Good News for All Nations
The Gospel of the Kingdom announced by Jesus is a message of hope and joy for men and women in every nation.
After his resurrection,
Jesus declared, “All authority in heaven and on earth is given to me, therefore,
go and make disciples of all nations!” As the Lord over all things,
he dispatched his disciples to proclaim his sovereignty and the good news of salvation
to men and women in every nation, whether Jew or Gentile, rich or poor, male or
female - [World Globe photo by Greg Rosenke on Unsplash].
By his self-sacrificial
death, he established a “priestly
kingdom” comprised of men and women from every
nation and people, and it is for this very reason that the entire creation declared
him “worthy” to receive all power, honor, and glory in the book of Revelation
– (Revelation 5:5-14).
Moreover, in the death and resurrection
of His Son, the God who created all things has “spoken” His definitive and complete “word.” The “word”
spoken previously “in the prophets” was true but partial and preparatory.
Jesus was the first and only one who “achieved the purification of sin,”
and therefore, he alone has taken his seat “on the
right hand of the majesty in high places” to reign
over all things – (Hebrews 1:1-3).
According to the Apostle Paul, the righteousness
of God is available to all men “through the faith of Jesus Christ for all
who believe, for there is no
distinction.” Sin is the Great Leveler that
condemns every man to bondage, despair, decay, and eventually, death. In the end, one’s ethnicity, gender, social or economic status makes
no difference.
But now, through
Jesus, anyone may receive right-standing before God, and all on the
same basis, whether Jew or Gentile, male or female, poor or rich namely, from faith
in Jesus Christ:
- “A righteousness of God through the faith of Jesus Christ for all that have faith, for there is no distinction… Or is God the God of Jews only, and not of the nations also? Yea! of the nations also, if at all events God is one, who will declare righteous the circumcision by faith, and the uncircumcision through their faith” – (Romans 3:22-30).
And Paul employed
his radical monotheism to make the point. The one God of Israel is the God of
both Jews and Gentiles. No man is advantaged or disadvantaged before Him because
of his biological descent, national origin, culture, economic or social status.
And if the God who created all things is truly one, then He is as much the God
of the Gentile as He is of the Jew - (Colossians 3:11).
“In Jesus,”
God is creating a new people with members drawn from
every social and ethnic group. Regardless of national origin, each person who
places his or her faith in Christ begins to conform to his image. And in this new
humanity, this “one new man,” any distinction based on race, gender,
culture, or economic status is wholly inappropriate – (Ephesians 2:15).
No nation, society or culture can claim Jesus and his message as its sole possession. The announcement of the salvation of God and the enthronement of Christ as Lord over ALL THINGS is a message of hope and life for all humanity, for every man, woman, and child.
Unfortunately,
the institutional church has a long history of linking Jesus and his gospel to
specific nations, cultures, ideologies, and even economic theories. All such
endeavors are attempts to hijack and domesticate Jesus to advance the political
and social agendas of wicked men. But these efforts are incompatible with the universal Kingdom of God over
which Christ NOW reigns supreme.
The gospel
preached by Jesus transcends all national and social boundaries. Any attempt to
limit it by such distinctions violates the very heart of his message. And he
tasked his disciples with proclaiming this Good News throughout
the entire habitable earth - to the “uttermost ends of the earth” - and
all free of charge.
And this
task must be completed before the end of this fallen age when Jesus will return
in glory for all to behold. The day is coming when the destructive works of sin
and Satan will vanish from the earth, and death will be no more. Creation
itself will be liberated from decay and death when Jesus appears “on the clouds.”
On that day, he will raise the dead and transform those believers who remain alive,
and thus he will populate the Kingdom of God in the “New Heaven
and the New Earth.”
This Good
News of his Kingdom is for everyone on the planet. In the
truest sense of the term, this is a universal faith. All men have
sinned, and therefore, all need the salvation that is now available in Jesus. No
one deserves it, but God has graciously made it available to all men, and on
the same basis, by faith in Jesus Christ.
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