Imperishable Inheritance

Many Chris­tians believe that when Jesus spoke in Matthew 28 about making dis­ci­ples of all the nations (people groups) that The Great Com­mis­sion started right then, but when we look far­ther back we will see that the pur­pose and intent of God of seeing His name exalted through­out all of His cre­ation started back in Gen­e­sis 1!

Cre­ation

In Gen­e­sis 1, right after the account of cre­ation, God gives His first com­mand to man: “Be fruit­ful and mul­ti­ply, and fill the earth” (Gen 1:28). We see that from the very begin­ning God made man to have His name through­out His creation.

After the fall, God decides to pass His judg­ment upon mankind and floods the earth saving only Noah, his family, and a rem­nant of ani­mals (Gen 7:23). After the water sub­sided God gave a com­mand to Noah that is very famil­iar: “Be fruit­ful and mul­ti­ply, and fill the earth” (Gen 9:1). As has been the record thus far, man doesn’t ful­fill the com­mands of God, and it cli­maxes at the Tower of Babel. Man was told to extend out­ward, but they decided instead to go upward. It was here that God made all the people groups and scat­tered them (Gen 11:17-18).

The Abra­hamic Covenant

In Abram, God reveals His plan of redemp­tion. God said to Abram, “in you all the fam­i­lies of the earth will be blessed” (Gen 12:3; cf. Gen 26:3-4, 28:14). God later renamed Abram to Abra­ham which trans­lates to a “father of a mul­ti­tude of nations” (Gen 17:5; cf. 22:18). The Abra­hamic Covenant is the instru­men­tal event in the story of redemption.

Moses and the Law

God then sends Moses to free the Israelites from their cap­tiv­ity (Exo 9:14; cf. 5:1-2, 7:1-5, 8:10, 16:11-12), and God said the reason He has let the Pharoah to remain is so that, “for this reason I have allowed you to remain, in order to show you My power and in order to pro­claim My name through all the earth” (Exo 9:16).

God deliv­ers the Israelites and gives them His Law with Moses as the medi­a­tor, and He does so to ensure that others know of His great name (Deu 4:5-6), and He promises calamity for those who for­sake His Law and His name (Deu 28:19-20).

The His­tor­i­cal Books

God raises up each patri­arch in a strate­gic way to make His name known. Joshua tells the pur­pose of God drying up the Jordan (and the Red Sea cf. 2:8-11) is so that “all the peo­ples of the earth may know that the hand of the LORD is mighty, so that you may fear the LORD your God forever” (Jos 4:24). Samuel reveals insight into the plan and pur­pose of God that He is taking a people for His name sake: “For the LORD will not aban­don His people on account of His great name, because the LORD has been pleased to make you a people for Himself” (1 Sam 12:22; cf. 1 Sam 17:46).

Solomon wisely prayed that the temple he built, “in order that all the peo­ples of the earth may know Your name” (1 Ki 8:41-43; cf. 1 Chr 16:23; 2 Chr 6:32-33). God also grants wisdom to Solomon so that all the nations would come to hear of the things God did for him (1 Ki 10:23-24).

The Psalms

The Psalmist con­tin­ues in deep admi­ra­tion for the intent of God by declar­ing, “Cease striv­ing and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” (Psa 46:10; cf. 9:20, 18:49, 22:27, 45:17, 57:9, 67, 72:11-19, 79:10, 86:8-10, 96, 98:2, 102:15-22, 106:47, 108:3, 117, 126:2, 138:4). Clearly one of the major themes of the Psalms is the exhor­ta­tion of God’s holy name among all the nations.

The Major and Minor Prophets

The prophet Isaiah con­tin­ues to fur­ther his under­stand­ing of God’s pur­pose, “Give thanks to the LORD, call on His name. Make known His deeds among the peo­ples; Make them remem­ber that His name is exalted” (Isa 12:4, cf. Isa 2:2, 6:3, 11:9, 42:6-10; 60:3, 66:18-19). Jere­miah also boldly record the pur­pose of God, “This time I will make them know My power and My might; And they shall know that My name is the LORD” (Jer 16:21; cf. 1:5, 3:17).

In Ezekiel we are going to see one of the clear­est state­ments of God’s pur­pose of work­ing with the Israel and ulti­mately all the nations, “It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for My holy name, which you have pro­faned among the nations where you went.” (Eze 36:22-23; cf. 5:5-8). Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-​nego were saved from the fire to make God’s name known as well (Dan 3:28-30). The story of Daniel being sen­tenced to go to in the lion’s den is another great exam­ple of God giving a bless­ing so His name be known (Dan 6:25-26).

The prophet Hab­bakuk has a beau­ti­ful exhor­ta­tion of God’s global pur­pose: “For the earth will be filled with the knowl­edge of the glory of the LORD, As the waters cover the sea” (Hab 2:14; cf. Zep 2:11, 3:9-10; Hag 2:7; Zec 9:10, 2:11). Malachi records the fol­low­ing, “My name will be great among the nations,” says the LORD of hosts” (Mal 1:11).