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Isaiah’s “Good News” for All the Nations
Isaiah was commissioned to make very plain to Judah that many
who were not physical descendants of Abraham were to be numbered
among the Israel of God. This teaching was not in harmony with
the theology of his age, yet he fearlessly proclaimed the message
and brought hope to many a heart reaching out after the spiritual
blessings promised to Abraham’s descendants.
Isaiah “is very bold,” Paul declares, “and says: ‘I was found by
those who did not seek Me; I was made manifest to those who did
not ask for Me.’”
Romans 10:20
. Often the Israelites seemed unable
or unwilling to understand God’s purpose for the heathen. Yet it
was this very purpose that had established them as an independent
nation. God had called Abraham, their father, to set out for the
regions beyond, so that he might be a light bearer to the heathen.
The promise to him included descendants as numerous as the sand
by the sea, yet it was for no selfish purpose that he was to become
the founder of a great nation in Canaan. God’s covenant with him
embraced all the nations of earth: “I will make you a great nation;
I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a
blessing.”
Genesis 12:2
.
Shortly before the birth of Isaac, the child of promise, God again
made plain His purpose for all humanity: “All the nations of the
earth shall be blessed in him.”
Genesis 18:18
. The all-embracing
terms of this covenant were familiar to Abraham’s children and
grandchildren. The Israelites were delivered from Egyptian bondage
so that they might be a blessing to the nations and God’s name
might be made known “in all the earth.”
Exodus 9:16
. If obedient,
Israel was to be far in advance of other peoples in wisdom. But this
supremacy had only one purpose: that through them God’s design
for “all the nations of earth” might be fulfilled.
The miraculous events connected with Israel’s deliverance from
Egypt and their occupancy of the Promised Land led many of the
heathen to recognize the God of Israel as the Supreme Ruler. Even
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