Missions: God's Plan From the BeginningSample

God Made So Many Promises

I like to imagine what it was like for Abraham. God made him a lot of promises in his old age. He told him he would have a son, which would have been hard enough to believe. But he also said that he would become the father of many nations. God even changed his name from Abram to Abraham (which means “father of nations”). Can you imagine what it would have been like for an old man with no children to introduce himself as “the father of nations?” No wonder Abraham is praised for his faith! But what did he think that would look like? I am sure he never imagined it would lead to one of his descendants being literally God incarnate and dying to save the world.

Whatever he thought it would look like, God gave the Jews many more promises to believe in. In Psalm 46:10, He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” This promise is repeated over and over in the Scriptures. "All nations will gather in Jerusalem to honor the name of the Lord" (Jer 3:17). “The nations will know I am the Lord” (Ez 36:22-23). “Many nations will be joined with the Lord in that day and will become my people” (Zech 2:11). Long before Jesus came to earth, God promised over and over again that there would be a day in which all nations would bow before him. God alone will one day be the king of the whole earth. And surprisingly, these promises all come from the Old Testament. God’s eyes have always been set on the nations.