A Word in Season: The Light of the Nations (Isaiah 49:6)

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It is true, and it's good and right that it is true, that God is concerned for the glory of his name.

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He is altogether glorious, and so there could be nothing more proper than that the

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God of all glory should be concerned for the demonstration, the revelation, and the proper response to his glory.

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So when he speaks through the prophet Isaiah, the Lord speaks to the servant and says that it's too small a thing that he should be

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God's servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel.

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I will also give you as a light to the Gentiles that you should be my salvation to the ends of the earth.

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God is concerned here for his glory, his glory in himself and his glory revealed in salvation.

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And it's too small a thing that his Messiah, the one who is sent to bring Jacob back to him so that Israel is gathered to him, should have that as his sole concern and accomplishment.

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That's not to dismiss the salvation of God's chosen people from among the

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Jews, but it is to emphasize that God has a wider and a greater intent in sending his son into the world.

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It is too small a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel and the senses alone.

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Great as that is, marvelous as that is in our eyes, it is not enough to demonstrate both the glory of God in the intents of his purposes or the excellence of the servant whom he sends.

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I will also give you as a light to the Gentiles that you should be my salvation to the ends of the earth.

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This is what so thrilled Simeon when the infant Jesus was brought into the temple, that here is one who is now not only the redeemer of the people of Israel who've been waiting for the consolation to come, but also the one by whom the light of the good news of God will spread to all the nations.

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And even more fascinating, I think, perhaps, is the language that Paul uses in Acts chapter 13, when he quotes this verse not specifically and only of Messiah in himself, but of the preachers that Messiah is sending into the world.

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They, by speaking of Jesus as the Christ, they by making known the gospel of the

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Lord God in his Son, they are the ones who are fulfilling from him and on his behalf this promise,

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I will also give you as a light to the Gentiles that you should be my salvation to the ends of the earth.

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Now, both of these promises with regard to the gathering in of God's people from amongst the

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Jews and the gathering in from among the Gentiles are in the process of being fulfilled.

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How and when the final fullness of that will be accomplished, we're not entirely sure.

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But the fact is that as the gospel is being preached and as sinners are being saved,

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God is glorifying his name in his salvation through his

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Son to the nations of the world, all of them. And that dignifies the work that takes place

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Sunday by Sunday and every day of the week as the gospel is being preached.

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It talks about what's happening when the good news is proclaimed on the

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Lord's Day in the churches of Jesus Christ. It talks about what's happening when we go out into the streets and onto the doors and into the public square and we make the

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Lord Jesus Christ known, calling on people to repent of their sins and put their faith in him.

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The promise of God to his Son is being fulfilled. As Christ's messengers go out into all the earth, they are bringing the light of the gospel in Christ to the

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Gentiles that they should see his salvation and that he should be the salvation of God to the ends of the earth.

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And so let's not diminish and let's not undermine the work of gospel ministry in these days.

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Whether it's in the gathered saints to those who are there and to those who are coming in, or whether it's us going out to make

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Christ known, here is the fulfillment of the great promise concerning the great salvation and the great saviour of God that the light is going out to the ends of the earth and his name will be honoured.