The Gospel of the Nations

“In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Genesis 12:3)

For some reason, we make a categorical mistake when reading Genesis. We read Genesis 1-11 as those ancient stories, then we read Genesis 12-50 as “the important stuff.” We forget that Genesis is one book, the very beginning of the fulfillment of that great gospel promise in Genesis 3:15. Over the last two weeks, this very article has discussed the division of Genesis 10-11, how the nations were severed and scattered across the globe due to sin. Where does God begin to unite what was severed? How does the God of the nations begin His redemptive reversal? The story begins with a man named Abram. 

Martin Luther once commented that Abram left his homeland with a “bare promise.” The call to Abram was a promise, but not a bare promise. In Galatians 3:8, Paul explicitly states that Abram had the gospel preached to him. In John8 8:56, Jesus states that “Abraham saw my day and was glad.” By faith, Abraham left his homeland for the land of promise, not knowing where he was going. Little did he know that small parcel of land would be the very seedbed of salvation. Nations would trade wares and warfare over the small parcel of land, preparing it to be the very springboard for a great missionary movement (Acts 8:1). To Abraham’s descendants would “belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.” (Rom. 9:4-5) The very Spirit that would unite both Jew and Gentile from all nations into one Christ, one King, one Kingdom was the very Spirit promised to Abraham in our passage (Gal. 3:14). 

Church, have we not been entrusted with the same purpose? Though many of our churches may be as small and elderly as Abraham, we serve not by might nor by power, but by the Spirit (Zech. 4:6). We have been entrusted with that same “the ministry of reconciliation,” imploring the nations around the street and across the globe to be reconciled to God (2 Cor. 5:18-20). Our God continues to be the God of the nations, bringing the nations into the Kingdom of His Beloved Son. Let us live as citizens of that same kingdom and bring them the gospel.