God formed Adam, built Eve (as the Hebrew has it) and was well pleased with His work. The beautiful harmony was soon soured by sin, but Jehovah promised that the woman’s Seed would be the Victor. He commanded Adam and Eve to be fruitful, to multiply, and fill the earth, which they started to do. The Lord gave the same charge to Noah and his sons. God knew that all of them would be sinners, but He had a superb plan to nullify the effects of sin.
We should be able to easily deduce that God loves men, but we need read only a few positive statements, beside John 3:16, to convince us that God wants all men to be saved. He promised Abram, the father of the faithful, that all families of the earth would be blessed (Gen. 12:3). This man’s Descendant would be a Light to the Gentiles (Isa. 42:6; 60:3). He was and is the Light of the world. His life was the Light of men.
But before Christ came, men had light from God through His work in creation. The celestial and terrestrial heavens certify His existence, eternal power, and Godhead day and night (Ps. 19:1-4; Isa. 40:26; Rom. 1:19-20). God wants His way and salvation to be known among all nations (Ps. 67:2). He would grant double peace to men near and far (Isa. 57:19), to the ends of the earth (Rom. 10:18).
The Lord wanted Israel to spread His Name and fame (Ps. 2:10; 117:1; Isa. 43:10; 49:6; Jer. 1:5). Their partial compliance attained–of course–only partial results (Isa. 9:2; 65:1; Rom. 10:20). But then Christ arrived! He completed the work through which God can offer to forgive all sinners. He rose from death, alive and well. What He said as He left them was that the believers should fulfill God’s plan. Each Gospel has its own special stress: in John 20:21 (on Resurrection day) He bestowed on them the same privilege as the Father has given Him; in Luke 24:48 (perhaps the same day, see v. 36) His suffering and death fulfilled prophecy, and so the witnesses should preach the gospel to all nations–but not in their own strength, for He was about to send the Holy Spirit; in Mark 16:15 (a few days later) a universal command was given for all the world, every creature. This word preach is aorist imperative, meaning a direct command without time limit.
Go is the participle, implying continuous or repeated action. Christ would bless their message. In Matthew 28:18-20 (some time later, perhaps with 500 brethren, 1 Cor. 15:6), the express orders of the One to whom all authority in heaven and earth was given is first to go; then to make disciples in all nations; and baptize them in the name of the holy Triunity. They were to keep on teaching them to obey all His commands. The promise here is the continuous, never-ending presence of the Commander. This assured them of protection, direction, and supervision.
So at long last the message of God’s love would indeed saturate all races, nations, clans, families on the whole earth! Alas, 1969 years later, hundreds of millions have yet to hear His Name!
Yet imagine one million of the born-again believers starting on April 1 to make disciples and to teach them to obey. Say in one month they each have one convert, who is also taught to win one more in thirty days’ time. Here is the scoreboard:
May 1 2 million
June 4 million
July 8 million
August 16 million
But there are less than 6000 million world population. Even with a substantial increase…
You say, It can’t be done. The Commander said all authority was given to Him. If at least each reader was set to witness and win one, it would still be a big step forward. May God help me to do so!