Go Ye Therefore and Teach all Nations
By Liaf
If you have been taught as I have been, then you probably were told this title was "The Great Commission" where Jesus was telling his disciples to go to every nation and preach the Gospel. Because of the calling of the apostle Paul, this certainly had been the ultimate intent. However, was this as the disciples understood it originally? Is this where the Lord was telling them to go? We were taught that the book of John said, "He came unto his own, but his own received him not." The Jew rejected Jesus, and then Jesus and the apostles turned to the non-Jewish Gentile nations. But is this how it really started?
Let’s start our study by answering who the house of Israel is. What many do not understand is that throughout the Bible, God saw his chosen people of Israel as two groups, not one. This separation started back in the time when Jacob blessed all 12 of his sons (tribes) where the two most significant blessings were to Judah (the Jews) and to Joseph. Judah had the right to rule, but the tribe of Joseph had the birthright blessing. See the message about the Lost Ten Tribes of Israel. After Solomon, the entire nation of Israel split into two parts and the Northern ten tribes (which included the tribe of Joseph) were taken into exile and never returned to the Promised Land. The house of Judah (the Jews) did return. Even Jews recognized this fact that not all their tribal brethren were with them. This is what is meant in John 7:35 when the Jews asked, "Whither will he go, that we shall not find him? Will he go unto the dispersed among the Gentiles?" The exiled house of Israel was amongst the Gentiles (nations) to themselves become nations. Jesus said, "I have other sheep, which are not of this fold." What other sheep? Gentiles? "Yes! These sheep are Gentiles!" , some run-of –the-mill preacher may protest. Let’s look at other passages and understand. Jesus answered that directly in Matthew 10. Jesus sent his 12 disciples on a long journey to these "other sheep" saying, "Go NOT into the region of the Gentiles… but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." So, are these "other sheep" Gentiles? No. This passage says that they were of the house of Israel, not Gentiles! But if the house of Israel were just Jews as commonly believed, they would not be "other sheep" now would they? They would be "these sheep". Again, this is what Jesus meant in Matthew 21 when he spoke of the Jews as rejecting Him (i.e., "Stone the Builders Rejected"). Then he said, "Therefore I say unto you, the Kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof." That other nation is the "house of Israel" referred to in total as a nation and Judah is the other (see Ezekiel 37). "Oh?", a critic may ask, "I thought you teach that Israel were nations?" Yeah, they are, but collectively they are the house of Israel. By the way, if that nation is Gentile, then which is it? China? Sweden? Germany? The United States? So that argument does not hold water. If that nation is Gentile, then the singular would have to hold true since each one had their own destiny. That can only be said of Israel being both nations and referred to as a nation when talking about the house of Israel.
The famous prodigal son story is often applied to individuals who turned from God only to be accepted again. As a principle, this is true, but the context of the story is that the prodigal son was the divorced and scattered house of Israel: the Lost Tribes! The Jews were not divorced from God (they were punished). They were known as God’s servant as demonstrated by the other son. However, there would come a time when the Gospel would reach the Lost Tribes and be received by them so that they would be used by God to spread the Gospel. Notice in the first chapter of Hosea what God said to the House of Israel. The names of Hosea’s children through Gomer demonstrated the prophetic fate of the House of Israel. But notice the differentiation regarding the house of Judah (Hosea 1:7) This book is not to the Jews, but the house of Israel! What would happen to the Israelites? They would be scattered, they would not have mercy, and they would be known as "not my people" They would end up with the biggest case of national amnesia ever! That is because God divorced them. "Yet…" says Hosea 1:10, "the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea…" . In that exiled state, they would fulfill their destiny of becoming many nations and many people. And note what else it says. "And it shall come to pass that in the place [of their exile] it was said ‘Ye are not my people’, there shall it be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God." These apparent "Gentiles" that were really Israelites would become populous, great, and be known as "sons of the Living God!" Now who are sons of God? Check out John 1:12 for that one. Many of these folks would become Christian. Peter alludes to this passage in I Peter 2:10. "In times past you were not a people, now you are a people." Who was he speaking to? Gentiles? No. He spoke to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, etc. Jews were never spoken of as strangers, yet strangers were a reference to exiles of the nation (Gentiles in their own land would not be considered exiles). Besides, Galatians 2:7 makes it very clear that Peter was not an apostle to the Gentiles. Somebody still skeptical may say, "Ah, come on! Jesus said to go to all nations. Then on Pentecost Peter himself said in Acts 2:39 ‘For the promise is to you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off’. This means all nations, including Gentiles." Well then I must reply that Peter must have had some senility. Because this same guy who said this later on had a vision in Acts 10 where he ultimately said, "Of truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: But every nation he that feareth, and worketh righteousness is accepted with him." What was wrong with Peter? How could he have forgotten his famous Pentecostal sermon? No. He did not forget. Those who are afar off are the exiled house of Israel! The prophet Isaiah says in chapter 49:1 to Israel: "Listen, O isles!" He is speaking to Israel "in the isles". Where are there isles near Palestine? In 49:12 he says, "Behold these come from far: and lo, these from the North and from the West ." In end times the Israelites come from the Northwest is the literal. Hebrew does not have a word for ‘northwest’. So what islands are Northwest of Palestine? To further demonstrate all this, only Paul was a chosen apostle to the Gentiles. In Acts 13:46, Paul and Barnabas ‘waxed bold’ and quoted Isaiah 49:6 claiming themselves as fulfillment of this by saying, "I have set thee to be a light to the Gentiles, that thou shouldst be for salvation unto the ends of the Earth." Verse 48 then goes on to say how happy the Gentiles were to hear this. Notice only Paul made that bold claim. Nobody else seemed to know about the inclusion of the Gentiles until then. Where were they all at Pentecost? How could they all be sleeping with that first revival? Paul was the apostle to the Gentiles. The nations and ‘those afar off’ were understood by the rest of the apostles as the dispersed house of Israel. That is why the majority of the New Testament epistles were written by Paul. The rest of the apostles’ movements and teachings were not as apparent because God said that Israel would be known as "not my people" until an appointed time when this truth would be revealed as to who they are. But as for the few remaining epistles, let’s see whom they are addressed to. James: to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad. Doesn’t sound like Gentiles here. And note that he says openly that the tribes are scattered . Peter: to the strangers. (This was already explained). John: the elect lady and her children. This is obscure. There are various theories as to who that represents, but if we were to apply that to people, the ‘elect’ would refer to Israel (Matthew 24:31 which in turn alludes to passages like Isaiah 11:12). The elect lady is often thought to be a church in Asia Minor in the same area where the some of the exiled house of Israel resided. Jude: The supposed brother of the Lord, as with James was to the circumcision group (not Gentiles). Here again, it is supposed that the target of his message was in the same general region as John.
There is little scripture showing communication to the Gentiles by the apostles other than Paul. And even if there was a limited amount (such as Acts 10), we must admit the majority of New Testament epistles were written by Paul who was the chosen vessel to the Gentiles. If the commission to the Gentiles was committed to all the apostles from the start, what would be the point of Paul’s unique statement in Acts 13:47? Not many stop to think of this, though. What else is there about Paul? Read Acts 9:15. "He is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel." What do you mean by that? I thought Paul was to the Gentiles? He was. But as his mission unfolded, God would also use him to bring the Gospel to the exiles of Israel, too! Read the message about the "Lost Ten Tribes of Israel" regarding his mission to the British Isles.
With all this said, this set the foundation for the spread of the Gospel message. It went to the "Jew first" because that was the tribal identity of the Lord, and then to the "lost sheep of the house of Israel". Paul was the apostle sent to the Gentiles. Later Paul also went to the house of Israel. Thus, God had His plan perfected to launch the Gospel message. What an ingenious God we have!