Light to the Nations

The prophet Isaiah spoke about Christ being a light to the nations. ‘I will also give You as a light to the Gentiles, that You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth’. Is 49:6. As a witness of Christ, the apostle Paul was also appointed to this task. He was sent to proclaim the gospel to all the Gentile nations. Acts 22:21. He understood that God would ‘raise up the tribes of Jacob and restore the preserved ones of Israel’. Is 49:6.

The word ‘Gentile’ in the Old Testament prophetic scriptures becomes synonymous with the word ‘nation’. However, it is also synonymous with the words ‘Ephraim’ and ‘Joseph’. The descendants of Joseph, and his son Ephraim, were scattered among the nations. When the Lord ordained Paul by saying, ‘I will send you to the nations’, He was referring to both the Gentiles and to the descendants of Joseph who are among the Gentiles. Accordingly, the group of people considered to be Gentiles includes all the ethnic groups of the world. When the scripture says Jew and Gentile in one body it means the Jew (of Judah) and every other ethnic group including the nation of Israel, which was under the headship of Joseph (Ephraim).

Jacob prophesied that Ephraim would be ‘the fullness of the Gentiles’. Gen 48:19. How will this prophecy be fulfilled? God has actually sown Ephraim among the Gentiles. Hos 8:8. Because Joseph (Ephraim) sinned grievously, they were scattered. The scripture says in the first chapter of Hosea, ‘Judah I will deal with and have compassion on, but of Joseph it will be said, they are not my people.’ However, the Lord then says, ‘In the place where it was said to them, “You are not My people”, there it shall be said to them, “You are sons of the living God”.’ Hos 1:10. God sows them into the nations and afflicts them grievously, then gathers them again.

Scattering, afflicting and re-gathering is a fundamental mode of God. It is the manner in which He shepherds. Whenever you see God dealing, you observe His deeds as a shepherd. Thus it can be said, ‘He sows, He afflicts, and He gathers’. If you look into the heart of God, you see the heart of a shepherd. The shepherd takes the sheep out from the fold to pasture and then returns them to the fold. He takes them in and out. The history of the scripture reveals that this is exactly what has occurred from the beginning.

Today, the great Shepherd of the sheep is taking His flock in and out. All God is wanting of His people is to be ‘flock’ and ‘fold’. He wants us to go out to pasture and come in again to the fold. Regardless of the location or generation in which we live, this principle applies. This is the way the body of Christ will be gathered together in the last days.

David Falk

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Feature Articles
May 2008

Marvellous Faith

The Living Song

Present Truth

The Faith of Abraham

Wisdom and Folly

The Valley of Baca

The Nature of Business

Willing Obedience

Light to the Nations