Quotes about Nations

so that the blessing of Abraham could flow through to the nations in King Jesus.

But if Jesus is raised from the dead, then the scriptures have reached their goal in him, and it's now time for the moment the psalmists and prophets longed to see, when the nations of the earth will bring their treasures in loyalty and obedience to God's anointed king, Israel's Messiah. The

Paul's response was to quote the prophets once more, this time his regular text, Isaiah 49: "I have set you for a light to the nations, so that you can be salvation-bringers to the end of the earth.

The death of Jesus launched the revolution; it got rid of the roadblock between the divine promises and the nations for whom they were intended. And it opened the way for the Spirit to be poured out to equip God's people for their tasks.

From the earliest writings we have, it was seen as the direct and necessary result of the creator God overthrowing on the cross the powers that had kept the nations captive. Up to now the nations had been enslaved; the cross had opened the gates to freedom.

The resurrection isn't just a surprise happy ending for one person; it is instead the turning point for everything else. It is the point at which all the old promises come true at last: the promises of David's unshakable kingdom; the promises of Israel's return from the greatest exile of them all; and behind that again, quite explicit in Matthew, Luke, and John, the promise that all the nations will now be blessed through the seed of Abraham.

To flout the will of God openly will therefore be the fast track to social and national failure for Western nations.

Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, 'All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations.' " Matthew 28:18—19 The key to the missionary's work is the authority of Jesus Christ, not the needs of the lost. We are inclined to look on our Lord as one who assists us in our endeavors for God. Yet our Lord places Himself as the absolute sovereign and supreme Lord over His disciples.

Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations . . . ." Matthew 28:19     Jesus Christ did not say, "Go and save souls" (the salvation of souls is the supernatural work of God), but He said, "Go . . . make disciples of all the nations . . . ." Yet you cannot make disciples unless you are a disciple yourself.

God uses young people again and again to help restore and shape the destiny of nations...Young people stand at the heart of the salvation story.

Rather, it was written to tell the Israelites that their God, and not the gods of the other nations, was the chaos tamer, and therefore, this God and this God alone was worthy of worship. And they made this point in ancient terms, using ancient ways of thinking.

Paul transforms a tribal story, of kings, land, and the purity of one group of people, into a global story of God's grace and peace to all nations. As famously confusing as Paul's letters are, if we keep this in mind, a lot of what Paul says will make more sense—such as the following.