discovering missions - Southern Nazarene University

245187 Disc Missions ins 9/6/07 1:04 PM Page 24
24 The Heart of God
God’s desire for a relationship not just with a man and a woman named Adam
and Eve and other people specifically mentioned but with every member of the
human race. The loving relationship that 21st-century believers say they have
with God should be a powerful motivation for them to do global mission so
that His desire for a relationship with all peoples can become a reality.
The Promise to Abraham
Genesis 1—11 closes with the dispersal or scattering of the human race at
the end of the Tower of Babel story. From that point on, the narrative focuses on
one of Noah’s sons (Shem) and his descendants and then even more narrowly on
Abraham and Sarah and their descendants. This narrowing of focus is not an
abrupt turn toward exclusivism. By zeroing in on Abraham and Sarah’s family,
God moved to turn His desire for a relationship with all peoples into a reality.
It is fairly common knowledge that Abraham’s family was the one into
which the Messiah was to be born. What is less often noted is that Abraham’s
family was charged with perpetuating the vision of God’s desire to bless all
families of the earth. When God says in Genesis 12:1-3 that He is choosing
Abraham and his family, He makes clear the relevance of this choice to the
whole human race. In verse 1, Yahweh tells Abraham to go from his homeland
to a place he will be shown. That encounter was about more than Abraham
moving from point A to point B. Because God’s command included words of
promise, the Yahweh/Abraham encounter was a covenant-making moment
that is repeatedly mentioned in both Testaments.
God’s Claim on the Whole World
God’s election of Abraham and Israel concerns the whole world. He
deals so intensely with Israel precisely because He is maintaining
His personal claim on the whole world. To speak to this world in
the fullness of time, He needed a people. 3
—Johannes Verkuyl
In verse 2, God promises to make Abraham into a great nation. God tells
Abraham that he will be blessed and that his name will become great. The final
promise of the Abrahamic covenant is that through Abraham all peoples on
earth will be blessed. This promise in verse 3 is the climax of the covenant, not
its afterthought. In this “all peoples on earth will be blessed through you” promise,
Israel was clearly being asked to play a key role in God’s world mission strategy
where doing mission fulfills the Genesis 12 covenant. That is why many
missiologists say that Jesus’ Great Commission becomes most significant when