Chain
In Genesis 12 God begins to reveal the intentions of His heart. He promises Abram that he would be blessed so that he would bless nations. God reveals that He intended to bless Abram and that through these blessings Abram in turn was expected to bless other nations.
The rest of the Bible tells how God is accomplishing His purpose by using men often despite themselves to bless others. Do you see the hand of God working through Joseph to bless not only Egypt but all the other nations that were fed during the famine? Think of how Solomon blessed other nations with his wisdom. Consider Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego who impacted Babylon and Persia. Despite Jonah’s attitude, his preaching led the city of Nineveh to repent.
Jesus restates God’s intention in Matthew 28 telling the disciples to go and make disciples of all nations. In Mark 13:10 Jesus tells His disciples that the gospel must be preached to all nations. At Pentecost, the birth of the Church, Jews from every nation were there. (Acts 2:5) In Acts there are many examples of different nations that Paul reached with the gospel.
In Revelation 7:9-10 we see the fulfillment! Every nation, tribe, people, and language is in heaven worshiping God. Jesus will not be fully worshiped until people from every nation know Him. This chain of people that God is forging throughout history is formed link by link as people are involved. Can you see the invitation to use the blessing God has given us to be a link in a chain that spans beyond our life? We can be a link that connects us with all those who have come before and all who will come after us.
This is a tremendous privilege to cooperate with the living God to accomplish a purpose that ultimately cannot fail. It is our desire to be a link in this chain. We invite others to join us in becoming links in a chain that gives us a reason for living that spans beyond our short life span.
We are truly blessed to be a blessing to other nations!