WITNESS TO ALL NATIONS. By Ken Primeau

Scripture
45Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. 46He told them, "This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, 47and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48You are witnesses of these things.
Luke 24:45-48

Observation
Israel had forgotten who they really were. God had told Abraham that his descendants would be a great nation and would be blessed to be a blessing. In Genesis 12:3 God says “all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” Somehow the Israelites received the first part but forgot the second half of the promise. They knew that they were God’s chosen people, but they interpreted that to mean that everyone else was evil and needed to be avoided.

Jesus open the minds of his disciples after his death and resurrection and teaches them that Israel was meant to be God’s people so that through them repentance and forgiveness could be preached throughout the entire world. God wanted to use Israel to save the entire world to Himself.


Application
As a Christian, it is easy to fall into the same trap as the Jews of Jesus’ time. We begin to think that Jesus died for me and my church and that we should avoid the evil ones (everyone else). We get so caught up in being blessed by God that we forget that he does so in order that we can bless other people. WE ARE WITNESSES of Jesus resurrection. We have seen him change our lives and God wants to use us to preach that message into other people’s lives. We’ve been blessed to be a blessing.

Prayer
“Lord, I want to join in your mission to save the entire world. Thank you for saving me from my wretched state. I pray that I would not become self-focused but would look for those around me who have not witnessed you firsthand. I pray that I would become more bold in sharing my faith with those who don’t know you. Help me to become an evangelist for you. IJNA”.