When I think about “the nations,” I tend to envision a dusty village somewhere in Africa or a flooded rice paddy somewhere in Asia. I usually completely forget that when the Old Testament talks about the nations, it’s talking about anyone who is not a citizen of Israel. That means that I’m a part of the nations, and chances are good that so are you. Reading verses like the ones below makes my skin tingle, because I’m one of the people streaming toward the mountain of the Lord:
“In the last days, the mountain of the LORD’s temple will be established as chief among the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and all nations will stream to it. Many peoples will come and say, ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.’ The law will go out from Zion, the word of the LORD from Jerusalem” (Isa. 2:2–3 NIV).
The Old Testament may seem like a strange place to turn to read about God’s care for the nations, since at first glance the bulk of the material talks about the relationship between God and one nation—Israel. But a closer look at the Old Testament stories reveals that God has always cared for the nations and chosen to use Israel as a tool to reach them.
In the Old Testament, God chose to create a people for Himself (the nation of Israel) who would serve as missionaries to the world around them. When God called Abraham, the very first Israelite, He promised Abraham three things:
(1) He would make Abraham into a great nation,
(2) He would bless Abraham, and
(3) He would make Abraham’s name great (Gen. 12:1–2).
But God didn’t make these promises because he wanted to show some special favor to Abraham; He made them SO THAT all the people of the earth could be blessed through his life.
If you continue to read Abraham’s story in the following chapters of Genesis, you’ll see that Abraham had a son named Isaac, who had a son named Jacob, who had twelve sons whose descendants became the twelve tribes of Israel. God made a covenant, a binding contract, with Israel and chose them as His people and His servants. He called them “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Ex. 19:6 NIV) and used them to radiate His glory to the surrounding countries.
Israel was supposed to be different. The people of Israel weren’t supposed to look like all the other nations around them. Their laws were different, and the demands for holiness were high. They were not commanded to “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations” (Matt. 28:19 KJV), as were the disciples; rather, Israel was to act like a magnet drawing people to the Lord. They were called to be a blazing light of glory in the middle of a dark and sinful land.
Hundreds of years later when Jesus came, He came as a light to the nations, taking the work of Israel and broadcasting it throughout the entire earth (Isa. 49:6). Thanks to the work of Jesus on the cross, we, the people of the nations, have the right to become children of God, just like the Israelites. Of course, becoming the people of God comes with some responsibility. God’s heart for the nations hasn’t changed. He still cares for those people who have not been brought to him, and now it is our job to bear the light of Jesus to the nations that surround us. In the second part of this series, we’ll look at some practical ways to be a light to the nations.
Leslie Ann is a graduate of Samford University’s Beeson Divinity School and lives in Iuka, Mississippi, with her husband, Dennis. She blogs at leslieannjones.com.
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When I think about “the nations,” I tend to envision a dusty village somewhere in Africa or a flooded rice paddy somewhere in Asia. I usually completely forget that when the Old Testament talks about the nations, it’s talking about anyone who is not a citizen of Israel. That means that I’m a part of the nations, and chances are good that so are you. Reading verses like the ones below makes my skin tingle, because I’m one of the people streaming toward the mountain of the Lord:.jpg)
