The more time you spend in the Bible, the more you notice God’s concern for every person all over the world. Jesus emphasized this aspect of God’s heart as he commissioned his disciples after his death:

You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8).

The theme emerges over and over in the book of Isaiah. The prophet shares God’s message to the nation of Israel, but underscores again and again this call to the nations.

I am the Lord, and there is no other; apart from me there is no God. I will strengthen you, though you have not acknowledged me, so that from the rising of the sun to the place of its setting people may know there is none besides me. I am the Lord, and there is no other (Isaiah 45:5-6).

I will make you a light for the Gentiles, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth (Isaiah 49:6).

My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations (Isaiah 56:7).

The phrase from the rising of the sun to the place of its setting reflects the Lord’s heart that all the world will know him. And how do the good people on God’s heart hear this news? Through messangers like Isaiah, the disciples of Jesus, and you and me.

The news still spreads, and it’s appropriate of those of us who follow Jesus to open our mouths and spread it a little farther.

Isaiah 45, 49 & 56 in reading the Bible in 2023

Photo by Nick Fewings