In the Bible, the word "nations" does not mean political entities like China, India, and the USA. Instead, it means people groups or societies in which people speak the same language, have the same culture, and live in or have originated in the same area. "Nations" is synonymous with the plural word "peoples." In other words, nations in the Bible means all of the people groups of the world.
Week 21 (May) -- Commentary on Luke 24
There is no doubt about what the resurrected Christ wanted for His people. He wanted them to be power-charged. The last words of Jesus, which Luke records in his gospel, underscore that. That's also clear from the Master's words about our being witnesses in all the world which Luke records in Acts 1:8.
There is a reason why Jesus wants His people to be power-charged. Just prior to His admonition to wait until they were "clothed with power from on high," Jesus talked to His followers about preaching repentance and forgiveness to all nations.
You would, of course, expect a cross-cultural missionary like me to highlight the connection between the prophesied evangelization of the world and the promise of the Father for power. However, I do hope that such an emphasis drawn from this passage is more than just a go-to sermon theme for missionaries in deputation services while on home assignment. The task for which Jesus promised power is still far from finished.
Not long ago a man expressed astonishment at my statement in a sermon that two billion people on earth still know nothing of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. That man had been under the impression that the job of proclaiming God's redeeming love in every corner of the world was nearly done. [ more on the unreached ]
It is true that revivals are going on like fire out of control in many parts of Africa, Latin America, and Asia. Outside North America, one thousand new churches open their doors for the first time every Sunday. A century and a half after David Livingstone went to Africa, more than 250 million Africans identify as Christian. That makes Africa, south of the Sahara, substantially Christian.
Christianity is now so widespread that more than one-third of the people in the world are either committed to Christ or at least claim to be Christians.
On the other hand, more than three-fourths of the non-Christians in the world are outside the reach of the evangelistic efforts of any church or mission organization.
It would appear that to accomplish what the Father sent the Holy Spirit to empower us to do, we need a massive new evangelistic push. We will need the promised gift of the Holy Spirit in an effort to reach this vast number of people who are still beyond the reach of any church or mission effort -- people that missiologists call "the unreached peoples."
Some decades ago, we Nazarenes had a "March to a Million" emphasis. Assessing the current world situation in the light of Luke 24, it appears we need to let the promised Holy Spirit guide us into a "March Toward the Three Billion!" [ see missionsstatistics ]
We need not be afraid of being on the cutting edge of the fulfillment of a prophecy. Perhaps if the two and a half million members of the Church of the Nazarene would commit themselves totally to the Great Commission, we'd be willing to support 1,500 global missionaries instead of 600.
I wrote this devotional article while Barbara and I were serving as missionaries in Italy. It was published inStandard, a Faith Connections take-home curriculum piece for adult Sunday school classes published by The Foundry..
"Those numbers and those maps are not scored in a game. They are people whose salvation requires sacrifice." -- Paul D., Northwest Nazarene University student
Psalm 9 was written a long, long time ago. Does verse 11 mean something for us today?
Commentary on Psalm 9
As David wrote the words "proclaim among the nations" for Psalm 9, did he envision today's world mission activity? Probably not, since he wrote that Psalm three thousand years ago. Isn't it fascinating, however, how the Holy Spirit uses that phrase to call us to carry out Jesus' Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20)?
The four verses just prior to Psalm 9:11 extol God's righteousness. Scholars say that Psalm 9:11 builds on those four verses. It is thus a "therefore" verse. That is to say, because our Creator and Redeemer is upright and fair and righteous, we must, therefore, proclaim Him "among the nations." Indeed, our passion for world evangelism may indicate how much we are in awe of God's righteousness.
We have often thought that our awareness of the world's unreached peoples would be what ignites our passion for world evangelism. Well, it should. However, Psalm 9:11 points us to an even higher motivator: Our understanding of God's righteousness. Yahweh is radically different from the fickle, capricious, and even dishonest "gods" promoted by other religions.
This is not the only Psalm that speaks of worldwide proclamation. More than 40 other Psalms mention global evangelism in some way. David clearly believed that God's revelation of Himself was not supposed to remain Israel's private secret. Instead, God intended for His people to communicate that revelation to all other nations, to announce it in "all the ends of the earth," as Psalm 22:27 and Acts 1:8 put it.
Not everyone sees Psalm 9:11 as a call to world evangelism. One online Bible commentary inexplicably says this verse is a message that we are to "tell people about God: our family, our friends, those we work with." Now, to be sure, spreading the Good News to family and friends is important. It's very important. However, asserting that "among the nations" refers only to those in close proximity to us robs this verse of its global sweep. Indeed, John Wesley wrote in his Explanatory Notes that instead of close friends and family, Psalm 9:11 refers to "heathen nations."
What has the Lord done that we should proclaim all over the world? God loves us, and that love has driven Him to incredible lengths to draw all people to Him (John 3:16). That is worthy of being proclaimed among the nations!
Psalm 18:49, also written by David, is similar to Psalm 9:11 except that in Psalm 18, global proclamation is stated as a response rather than as a command: "Therefore I will praise you, Lord, among the nations."
Shouldn't we echo those words in response to the command in Psalm 9:11?
What should Psalm 105:1 mean to us today?
Commentary on Psalm 105
Thanksgiving holiday sermons in Canada and the U.S.A. sometimes center on Psalm 105:1, and with good reason. The opening words -- "Give thanks to the Lord" -- resonate well with the idea of a Thanksgiving Day.
Verse 1 of Psalm 105 does, however, have more than a "be thankful" exhortation. It contains three commands: (1) Give thanks, (2) Call on the Lord, and (3) Make known among the nations.
Those words "make known among the nations" herald God's passion for global evangelism. Please notice the verse does not say, "It will be known." Rather, it is a command addressed to God's people (that's us). In addition to saying "what," e.g., "Make known what He has done," the verse specifies "where" -- "among the nations."
Putting the command "give thanks" together with the idea of "publishing to all mankind the greatness of His doings" (Charles Spurgeon's words), reminds us that divine blessing is never to be an end in itself. God blesses people so that they may be a blessing. Thus, if our thankfulness to God does not cause us to heed His command to proclaim the Good News all over the world, then that thankfulness is quite hollow.
Sometimes, people advocate evangelizing by "presence" alone. They feel that evangelism will be less offensive and more effective if people simply live Christian lives with little talk about the Gospel. Isn't that scenario different from what Psalm 105:1 envisions? The pitfall with "presence only" thinking is that the central focus becomes the quality of our lives. Is there a danger people will get fixated on that and never look to Jesus?
Psalm 105:1 indicates we need to verbally point people to Jesus. The call to speak of "what He has done" clearly foreshadows Jesus' Great Commission. Indeed, the wording in Psalm 105:1 is similar to that of Mark 16:15: "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation."
Some argue that the only Great Commission application for ordinary believers is the spiritual welfare of their near-neighbors. To be sure, enthusiasm for ends-of-the-earth outreach must never crowd out or extinguish the passion for evangelizing our near-neighbors. However, shouldn't the make-known-among-the-nations command of Psalm 105:1 push us to have a broader concern than just our immediate neighborhood, county, or even state? Doesn't Psalm 105:1 ask God's people to be involved in getting the Good News to every people group on earth? Such involvement can be through intercessory prayer, sacrificial giving, promoting and mobilizing for world missions, or even going ourselves.
Some Bible passages may be difficult to interpret. Not Psalm 105:1. There is nothing confusing about the commands in that verse. There is no part of the phrases "give thanks," "call on the Lord," and "make known" that we cannot understand.
Will we obey this clear command? Or, by our inaction, will we disobey it?
This mini-essay on a Bible passage about world missions is one of more than three dozen articles in i>Engage magazine's "Heart of God" series.
What does Isaiah 66:18-19 mean to us today?
When Jesus gave the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20), did He catch His followers off-guard? Did our Lord's words in Acts 1:8 about going to "the ends of the earth" perhaps even shock the disciples?
"No" to both questions. Neither of those statements about world evangelism would have surprised the disciples if they remembered how the book of Isaiah ends (and they likely did).
Isaiah speaks about the coming Messiah more than any other Old Testament book. Several of Isaiah's messianic prophecies appear in chronological order, including the foreshadowing of the Great Commission in Isaiah 66.
For instance, early on, Isaiah speaks of Jesus' miraculous birth (chapters 7 and 9). Then, in chapter 11, Jesus' boyhood days in Nazareth are predicted. Chapter 40 mentions the Messiah's forerunner (whom we know as John the Baptist). Chapters 35 and 53 list specific aspects of Jesus' earthly ministry. Chapter 65 foretells Jesus' rejection by the Jewish leaders.
Then, Isaiah's closing verses contain God's message that He would be sending people to "distant islands" to proclaim His glory "among the nations." Though penned 700 years before the Messiah's birth, don't those words sound remarkably similar to Jesus' statements in Matthew 28:19-20, Mark 16:15, and Acts 1:8?
Isaiah 66 does not call God's people to stir up lukewarm believers (although that needs to be done). It is not urging us to speak of Kingdom things to our unbelieving next-door neighbors (although that needs to be done). This is about evangelizing in distant places that have yet to hear the Gospel. It is about speaking of God's might, beauty, goodness, justice, and honor to people who know little or nothing about Him.
Isaiah's call to ministry included an awe-inspiring vision of God's glory (Isaiah 6:1-8). Appropriately then, God chose to announce through Isaiah that His glory would be what His messengers would proclaim in distant places.
To be sure, that message must include, "Repent and turn from your wicked ways." We do want people to forsake their wicked ways. Nonetheless, Isaiah 66:18-19 reminds us that lifting up God's radiant holiness is a primary reason for our world evangelism efforts.
In his letters, Paul never refers to Isaiah 66:18-19. Nonetheless, some Bible scholars see the influence of this prophecy in Paul's ministry and writings. It is a prophecy that we today are invited to help fulfill. One implication of Isaiah 66:18-19 is that world evangelism is a central focus of God's heart. Thus, if we are not engaged in some way with something so dear to our Lord's heart, dare we talk about how much we love Him?
-- Howard Culbertson,
These four mini-essays on world missions Bible passages are among the more than three dozen articles in the "Heart of God" series published in Engage magazine. That series explores what the Bible says about missions.
The phrase "among the nations" is a recurring motif in the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament), particularly in Psalms and Isaiah, "Among the nations" means spreading the knowledge of God's deeds, glory, and faithfulness beyond the borders of Israel. The phrase indicates the global aspect of God's sovereignty and His redemptive plan for every person on earth.
"Among the nations" is used in:
Various English translations of these passages render the "nations" concept as everyone, the Gentiles, the heathen, all the peoples, all people, people of the earth, in town and country, the whole earth, and the world.
| Large groups of people remain unevangelized today in what missiologists call the 10/40 Window. [ More ] |