Salvation for All Nations

It has always been God’s plan to include people from the nations of the earth in His family.  This plan did not begin when God chose Israel to be His priesthood and covenant people, or with the coming of Messiah Yeshua (Hebrew for Jesus).  About 2000 years after the creation of Adam and Eve, God communicated His plan to a man named Abram (Abraham) on how He would include (bless) all nations.  We read in Genesis 12:3:

“Now the Lord had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you.  I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (NKJV)

God spoke directly to Abraham, a righteous man living in a pagan nation, who kept His covenant and obeyed all of His commandments.  God told him about the land He would give his descendants through his son Isaac, which is the special nation of Israel.  We believe Abraham’s willingness to offer his son Isaac in Genesis 22, is a picture of God, the Father, providing the way of salvation for all the nations through Yeshua’s future death.  This promise of the Messiah is how all families of the earth shall be blessed.

The Apostle Paul explained how God was including all nations in his letter to the assemblies in Galatia.  We read in Galatians 3:8:

“And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, “In you all the nations shall be blessed.” (NKJV)

God also communicated His plan for including all the nations throughout the Bible.  Here are just a few verses:

• “Also, the sons of the foreigner who join themselves to the Lord, to serve Him, and to love the name of the Lord, to be His servants—Everyone who keeps from defiling the Sabbath, and holds fast My covenant—Even them I will bring to My holy mountain, And make them joyful in My house of prayer. Even them I will bring to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices Will be accepted on My altar; For My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations.” [Isaiah 56:6-7]

• “’Many nations shall come and say, ‘Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, To the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, and we shall walk in His paths.’ For out of Zion the law shall go forth, And the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.” [Micah 4:2]

• After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” [Revelation 7:9-10]

We see in Messiah Yeshua’s final instructions to His Apostles that they were to go to ALL THE NATIONS; teaching them to obey ALL of God’s Commandments: 

“And Yeshua (Jesus) came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples (taught ones) of all the nations, baptizing (immersing) them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen (Matthew 28:18-20) [NKJV]

According to Yeshua’s teaching in Matthew 5, the phrase “observe all things that I have commanded you,” includes everything in God’s Law with the right understanding of how to obey them.  God did not provide those from the nations with a different set of commandments and Yeshua always upheld God’s written Word.

“And I [Yeshua] know that His [God’s] command is everlasting life.  Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the Father has told Me, so I speak.” [John 12:50]

We read about the Apostles early effort to reach the nations in the book of Acts 15:14-17.   It records that multitudes from the nations believed the Apostles’ witness about Yeshua and, through faith, were joining themselves to the Abrahamic Covenant.  James (Ya‘akov), the half-brother of Yeshua, and a recognized early leader in Jerusalem, states:

“Simon has declared how God at the first visited the Gentiles to take out of them a people for His name. And with this the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written: 'After this I will return And will rebuild the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down; I will rebuild its ruins, And I will set it up; So that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, Even all the Gentiles who are called by My name, Says the Lord who does all these things. 'Known to God from eternity are all His works.’” (NKJV)

We read further in this chapter, where Yeshua’s Apostles gave these four important instructions, as starting points for those coming out of the nations. These instructions would build a bridge between those from the nations who did not know God’s Commandments and the Jewish believers who were born in a culture founded on God’s Commandments.  In Acts 15:19-21 we read:

“Therefore, I judge that we should not trouble those from among the Gentiles (nations) who are turning to God, but that we write to them to abstain from things polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from things strangled, and from blood. For Moses has had throughout many generations those who preach him in every city, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath.” (NKJV)

Here, we see the same formula God also gave Israel in Deuteronomy 31 being applied in Acts 15, where all the nations could hear, learn, and fear the God of Israel.  They would further learn what is acceptable to God as they heard the words of Moses being publicly read every Shabbat (Hebrew for Sabbath).

We believe the Apostle Paul agreed with this learning process.  He taught that new believers would need an extended learning period after expressing their faith in Messiah. After all, Paul was a student of Rabbi Gamaliel (Acts 22:3) from the school of Hillel, whose school taught a kinder, more patient way of learning God’s Law. (This was in contrast to the school of Rabbi Shammai.)

Most of the misunderstood teachings of Paul stem from conflicts he was addressing regarding giving new believers time to focus on their newfound belief in Messiah and His teachings on God’s Commandments.  In his letters, we believe Paul was fighting against two extremes, legalism and lawlessness.  We are still fighting these same battles today as we strive to not "add to" or "take away" from the Word of God.

In Acts 15, it was this same Paul and Barnabus who were bringing in many new believers from the nations that prompted this “Jerusalem Council” ruling by the Apostles and Elders.  These leaders addressed four essential categories that were based on Leviticus 18-20, which warns Israel to NOT take on the “detestable ways” of the nations. These are:

• Fornication (Leviticus 18)

• Idolatry (Leviticus 19-20)

• Blood Intake (Leviticus 19)

• Witchcraft (Leviticus 20)

Yeshua’s Apostles were heeding the warning given by God to their forefathers to NOT mix God’s ways with the ways of the pagan nations.  These new believers were to put away or abstain from any detestable practices of these nations as a starting point for fellowship with Jewish believers. Bit by bit, each week, those from the nations would learn the rest of God’s Commandments.

These rulings were the solid foundation that the Apostles laid out for us.  It was built on God’s Commandments and the example of Yeshua and carried forward by the Apostles.  How many believers today are being taught these important guidelines when they come to faith in Yeshua?  Sadly, almost none.