Reflections on Matthew 24:14
“And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”
Consider what is going on as you look out the window and notice that your bird feeder is getting low. You want to continue to enjoy the beauty of these creatures in your back yard so, with out much thought, you refill the feeder.
Looking hopefully out the window, you wait for return of the Cedar Waxwings and the Blue Jays and the Juncos, as they discover this new bounty that you have provided.
You enjoy the spectacle of color and see something of the mind of God in their beauty and variety and their differing natures. You like to feed the birds. You do it freely of your own volition and then you remember…
Matthew 6:26 “Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?”
And you think, “When I feed the birds, am I usurping God, replacing God, assisting God, supplementing what God is doing, or am I in fact, of my own free will, carrying out the sovereign plan of God?
Is God feeding the birds through me? Was this his plan? Is this how, at least in part, God sovereignly feeds his birds? Would they not have eaten as well today had it not been for me?
On a grander scale, consider the witness, the evidence you embody and communicate, even sometimes unwittingly, that testifies to the existence and nature of God.God displays his glory through your words and actions and attitudes. He planned it long ago as the vital means he would use to spread his gospel.
Your desire to serve him, to see people saved, is your own will, sovereignly employed by his plan, to make his fame spread and his grace to sinners known.
That God feeds the birds, needs to be clearly perceived while I am happily filling the feeder. What I must also come to see is that the gospel will be preached in the whole world.
And WE will joyfully pursue that goal, partnered with Him and it will be accomplished and then the end will come.God will sovereignly accomplish his will, in part, through our free will and effort. And in the end every people-group will have heard.
Revelation 14:6 Then I saw another angel flying in mid-air, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth—to every nation, tribe, language and people. 7 He said in a loud voice, "Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water."
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4 comments:
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."
And by listening to the verse without a commentary it always sounds to me like Christ Himself is going to take care of this other flock sans help from anyone. I know it is to refer to the Gentiles, which took Paul to get it started.
In Desiring God p.236ff Piper takes it one step further and pushes it to the flock of all people groups by including Revaluation 5:9b "from every tribe and language and people and nation." in his argument.
There is a book Eternity in Their Hearts by Don Richardson where he looks primarily at an Aztec tribe who worshiped a one true God, and takes in to account other tribes. I read this back in 1987 so I don't remember all the details.
So this begs the question, did Christ mean he was to use others to spread the Word of God solely or would he use Supernatural means to spread the Word of God to all tribes?
My personal take, FYI, is I believe both are in progress, God can not be limited by what we can imagine possible. I'm just curious of yours or anyone's ideas, OR even in the ever so SLIGHT possibility I'm completely off my rocker.
I completely agree. Just as the Blue Jays eat from other sources than my feeder, so conversion will be accomplished by means other than the words of a witness. God will confirm through more direct means Romans 1:20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
to be clear... the words of a witness are still necessary, but they will be supported by other evidence as well.
I would agree and I remember one discussion of Richardson's book is the Aztec group was small, one generation and upper class only. There was no growth.
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