God of the One

We talk frequently about how God will gather His people from the far corners of the earth and bring them together. We talk about how diverse heaven is going to be, how there will be persons there from every age, race, gender, ethnicity, time, and place, and more. We talk about what it means to be among those gathered in His name. 

What we don't talk about is how He does this. 

I think it's easy, when we talk about the gathering of the nations, to imagine this great, grand sweeping hand that glides across all eternity and sweeps the faithful under its wing, like a hen. Just like Jesus said. That in one fell swoop, all things are simply drawn together, like a great big holy inhale - Kirby-style. (That's a Nintendo reference. I couldn't help myself.) 

But that's not it. 

We are the people of God, yes, but we are also persons of God, and if there's one thing we know, it's that He loves each and every one of us individually. For who we are. As a special being created uniquely in His image, living a unique existence, living a unique story, telling a unique part of His glory. 

And in fact, though we hear Jesus say that He longs to sweep God's people under His wing like a hen, He also says something else that ought to reshape how we think about that glorious day when we all go home. 

He says - two will be out in the field; one will be taken and the other will be left. There will be two women; one will be taken and the other will be left. In other words, when the final breath of eternity sweeps through our finite time, God will still be choosing - one by one - who is gathered up.

Isaiah confirms the same thing - God gathers His people one by one. (27:12)

See, with God, you never become faceless. You never become nameless. You never become just a number. Even when you are numbered among the faithful, you're more than a number. You're always a name. You're always a face. You're always a story. You're always a glory. 

You are chosen, called, and loved by God as an individual being. As part of the whole, yes, but as a whole unit in and of yourself. And there is no story of God that is ever going to make you anything less than that. 

In fact, that was part of the problem with the census in the Old Testament. The census turned the people of God into a number - a number of the army, instead of a coalition of persons of God, men created in His very image. I think that's what God was so angry about with David. David had this whole nation of the persons of God and he got distracted by wanting a census - by wanting to know nothing more than how many of them there were. By wanting - and by putting overemphasis on - the numbers. 

God doesn't have numbers. As many as the sands on the seashore or the stars in the sky, He has names. Faces. Stories. Hearts. 

He has me. 

He has you. 

And that's just the way He wants it.