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Bryan: In 2018, a Barna survey reported that more than half of churchgoers in the US hadn't heard of the Great Commission. In fact, only 17% felt confident that they knew what the Great Commission meant. It's a sobering statistic, but it's not hopeless. William Carey ignited the modern missions movement from a church in England that was probably even less aware of the meaning of the Great Commission. If our churches are going to take the Great Commission seriously, that means doing some serious biblical theology and looking to the whole counsel of God's Word to provide that meaning. And that's just what we're doing this week as we listen to Pastor Chad Vegas answer a question about a key phrase from Christ's final command to His church before His ascension. Arielle asks, "How would you define the ends of the earth?"
Chad: Arielle, thank you for your question. It's a really important one.
Jesus told His disciples in Matthew 28:19 to "go therefore and make disciples of all the nations." Now, we know from Matthew 28:18 that this phrase "all the nations" encompasses the whole earth. Why? Because Jesus has just said that everything in heaven and earth is His. This is the inheritance of all the nations of the earth that the Father promised to the Messiah in Psalm 2 and in Daniel 7. Further, we know from Luke 24:47, a corresponding Great Commission passage, that they are to preach the gospel of repentance and forgiveness in Christ's name to all the nations — same Greek phrase, panta ta ethnē, as Matthew 28:19.
They're to preach to all the nations beginning in Jerusalem. Thus, all nations begins with Israel, the ethnic offspring of Abraham. This is why Paul says, "For I'm not ashamed of the gospel, for it's the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek" (Romans 1:16). So the gospel is to go to the Jew first and then to the Greek. This is another way of saying Gentiles, or nations, that are not Jewish.
We can see this in the prophecy of Acts 1:8: "But you'll receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth." So the end of the earth is those peoples outside of Judea and Samaria. And we see that played out in the book of Acts as we see the first Pentecost in Jerusalem in all Judea in Acts 2 really through Acts 7. And then in Acts 8:4 and following we see a Pentecost among the Samaritans, or the northern kingdom of Israel. So that we see a reuniting of the southern kingdom of Israel— i.e., Judah— and the northern kingdom of Israel, the Samaritans.
And then the gospel goes from there to Cornelius the centurion, and we have a Pentecost among the Gentiles so that God is granting repentance also to the Gentiles. So the end of the earth is those people outside of Judea and Samaria— in other words, those Gentile nations. Thus the Great Commission is to make disciples in all the nations, whether Jew or Gentile.
Now this is where we come to another interesting question. What exactly is a nation in Matthew 28:19? Is it a geopolitical entity defined by a particular form of government and borders? Take, for example, the USA or England or France or Germany. So if we see Christians in the 195 independent nations on earth, have we fulfilled the Great Commission? What if we see churches in all the major cities? Have we reached the ends of the earth?
Or rather, is "all nations" an ethnic marker? The Greek is panta ta ethnē. So if every ethnic group in the world immigrates to my city and they all speak English fluently and we reach them all with the gospel, have we made disciples of all the nations? Or is "all the nations" also a linguistic marker? Is it pointing to every distinct language group?
At Missionary we argue that panta ta ethnē— all the nations— likely means more than language groups, but it can never mean less than language groups. Why? We argue this because of the context in which Abraham receives the gospel promise that his seed will be a blessing to all the families (Genesis 12:3) or nations (Genesis 18:17–18) of the earth. This is all in the context of the fall of Babel in Genesis 11 and the table of nations in Genesis 10. And we know that the fall of Babel in Genesis 11 comes chronologically before the table of nations in Genesis 10.
In the narrative, Genesis 3–11 cover the plight of man and his fall into sin and the curse. And Genesis 11 tells us that man sought to make a name for himself rather than being called by the name of the Lord. Thus God scattered mankind into many nations by confusing their languages. This confusion of language is the basis of our separation into all the nations. Therefore, the promise to Abraham regarding all nations, or all the families of the earth, being blessed in his seed is the solution to the curse that separates and condemns us.
And this is precisely why at Pentecost we see the Holy Spirit give the gift of languages to His apostles. They declared the mighty redemptive works of God in languages they did not know, precisely because God was reversing Babel, reversing the curse in the new creation that began in Christ and by the Spirit. They were getting a taste of that new creation being inaugurated. This is why we will hear every tribe and tongue, or language, and nation singing praises to the Lamb who was slain, singing praises to our God.
So we want to continue to emphasize language, this great differentiator between the nations, and frankly the greatest human barrier to the gospel. The greatest barrier to the gospel we know is the hardened heart, which only God can change. But the greatest barrier we run into is language. So the end of the earth must comprise God's people from every language group. Let us pray that Christ will be named in the hearing of them all and that they will all sing His praises, and let us work diligently to that end.
Bryan: If your church is eager to learn more about the Great Commission, consider joining us at the Missionary National Conference in Fort Worth, Texas from October 14th to 16th. Our theme this year is "The Lord Who Sends," and we'll learn from John Piper, Kevin DeYoung, Mark Dever, and other pastors and missionaries about the nature of our God who gave us this Great Commission. You can find a full speaker list, schedule, and book tickets at missionary.com.
If you have a question you would like to hear answered on Ask Missionary, get in touch with us and we may feature it on an upcoming episode. Please subscribe and join us next week when missionary Brooks Buser explains how to get started as a missionary. Thanks for listening.