For All Peoples
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King of All Peoples
King of All Peoples
I bring up this topic only because your pastors have had to address it recently. But we want you, as a church, as God’s people to be mature in your faith, well-equipped to distinguish truth from error.
History: Southern Baptists- racist theology; German Christians during WW2- racist theology. Again in our culture we are seeing a resurgence of such teachings, which we must guard against. The Lord is the king of all peoples.
All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you.
For kingship belongs to the Lord, and he rules over the nations.
What does God’s Kingship over all peoples mean?
God loves every human being.
God loves every human being.
Across the globe, 99.9% of human DNA is the same. A Biblical worldview would argue that there is one race, the human race. We find this from the very beginning, in Genesis, from Adam and Eve.
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
This is the book of the generations of Adam. When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God.
Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and named them Man when they were created.
When Adam had lived 130 years, he fathered a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth.
When Adam passes on his image to his son, he is not passing on a lesser version of the image of God. It is the full image of God. The Bible is conveying this is carried forward from generation to generation. Thus, the image of God is carried to all of man, even down to Christ. It’s noteworthy to see that Luke traces Jesus’ lineage to that of Adam and to a son of God, and not simply to Abraham.
The rest of the account details the generations from Adam to Noah, who fathered Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.
The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth and upon every bird of the heavens, upon everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea. Into your hand they are delivered.
Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything.
But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood.
And for your lifeblood I will require a reckoning: from every beast I will require it and from man. From his fellow man I will require a reckoning for the life of man.
“Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.
And you, be fruitful and multiply, increase greatly on the earth and multiply in it.”
God values his image in all mankind.
Note the parallels in the instructions given to the early church vs. the instructions given to all the nations here, in the covenant God made with Noah (and mankind as a whole).
God formed the nations.
God formed the nations.
The formation of nations and languages was a creation by God, meant to be a grace to the peoples and to prevent them from unification in their rebellion.
Now the whole earth had one language and the same words.
And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there.
And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar.
Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.”
And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built.
And the Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them.
Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another’s speech.”
So the Lord dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city.
Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth. And from there the Lord dispersed them over the face of all the earth.
God’s covenant with Abram was to bless all nations.
God’s covenant with Abram was to bless all nations.
Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.
And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
Within this blessing of all nations, there is a specific covenant blessing given to Abram, now named Abraham (Abra(m)- Exalted Father and Ham(on)- of nations). Abraham.
There was a time when Israel was God’s means of witnessing to the nations. This happened through God’s covenant with Israel, that the promises made to Abraham and to Isaac might be fulfilled. And when Israel was faithful to obey the Lord, they did see the fruit of blessing to all nations. The Queen of Sheba comes to Solomon and is amazed at all there is.
Even when Israel fails, God’s heart is still for the nations.
We have Jonah and Nahum sent to the Ninevites, and Obadiah to Edom. In Isaiah and Ezekiel we have the address of God’s word to other nations. God’s word has been for all people, not just for Israel.
And when Israel failed, God exiled them that the whole world might know the cost of rejecting the Lord.
But has the blessing of Israel failed?
But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel,
and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.”
This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring.
Note: the special covenant blessing does not necessarily come through genetics. Ishmael and his descendants did not receive the blessing of the covenant because they did not follow the Lord in faith. Esau and his descendants did not follow the Lord in faith. Jacob, on the other hand, followed the Lord in faith, and was named Israel. There is therefore a greater covenant blessing, beyond Israel, which God has promised to all families of the earth and to all peoples. The New Testament gives us clarity on this:
For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him.
For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
Jesus broke down the dividing barrier.
Jesus broke down the dividing barrier.
Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands—
remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.
But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility
by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace,
and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.
When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ,
which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit.
This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.
Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God’s grace, which was given me by the working of his power.
To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ,
and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things,
so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.
Jesus breaks down the dividing barrier. It no longer matters what language you speak, so long as you share faith in Christ. The great unifier has come. He has healed the divide caused by Babel, by the rebellion of man against God. Now there are those of the nations who strive together as one, under the headship of Christ.
Christ took the mantle and rule of his father, and is seated at his right hand as the king of all the peoples.
And Christ’s rule at this point is not to build a political or national or earthly civic order, but to establish God’s saving reign in the hearts of millions of people from all the nations of the world.
Too often Christians have mistaken Christ’s mission and have attempted to usher in Christ’s order themselves. But they fail to realize God is the one in control, he’s the one already at work. If he wanted to establish a rule through conquest, he would have come back and done so already. But now is not the rule of conquest, but of grace and forgiveness and the offer of redemption.
The offer of salvation is available for all peoples
The offer of salvation is available for all peoples
And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious.
For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you.
The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man,
nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.
And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place,
that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us,
for “ ‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, “ ‘For we are indeed his offspring.’
Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man.
The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent,
because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”
Paul’s address is not to these people as Israelites, but to Hellens, the Greeks, those who are of a different descent than that of Abraham. He roots the narrative of the gospel back to the order of creation. If God himself gives life and breath to everything, to all mankind, and has formed all of mankind from one person, then he indeed is the God of these Hellens, this people too. And if he’s the God of the Greeks, then he’s also the God of any people people group you will find in this world. Do they have the breath of life in them? Yes? Well, they were created by God. They need to know about God’s judgment and about his salvation through Jesus Christ by his death and resurrection.
And many will come to faith and believe.
Heaven will be comprised of all nations
Heaven will be comprised of all nations
All the nations you have made shall come and worship before you, O Lord, and shall glorify your name.
After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands,
and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
How have we seen the gospel work in history? We have seen it break through barriers and reach all of mankind. Not just Israel, not just the descendants of Abraham or of Shem and Japheth, but also the descendants of Ham.
It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it,
and many peoples shall come, and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide disputes for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.
What does Salvation for All Peoples mean for Us?
What does Salvation for All Peoples mean for Us?
1. It grounds us in humility.
1. It grounds us in humility.
We do not have a reason to become puffed up in pride. Paul sets the stage for us in this:
For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh—
though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more:
circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee;
But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.
Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ
and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—
He’s saying the fleshly part of us that would argue lineage or heritage as a means of salvation based on genetics doesn’t matter. Salvation in Christ, righteousness according to Christ, is by faith. And who can believe in Jesus Christ? The offer is free to anyone. Christ has extended it to all peoples of the earth. He rules over the whole earth and it’s by his command that his gospel is to reach all the ends of the earth.
Salvation for all peoples grounds us in humility. We cannot boast because of our money or whether we are born of prestige. But Christ is all and is in all, rich or poor, Jew or Gentile, and he reigns over all.
Knowing that salvation is based on faith in God takes you, the individual, out of the plan of salvation and makes it a work of God.
2. It helps us love our neighbor
2. It helps us love our neighbor
Who is your neighbor?
When God gave the law to the Israelites, it was so that they could be a blessing to all nations, including those around them. They were to open up their feasts and festivals to the foreigner, that the foreigner may know what it was like to know and worship the Lord as God.
Jesus commands us to love our neighbor. Knowing that his salvation is for all peoples, not just a select few by race, helps us witness to our neighbors, those who speak a different language or practice different customs. God is the one who made them just as much as he made you.
3. It means that we are missional.
3. It means that we are missional.
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
We as a church should not just be focused on the work of the gospel in our own town, in our own city, in our own county … but we should be focused on his work in all nations. This is why so many Christians have been convicted in the past to reach the lost peoples. It was not out of a heart to control and to establish colonialism. It was out of a heart to reach people, who were formed and made in the image of God and who breathe the very breath that God gave them.
Conclusion
Conclusion
God is the King of All peoples. He loves every human being, he formed the nations out of his own grace and kindness. He gave his covenant to Abraham that all the nations of the earth may be blessed. Through Jesus, the dividing wall of hostility that existed between those who claimed ethnic exclusivity was destroyed, and the freedom of salvation was made available to all. One day we will rejoice and celebrate with people from every tribe, tongue, and nation in heaven. Because Christ has made his vision clear and has given us a command to make disciples of all nations, we as a Church commit together to that mission. We enter into the humility that comes when we recognize it is not by our ancestry or our merit that salvation is obtained, but by faith in Christ Jesus.
It is in a table like this, set for communion, whereby all the saints from all the nations can be united before God. I cannot express how valuable this is when partaking of this meal together with your brothers and sisters in Christ, when they don’t even speak or understand your language, but you share in the joy and love of Christ and in the freedom of his gospel.
(enter into the time of communion).
Commissioning:
To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments. A Psalm. A Song.
May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us, Selah
that your way may be known on earth, your saving power among all nations.
Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you!
Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon earth. Selah
Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you!
The earth has yielded its increase; God, our God, shall bless us.
God shall bless us; let all the ends of the earth fear him!