Discovering the Mission of God Supplement

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ISRAEL’S MISSION TO ALL PEOPLES

Timothy M. Pierce

Declare his glory among the nations,

his marvelous deeds among all peoples.(Psalm 96:3)

The discussion of Israel's mission to all peoples often begins with God's call of Abram in Genesis 12. Indeed, this passage is essential to understanding Israel's role among all nations and will be addressed below; however, Psalm 96 reveals the reason for the mission of God and the specific role of Israel. Israel’s primary mission is to proclaim the glory of God. The precepts, principles and practices outlined in the Old Testament concerning this task are defined by the concept of Israel as a reflection of God's purposes and designs. Therefore, a discussion of Israel's missionary task must include not only passages related to outreach to foreign cultures and investment in them, but accounts of the ever-present undercurrent of God's call for Israel to model themselves after him.

MODELING THE IMAGE OF GOD

In Genesis 1, God establishes his sovereign position in relation to his creation – he speaks and it responds. But toward the end of the chapter he does something extraordinary, something almost unexpected – he creates man. He does not simply create man; he creates him in his own image. The significance of this event is highlighted by the threefold repetition of the act: So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them (Genesis 1:27). This threefold repetition is reserved in Scripture for realities of immense importance (cf. Holy, Holy, Holy). What is important here is that in this action, God established the position and relationship of himself with his creation, a relationship that characterizes his work with mankind as a whole, and Israel in particular.

The idea of being created in the image of God is foundational for Israel's self-understanding and perception of its responsibility to all the nations. That it used language reminiscent of the second commandment (Exodus 20:4-5), a commandment specifically designed to keep Israel from associating any earthly thing too closely with God, reveals a venture by God in which he creates something that is both uniquely his and uniquely capable of revealing aspects of his nature to all who see it. That it occurred prior to the call of Abram makes it clear that all humanity, not only Israel, has a special relationship with God and that he expects us to respond to him. Consequently, what God said to Israel (and by extension, to all his people) in this opening reflection on man's creation is that we have a God who established his sole right to our obedience, worship and service because we owe our very existence to him. We have a God who uniquely invested himself in all of humanity and is interested in the future of all nations; and we have a God who has called us to reflect his greatness and glory to each other. This opening proclamation of God's place in the universe along with our responsibility to respond to him is the foundation from which all other expressions of Israel's call to missions must be understood and defined.

ISRAEL’S CALL TO MISSIONS

The chapters that immediately follow Genesis 1, leading toward the call of Abram in Genesis 12, relate the unfortunate reality that man sought to replace God's sovereignty with his own and as such began a cycle in which rebellion, rather than obedience, became the norm. Even here, however, God transmitted a desire to have a relationship with humanity; for with every act of disobedience, came a corresponding act of grace. Such deep resolve on the part of the Creator, immediately falling on the heels of his proclamation that we must model ourselves after him, establishes that forgiveness and relationship must also find expression in a resolve of our own to see others return to their Creator. It is at the end of this cycle that we find the call of Abram. Immediately following an act of disobedience that resulted in the dispersal of humanity into various nations and tongues (Genesis 11), God once again stepped in with an act of grace in which through one nation and people, he would call all nations back to himself – sometimes through attraction, other times through action.

NOT ALL ISRAEL IS ISRAEL

Before continuing, it might be helpful to identify what is meant by Israel. Certainly at its core, Israel includes all the descendants of Jacob, Abraham's grandson. So when we talk about God's requirements upon Israel and his covenant with them, we have in mind the whole of the people of God as described in the Old Testament. On the other hand, there seems to be a realization within the Scriptures that Israel has a theological meaning as well that is more narrowly defined as only those who are faithful to the covenant God made with them. Such a distinction is made overtly in the New Testament Romans 9:6) and through implication in the Old Testament.

When Amos suggests that all Israel will be destroyed (Amos 3:12) and then later suggests that there will be a people who survive and who have a glorious future (Amos 9:9-15), he seems to be depending upon this reality. When Jeremiah highlights that there will be no remnant of the men of Anathoth (Jeremiah 11:21-23) and yet there are men of Anathoth who return from the Exile (Ezra 2:23; Nehemiah 7:27), he clearly is reflecting on the destruction of the sinful and the survival of the faithful. When Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Jeremiah highlight the faithful remnant (Isaiah 10:20; Ezek 11:13-21; Jeremiah 23:1-8), they do so not only in terms of the covenantal commitment of God to Israel, but also at times in terms of those who have been faithful. Why is this important? Because it seems as we talk about Israel's missional responsibility, some of the expectation for its outreach to the nations includes those who are among the nations spiritually, and not simply through physical descent. This would of course have implications for the church's relationship to Israel, but it would also communicate that in all of what God is doing his purposes are indeed relational in essence. Furthermore, since the church has been grafted into Israel and is, in some senses, a component of this faithful remnant of Israel, what is communicated in principle about God's expectations for Israel will have direct implications for how we understand God's expectations for us as well.

ATTRACTING OTHER NATIONS

Much of the Old Testament's missional perspective is communicated through the idea of attraction. That is, much of what God required and expected of Israel had at its core a desire to attract other nations to what Israel possessed – a relationship with Yahweh, their God. The vow of the Nazirite, for instance, served to install a person of observable holiness among the people so that all would be drawn to Yahweh (Numbers 6). Such a paradigm worked for Israel as a whole among the nations as well. Indeed, though we are not given the specifics of how their relationship functioned, Ruth's rejection of her Moabite religion and way of life, and attachment to Naomi's (Ruth 1:15-17) seems to be a result of observation of the Israelites she had come into contact with up to that point. In fact, Naomi's spoken reflections of God would have logically led Ruth in the opposite direction (Ruth 1:13), yet there was something significant and attractive about what Naomi possessed. Consequently, whether we are talking about covenantal stipulations, military endeavors, exemplary power displayed through significant individuals, or the eschatological hope of Israel as the center of the world, the glory of God demonstrated through his own people served the purpose of drawing others into a relationship with him. Once again, however, this attractive activity on the part of Israel first found expression in God himself.

Repeatedly in the Old Testament there are passages that reflect the attractive capabilities and practices of God. Indeed, the whole aspect of the glory of God and the proclamation of such is dependent upon the idea that God's glory will at least in some regard attract humanity to him (Psalm 8). Sometimes this attractive component of God is only seen in its results, such as when those who are coming out of Egypt are described as a mixed multitude (Exodus 12:38, KJV, ESV, NASB). In his work in rescuing Israel, God himself apparently attracted others to himself as well. This may be the outcome of his work through the plagues in which he declares he is sending the plagues and delivering his people so that the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD [YAHWEH] (Exodus 7:5), a statement that is usually covenantal in force, yet directed at Egypt.[1]

In other places, God seems to demonstrate an interest in his reputation as it pertains to how other nations perceive him (Exodus 32:11-14; Numbers 14:13-16), highlighting the fact that who he was and what he did, he did with a mind toward a relationship with mankind. It must be noted at this point that this does not suggest a God that is totally man-centered and controlled by how men might perceive him. Instead, it suggests that while God maintains perfect self-existence, self-sufficiency and self-gratification, he is also a God who is consistent in his being, relational in his character, and missional in his purposes. As such, he established and communicated a model for Israel to follow that gave definition and clarification for his expectations of them.

Many of the covenant stipulations of Israel have at their heart an attractive purpose. Israel was expected to keep the laws of God, not as a basis of their relationship with him, but as a reflection of it. Many of these stipulations carried the modifier be holy. Holiness is best defined by the concept of distinctiveness or difference, yet not in the sense of remoteness. Rather, holiness is that attribute of God that irresistibly draws all thought towards him rather than us. The fact that he is the perfect example of transcendence and difference while still being immanent and involved, suggests that his call for Israel to be the same is a call for invested distinctiveness. Furthermore, many of the laws of the covenant seem to be directly related to Israel not being confused with surrounding nations. Sometimes this is expressed in what Israel ought to do that everyone else is not doing (food laws), while other times this is expressed in what Israel ought not to do that everyone else is doing.

When God calls Israel to avoid child sacrifice (Deuteronomy 18:9-14), tattoos (Leviticus 19:28), and other such practices, he does so not only to enhance Israel's relationship with him, but so that the world might see the distinctive nature of who his people are and be drawn to him. This is most clearly illustrated in those covenant stipulations which Jesus himself identified as the two upon which all the rest of the Law rests: Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength (Deuteronomy 6:5) and love your neighbor as yourself (Leviticus 19:18). The first served as an impetus for passing on the truths of God to others, and Jesus clarified the second as requiring a love for other nations.[2] That the second also falls squarely in the midst of the Holiness Code of Leviticus further illustrates the connection between the behavior to which God was calling Israel (being holy) and his desire to attract other nations to himself by such means.

God's calls to Israel to participate in military tasks also have an attraction role. This may be troubling to today’s readers because of religious expressions in the Old Testament that suggest that conversion by the sword is as legitimate as conversion by the Word. However, when we understand that such commands are limited to a specific time, place, social perspective, and worldview, such worries can be appropriately laid to rest. Furthermore, that this discussion is under the attraction, and not the action, heading reveals that there is no advocacy of violence as a means of evangelism being taken here. God's sovereignty and reign are evocative in nature, not coercive. Therefore his involvement in these events is not for the purpose of conversion, but proclamation of his greatness that, as a side effect, has the result of attraction.

In the ancient Near East people conceived of their gods as being powerful and true in direct correlation to their success in military matters. As such, for God to make his name known and his power manifested, his people's involvement in military warfare was a necessity. This is thoroughly consistent with his nature of wrath and justice evident in both the Old and New Testaments, yet it was also always mitigated by his grace and mercy. Therefore, while passages such as Exodus 15 and Judges 5 may seem strange to us, they reflect a reality of the power and majesty of God that spoke to the people of the day of his ultimate glory and power. Is this not communicated most clearly by Rahab to the spies who came to visit her? We have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan, whom you completely destroyed. When we heard of it, our hearts melted and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the LORD your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below (Joshua 2:10-11). All of God's commands are consistent with his character and with his desire to make his name known in all the earth.

A common experience among believers is to look at stories about leaders, prophets, and key individuals in the biblical narrative and to focus on those people. However, the biblical text is God's revelation of himself, so it is more important to ask what the text is telling us about God than what it is telling us about his people. When we talk about the missional goal of God being achieved through attraction, we are talking about the mysterious means by which God makes himself known through the lives of his people. Besides the aspects already discussed, there are events in which outsiders came to some significant observations about God based upon their interaction with God's people. Of particular interest are those narratives that reveal the international scope of God’s mission.

In 2 Kings 5, Naaman approaches the prophet Elisha and asks to be healed, based upon a young servant girl’s testimony that Elisha could heal him. The passage is somewhat ambiguous as to the final outcome of Naaman's faith, and even in how much interaction the prophet conceded to having with the foreigner. Naaman's confession, Now I know that there is no God in all the world except in Israel (2 Kings 5:15), serves an ironic purpose because the thrust of the story about God is that, there is no God in all the earth, except Yahweh. Indeed, there are clues throughout the text that suggest the lessons intended for Israel involve the expanse of God's power beyond their borders, and that there is an attraction for foreigners to the people of God who truly serve Yahweh and reflect his purposes to the world – not for their own ends, but for his.

The final aspect of attraction is that which bridges the space between action and attraction. In several passages in the Old Testament there is an eschatological hope expressed in which Israel is the center of the world and all nations stream to it to worship Yahweh on his holy hill (Psalm 46:4; Isaiah 2:2-4; Micah 4:1-3). Imbedded in this reflection is the theology borne out of God's promise to Abram that all nations would be blessed through him – for God's instrument of salvation would come through Israel, but it was never intended to be solely for Israel. Just as he called Abram out from a world divided to be an instrument of grace, he established Israel as a means of attraction to which the world could respond. This message is clear in the Zion passages and in the related oracles concerning foreign nations, which though not heard by the foreign nations themselves, served the purpose of instilling in Israel a perspective of their responsibility to others and, more importantly, knowledge that God was Lord of all. Isaiah 19 relates this most clearly when God tells Isaiah, In that day Israel will be the third, along with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing on the earth. The LORD Almighty will bless them, saying, ‘Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria my handiwork, and Israel my inheritance’ (Isaiah 19:24-25). Such a hope demonstrates God's end goal of making Israel his distinctive people and that the hope of the salvation of all rests not in Israel but in a supernatural intervention by God himself. Still, there was an expectation of activity on Israel's part that they do what they could in his power to portray his name in order to reach his world.

ISRAEL’S ACTIVE ROLE TO THE NATIONS

God never intended the attractive role of Israel to be the end of the matter in their missionary relationship with other nations. Abram's call noted that other nations' response to him resulted in their being either blessed or cursed.[3] The text is not passive in tone, as if Abram can simply wait and see how other nations respond to him. Rather, it assumes that as he and his descendents pursue the goals of God, they go where God sends them and communicate what God asks them to communicate, and thus God blesses others. It is an active call to obedience framed in a periscope about going where God sends. There can be no other logical conclusion than that there was an active response to reaching out to other nations implicit in God's promises. As the other realities of Israel's attractive nature played out, they did so in terms of active and verbal engagement with others, not simply passive expectation that others would observe who they were and respond accordingly. Thus, what some note as the apparent scarcity of explicit expressions to reach out to other nations is illusionary; for God, who himself resorted to special revelation so that the general revelation of his creation would not be misinterpreted, also expected his people to resort to verbal clarity so that their attractive qualities would not be misunderstood by the nations around them.

Despite the logic of an active voice from Israel for proclaiming the glory of God