LIGHT TO THE NATIONS

“I will also give You as a LIGHT to the GENTILES, that You should be MY SALVATION to the ends of the earth’” – Isaiah 49:6b

God’s primary assignment for the Church is to proclaim and witness Jesus Christ as the LIGHT to the NATIONS: “I will also give You as a LIGHT to the GENTILES, that You should be MY SALVATION to the ends of the earth’” (Isa.49:6b). The Gentiles refer to the nations of the earth apart from Israel. While God chose Israel to be His special people, He never intended to limit the blessings of knowing Him to them alone. His object from the very beginning was that one day the Messiah who would make the saving knowledge of God available to all peoples. God was not only concerned about restoring the Jews, but reconciling with the entirety of humanity. Christ’s Mission is to be a LIGHT to the NATIONS, bringing to all peoples truth, hope, and salvation. He is not a territorial Lord, but the Sovereign and Saviour of the universe!

God literally commissioned His Son into the Arena of Missions: “You will do more than restore the people of Israel to Me. I will make You a LIGHT to the NATIONS, and you will bring MY SALVATION to the ends of the earth”! However, Paul quoted Isaiah 49:6 with one significant change – the Mandate is now ours: “For so the Lord has COMMANDED US: ‘I have set You as a LIGHT to the GENTILES, that You should be for salvation to the ends of the earth’” (Acts 13:47). The Lord Himself declared: “you shall be WITNESSES to Me in Jerusalem, and in Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8). That’s God’s Missionary assignment for every believer – to be His Witnesses to our circles of Influence!

God has made His Church a Light to the nations; to see that His salvation reaches the ends of the earth. He has commissioned us to “MAKE DISCIPLES of NATIONS” (Mt.28:19-20). The work of Missions isn’t just one of many tasks on the Church’s agenda. It is the catalyst of Christ’s Ministry on earth, and the reason the Church is still in the world. It is not just another interest among variety of ministries in the Church or a special subject to preach about. Missions represent the central activity of God in human history. The Call of Missions isn’t a narrow theme encompassing a few passages of scripture; it is the thread that runs through the whole Bible from Genesis to Revelation.

Missions go beyond organising Church Mission conferences and Mission-emphasis Sundays or designating a once-a-year special time to talk about the missionary task. The overall Mission of the Church is to bring Christ’s Salvation to the whole world. Within Missions there may be numerous “missions” such as evangelistic, medical, social, and educational missions. The significant need is for the Church and every Believer to be vibrantly present and active in the community as to seize hold of every opportunity both for serving as well as presenting the claims of Christ and urging men and women to a decision. Love will not rest satisfied with the giving of bread but with the sharing of Christ the Bread of Life Himself!

Richard W. Bowie in his book, Light for the Nations, wrote of the Church in Bali planted by Dutch missionaries, which in the early years looked very foreign. Then the successive Indonesian leaders began to lead the young Church to care for their neighbours, dig wells, grow food and in various ways serve the vast majority of non-Christians around them. Adapting local forms of art, music and architecture, the Church shed its foreign dress and over the decades became so much a part of the culture and aspirations of the people thus communicating the Gospel in a most acceptable manner. One of the leaders referred to this as “a theology of heart, head and stomach”! Paul described it thus: I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some” (1Cor.9:22). That’s the Missionary heart! That’s being a Light to the Nations!