Israel's Missionary Call

[This review is in reference to an article by Walter Kaiser in Perspectives on the World Christian Movement]

High School students almost always forget to bring a Bible to church at Hays Hills Baptist. For this reason, the staff has decided to provide Bibles for those who have forgotten to bring their own, and as a result a collection of lost, donated, and purchased Bibles has been accumulated over the past few years. This conglomeration of Bibles has yielded a large stack of skinny New Testaments severed from the Old Testament because contemporary Christians have not understood the relevance of the Old Testament. One reason for this is that Christians most likely suspect that the Old Testament has nothing to do with the Great Commission and the Lord’s call to engage in global missions. On the contrary, Walter Kaiser writes in his article, “Israel’s Missionary Call,” that the Old Testament is chalked full of international, missional commands and that the Lord of the Old Covenant has the same global concern as the Lord of the New Covenant.

In order to demonstrate God’s global missions mindset in the Old Testament, Kaiser exegetes three important Scriptures. First, he discusses God’s call and promise to Abraham in Genesis 12:1-3. He explains that God promises to bless Abraham in several different ways so that Abraham’s offspring may be a blessing to the nations (12). “The message and it its content, in fact the whole purpose of God, was that He would make a nation, give them a ‘name,’ bless them so that they might be light to the nations and thereby be a blessing to all nations” (12).

The second passage that Kaiser considers is Exodus 19:4-6. He emphasizes three phrases from these verses: special possession, kingdom of priests, and holy nation. He explains that Israel was God’s special possession in that they were a highly valued people above all others. Also, Israel was a kingdom of priests in that they serve as royal priests “on behalf of the kingdom of God in a mediatorial role in relation to the nations” (13). Furthermore, Israel was to be a holy nation in that they would be completely set apart for God and His purposes (14). Kaiser, cross-referencing 1 Peter 2:9, asserts that the reason God calls Israel and believing Gentiles these three things is so that they “might announce, declare and be His missionaries and witnesses” (14).

Third, Kaiser uses Psalm 67 to demonstrate God’s global purposes in the Old Testament. Finding its basis in the Aaronic blessing in Numbers, Psalm 67 explains that God’s blessing is for the purpose of the nations knowing His ways. Israel is to be blessed in every way so that “in the blessing of Israel all the nations of the earth might come to know [God] as well” (15).

After explaining these three Scriptures, Kaiser exhorts Christians to take God’s challenge to Israel as a challenge given to them as well. Christians are to be a light to the nations, proclaiming His name among them (16). God blessed Abraham and His offspring so that they might be a blessing to the nations. Christians have benefited from this blessing in the offspring of Abraham: Jesus. In the same way, Christians have been blessed with the knowledge of the way to salvation so that they might be a blessing to the nations, proclaiming Jesus to them. Also, God has made Christians a special possession purchased with the blood of Christ, a royal priesthood proclaiming the truth to the perishing, and a holy nation belonging wholly to God for His purpose. Understanding and having a common purpose greatly increases productivity and efficiency among a group of people. If and when believers begin to understand God’s global mindset which He has had from the beginning, major changes in their lives will begin to take place and they will begin to contribute to God’s global purposes.

The God of the Old Testament is the same God in the New Testament. He is blessing some so that others may also be blessed in the future. This understanding raises many questions for the contemporary Christian. How am I blessing others with the knowledge that I have been given? Where am I contributing to God’s global purposes? To whom am I giving? Where am I going? Who am I sending? All of these questions must be answered in order to remain on task with God’s global purposes. Indeed, God has not changed His purposes, and the Old Testament is as globally and missionally minded as the New Testament.

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