Why We Go to the Nations

When the Toronto blessing broke out in January of 1994, I had the privilege of being in many of the meetings for the first 4 months of the revival before my wife  Gwen and I and our four children moved to Ukraine. During those early months, it felt like David Ruis's song, "Let your glory fall in this place, let it go from here to the nations" became a theme song shouted out to the Lord almost nightly. There was such a passion and revelation that what God was doing in the outpouring could not be kept to ourselves. It would have been sin to keep the good news to ourselves.  

Being on the receiving end of the blessings of God in salvation or revival and not sharing it is like the lepers of ll Kings 7: 8 & 9 who after unexpectedly finding miraculous provision from God in the Syrian's camp went and hid it. They were  then put under conviction in verse 9: "Then they said to one another, We are not doing right. This day is a day of good news and we remain silent....... Now, therefore, come, and let us tell the king's household." We can't keep salvation, anointing, and grace to ourselves. It must go to the nations.

THE CALL OF MISSIONS 

Over 250 times in Scripture we see the phrases: "among all nations, to all nations, in all nations.” Although God started with Abraham and the forming of Israel as a unique nation for His purposes there are numerous Scriptures even in the Old Testament indicating that God was going to send His knowledge and salvation beyond  Israel. Isaiah prophesied the word of the Lord, "I was found by those who did not seek me; I was made manifest to those who did not ask for me". Isaiah 65:1 

THE COMMAND OF MISSIONS

Jesus's desire to be known among the nations is not only His passion. He commands us, as our Lord and Savior, to go into all the world.   What we call the Great Commission was Jesus's last command to His disciples: Matt. 28:18-20. Go into all the world to make disciples. Mark 16: 15-18: Go into all the world and preach the gospel. Acts 1:8: You shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria,  and to the end of the earth. 

If we really receive Jesus as our Lord and the one to whom we now belong we must respond to His last words. There is simply no option. George Verwer who  founded the missionary organization Operation Mobilization constantly said,  "Believers don't need a call, they need a kick!" Crude, perhaps, but true!  

Having a vision for the Kingdom of God, as revealed in Jesus Christ, to go to all nations is non-optional for followers of Jesus. The early disciples took this command literally. Paul evangelized Europe and was martyred in Rome. Peter became bishop of Rome and was also martyred there. Thomas went to India, Mark to Northern Africa, Andrew to what is now  Ukraine, and so on with many of the early disciples. When they mistakenly sat in  Jerusalem in the early years of the church, God allowed persecution to give them the "kick" to get them out to the nations. The Son has asked the  Father for the nations for His inheritance (Psalm 2). The Father has granted the Son's request. A Father's Heart movement like ours must respond.   

THE COST OF MISSIONS 

One of the great mysteries of belonging to the all-sovereign, all-powerful Lord of the Universe is that He has chosen a plan to intentionally partner with us to get  His work done. It would seem He has all the power and authority so why call us as weak vessels, such as we are, into this duty? Yet He has. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 3:9, " We are God's fellow workers (co-laborers, or partners). We know He could do it Himself but He has called us to do it with  Him.   

But this may come at a great cost. Money, career, planned future, and possibly even your physical life have to go on the altar. The early Moravians sold themselves to slave traders in order for them to work alongside the African slaves in the Caribbean in the sugarcane fields. That was the opening they saw from the Lord for them to witness to that particular people group. But at such a cost!  

My grandfather and grandmother Slade were missionaries in China for 23 years.  During the early rumors of war with Japan, they chose to stay in China to be a witness during that fiery trial. They were eventually captured and interned in a  Japanese military-run civilian prison camp for 3 and a half years. My father and aunt spent the majority of their teenage years in this prison camp. My grandmother suffered terribly from the lack of nutrition and never fully recovered. She died relatively young. I'm grateful my father didn't have a bitter spirit toward the Japanese. He lived a long, productive, godly life. But the cost of what they paid is part of my heritage and memory. 

THE CAUSE  

Why has Jesus told us to do this?  The lost are really lost , as John Arnott often says. People who out of free will have chosen sin, as we all have, will be separated from the goodness and mercy of God if they stay in a condition without faith in Christ and His sacrifice for us. There is an unimaginably fun eternal life with the promise of a glorious new body that will live forever in both physical and supernatural bliss for those who follow Christ. Randy Alcorn's book on "HEAVEN" is one of the best resources to help us in our holy fantasy about what our future will be like. There will be a new heaven and a new earth where righteousness dwells! This is the promise that we are looking forward to (2 Peter 3:13). Who would want to miss it if they truly understood the hope of the gospel!!!!? Many don't know the full understanding where this mortal will put on immortality and this corruption puts on incorruption. (1 Corinthians 15). But the god of this age has blinded men to the glories of what Christ promises.  (2 Cor. 4:4) 

Let's go tell the nations the truth, so they don't miss out!!