God’s Nation
by Doy Moyer
One of the most significant promises of God to Abraham was that “in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:3). Peter connected this promise to Jesus, raised up in fulfillment of this promise “to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness” (Acts 3:25-26). Christians from all places and times are the beneficiaries of what Jesus did.
Peter summed up the relationship of Christians with God this way: “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy” (I Peter 2:9-10).
God “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” with the purpose that “that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him” (Acts 17:26-27). While those physical boundaries are overseen by God, He also distinguishes those nations and their boundaries from His special, holy nation, which transcends the borders of worldly nations.
God’s nation in Christ is not one that has material boundaries, a particular language, skin color, or style of worldly government. Instead, His nation is comprised of those from “every tribe and language and people and nation” (Revelation 5:9). The “eternal gospel” is to be proclaimed “to those who dwell on earth, to every nation and tribe and language and people” (Revelation 14:6). The apostle Peter learned “that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him” (Acts 10:34:-35). This was a monumental truth for God’s people, for now both Jew and Gentile would be accepted in Christ on equal terms.
As the gospel spread from Jerusalem, the nations would “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” (Isaiah 2:4). The gospel recognizes that all people from everywhere are made in God’s image, are guilty of sin, and need to be reconciled to God through Jesus. This would happen, not by forced coercion and military might, but by appealing to free response.
Because of this basic truth, it is vital that Christians do nothing that would hinder the spread of this good news. If we treat people of differing nations as inferior, with contempt, or as unworthy of our love and attention, then we are flying in the face of what the gospel represents. In Christ, those barriers are broken down. The kingdom of God is bigger than where we live on earth.
Paul wrote of the division between Jew and Gentile, arguing that “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” (Ephesians 2:13-16). Both Jew and Gentile would become one in Christ. This is what the gospel can accomplish if we follow His lead.
While Christians do live within physical national boundaries and ought to seek the welfare of the place where they live (Jeremiah 29:7), they should not be so bound to the physical nation that they resent and isolate those of other nations and thereby prevent the spread of the gospel. We are all earthly citizens for a short time, but our eternal citizenship is in heaven (Philippians 3:20). That heavenly citizenship, as part of God’s eternal kingdom, always takes precedence over worldly kingdoms, all of which will come to an end (cf. Daniel 2:44).
Because of who we are as Christians and what we represent in Christ, we should recognize the inherent worth of every person as God’s image-bearers, no matter the country of origin, color of skin, language, or social status. We see Jesus practicing this in His own ministry as He spoke to the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4. It was in this context that Jesus told His disciples that if they lifted up their eyes, they could see that “the fields are white for harvest” (John 4:35). If we will enter the harvest (Matthew 9:37-38), we need to see past the physical markers and be willing to give the gospel to all from here and everywhere.
The spread of the gospel is more important than a physical nation’s pride, economy, or military power, all of which will ultimately fail. Jesus issued the great commission by His authority, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations.” While kingdoms of earth rise and fall, the kingdom of God remains and always will.
