God, the gospel, and the nations' obedience

When God chose Israel as his special people and covenmant partner , it was his intention through them ultimately to bless the world. "By your descendants," God promised Abraham, "shall all the nations of the the earth be blessed" (Gen. 22:18) God blessed Israel so that, through Israel , all nations would be blessed. The chosen people prayed: "May God....bless us, that thy...(saving power) may be known...among all nations" (Psalm 67:1-2). Israelites who rightly understood they role as God's chosen people gladly invited other human beings everywhere to worship Israel's God, saying: "Praise the Lord, all nations!" (Psalm 117:1).

This is the hope of the Old Testament, but what does it mean and what will it look like when fullfilled? God is sovereign-"king over the earth" (Zech.14:9). Earth is "full of the knowledge of the Lord as waters cover the sea" (Isa.11:9). The nations go to Jerusalem to receive instruction from God. "Many nations shall...say: "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord...that he may teach us his ways and we may walk in his pats'" (Micah 4:2). The language is poetic; the details are symbolic, but their meanings are clear. This is a composite sketch of the kingdom of God--whetever drawn within the bounds of time and space, or in the Age to Come, we cannot be certain and it really does not matter. It is a desirable situasion and it is open to us.

God brings about these things through his messianic Servant. He is "a shoot from the stump of Jesse" ( a descendant of David) and God's Spirit rests on him (Isaiah 11:1-2). He is Israel's deliverer but much more. God tells him: "It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved of Israel; I will give you as a light to the nations; that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth" (Isa.49:6).

As it happens, these words from Isaiah 49 were used by Jesus the Messiah when he appeared to then-hostile Saul of Tarsus and called him to be his spesial apostle to the nations/Genetiles (Isa.42:7,16; Acts 26:16-18). The mystery, God's secret, was about to become the content of public annoncement. The world stood on the cusp of God's goal for humankind. These expectations would be confirmed when the Gentile wourld became obedient 'en masse' to Paul's gospel message.

"We have received grace and apostelship," Paul said, "to bring about the obedience of faith...among all the nations (Ro.1:5). "The mystery...kept secret for long ages...is now disclosed...to all nations ...to bring about the obedience of faith" (Rom. 16:25-26). The phrase "obedience of faith" is faith or trust in Christ as Savior , the obedient responce for which the gospel calls. It is also the Christian's life of obedience to God in general, the normal evidence and fruit produced by genuine saving faith within. Salvation was coming to the nations, and Paul was the chosen instrument whose labors God would use to make this dream of the profets a reality.

Fra GraceEmail Edward Fudge 25.januar

Glimrende oppsummering av løftene i GT oppfylt i NT samt en fin balansering av Israels rolle. Det siste er det mange sterke forskjellige  meninger om blant troende, men jeg mener det vesentligste her er framstilt.