A Biblical Basis for Missions (The Old Testament) :: Deeper Devotion

By Chris Poteet

Many Christians believe The Great Commission started when Jesus spoke about making disciples of all the nations (“people groups,” as we discovered previously) in Matthew 28. But when we look further back, we see that the purpose and intent of God in seeing His name exalted throughout all of His creation started 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” (Genesis 1:28). We see that from the very beginning God made man to take His name throughout His creation.

After the fall, God passes judgment upon mankind and floods the earth, saving only Noah, his family, and a remnant of animals (Genesis 7:23). After the water subsides, God gives a command to Noah that is very familiar: “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth” (Genesis 9:1). As with before, man does not fulfill the commands of God, and things climax at the Tower of Babel. Man was told to extend outward, but instead he decides to gather together and build upward. It was here that God made all the people groups, confusing their speech and scattering them (Genesis 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” (Genesis 12:3; cf. Genesis 26:3-4, 28:14). God later renamed Abram to Abraham, which is translated “father of a multitude of nations” (Genesis 17:5; cf. 22:18). The “Abrahamic Covenant,” God’s promise to Abraham, is the instrumental event in the story of redemption.

Moses and the Law

God then sends Moses to free the Israelites from their captivity (Exodus 9:14; cf. 5:1-2, 7:1-5, 8:10, 16:11-12). God explains why He has let the Pharoah remain in power: “in order to show you my power and in order to proclaim my name through all the earth” (Exodus 9:16).

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

The Historical Books

God raises up each patriarch in a strategic way to make His name known. Joshua tells the people that God’s purpose in drying up the Jordan River (and the Red Sea) 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” (Joshua 4:24).

Samuel sheds light on the plans and purposes of God—that He is taking a people for His name’s 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 Samuel 12:22; cf. 1 Samuel 17:46).

Solomon wisely prays that whenever a foreigner comes and prays toward the temple he built to the Lord, that the Lord would listen and answer the prayer, “in order that all the peoples of the earth may know Your name