God sent Jonah to preach to the Assyrians because he wanted to show them mercy (Jon. 4:11). But at other times God told Israel to kill the people of other nations in battle, including women and children (1 Sam. 15:2–3). Why did God want to save some societies and destroy others?
When God called Abraham, he said, “In your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed” (Gen. 22:18). God planned to bless the whole world through Abraham’s family. From the very beginning, God’s heart has been for all people.
God called Israel, his covenant people, to be a light to the nations: “I will make you a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth” (Isa. 49:6). As a people, that was their vocation. Through Israel, the whole world might turn to the true and the living God. But instead of being a light to the other nations, Israel allowed idolatry and false worship to creep into their own nation. The light went out, if you will.
That’s why God sent his Son, Jesus, to be the light of the world. He wanted every nation to turn back to him. Jesus was the true Israelite. He fulfilled Israel’s vocation.
When God commanded Israel to destroy Canaan as his people took the promised land, he wanted to drive out false worship. The idolatry of the Canaanites would have corrupted Israel as a people. God wasn’t saying, “I don’t like these people here, but I do like those guys over there.” No, the goal was for Israel to be holy so that they could be a light to the nations.
The story of Jonah going to Nineveh to preach to the Assyrians is a great example of God’s desire to save people from every nation. God didn’t just happen to like Assyrians. They had conquered many other nations and done horrible things to their enemies. Instead, God wanted to use his people—in this case Jonah—in order to bring his mercy and truth to the world.
But Israel failed to do this, and we learn something about Israel as a whole through Jonah’s deep opposition to obeying God’s call to go to Ninevah (Jon. 1:3; 4:1–3). The church today also falls short of this calling in many ways.
Now, though, Jesus Christ has come to the world. In Christ, we the church are the light of the world. That’s why the apostle John saw a vision of Jesus standing in the midst of seven golden lampstands, which symbolized seven churches (Rev. 1:12–13). What do lampstands do? They illuminate.
The church, like Israel under the old covenant, is called to shine the light of God’s goodness and mercy to the world. Why? Because God cares about the world. Because God is calling all people everywhere to repent (Acts 17:30). We see this over and over again in the Bible. God’s love for all nations isn’t undermined by Israel’s holy wars. When Israel took the land, it was in part so that the light of God could spread without the threat of idolatry taking over Israel.
This article is part of our Frequently Asked Questions series. Listen to Pastor Adriel answer this question on Core Radio here.
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