0235. A Commission to the Gentiles

A Commission to the Gentiles

"Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city" (Jon_1:2).

"I will make thee a blessing, and in thee shall all the nations of the earth be blessed" (Gen_12:2-3).

Jonah was sent to Nineveh, a great Gentile city. Israel was sent to all the nations. God’s purpose in Jonah was to warn Nineveh and give Nineveh an opportunity to repent. God’s purpose in Israel was to make His name known to the whole Gentile world.

It is no difficult matter to see how God wrought through His chosen people, always with one end in view, that He might be magnified before the nations.

Each great world nation, in turn, came under the province of God’s dealings with Israel, to know of Israel’s wonder-working God.

1. Egypt. The selling of Joseph, the dream of Pharaoh, the coming of Jacob and his twelve sons and their families into Egypt under the patronage of the king, all reveal how God sought to lead the mighty nation of Egypt to know Him.

2. Many Nations. The fear of God was placed upon many nations by God’s dealings with Israel as they left Israel and traveled through a waste and howling wilderness, until they entered Canaan. There was the passing through both the Red Sea and the Jordan, as by dry land, there were many, many marks of Divine power and prowess, all of which were accomplished that the nations might repent and turn to God.

3. Philistia. The slaying of the giant, the victories of David were all that the people might know "that there was a God in Israel."

4. Babylon and Medo-Persia. The Fiery Furnace episode, Daniel in the lions’ den, the three Hebrew children and the burning furnace, the experiences of Queen Esther, all manifest how God moved in mysterious ways to magnify His name among the Gentile world nations.

God certainly called Israel to display His glory and to carry His name to the peoples of the earth.

Autor: R.E. NEIGHBOUR