Andreas J. Köstenberger
The entire Bible traces the journey from the original creation to the new creation, from humanity’s rebellion against the Creator to God’s provision of redemption in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. The story of the Bible is therefore also the story of God’s mission to bring sinful humanity back to himself and to restore it to its original state of living in communion with him.
Creation, the Fall, and the History of Israel
Creation and the Fall
As the one who is eternal and the source of all life, God is shown in the Bible to be on a mission, grounded in creation. As the Creator, God made humanity in his image and placed the first man and woman on this earth as his representatives, charging them to populate the earth and manage it for him. By obeying God’s command, God’s viceregents on earth would take his presence to the ends of the earth, extending his rule (Gen 1:26–31).
When Adam and Eve transgressed the boundaries set by their Creator and rebelled against him, the redemptive component of God’s mission was revealed. No longer did humans enjoy direct communion with God; they now needed to be liberated from sin and reconciled with their Creator. The story of God’s salvation is the account of his quest to reclaim a people who will take his presence to the ends of the earth once again. A ray of hope arose when God promised that Eve’s offspring would overcome the curse (Gen 3:15). The prospect of restoring all creation rested on God’s faithfulness to his promise.
The Flood, the Tower of Babel, and the Call of Abraham
Again God’s mission was potentially thwarted almost immediately. In keeping with the creation mandate, humans began to multiply and fill the earth. But rather than take God’s presence to the ends of the earth, they plunged into evil (Gen 6:1–4). God condemned their rebellion through a universal flood and renewed his promise of a new creation to Noah and his family (Gen 6:5—9:19). At the tower of Babel, God scattered humanity in judgment (Gen 11:1–9) but then called Abraham so that all the peoples of the earth would be blessed through him and his descendants (Gen 12:1–3). God entered into an unconditional covenant with Abraham that was predicated on faith and had universal, worldwide implications (Gen 15:1–18; Rom 4:16–17; Gal 3:6–9, 26–29). God’s covenant with Abraham is thus the framework for his dealings with humans during the remainder of biblical history, culminating in the new covenant instituted by Abraham’s ultimate offspring, the Lord Jesus Christ (Gal 3:16).
The Growth of Israel Into a Nation, the Exodus, and the Giving of the Law
Faithful to his promise, God made the children of Abraham into a great nation. In a series of mighty acts of deliverance, he rescued his people from bondage in Egypt by the hand of Moses (the exodus). As a nation that God formed and set apart to be holy (see “Holiness”), Israel displayed God’s character to all the nations, mediating God’s presence and blessings to them and summoning them to participate in the renewal of all things by worshiping God alone (Exod 19:5–6). God also gave his people the law, which reflects his righteous character. Obeying the law brought God’s blessing, while disobeying it resulted in his judgment.
The Monarchy, the Davidic Dynasty, and the Exile
After 40 years of wandering in the wilderness, Moses died, and his successor, Joshua, led Israel into the promised land. God focused the earliest promise of an offspring (Gen 3:15) on a son of King David, whose dynasty would establish an eternal kingdom. During the reign of David’s son Solomon, various promises to Abraham and David were fulfilled: the promised land was conquered, Israel became a great nation, and the Jerusalem temple was built (1 Kgs 6–8; cf. Deut 12:5–11). In his prayer of dedication, Solomon articulates a vision that demonstrates mission as a key part of the priestly/cultic dimension of the OT as well as the covenant/legal dimension (1 Kgs 8:41–43, 59–60; 2Chr 6:32–33). Yet Solomon, and a long string of monarchs in the divided kingdom after him, fell into idolatry, and God scattered first the northern kingdom of Israel and then the southern kingdom of Judah across the nations (the exile). Later, by the edict of the Persian king Cyrus, a remnant returned, rebuilding the temple, the city, and its walls under the leadership of men such as Ezra and Nehemiah. But the nation never recovered its former Solomonic glory.
Jonah, the End-Time Pilgrimage of the Nations, and the Servant of the Lord
During the period of the divided kingdom, the prophet Jonah went reluctantly to preach to the people of Nineveh. But rather than representing a model missionary, he serves as an example of Israel’s lack of concern for the spiritual well-being of the other nations. Nevertheless, some OT prophets envision Jerusalem as the site of the end-time pilgrimage of the nations (Isa 2:2–4; 60:1—62:12; Mic 4:1–5), and the enthronement psalms feature Zion as the center of the worship of God (Pss 48; 93; 96–97; 99). Some apocalyptic passages also depict Zion as the center of the new creation (Isa 35:1–10; 65:17–18). Isaiah presents the servant of the Lord as one who would suffer vicariously and subsequently be exalted by God (Isa 52:13—53:12). The servant’s ministry would include both Israel and the nations as the means of fulfilling God’s promise to Abraham.
The Coming of the Messiah, the Church’s Mission, and the Final Consummation
Jesus the Messiah, Savior, and Lord
All four Gospels present Jesus of Nazareth as the fulfillment of OT Messianic promises and expectations. Matthew casts Jesus as the son of Abraham and David (Matt 1:1) and as Immanuel, “God with us” (Matt 1:23; cf. Matt 28:20). Throughout his Gospel, Matthew shows that Jesus fulfilled OT Messianic predictions in virtually every detail of his life and ministry. Mark presents Jesus as the powerful Son of God (Mark 1:1) who died giving his life as a “ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). Luke traces Jesus’ ancestry back all the way to Adam (Luke 3:23, 38) and casts Jesus as the compassionate healer and friend of sinners (e.g., Luke 19:7). John presents selected Messianic signs of Jesus as proof that Jesus is the Messianic Son of God (John 20:30–31).
The Gospels concur that Jesus limited the scope of his mission to Israel while occasionally ministering to Gentiles, often at their initiative. Yet the people of Israel rejected Jesus’ Messianic claims, leading to his crucifixion. At the same time, Jesus predicted a worldwide extension of his ministry, instructing his disciples that the gospel must first be proclaimed to all nations before the end will come (Matt 24:14; Mark 13:10). Subsequent to his resurrection, Jesus charged his followers to go into all the world and disciple the nations (Matt 28:18–20; cf. Luke 24:46–48; John 20:21). The Gospels also agree that Jesus’ death is universally significant, extending salvation to Gentiles as well as Jews (e.g., John 3:16).
The Early Church and Paul
The book of Acts narrates how, after Jesus ascended, God gave the Spirit to all believers and how the early church went about its mission. In keeping with Jesus’ command, believers served as witnesses, first in Jerusalem and Judea, and then also in Samaria and all the way to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8). In a major paradigm shift, God’s people no longer displayed their faith in God merely to attract outsiders; they actively went to reach out to unbelievers everywhere. This stands in contrast to OT Israel as well as Second Temple Judaism, neither of which can accurately be described as a missionary religion (the prophet Jonah’s ministry to Nineveh notwithstanding).
Key events in the history of the early church include Peter’s Pentecost sermon (Acts 2), Stephen’s martyrdom (Acts 7), Paul’s conversion (Acts 9), Peter’s vision prompting his mission to Cornelius (Acts 10), Saul and Barnabas’s mission from Antioch to the Gentiles (Acts 13), and the Jerusalem council (Acts 15). In its outreach to the Gentiles, the early church actively moves in fulfillment of the Abrahamic promise (Gen 12:1–3) and in obedience to Jesus’ commission of his followers to go into all the world to make disciples (Matt 28:18–20). Nothing could hinder the progress of the gospel from Jerusalem to Rome, the empire’s capital (Acts 28:31).
From the time of Paul’s conversion on the road to Damascus, the gospel became the singular focus of his life. In a major paradigm shift, Paul realized that if Jesus was the crucified and exalted Messiah, the divine curse fell on Jesus for the sake of others “in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus” (Gal 3:13–14). God entrusted Paul with God’s “mystery,” the end-time revelation that now Jews and Gentiles alike are gathered together into one body, the church (Rom 16:25–26; Eph 2:1—3:13; Col 1:25–27). While Paul’s ministry was directed primarily to Gentiles, he taught that a future remains for ethnic Israel in God’s redemptive purposes (Rom 9–11).
The Rest of the New Testament, Including Revelation
Mission is less prominent in the General Letters, or at least the missionary connection is generally less direct. Documents such as Jude, 2 Peter, and 1-3 John call believers to defend against heresy the “faith that was once for all entrusted to God’s holy people” (Jude 3). The author of Hebrews contends that now that Jesus has come, there is no turning back to the OT system. This has important implications for the Jews who can no longer trust in the sacrificial system but must believe in Jesus’ vicarious once-for-all sacrifice on the cross in order to be saved. Peter describes believers as exiles and foreigners in this world (1 Pet 1:1, 17; 2:11) and calls them to view suffering from an eternal perspective (1 Pet 1:3–6). This addresses the dimension of mission as the church’s witness to the truth by living God-honoring, spiritually set-apart lives in the midst of the unbelieving world and, if necessary, witness by martyrdom.
The book of Revelation, finally, shows people from every nation gathered in heaven to worship God and Jesus, “the Lamb” (Rev 4:10–11; 5:6–9). This fulfills God’s covenants with Abraham and David and completes the journey from the original creation to the new creation, where redeemed humanity will live forever in the presence of God and where, in keeping with the prophetic vision, he will be their God and they will be his people (Rev 21:3).