Jun 19, 2021
God loves all the people of the world, and why wouldn't
He? All humans are created in His image. God's
"fingerprints" are found all over humans. The apostle Paul
says,
"From one man he (God) made all the nations, that they should
inhabit the whole earth." ~ Acts 17:26
The people and ethnicities of the world are God's plan, it is what
he designed. Not only do we know this is how designed it from
the beginning, we also get a snap shot of how it is all going to
look in the end. John, the author of The Revelation describes
this image of those standing before Jesus (the Lamb) at the
conclusion of time.
"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 before the Lamb. They were
wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their
hands. And they cried out in a loud voice:
“Salvation belongs to our
God,
who sits on the throne,
and to the Lamb.” ~
Revelation 7:9-10
So whether one starts at the beginning of Creation or goes to
the end of the story, there is this consistent theme in which God
not only loves every tribe, nation, tongue, and ethnicity, but He
has redeemed them to spend eternity with Him. The Bible is
very clear in describing God's intention regarding all
people.
The disconnect seems to happen, when God's people don't represent
His character, especially when it comes to loving all
ethnicities. Why is that? Simply put, it's always been
about sin. Sin leads to pride, jealousy, discrimination, and
injustice. So what is the solution?
A deeper understanding at to what the gospel is really all
about. Most people simply think that the gospel is
this: Jesus dying on the cross for our sins, and then
being resurrected, and if we believe in him we will go to Heaven
when we die.
That is a part of the gospel, for sure. However the gospel is
even better then that! The gospel is that God's Kingdom has
come, and through his atoning death and resurrection, King Jesus
has reconciled us back into his Kingdom. To
be clear, this isn't a future Kingdom, but his
Kingdom...now.
This Good News means that through faith in Jesus, we are not only
reconciled into God's Kingdom, but we are also reconciled back to
each other...we are reconciled into God's Family!
The mission we have as God's Kingdom People, is to not only help
reconcile people back to God, but to also reconcile people back
together! Do you want to learn more? Give a listen to
the conclusion of this series Outside In and take a look at how the
early Jesus followers wrestled with, and then carried out this
amazing mission of reconciliation. You do not want to miss
this!