Did the idea of missional outreach, of sharing the message of who God is and of His love for mankind, begin with the Great Commission? Is this the first time God tells His people to share the message of who He is with the surrounding nations? No, in fact the idea of mission outreach can be seen throughout the entire Bible, beginning with Abraham.
God did not choose Abraham solely because He liked Abraham and wanted to bless him alone. No, God chose Abraham so that "all the people on earth will be blessed through you," (Gen. 12:3).
Why was Israel chosen? Why were they set apart from the other nations? Was it because this people was better, more holy, than the nations around them? It only takes reading the Bible just a bit to see that this is not true. Israel sinned and disappointed God just as the other nations did. God singled them out to show Himself through them. They were set apart so that "God can pave the way toward achieving His world-embracing goals. In choosing Israel as a segment of all humanity, God never took His eye off the other nations; Israel was a minority called to serve the majority," (The Biblical Foundation for the Worldwide Mission Mandate by Johannes Verkuyl).
Israel wasn’t blessed just to be blessed but they were a nation, set apart by God, to call all other nations to Him; to reflect His glory; to not only be blessed but to be a blessing, This idea of being blessed to be a blessing to others is what we, as Christians, are also called to do. Since the beginning of time, God has loved all nations and desires to see all nations come to Him. (To see this through Scripture, read Psa 67:1-7; Matt 24:14; Matt 28:18-20; Mark 16:15; Luke 24:45-49; Acts 1:8, Rev 5:9-10 and Rev 7:9-10.
Following Genesis 12, God gradually and indirectly draws people from other nations to Himself through His miraculous interventions on Israel’s behalf and through His show of power to bring them the promises of the covenant (land, children, His presence). In the process, some people of other nations (Rahab, Ninevah, Egyptians, Ruth, ...) are drawn to Him as well.
One story that has a lot to say about mission outreach is the story of Jonah. "Jonah is a lesson in educating a person to be a missionary. It reveals the need for a radical conversion of one's natural tendencies and a complete restructuring of his life to make it serviceable for mission," (Verkuyl). Basically, Jonah did not want to share the message of God's call and His forgiveness with the people of Nineveh because he did not think they deserved it. Nineveh had persecuted the Jews horribly in the past. Jonah didn't just fear this godless nation, he hated them. They did not deserve salvation in his eyes. But, as Jonah learned, it is not up to us to determine who deserves salvation...that is God's call and He wants all nations/people groups to turn to Him.
No matter what Jonah did, he could not escape God's missionary mandate on his life. God pursued him relentlessly until he finally obeyed God. And to his amazement, the people turned to God with all their heart and repented. "What Israel continually refused to do the heathen Gentiles did do: the cruel king of Nineveh stands as anti-type to the disobedient kings of Judah," (Verkuyl).
So we see throughout the rest of the Old Testament, God countering Satan’s evil reign with His presence, blessings and intervention on behalf of Israel, for the nations. Israel is given the primary blessing but they are then expected to confer that blessing on the nations around them. When they ceased to do that, He caused them to be scattered in the diaspora. This scattering of the Hebrews resulted in their living in various nations, thus bringing to these nations the message of one, sovereign God, a message foreign to the polytheistic cultures around them. The results of this missional outreach by the Jews during their dispersion is evidenced when, at Pentecost, there "were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven," (Acts 2:5).
As believers in Christ witnessed His return to Heaven, Jesus assured them of the blessing of His continued presence with them through the Holy Spirit, but He also charged them with a responsibility that went along with the blessing. Like the Hebrews, they were blessed to be a blessing to all nations. In the “Great Commission” they, and all Christians since them, are directed to go into all the world, past Jerusalem, Judea, Syria and even the Roman Empire and preach the good news of Jesus to everyone. And for each person that receives Christ as Savior, Satan loses a bit of ground. It is now up to us, as Christians, to follow in the footsteps of Israel and Jonah; to be a blessing to the rest of the world by blessing them with the message of Jesus Christ. But we have a choice, will we obey or disobey? And will we obey joyfully or reluctantly? "While God never forces any of us, He tenderly asks us to put our whole heart and soul into the work of mission. God is still interested in transforming obstinate, irritable, depressive, peevish Jonah's into heralds of the Good News which brings freedom...If a person draws his lifeblood from the one greater than Jonah and yet declines to spread the Good News among others, in effect, he is sabotaging the aims of God Himself. Jonah is father to all those Christians whe desire the benefits and blessings of election but refuse its responsibility. Thomas Carlisle's poem, 'You Jonah,' closes with these lines:
And Jonah stalked
to his shaded seat
and waited for God
to come around
to his way of thinking.
And God is still waiting for a host of Jonahs
in their comfortable houses
to come around
to His way of thinking." (Verkuyl)
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