For the Sake of the Nations
posted by Navigators on March 10th, 2025 in Evangelism | Gospel | Jesus | Missions
By Scott Brown
If you closed your eyes and imagined what it means to embrace something or someone, I wonder what you might envision. Does the word embrace invoke ideas of a friendly smile and an arm over your shoulder? Or perhaps it stirs notions of a warm and hardy handshake. For me, “embrace” is much more emotional, much more personal. It stirs the imagery of soldiers returning home to the loving arms of their spouses after war. Or of a young child engulfed in the arms of their father, with their head pressed into his shoulder and their arms wrapped tightly around his neck. It conveys relationship, it implies a sense of longing, of commitment, and it expresses genuine love.
Embrace. It conveys relationship … and genuine love. Like a father embracing a prodigal son. Photo by Adrianna Geo on Unsplash.
This evocative imagery resonates in the story of redemption proclaimed throughout the scriptures and nowhere more dramatically than within the parable of the prodigal son recorded in Luke 15:11-32. Having endured the anguish and grief brought on by his youngest son abandoning and rejecting him, the father is overcome with emotion as he sees his precious boy approaching from afar. Fuelled by compassion, the father’s feet carry him as fast as they can to his wayward child, enveloping him in joyous embrace and celebration, immediately showering him with affection and blessings. It’s a stirring and emotional narrative that expresses the heart of our gracious God. This heart, as revealed throughout the Scriptures, was from the beginning not just for one son or even for one family, but a heart for the nations.
With His promises to Abraham, God declared “…in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:3), expressing His intention that every blessing for His son Abraham was for the sake of the nations to know Him. That promise was passed down through successive generations of rebellious children, held firm in the faithfulness of God Himself. Ultimately, Christ came to take away the sins of the world (John 1:29) when He paid the penalty for sin and poured out His life to redeem those in rebellion. Through His death, Jesus ran to embrace all humankind, His wayward and unworthy children – enduring God’s wrath to clutch us in His arms and declare His love for us (Romans 5:8). Through His resurrection, He delivered unlimited blessing, adorning us in the finest of robes (Isaiah 61:10) and laying out the richest of fare (Isaiah 55), to celebrate our return to life and to Him. He did all of this to not only welcome one son home, but to welcome the world back into his embrace.
Jesus then entrusted the mission to all generations following Him, passing it on through those He discipled. Issuing a call for those of us who love Him to “go and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:18-20). As God’s heart has not changed, His mission and purpose remain the same – to see all who have been separated from Him, every nation and all peoples, finally reunited and welcomed in a loving embrace with their creator – the one, true God. And as He did with Abraham, He chooses to use those who have already received His blessing to be a light and blessing to all the nations, inviting them back home. He is the Father who stands at the end of the road, longing to see His children returning to Him; who yearns to pour out blessing upon blessing over His precious offspring who were dead but are now alive, who were lost but now are found.
It’s a powerful image, which should motivate us toward the nations, especially when you have felt the Father’s embrace. Yet for some of us, our response may not be much different than the older brother in the parable, questioning why an unfaithful brother who wallowed in sin should be celebrated and treated so regally. The answer is simple, because it’s the will of our father who delights in his son’s return.
Therefore, let us also embrace and hold tight to the delights of our Father, aligning all of ourselves with his gracious and glorious purposes, yearning together for the promised reunion declared in Revelation 7:9, with “a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb.”
Scott Brown and his wife, Tami, lead our ministries in Sydney. If you would like more information about the Sydney Labouring Community and how you could get involved, contact us via email: [email protected] or check out Scott and Tami’s profile and use our contact form.
Featured image of person looking up at the stars by Greg Rakozy on Unsplash.