Bible Basis of Missions

Howard’s article on “Missions: The Heart of God”:
https://home.snu.edu/~hculbert/engage.htm (Thanks Howard!)

Gen 1:28 – God’s first words to humankind: “be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth, rule over it”.

Gen 3:1-24 – Sin enters the world bringing death and separation from God passed down through all generations until God repents that he had made man, decides to wipe out the whole earth by a flood and start over with one man’s family.

Gen 9:1,7 – God’s first words to Noah after he got off the ark: “be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth, rule over it”.

Gen 11:1-4 – There was one language on the earth; the people’s main sin at Babel was that they wanted to make a NAME for themselves and NOT be scattered.

Gen 11:7-9 – God scrambles the languages and the people spread throughout the earth setting the stage for our story.

Genesis 12:1-3 – “Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (ESV)
— God chooses a man named Abraham and his descendants (Israel) as his special people to be blessed by him (top line of the covenant) so that they would be a blessing to all peoples (bottom line of the covenant).

Gen 18:17-19 – Covenant repeated to Abraham in the presence of other men.

Gen 22:15-18 – Abraham hears the covenant again after his willingness and obedience to sacrifice his son… God says “I swear by myself” that this will happen so we know that it is going to pass.

Gen 26:2-4 – Isaac gets the same promise passed on to him.

Gen 28:12-14 – Jacob gets the same promise passed on to him. Our story breaks with Joseph in Egypt and the Israelites growing in number as the slaves.

Gen 49:10 – “The scepter will not depart from Judah,
nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet,
until he comes to whom it belongs
and the obedience of the nations is his.”

Ex 6:1-5 – God reminds Moses of the covenant and says that he is going to free Israel from slavery because of it.

Ex 12:37-38 – “Other people” went with the Israelites when they left Egypt.

Ex. 19:3-6 – “3 Then Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain and said, “This is what you are to say to the house of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel: 4 ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. 5 Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, 6 you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.”

Num. 14:21 – Nevertheless, as surely as I live and as surely as the glory of the Lord fills the whole earth,

Dt 2:25 – God would make all the nations under heaven hear about and fear Israel. Why? So that all worship Yahweh.

Dt 4:5-8 – God gives Israel the ten commandments and other righteous laws so that the nations would see their wisdom, understanding, and know that Israel’s God is near them (personal) and hears their prayers .

Dt 32:43 – “Rejoice, O nations, with his people,
for he will avenge the blood of his servants;
he will take vengeance on his enemies
and make atonement for his land and people”

Josh 2:1-24 – Rahab helps Israel because she has heard about their God. (Pages 62 and 63 of the book Unveiled at Last gives a lot of examples of Jews blessing Gentiles in the OT.)

1 Sam 17:45,46 – David defeats the Philistines so that the whole world would know that there is a God in Israel.

1 Kings 8:43b – “…then hear from heaven, your dwelling place, and do whatever the foreigner asks of you, so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your own people Israel, and may know that this house I have built bears your Name”

1 Chr 14:17 – The Lord makes all nations fear David. Why? He was a man after God’s own heart.

1 Chr 16:8, 24, 28, 31 -David begins announcing that all the nations should worship God.

2 Chr 9:22-23 – King Solomon was greater in riches and wisdom than all kings on earth; people from all nations listened.

Neh 6:15-16 – All the nations were in awe when the wall was rebuilt in 52 days.

Psalms 2:8 – ‘Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance,
And the very ends of the earth as Your possession. (Thanks Charlotte!)

Ps. 24:1 – “The earth is the Lord ‘s, and everything in it,
the world, and all who live in it;”

Ps 46:10 – Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations in all the earth.

Ps. 68:32 – “Sing to God, O kingdoms of the earth,
sing praise to the Lord,”

Ps 67:1-7 –
1 May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine upon us
2 that your ways may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations.
3 May the peoples praise you, O God; may all the peoples praise you.
4 May the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you rule the peoples justly
and guide the nations of the earth.
5 May the peoples praise you, O God; may all the peoples praise you.
6 Then the land will yield its harvest, and God, our God, will bless us.
7 God will bless us, and all the ends of the earth will fear him.

David understood God’s heart for the nations – (v. 7) God blesses us so that the ends of the earth may fear him.

Ps. 18:49 – “Therefore I will praise you among the nations, O LORD;
I will sing praises to your name.”

Is 42:1 – God will put His Spirit in His servant and chosen one (Jesus) and bring justice to the nations.

Is 52:6-10
Is. 52:10, 13-15 – The Lord will lay bare his holy arm
in the sight of all the nations,
and all the ends of the earth will see
the salvation of our God…. 13 See, my servant will act wisely [2] ;
he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted.
14 Just as there were many who were appalled at him [3] –
his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man
and his form marred beyond human likeness-
15 so will he sprinkle many nations, [4]
and kings will shut their mouths because of him.
For what they were not told, they will see,
and what they have not heard, they will understand.

Is. 54:3 – “For you will spread abroad to the right and to the left, and your descendants will possess the peoples and will people the desolate cities.”

Is. 60:3 – “Nations will come to your light,
and kings to the brightness of your dawn.”

Is 26:17-18 – Israel understood that its task was to be God’s messenger of salvation to the nations and had not done its job.

Is. 62:2 – “The nations will see your righteousness,
and all kings your glory;
you will be called by a new name
that the mouth of the Lord will bestow.”

Eze 5:5-7 – This is Jerusalem which I have set in the center of all the nations, but she has rebelled against my laws; look at Israel’s central geographic location in the world and see how God was being strategic in using it as a blessing to all nations.

Ezek 18:4 – “For every living soul belongs to me, the father as well as the son-both alike belong to me. The soul who sins is the one who will die.”

Ezek 33:6 – “But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet to warn the people and the sword comes and takes the life of one of them, that man will be taken away because of his sin, but I will hold the watchman accountable for his blood.”

Dan 6:25-26 – A Gentile king, Darius, tells all peoples, nations, and languages to fear and revere the God of Daniel; sometimes God let his chosen instruments be taken into slavery or into exile in order to be a blessing to all nations.

Dan 7:13-14 – Son of Man given dominion, power, and the kingdom where all nations and peoples serve him.

Amos 9:7 – God loves all peoples equally.

Sent to a Gentile city
Picture of future “centrifugal” outreach
The situation demanded proclamation
Jonah: an effective persuader

Micah 4:1-2 – “In the last days
the mountain of the Lord ‘s temple will be established
as chief among the mountains;
it will be raised above the hills,
and peoples will stream to it.

2 Many nations will come and say,
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord ,
to the house of the God of Jacob.
He will teach us his ways,
so that we may walk in his paths.”
The law will go out from Zion,
the word of the Lord from Jerusalem”

Zech 2:10-11 – “Shout and be glad, O Daughter of Zion. For I am coming, and I will live among you,” declares the Lord . 11 “Many nations will be joined with the Lord in that day and will become my people. I will live among you and you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me to you.”

Mal 1:11 – “My name will be great among the nations, from the rising to the setting of the sun. In every place incense and pure offerings will be brought to my name, because my name will be great among the nations,” says the Lord Almighty.”

God’s name will be great among all the nations.

Matt 8:11 – “I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. “

Matt 9:35-38 – “Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. 36When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. 38Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”

Mt 24:14 – “This gospel will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations and then the end will come.”

Mt 28:19-20 – Go and make disciples of all nations baptizing and teaching them to obey Christ.

Mk 11:17 – Jesus understood God’s desire for all nations; “my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations”.

Mk 16:15 – “He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.”

Luke 2:10 – “But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. “

Lk. 10:2 – He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field )

Lk 24:45-49 – ““…and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. ”
Jesus opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures (Old Testament); Christ will suffer and rise on the third day (bless us) and then repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached to all nations (to bless others).

John 12:32 – “But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.”

John 10:16 “I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. “

Jn 20:21 – “Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”

Acts 1:8 – ‘“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Acts 14:27-28 — “27 On arriving there, they gathered the church together and reported all that God had done through them and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles. 28 And they stayed there a long time with the disciples.” It’s clear that the early church valued highly the chance to hear about how God had “opened a door of faith to the Gentiles.”

Acts 4:12 – “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”

Acts 2:6 – The disciples were from Galilee not Jerusalem (7), Jesus said to stay in Jerusalem because it was a strategic center not because that is where they were from and familiar.

Acts 2:4, 6, 8-11 – Jesus talked about the coming of the Holy Spirit as the highlight of the New Testament; the disciples were to wait for Him to come before ministering; it’s the day the first century church started; 3000 people got saved; the Holy Spirit begins his ministry and sets the tone of the rest of the N.T. by having people from every nation under earth hearing the gospel in their own language.

Romans 10:13-15. Verse 13 gives completes the thought of the process of missions. It gives the goal…the objective…of all missions activity, the salvation of the lost. (Thanks neal Pirolo!)

Romans 10:14 – “How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?”

Rom 15:18-21

Romans 1:16 – “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.”

2 Cor. 5:20 – “We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. “

Gal 3:7-9 – Paul called “the gospel” Abraham’s call to bless the nations; we need to know we are sons of Abraham by faith.

Eph 2:12 – “Remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.”

Colossians 4:2-6 reads, “2 Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. 3 And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. 4 Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. 5 Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. 6 Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.”

1 Thess 1:4-10 shows Imitating apostles’ pattern of life resulted in geographic spread in the pattern of Acts 1:8 in the Greek Peninsula [Macedonia (Jerusalem), Achaia (Judea), in every place (to the ends of the earth)

“4 knowing, brothers and sisters, beloved by God, His choice of you; 5 for our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction; just as you know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sakes. 6 You also became imitators of us and of the Lord, having received the word during great affliction with the joy of the Holy Spirit, 7 so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. 8 For the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place the news of your faith toward God has gone out, so that we have no need to say anything. 9 For they themselves report about us as to the kind of reception we had with you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God, 10 and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, that is, Jesus who rescues us from the wrath to come.”

2 Thess 1:6-9 – “God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you 7 and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. 8 He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power.”

1 Tim 2:1-3
1 Tim 2:3-6 – “3 This is good, and pleases God our Savior, 4 who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6who gave himself as a ransom for all men–the testimony given in its proper time.”

2 Pe 3:9

3 John (the whole book) – “- 1The elder, To my dear friend Gaius, whom I love in the truth. 2Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well. 3It gave me great joy to have some brothers come and tell about your faithfulness to the truth and how you continue to walk in the truth. 4I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth. 5Dear friend, you are faithful in what you are doing for the brothers, even though they are strangers to you. 6They have told the church about your love. You will do well to send them on their way in a manner worthy of God. 7It was for the sake of the Name that they went out, receiving no help from the pagans. 8We ought therefore to show hospitality to such men so that we may work together for the truth. 9I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first, will have nothing to do with us. 10So if I come, I will call attention to what he is doing, gossiping maliciously about us. Not satisfied with that, he refuses to welcome the brothers. He also stops those who want to do so and puts them out of the church. 11Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil but what is good. Anyone who does what is good is from God. Anyone who does what is evil has not seen God. 12Demetrius is well spoken of by everyone–and even by the truth itself. We also speak well of him, and you know that our testimony is true. 13I have much to write you, but I do not want to do so with pen and ink. 14I hope to see you soon, and we will talk face to face. Peace to you. The friends here send their greetings. Greet the friends there by name.”

Reb. 5:9-10 – “And they sang a new song: “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. 10 You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.”

Rev 5:9 – people were redeemed from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation

Rev 7:9-10 – 9 After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. 10And they cried out in a loud voice: “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.”

people from all nations, tongues and people groups worshiping the Lamb!