of self-reliance by multiplying the languages. It would be understandable for the reader to anticipate that the redemptive arc of God would be to reunite humanity as one ethnicity and one language in the new heavens and the new earth.
But God is full of surprises...
Fast forward to fifty days after Jesus’s crucifixion when the Spirit of God descended on those gathered in Jerusalem for Pentecost.
When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.
Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians—we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.” And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” (Acts 2:1-12)
As God promised, his salvation comes to the nations. Interestingly though, God doesn’t choose one language for all ethnicities. Instead, God translates the message into every native language.
Islam teaches that the Quran isn’t to be translated into other languages. The Quran is only to be printed in classical Arabic. Not so with the Bible. As of 2022, the Bible has been translated into over 700 languages.[i] God mercifully condescends to us; he speaks our language.
Fast forward to the new heavens and the new earth. God gives John a glimpse of what is to come in the book of Revelation.
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, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” 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. (Rev 7:9-11)
How does John know that the “great multitude” comes “from every nation”? While all are dressed in “white robes" (a symbol of Christ’s imputed righteousness which covers us), our ethnic distinctiveness remains. Their beautiful physical differentiations remain, as do their native languages. All shades of skin, shapes of eyes and noses, and textures and colors of hair are present in the new heavens and the new earth. Isn’t that marvelous? In God’s Kingdom, the new creation is an upgrade. Diversity replaces uniformity.
Diversity was God’s plan from before the beginning. Diversity speaks to the wildly creative character of our God who did not create one species of plant but millions, not black and white, but innumerable colors that fill the spectrum, not only furry and fun domestic mammals, but about 130 million mammals worldwide, not just the everyday banana you throw in your smoothie, but about 110 different species of banana, not just that large star that provides energy to solar panels, but one billion trillion stars in the observable universe.
When we’re able to capture the beauty and glory of God’s purpose for diversity, it changes how we think about our experiences in life. Consider music. In heaven, we will experience the full breadth of musical expression: from chant to classical to hip hop to atonal. When we grow in grace, we broaden our appreciation for genres of music, knowing that in heaven, we will enjoy masterpieces of varieties we can’t even imagine now. Appreciating cuisine from across the globe is a sacred venture.
As we grow in holiness, so we grow in humility and curiosity. This enables us to be able to worship God in a growing number of different styles of music and liturgies. We become teachable and receptive so that we can be challenged and strengthened through many types of preaching. I long to make more friends from different backgrounds than myself. I pray that New Life better reflects the diversity with which God has gifted our community. I hope that our church leadership grows in reflecting that diversity better with every passing year.
God has given us diversity and purposed it for his redemptive ends. May we grow in wonder as we experience the glorious diversities of this world that point to the glorious heavenly diversities that await us.
[i] “2022 Global Scripture Access.” Wycliffe Global Alliance. https://www.wycliffe.net/resources/statistics/
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