Every missionary effort to preach the gospel would be greatly helped and more clearly guided by keeping before the mind God’s original purpose in sending the gospel to the Gentiles, or nations. This purpose we have stated by James in the most distinct manner in Acts 15—“Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for His name.” This affords no warrant whatsoever for the idea so persistently held by the professing church, that the whole world is to be converted by the preaching of the gospel at this time. To convert all the nations is one thing; to take out of the nations a people is quite another. Let all missionaries remember this. They may rest assured it will not clip their wings, or cripple their energies; it will only guide their movements, by giving them a divine aim and object.
And here let it be distinctly understood that we delight in all true missionary effort. We heartily wish God’s speed to every true missionary—to everyone who has left home, and kindred, and friends, and all the comforts and privileges of civilized life, in order to carry the glad tidings of salvation into the dark places of the earth.
We are not now discussing the principle of missionary organization, or the various appliances adopted for the carrying on of missionary operation. This is beyond the scope of our subject. The point with which we are occupied in this brief paper is this—will God make use of the professing church to convert the nations?
The Conversion of the Nations
It is blessedly true that all the earth shall yet be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. There is no question as to this. All scripture bears witness to it. To quote the passages would literally fill a volume. All Christians are agreed on this point, and hence there is no need to adduce evidence.
But the question is, how is this grand and glorious result to be brought about? Is it the purpose of God to use the professing church as His agent, or is the gospel they preach His instrument in the conversion of the world? Scripture says no; and says it with an emphasis and a clearness which ought to sweep away every doubt and difficulty.
What, then, say the scriptures on the great question of the conversion of the nations? Let us look as Psalm 67—“God be merciful unto us, and bless us; and cause His face to shine upon us; Selah. That Thy way may be known upon earth, Thy saving health among all nations. Let the people praise Thee, O God; let all the people praise Thee. O let the nations be glad, and sing for joy: for Thou shalt judge the people righteously, and govern the nations upon earth. Let the people praise Thee, O God, let all the people praise Thee. Then shall the earth yield her increase; and God, even our own God, shall bless us. God shall bless us, and all the ends of the earth shall fear Him.”
Here, then, the simple truth shines before us; it is when God shall have mercy upon Israel— when He shall cause His light to shine upon Zion—then, and not until then, will His way be known upon earth, His saving health among all nations. It is through Israel, and not through the professing church, that God will yet bless the nations.
The Gospel Preached by Israel
That the “us” of the foregoing psalm refers to Israel, no intelligent reader of scripture needs to be told. Indeed, as we all know, the great burden of the psalms, the prophets, and the entire Old Testament, is Israel. Seeing this, it is clear that the conversion of the nations stands connected with Israel, and not with the church. It is through Israel, and not through the church, that God will yet bless the nations. It is His eternal purpose that the seed of Abraham, His friend, shall yet be pre-eminent in the earth, and that all nations shall be blessed in and through them. “Thus saith the Lord of hosts, In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold, out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you; for we have heard that God is with you” (Zech. 8:23).
A People for His Name
There is no need to multiply proofs. All scripture bears witness to the truth that God’s present object is not to convert the nations, but to take out of them a people for His name; and, further, that when these nations shall be brought in—as they most assuredly shall—it will not be by the instrumentality of the church at all, but by that of the restored nation of Israel.
It would be an easy and a delightful task to prove from the New Testament, that, previous to the restoration and blessing of Israel, and therefore, previous to the conversion of the nations, the true church of God, the body of Christ, shall have been taken up to be forever with the Lord. But we do not desire at this time to do more than establish that which we deem of much interest and importance in reference to the grand object of missionary operations. When missionary societies propose for their object the conversion of the world, they propose a palpable mistake. And when Christendom imagines that she is to be God’s instrument in converting the nations, it is simply a delusion and an empty conceit. Hence, therefore, let all who go forth as missionaries see that they are ruled in their blessed work by a divine object, and, further, that they are pursuing that object in a divinely-appointed way.
Adapted from C. H. Mackintosh