Friday: Further Study – Must the Whole World Hear?
Ellen G. White, On the Mount of Olives,
in The Desire of Ages, p. 633; Speedy Preparation,
in Fundamentals of Christian Education, p. 335; Extension of the Work in Foreign Fields,
in Testimonies for the Church, vol. 6, p. 23.
Image © Lars Justinen from GoodSalt.com
The New Testament employs two Greek nouns, accompanied by the adjective all,
to express the worldwide extent of Christian mission: all the kosmos
in Matthew 26:13, Mark 14:9, and Mark 16:15, and all the oikoumene
in Matthew 24:14. While kosmos, the more general term for the realm of orderly existence, signifies the planet (with approximately one hundred fifty New Testament occurrences), the more specific oikoumene focuses on the world’s human inhabitants.
How extensive was the whole world
for the first Christians? Within a few years of the crucifixion, they had reached modern-day Cyprus, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey, Macedonia, Greece, and Italy. There is evidence that they propagated the gospel as far as southern Russia (ancient Scythia) in the north, Ethiopia in the south, India in the east, and Spain in the west.
Did the early Christian missionaries believe they had to reach the whole world with the gospel? According to the Acts of the Apostles, the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, the birthday
of the Christian church, began to proclaim the mighty works of God
to visitors from a list of nations, geographic regions, and ethnic groups (Acts 2:5-11). From its first day of life, the Christian church has been aware of the worldwide extent of its mission. If they had that understanding back then, how much more so should we today?
Discussion Questions:
- In class, go over your answer to the final question on Tuesday’s study about Christian claims being exclusivist and arrogant. Does exclusivism necessarily translate into arrogance? If not, why not?
- The church’s understanding of the size and extent of
the whole world
has expanded since the day of Pentecost. Jesus’ gospel commission togo therefore and make disciples of all the nations
(Matt. 28:19, NKJV) will remain present truth for the church until Christ returns. How does the proclamation of the three angels’ messages of Revelation 14:6-12 fit in with the Great Commission? - How would you answer this question: If people can be saved without ever having heard the gospel, what’s the point of risking life and limb in order to spread it to them?
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I would like to share some of my insights into the third question; How would you answer this question: If people can be saved without ever having heard the gospel, what’s the point of risking life and limb in order to spread it to them?
1). First and foremost Romans 1 & 2 that those who have not heard the gospel and law but live according to its demands through the impression of the Holy Spirit will be judged according to it, will be saved. However, the rest are the ones that do not qualified to be saved, thus the dire need of us who have the message of reconciliation to disciple them.
2). The Master Deceiver knows the above fully well so He is out in full force to kill as many as he is out will all his evil force and intent to kill them before we the ambassadors and heralds of the Eternal Gospel could reach them, will all evil surmising to thwart our effort as a church and individual to get through, with all inconceivable and unintelligible obstacles tangible and intangible.
3). First and foremost the reason one comes up with the notion to not approach for God has special Divine provision as found in Romans 2,
a). must realize the Devil has already won over him/her to their obligation that everyone saved are obligated to save others for the perish of their neighbors, mates, acquaintances et al will be upon their head and life as stated by the Prophet Ezekiel 33:6 But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet and the people are not warned, and a sword comes and takes a person from them, he is taken away fnin his iniquity; but his blood I will require from the watchman's hand.'
b). So with the Ezekiel warning the Devil works so meticulously to play guilty trip on Saints to dissuade them from reaching out for He wins both the saint and all his/her obligations to his sphere of influence.
c), Also the Devil works tirelessly for the church to either bickering on petty politics of church office and personal conflicts to brew over the church or for the church to concentrate on in house matters rather than evangelism.
Therefore the Great Controversy is not that obvious to casual minds but deep soul searching and inductive bible students who only can realize the complexity of the Great Controversy that will quicken the beholder to fly the message and not stroll or mark time the Eternal Gospel at its verity. But foremost if you see your loved ones are going to be bumped by a car the parent will sacrifice to rescue their offspring even to death to save theirs, do we have that concern? Please recite 1John 3:16, "We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. (New American Standard Bible)not only John 3:16.