God’s Mission to the World

The first missionary journey of the Apostle Paul was the first dedicated and organized attempt of the Christian church to take the gospel of Jesus Christ to other nations (Acts 13–14). Before that journey, of course, Christians had proclaimed the gospel, but it was largely the work of individuals within the confines of the ancient land of Israel. With the Syrian Antioch church’s setting apart of Paul and Barnabas, the Holy Spirit engaged the church as a collective body in the work of world missions (see 13:1–3). This appointment of Paul and Barnabas was a new thing, yet God’s purpose to reach the nations with the gospel long predated the first century. For the next week, we are taking a short break from our study of the book of Acts to look at what Scripture as a whole says about God’s mission to save the gentile nations.

Few texts are as important as Genesis 12:1–3 for understanding God’s purposes for the gentiles. This text records the Lord’s initial call to Abram and the key promises of land, descendants, and a great name for the patriarch. Importantly, Abram was himself a gentile and a pagan outside the covenant of salvation when God called him to go forth to the land of Canaan (see Josh. 24:2). That the Lord would speak to such a man points to our Creator’s desire that people of nations not in covenant with Him would come to trust in Him and receive salvation. To create a holy nation for Himself, God reached into the gentile nations, as it were, to choose a patriarch for His people.

Perhaps more important, God’s call to Abram contains within it a prophecy that “all the families of the earth shall be blessed” in him (Gen. 12:3). The Lord seeks to show His grace and favor not to one family or bloodline but to all humanity, and this all began with Abram, who was brought out of paganism and other transgressions not only for his own sake but for the sake of the whole world. As we look at the history of God’s work before the coming of Christ, we see that He formed a distinct theocratic nation from Abram’s descendants that would be separate from other nations, but this was not done to keep the gentile nations away from the one true God. Instead, the Lord acted in this way to create a witness to the nations of His greatness and goodness in preparation for the coming of Christ (see Deut. 4:1–8; 18:15). God created the nation of Israel from Abram to draw the nations to Himself.