The Missionary Heart of God

Often times believers mistake that God’s heart for people and nations, other than the Jews, is merely a New Testament concept that changed between Malachi and the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus.  It was in Matthew 28 that Jesus commissioned His disciples to “Go into all the world and make disciples.”  However, when we look to the Scriptures, the heart God has for the nations and all peoples and culture is not only VERY evident, but is revealed in the first book of the Bible: Genesis.

When God declared the proto-evangelium (First Gospel) in Genesis 3:15, remember that Eve was not Jewish.  She was just human!  When God attributed righteousness to Abraham, it was before he was Jewish, before the law, and before he was circumcised.  Abraham was a Gentile from an idol worshipping country now known as Iraq.

Consider the following verses regarding our missionary God:

• In His covenant with Abraham, He promises to bless all peoples on earth (Genesis 12:3).
• In affirming that covenant with Isaac and Jacob, He promises again to bless all peoples on earth (Genesis 26:4, 28:14).
• He gives Solomon wisdom so that all nations might hear of the wisdom of God (I Kings 4:34).
• His grace to Israel is for the salvation of all nations (Psalm 67:2).
• He blesses Israel’s king for the sake of all nations (Psalm 72:11,17).
• He desires praise from all nations (Psalm 148:7-11).
• His Temple is established for the sake of all nations (Isaiah 2:2, 56:7: Jeremiah 3:17).
• He tells His disciples to go into all nations (Matthew 28:19).
• And in the end, He will gather to Himself people of all nations (Isaiah 66:18; Revelation 7:9, 15:4).

As we see the heart of God for the nations and all people, consider these last two verses:

• “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:28).

• “(God) desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (1Timothy 2:4).

God changes not.  His heart for all people and nations in the New Testament is the same heart He had in the Old Testament, and is the same heart He has right now.  Our God is a missionary God and desires all people, cultures and races to be saved.  As we draw closer to God we should be gaining such a heart for the nations that it affects our daily actions.

PD