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Mission in AT
세상을 향한 하나님의 뜻은 무엇인가? 그것은 만인이 하나님을 믿고 아는 일이고 나아가서는 하나님께 감사와 찬양을 드리는 것이다. ‘하나님은 모든 사람이 구원을 받으며 진리를 아는 데 이르기를 원하신다’ (딤전2:4). 하나님은 모든 사람이 하나님을 알고 구원받기를 바라신다. 이스라엘 사람만 택하시고 유대인만 사랑하시고 구원하시고 하는 것이 아니다. 그리고 나만을 구원하시고 말자는 것도 아니다. 한국인만 예쁘게 보시고 구원하자는 것도 아니다. 그는 흑인도 구원받기 원하신다. 그는 야만인도 자기를 알기를 원하신다. 왜냐하면 사람은 그가 흑인이든 백인이든, 야만인이든 교양인이든 모두 그에게는 다같이 같은 구원을 받아야 할 영혼이기 때문이다. 하나님은 회교신자도, 불교신자도, 힌두교신자도, 무신론자도 참 진리이신 예수를 믿기 원하신다.
God blessed Abraham that all the nations of the earth might be blessed. God blesses Abraham's children in order that they may be His agents of blessing to the world. Israel was to be a royal priesthood who ministered God's kingdom to the nations. As His "special treasure," they were to be the embodied representation of God's grace, those selected to receive His every blessing. But they were also to be "set apart" as a holy nation (Ex. 19:3-6).
"But indeed for this purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth" (Ex 9:16, NKJ).
"For you are a holy people to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth" (Dt 7:6, NKJ).
"For you shall worship no other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God" (Ex 34:14, NKJ).
"Also today the LORD has proclaimed you to be His special people, just as He has promised you, that you should keep all His commandments, 19 "and that He will set you high above all nations which He has made, in praise, in name, and in honor, and that you may be a holy people to the LORD your God, just as He has spoken." (Dt 26:18, NKJ)
Josh 2:10 "For 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 the two kings of the Amorites who were on the other side of the Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. (NKJ)
Josh 4:23 "for the LORD your God dried up the waters of the Jordan before you until you had crossed over, as the LORD your God did to the Red Sea, which He dried up before us until we had crossed over, 24 "that all the peoples of the earth may know the hand of the LORD, that it is mighty, that you may fear the LORD your God forever." (NKJ)
1Chr 17:21 "And who is like Your people Israel, the one nation on the earth whom God went to redeem for Himself as a people-to make for Yourself a name by great and awesome deeds, by driving out nations from before Your people whom You redeemed from Egypt? (NKJ)
God continued to be faithful to his covenant with Abraham. He blessed Israel, and through the mighty deeds He performed for her, His name was being exalted among the nations.
Ps 67:1 God be merciful to us and bless us, and cause His face to shine upon us. Selah That Your way may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations. Let the peoples praise You, O God; let all the peoples praise You. Oh, let the nations be glad and sing for joy! For You shall judge the people righteously, and govern the nations on earth. Selah Let the peoples praise You, O God; let all the peoples praise You. Then the earth shall yield her increase; God, our own God, shall bless us. God shall bless us, and all the ends of the earth shall fear Him. (NKJ)
선교의 성서적 기초(구약) Johannes Bavinck, An Introduction To the Science of Missions, 1960
1. 성경은 땅에 거하는 모든 것을 포함한 모든 세계를 하나님의 피조물로 자주 언급한다. 창세기 1:1은 마태복음 28:19,20에 나타나는 지상명령의 필연적인 기반이 된다. 창세기 1:4과 10장, 그리고 바울이 말한 바 하나님이 “인류의 모든 종족을 한 형통으로 만드사 온 땅에 거하게 하시고” (행 17:26)라는 말씀은 선교지에서 중요한 의미를 가진다.
2. 하나님이 세계의 창조주라는 사실은 필연적으로 그가 세계를 통치하신다는 사실을 내포한다. 시편 24편은 “땅과 거기 충만한 것과 세계와 그 중에 거하는 자가 다 주의 것이라”라고 말하고 “여호와께서 하늘에서 감찰하사 모든 인생을 보심이여”(시33:13)라고 말한다. 타민족들도 하나님이 관심을 끊임없이 받고 있는 자들이며 하나님께서는 그들의 정의의 심판자가 되신다. 시편에는 이방민족도 하나님을 아고 그들 조뉘케 해야 한다는 것을 자주 강조하고 있으며 선지자들도 이스라엘 주위에 있는 열국들에 대해 심판의 소리를 외쳤다.
하나님의 통치는 온 세계에 미친다. “여호와께서 그 보좌를 하늘에 세우시고 그 정권으로 만유를 통치하시도다” (시 103:19). “땅과 거기 충만한 것과 세계와 그 중에 거하는 자가 다 여호와의 것이로다” (시 24:1). 시편 47편은 이 점을 명백하게 드러내고 있다. “지존하신 여호와는 엄위하시고 온 땅에 큰 임금이 되심이로다” (2절). “하나님이 열방을 치리하시며”(8절).
사 19:25에는 애굽과 앗수르가 이스라엘과 동일한 범주로 언급되었다. 이는 만군의 여호와께서 복을 주어 가라사대 나의 백성 애굽이여, 나의 손으로 지은 앗수르여, 나의 산업 이스라엘이여, 복이 있을찌어다 하실 것임이니라
3. 선지자들은 열방의 신들은 우상이고 “오직 여호와는 참 하나님이시오. 사시는 하나님이시오. 영원한 왕이다. 그 진노하심에 땅이 진동하며 그 분노 하심을 열방이 감히 당치 못하리라”(렘10:10)고 되풀이 말하고 있다. 성경은 주님만이 유일한 하나님이라고 강하게 주장하기 때문에 여기에 선교사역에 대한 강한 가능성이 포함되어 있다. “그런즉 너는 오늘날 상천 하지에 오직 여호와는 하나님이시요 다른 신이 없는 줄을 알아 명심하고” (신 4:39).
4. 이스라엘이 구별이 만민에 대한 관심을 배제한 것은 아니다. 이스라엘의 성별은 하나님의 구원역사에 필요한 일시적인 구별이었으며 하나님이 정하신 때에 폐지될 것이다.
5. 이스라엘 민족은 하나님의 영광이 가장 중요하다는 것을 의식하면서 주위에 있는 이방인들의 눈 앞에서 그들의 역사를 나타내보였다. 구약에는 자주 이스라엘 백성이 하나님께서 그들에게 구원을 베푸셔서 이 구원을 타민족들이 보고 하나님께 영광을 돌리게 해 달라고 기도한 기사가 있다. 어찌하여 애굽 사람으로 이르기를 여호와가 화를 내려 그 백성을 산에서 죽이고 지면에서 진멸하려고 인도하여 내었다 하게 하려하시나이까 주의 맹렬한 노를 그치시고 뜻을 돌이키사 주의 백성에게 이 화를 내리지 마옵소서 (출 32:12) 이제 주께서 이 백성을 한 사람 같이 죽이시면 주의 명성을 들은 열국이 말하여 이르기를 여호와가 이 백성에게 주기로 맹세한 땅에 인도할 능이 없는 고로 광야에서 죽였다 하리이다 (민 14:15,16; 신 9:28). 가나안 사람과 이 땅 모든 거민이 이를 듣고 우리를 둘러싸고 우리 이름을 세상에서 끊으리니 주의 크신 이름을 위하여 어떻게 하시려나이까 (수 7:9)
우리 하나님 여호와여 이제 우리를 그의 손에서 구원하사 천하 만국으로 주만 여호와이신 줄을 알게 하옵소서 (사 37:20). 주의 도를 땅 위에, 주의 구원을 만방 중에 알리소서 (시67:2) 이스라엘은 그들의 역사가 어느 누구에게도 관련이 없는 개인적인 사건이 아니라 하나님께서 이방 민족들 아니 온 세계를 다스리시기 위해 그들의 역사를 이용하셨다. 하나님은 이스라엘의 역사적 사건들 가운데서 그의 손을 온 세계를 향하여 펼치셨다.
예언서와 선교
1. 선지자들은 하나님께서 새로운 세계질서를 예언하고 계심을 알았다. 암몬, 모압, 에돔 같은 모든 소국들이 강대국들에게 패배하였다. 넓은 문화적 정치적으로 큰 하나의 단위로 통합되는 과정이었다. 이 과정에서 이스라엘은 신앙적, 정치적으로 그 시대에 흡수되어 버리든지 아니면 살아 있는 능력이 되어 열방나라를 하나님의 구원의 빛으로 인도하는 도구가 되든지 해야 했다. 선지자들은 이스라엘에게 회개와 회심을 호소했으며 불신앙과 재난을 가져다 주었던 이방세계의 강대국에 대한 무서운 심판을 선포하였다.
2. 애굽과 앗시리아와 바벨론에 대한 선지자들의 심판의 음성 중에 때때로 이스라엘과 열방이 메시야의 심판을 받은 후 새롭고 영광스럽게 변화된 이스라엘은 모든 열방들이 모여드는 집합점이 될 것이라고 선포하였다. 이사야는 그 때에 애굽과 앗시라아주 주를 섬기리라고 말했다.
그 날에 애굽에서 앗수르로 통하는 대로가 있어 앗수르 사람은 애굽으로 가겠고 애굽 사람은 앗수르로 갈 것이며 애굽 사람이 앗수르 사람과 함께 경배하리라 그 날에 이스라엘이 애굽과 앗수르로 더불어 셋이 세계 중에 복이 되리니 이는 만군의 여호와께서 복을 주어 가라사대 나의 백성 애굽이여, 나의 손으로 지은 앗수르여, 나의 산업 이스라엘이여, 복이 있을찌어다 하실 것임이니라 (사19:23-25)
3. 구약에서 열방들의 구원은 언제나 하나의 자발적인 도래(spontaneous coming)로 이해되고 있다. 방백들은 애굽에서 나오고 구스인은 하나님을 향하여 그 손을 신속히 들리로다 (사 68:31). 만군의 여호와가 말하노라 그 날에는 방언이 다른 열국 백성 열명이 유다 사람 하나의 옷자락을 잡을 것이라 곧 잡고 말하기를 하나님이 너희와 함께하심을 들었나니 우리가 너희와 함께 가려 하노라 하리라 하시니라 (슥 8:23)
4. 이와 같이 자발적으로 이방이 하나님게로 나오는 것은 종말적인 사건이며 새 시대에 속한 것이고 종말에 이뤄질 것이다. 요엘 선지자는 종말적 견지에서 미래의 성령 강림이 모든 사람에게 부어질 것을 예언하였다. (욜 2:25). 이러한 일이 일어나는 날에는 이스라엘이 초점이 될 것이다.
5. 그 때 이스라엘과 온 세계에 나타나는 구원은 포괄적인 (all-inclusive) 구원이 될 것이다. 그것은 하니님과 화해, 사죄 및 무수한 축복들을 포함하는 구원이다. 만군의 여호와께서 이 산에서 만민을 위하여 기름진 것과 오래 저장하였던 포도주로 연회를 베푸시리니 곧 골수가 가득한 기름진 것과 오래 저장하였던 맑은 포도주로 하실 것이며 또 이 산에서 모든 민족의 그 가리워진 면박과 열방의 그 덮인 휘장을 제하시며사망을 영원히 멸하실 것이라 주 여호와께서 모든 얼굴에서 눈물을 씻기시며 그 백성의 수치를 온 천하에서 제하시리라 여호와께서 이같이 말씀하셨느니라 (사 25:6-8)
구원사건은 하나님 중심적인 양태로 이루어질 것이며 그의 이름과 영광에 관련된 것이다. 그러므로 너는 이스라엘 족속에게 이르기를 주 여호와의 말씀에 이스라엘 족속아 내가 이렇게 행함은 너희를 위함이 아니요. 너희가 들어간 그 열국에서 더럽힌 나의 거룩한 이름을 위함이라. 열국 가운데서 더럽힘을 받은 이름 곧 너희가 그들 중에서 더럽힌 나의 큰 이름을 내가 거룩하게 할찌라. 내가 그들의 목전에서 너희로 인하여 나의 거룩함을 나타내리니, 열국 사람이 나를 여호와인줄 알리라. 나 주 여호와의 말이니라 (겔 36:22,23) 이러한 하나님 중심 사상이 구원사 전체를 지배하고 있다.
The Call of Abraham (Gen 12:1-3)
Now the LORD had said to Abram: "Get out of your country, from your family and from your father's house, to a land that I will show you. 2I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. 3I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." (Gen 12:1-3)
*** Albertus Pieters says, "With the call of Abraham begins the record of the great redemptive enterprise by which God sought and is still seeking to win back to Himself a lost world," (The Seed of Abraham, p. 11). ***
The Message and scope of the earliest chapters in Genesis, namely Genesis 1-11, are universal in their appeal and international in their audience. Did God not deal with "all the families of the earth" when He moved in saving grace at three specific junctures in Genesis 1-11? To be specific, was it not true that after the Fall of Man, the flood of the earth and the failure of the tower of Babel that God gave the grand messages of salvation in Gen. 3:15, 9:27, and 12:1-3?
The word to Abraham in Gen. 12:1-3 was international and universal in its scope and was painted against the backdrop of the table of the seventy nations of all the world in Gen. 10. The same "families of the earth" appears there and in Gen. 12:3.
We are prompted to ask: "Who is this Lord who spoke to Abraham?" and "Who is this Abraham to whom he spoke? The previous eleven chapters lead up to them, the rest of the Bible follows and follows and fulfills them.
Genesis 1-11 Chs. 1-3. The Genesis record moves on from the creation of all things to our rebellion and to God's judgment which is relieved, however, by his first gospel promise that one day the woman's seed would bruise the serpent's head (3:15).
Chs. 4-11. The following eight chapters describe the devastating results of the Fall in terms of the progressive alienation of human beings from God. This was the setting in which God's call and promise came to Abraham. Out of the prevailing godlessness he called one man and his family, and promised to bless not only them but through them the whole world.
The scope of that text is worldwide in its offer of salvation for all who would believe. The counter theme in those same chapters is the nations questing for a name for themselves. Both in Gen. 6:4 and 11:4, the sole object of mankind was to make a name for themselves and to advance their own reputation - but at the expense of the "name" of God.
Thus the "sons of God" took to themselves this divine title along with its presumed prerogatives and distorted the very instrument of the state that God had set up for iustice and abused it for their own desires and lusts. This constituted the second great failure of the pre-patriarchal era of Gen. 1-11. It had been preceded by the Fall of Man in Gen. 3 and it would was climaxed in the third failure of the Tower of Babel in Gen 11.
Genesis 12:1-3
The Universal Motif
The table of nations in Genesis 10 The nations are not mere decorations incidental to the real drama between God and man; rather, the nations - that is, mankind as a whole - are part of the drama itself. God's work and activity are directed at the whole of humanity.
God's election of Israel with his eye on the nations For a time Israel, the "people of Abraham," is separated from the other nations (Ex. 19:3ff; Deut. 7:14ff.), only so that through Israel God can pave the way toward achieving his world-embracing goals. In choosing Israel as a segment of all humanity, God never took his eye off the other nations; Israel was a minority called to serve the majority.
God's election of Abraham and Israel concerns the whole world. He deals so intensely with Israel precisely because he is maintaining his personal claim on the whole world. To speak to this world in the fullness of time he needed a people. Countless recent studies are emphasizing this very point: God chose Israel in preparation for the complete unwrapping and disclosure of his universal intentions.
Whenever Israel forgot that God chose her with a view to speaking to the other nations and turned away from them in introverted pride, prophets like Amos, Jeremiah and Isaiah lashed out at the people's ethnocentric pretension and charged them with subverting God's actual intentions (see especially Amos 9:9-10).
The Plan Nevertheless, for each of thee three failures, our Lord had a saving word of grace: Gen. 3:15; 9:7 and 12:1-3. It is this third gracious word that concerns us here, for it emphasizes God's word of grace over against the failures of men and their idolatrous questing for a "name" or reputation. Five times god said, "I will bless you." No doubt the key word is bless. That same word had characterized this whole section, beginning with the word to Adam and Eve - "He blessed them saying, 'Be fruitful and multiply." And yet man continued to seek meaning on his own terms by questing for "name." Genesis 12:2 suddenly announces that God would give Abraham a "name" as a blessing from above. There are actually three promises of blessing in Gen. 12:2-3 in which God promises: 1. "I will make you a great nation," 2. "I will bless you," and 3. "I will make your name great..."
But this is immediately followed by a purpose clause. It is "so that you may be a blessing." He and his nation were to be blessed so that they might be a blessing. To whom? How? For the answers to these questions, we must go on with two more promises. Two additional promises were: 4. "I will bless those blessing you," and 5. "Those who curse you, I will curse you."
Again, the writer of Genesis adds a purpose clause: "so that in you all the families of the earth might be blessed." This man and his descendants were to be missionaries and channels of the truth from the very beginning.
The nations were to be blessed in this man's "seed." The "seed" of the woman (Gen. 3:15), the "seed" of Shem in whose tents God would come to "tabernacle" or "dwell" (Gen. 9:27), and the "seed" of Abraham formed one collective whole, which was epitomized through its succession of representatives who acted as downpayments and earnests until Christ himself should come in that same line and as a part of that succession and corporate entity.
The recipients of this blessing initially were listed as none other than the seventy nations listed as “all the families” of the earth in Gen. 10. This chapter topically precedes man's third failure at Babel, which in turn leads into the inbursting word of God's purpose and plan to bring all the nations of the world to Himself. The word to Abraham was meant to have a great impact on all the families on the face of the earth. This is indeed high and lofty missionary teaching.
The Promise First, it was the promise of a posterity. God would make of him "a great nation." God said to him, "I have made you the father of a multitude of nations" (Gen 17:5).
Second, it was the promise of a land. At all events he was to leave his own land, and in return God would show him another country (Gen. 13:14?15).
Third, it was the promise of a blessing. "I will bless you." Already God has accepted Abraham as righteous or has justified him by faith. No greater blessing is conceivable. It is the foundation blessing of the covenant of grace, which a few years later God went on to elaborate to Abraham: "I will establish my covenant between me and you and your descendants after you...for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your descendants after you, and I will be their God" (17:7?8). And he gave them circumcision as the outward and visible sign of his gracious covenant or pledge to be their God. It is the first time in Scripture that we hear the covenant formula which is repeated many times later: "I will be their God and they shall be my people."
The Fulfillment At Sinai God confirmed and clarified his covenant with Abraham, and pledged himself to be Israel's God(for example, Ex. 19:3?6).
Beyond the coming judgment there would be a restoration: "Yet the number of the people of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which can be neither measured nor numbered" (Hos. 1:10). There would be a gathering instead of a scattering, "not pitied" would be pitied, and "not my people" would become "sons of the living God" (1:10?2:1).
The wonderful thing is that the apostles Paul and Peter both quote these verses from Hosea. They see their fulfillment not just in a further multiplication of Israel but in the inclusion of the Gentiles in the community of Jesus: "Once you were no people but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy but now you have received mercy" (I Pet. 2: 9?10; cf. Rom. 9:25?26).
This NT perspective is essential as we read the OT prophecies. For what we miss in the OT is any clear explanation of just how God's promised blessing would overflow from Abraham and his descendants to "all families of the earth."
Posterity Matthew, although the most Jewish of all four Gospel writers, later records Jesus as having said, "And I say to you that many will come from east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth" (Mt. 8:11?12; cf. Lk. 13:28?29).
It is hard for us to grasp how shocking, how completely topsy?turvy, these words would have sounded to the Jewish hearers of John the Baptist and Jesus. They had quite forgotten that part of God' covenant with Abraham promised an overspill of blessing to all the nations of the earth. Now the Jews had to learn that it was in relation to Jesus the Messiah, who was himself seed of Abraham, that all the nations would be blessed.
The Apostle Peter seems at least to have begun to grasp this in his second sermon, just after Pentecost: "You are sons of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying to Abraham, `And in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed. To you first, God, having raised up His Servant Jesus, sent Him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from your iniquities"(Acts 3:25?26). It is a very notable statement because he interprets the blessing in the moral terms of repentance and righteousness and because, if Jesus was sent first' to the Jews, he was presumably sent next to the Gentiles, whose "families of the earth" had been "far off" (cf. Acts 2:39) but were now to share in the blessing.
It was given to the apostle Paul, however, to bring this wonderful theme to its full development. For he was called and appointed to be the apostle to the Gentiles, and to him was revealed God's eternal but hitherto secret purpose to make Jews and Gentiles “fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel” (Eph. 3:6).
In Romans 4 Paul points out that Abraham not only received justification by faith but also received this blessing before he had been circumcised. Therefore Abraham is the father of all those who, whether circumcised or uncircumcised, "follow the example of [his] faith" (Rom. 4:9?12). If we "share the faith of Abraham," then "he is the father of us all, as it is written, 'I have made you the father of many nations'" (vv. 16?17). Abraham's real descendants are believers in Jesus Christ, whether racially they happen to be Jews or Gentiles.
Blessing Somewhat similar teaching, both about the nature of the promised blessing and about its beneficiaries, is given by Paul in Galatians 3. "So you see that it is men of faith who are the sons of Abraham" and who therefore "are blessed with Abraham who had faith" (vv. 6?9). What then is the blessing with which all the nations were to be blessed (v. 8)? In a word, it is the blessing of salvation. Christ bore our curse that we might inherit Abraham's blessing, the blessing of justification (v. 8) and of the indwelling Holy Spirit (v. 14). Paul sums it up in the last verse of the chapter (v. 29): "If you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise."
In the book of Revelation there is one more reference to God's promise to Abraham (7:9ff). John sees in a vision "a great multitude which no man could number." They are enjoying all the blessings of his gracious rule. They have entered the promised land at last, described now not as "a land flowing with milk and honey" but as a land irrigated from "springs of living water" which never dry up. But how did they come to inherit these blessings? Partly because they have "come out of great tribulation", but mostly because "they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." Here are the spiritual descendants of Abraham, a "great multitude which no man could number." Here too are "all the families of the earth" being blessed. Here also is the promised land, namely, all the rich blessings which flow from God's gracious rule. And here above all is Jesus Christ, the seed of Abraham.
Conclusion If we are Christ's disciples we are Abraham's descendants. We belong to his spiritual lineage. If we have received the blessings of justification by faith, then we are beneficiaries today of a promise made to Abraham four thousand years ago.
He is the God of mission. If God has promised to bless "all the families of the earth," he has promised to do so "through Abraham's seed" (Gen. 12:3; 22:18). Now we are Abraham's seed by faith, and the earth's families will be blessed only if we go to them with the gospel. That is God's plain purpose.
"All the families of the earth" is the expression more than any other which reveals the living God of the Bible to be a missionary God. It is this expression too which condemns all our petty parochialism and narrow nationalism, our racial pride, our condescending paternalism and arrogant imperialism. We need to become global Christians with a global vision, for we have a global God.
Exodus 19:4-6: His Priesthood
This text must begin in the environment of grace. "I am the Lord your God, who brought you up from out of the land of Egypt." The "now therefore..." follows because of the previous blessing of God. Exodus 19:5-6 goes on to say: “...if you will obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my special possession among all peoples; for all the earth is mine, and you shall be my kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” Three ministries God specifies for Abraham's descendants.
1. In the first place, they were to be God's special possession, or as the older translations have it, "my peculiar people" The old English word "peculiar" came for the Latin word which meant valuables or any kind of moveable goods such as jewels or stocks. The emphasis here is on the portability of that message and the fact that God has placed such high value in people. This is exactly as Malachi 317 describes us: "jewels." 2. Another role Israel was to perform was that of being kings and priests for God. The genitive or construct form, "kingdom of priests," is better translated "kings and priests," or "royal priests." It is here that Israel's missionary role became explicit. The whole nation was to function on behalf of the kingdom of God in a mediatorial role in relation to the nations. In fact, it was this passage that became the basis for our famous NT doctrine of the priesthood of believers (see 1 Pet. 2:9; Rev. 1:6-5:10). 3. Israel was to have a third function: a "holy nation." To be "holy" is to be "wholly" the Lord's. Israel was to be given wholly over to the Lord as a nation. They were to be set apart not only in their lives, but also in their service. Their calling and election of God was for service. As priests were to represent God and mediate his word to the nations, so Israel as a holy nation was to assume two relations: one side towards God their King and the other side towards the nations. They were to be a nation for all the times and for all the people - set apart. But instead, Israel began to act for herself rather than remembering her call to be sharers of the blessings, truth, gifts and the "Seed" to nations. Peter made his point clear. God had called his people by the four titles (1 Pet. 2:9) "so that (they) might declare the wonderful deeds of Him who called (them) out of darkness into His marvelous light." The reason why Israel and now Gentile believers have been named a royal priesthood, a holy nation, the people of God, His chose race, His special, moveable possession, is that we might announce, declare, and be His missionaries and witnesses. We were all intended by God to participate in that priesthood who would be agents of blessing to all the nations of the earth.
*** God blessed Abraham that all the nations of the earth might be blessed. God blesses Abraham's children in order that they may be His agents of blessing to the world. Israel was to be a royal priesthood who ministered God's kingdom to the nations. As His "special treasure," they were to be the embodied representation of God's grace, those selected to receive His every blessing. But they were also to be "set apart" as a holy nation (Ex. 19:3?6). ***
Psalm 67: His Purpose
God be merciful to us and bless us, And cause His face to shine upon us, Selah 2That Your way may be known on earth, Your salvation among all nations.
3Let the peoples praise You, O God; Let all the peoples praise You. 4Oh, let the nations be glad and sing for joy! For You shall judge the people righteously, And govern the nations on earth. Selah
5Let the peoples praise You, O God; Let all the peoples praise You. 6Then the earth shall yield her increase; God, our own God, shall bless us. 7God shall bless us, And all the ends of the earth shall fear Him.
This Psalm is derived from the Aaronic benediction found in Num. 6:24-26. It is significant that this missionary Psalm has applied what God gave through Aaron and the priests to all the peoples. The purpose for this enlarged blessing is given immediately in verse 2: “so that your way may be known upon the earth, your salvation among all the nations (or Gentiles).” That is why God had been gracious and blessed Israel and all who believed. This agrees, then, with Gen. 12:3. This Psalm has been called the OT Pater Noster ("Our Father"), or the OT Lord's Prayer. It has three stanzas: vss. 1-3 (ending with: "Let the people praise Thee, O Lord, let all the peoples praise thee."), vss. 4-5 (ending with the same refrain), and vss. 6-7. It was probably sung at the Feast of Pentecost. Deliberately, the Psalmist refers to the ingathering of the harvest as an earnest, a downpayment, and a symbol of the spiritual harvest from every tribe, tongue and nation. So may the Lord indeed be gracious to us and bless us. Three times this Psalm refers to the blessing from God: verse one, verse six and verse seven. The structure is almost an exact replica of Gen. 12:2-3. Bless us...so that all the nations might know the Lord.
The Psalmist calls us to prove and test God's purposes for three reasons. The reasons fit the structure we have already observed. 1) The first is because God has been gracious to us (vss. 1-3). 2) A second reason is because God rules and guides all nations (vss. 4-5). He is a royal ruler who judiciously rules in righteousness, as in Isa. 11:3ff. He is a guide for the nations as the Great Shepherd of Psalm 23:3. Thus the refrain sounds again: Come on, all you peoples of the earth, let's hear it! It's about time you began praising the Lord. 3) Finally, a third reason is given: the very goodness of God (vss 6-7). We ought to prove the purpose of God in blessing the nations because He has been so good to us.
The blessing of God comes so that all the ends of the earth might receive spiritual benefit. What has happened materially was only to be an earnest of a blessing with much longer dimensions. "God has blessed us; let all the ends of the earth fear Him" (v. 7). The word "fear" her does not mean terror or fright. Fear is one of the OT words for trust and belief. The goodness of God to Israel was meant to be one of Gods ways of bringing all the nations on planet earth to fear Him, i.e., to believe the coming Man of promise, our Lord Jesus Christ. Israel was to be a witnessing, proclaiming, and evangelizing nation. The Gentiles had to be brought to the light.
This purpose for Israel is seen even more clearly in the "Servant of the Lord" passages of Isa. 42 and 49. Israel is that servant of the Lord even though the Messiah is the final representative of the whole group par excellence. As such, Israel was to be "a light to the nations." The Psalmist longed for and deeply desired that God might be acknowledged as Lord and Savior of all the families of the earth. Should we do less? God's challenge to Israel is also ours: we are to have a mediatorial role in proclaiming His name among the nations. That is still God's purpose.
Psalm 67 LET THE NATIONS BE GLAD! /Biblical Foundation for Missions /November 7, 1993 Bethlehem Baptist Church/John Piper, Pastor
Overview of 1986 Missions Fest sermon When I preached on this Psalm several years ago in our 1986 Missions conference I passed over the main point of the Psalm explaining that Don Richardson was going to cover that at his seminar. Instead I took my points from the rest of the Psalm.
I said that the Psalm teaches that God's purpose is to be known and praised and enjoyed and feared among all the nations. To be known: verse 2 -- "That Thy way may be known on the earth." To be praised: verse 3 -- "Let the peoples praise Thee, O God; Let all the peoples praise Thee." To be enjoyed: verse 4 -- "Let the nations be glad and sing for joy." To be feared: verse 7 -- "That all the ends of the earth may fear Him."
That was my first point: God is jealous to be known and praised and enjoyed and feared. He is displeased when people are ignorant of him or disrespectful to him or bored around him or unduly casual in his presence.
The second point was that what God wants people to know about him is that he is a God of justice, a God of power, and a God of grace. A God of justice: verse 4 -- "Thou wilt judge the peoples with uprightness." A God of power: verse 4 -- "[Thou wilt] guide the nations on the earth." A God of grace: verse 1 -- "God be gracious to us and bless us."
In other words six years ago I stressed what is just as true, and even more needed, today -- namely, that there is one true and living God and that he wills to be known by all the peoples of the world. And that means to be known subjectively with joy and praise and fear, and known objectively as being one kind of God and not another -- being just and powerful and gracious.
God wants to be known for who he really is: just and gracious and powerful, so that our praise and joy and fear are rooted in reality not imagination and really show God's worth and glory.
The main point of Psalm 67 A. God Blesses us so that the nations will be blessed The Psalmist knows that God wills to be known and praised and enjoyed and feared for who hear really is. So his response is to pray that God would bless Israel in such a way that God really would be known among the nations.
In other words, the main point of the psalm is the link between verses 1 and 2 found in the word "that." He prays, "God be gracious to us and bless us, and cause His face to shine upon us; 2 that Thy way may be known on the earth, Thy salvation among all nations."
So the point I want to stress this morning is this: God blesses his people for the sake of the nations. This was the foundational truth that God spoke to Abraham when he called him out of Ur of the Chaldea: "I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; and so you shall be a blessing; and I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed" (Genesis 12:2-3).
It was a theme that Isaiah and others picked up in words like, "I will give you (Israel) as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth" (Isaiah 49:6).
This is almost exactly what the psalmist says in Psalm 67:1-2. Only the psalmist turns that promise into a prayer (which is what we should do with promises): "God be gracious to us and bless us, and cause His face to shine upon us; that Thy way may be known on the earth, Thy salvation among all nations."
God promises blessing to his people because he wants them to be a blessing to the nations. Therefore we should pray for blessing on ourselves for the sake of the nations. This is not because God does not love us, or is just using us. It's because he loves the nations and because he knows that our joy in all that God is for us increases when it expands into the lives of others. In other words, when we ask for God's blessing on us for the sake of the nations we are also asking for our joy to be full.
B. God will most likely bless us when we are planning to bless the nations There is another point implied in this main one: if God blesses his people for the sake of the nations, then God is most likely to bless us when we are planning and longing and praying to bless the nations. If God wants his goods to get to the nations, then he will fill the truck that's driving toward the nations. He will bless the church that's pouring itself out for unreached peoples of the world. And this blessing is not payment for a service rendered; it's power and joy for a mission to accomplish. When we move toward the unreached peoples we are not earning God's blessings, we are leaping into the river of blessings that is already flowing to the nations.
So we have two truths in the connection between verses 1 and 2. 1) God blesses his people for the sake of the nations. 2) Therefore God is most likely to bless us when we are planning and longing and praying to bless the nations--and to make the nations glad in God.
Isaiah 40-55- Servant Son God's method of achieving liberation The Bible also describes the means God is using to bring salvation to Israel and the nations. No other OT passage probes more deeply into this matter than "Servant" songs of Isaiah 40-55. These Servant songs make unmistakable reference to the spread of salvation through the whole world. The servant shall carry it to the ends of the earth (Isa. 49:6), and he will not stop until righteousness prevails throughout the earth. The coastlands are awaiting his instruction (Isa. 42:4). The Servant shall be acting as a substitute who is incurring the judgment of God which was properly due not only to Israel but to all peoples and nations. As a substitute for both Israel and the nations, the Servant has to walk the path of suffering to bring them freedom. Paul grounds his call from God to engage in worldwide mission in these very Servant songs taken form the OT (see Acts 13:47, quoted from Isa. 42:6; 49:6).
The Book of Jonah
Jonah is a lesson in educating a person to be a missionary: it reveals the need for a radical conversion of one's natural tendencies and a complete restructuring of his life to make it serviceable for mission.
Background of the book The author uses the personal name to portray for his readers a missionary who has no heart for the Gentiles and who, like the later Pharisees, cannot tolerate a God shows them mercy. The writer intends to picture a person who is the exact opposite of an apostle" [Miskotte]. The author of Jonah warns his readers against this intolerant attitude and sets before each of them the question of whether he or she is willing to be transformed into a servant who works to accomplish the mandates of God. God has to wrestle against Israel's narrow ethnocentrism which tries to restrict his activity to the boundaries of Israel alone and against the church's ecclesiocentric refusal to go out into the world to proclaim God's message and do his work. The writer is bent on convincing his readers that the radius of God's liberating activity is wide enough to cover both Israel and the Gentiles.
A short review of the book's eight scenes
1. The first scene: the command to go to Nineveh, a very center of totalitarianism, brutality, and warlike attitudes. To Nineveh, notorious for the shameful hounding, vicious torture, and imperialist brazenness. God wants his servant to warn Nineveh of impending judgment and to call her to repentance. God wants to save Nineveh! But Jonah refuses. He prepares himself to flee from the face of God. 2. God responds to Jonah's flight by sending a mighty storm (1:4-16). The wind obeys Yahweh's commands, but the disobedient Jonah sleeps in the bottom of the boat. At times the church sleeps right through the storm of God's judgment passing over the world, assuring herself that the wind outside has nothing to do with her. The crew represents the Gentiles, a people for whom Jonah is totally unconcerned, and yet who themselves are interested in sparing his life. Scarcely able to believe their eyes, the sailors break forth in praise to the God of Jonah. They are more open to God than the very prophet himself. 3. The third scene (1:17) describes a large fish. Yahweh continues his work of reforming and preparing his missionary to be a fit instrument in his plans. 4. In the fourth scene (2:1-10) Jonah implores God to rescue him form the belly of the fish. By his very rescue Jonah was unwittingly a witness of God's saving mercy. 5. In the fifth scene (3:1-4) God repeats his order to the prophet. He must proclaim that Nineveh is still the object of God's concern, and unless she repents, she will be destroyed. 6. In the sixth scene (3:5-10) Nineveh responds to Jonah's appeal to repent. The world of the heathen is a potentially productive mission field for no other reason than this: He alone is God. 7. In seventh scene (4:1-4) recounts the fact that the greatest hurdle to overcome in discharging the missionary mandate was not the sailors, nor the fish, nor Nineveh's king and citizenry, but rather Jonah himself - the recalcitrant and narrow-minded church. Jonah is furious that God has extended his mercy beyond the borders of Israel to the Gentiles (4:2, key text of the whole book). Why is Jonah really so angry? For no other reason than that God is treating those outside his covenant the same as he is those within. But Jonah's anger in effect is putting himself outside the covenant, for he obstinately refuses to acknowledge the covenant's purpose. 8. In the eighth and last scene (4:5-11) one can see God still working to teach his thick-skulled missionary his lessons. God uses the trees as his object lesson. The very God who directs the whole course of history, rules the wind and wave and turned Nineveh's millions to repentance now asks tenderly: "Are you so angry over the gourd? You are sorry about the gourd, though you had nothing to do with growing it, a plant which came up in a night and withered in a night. And should not I be sorry for the great city of Nineveh, with its hundred and twenty thousand who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and cattle without number?"
요나서 1. 하나님은 죄악된 세상과 열방의 죄악에 노하시고 그들이 회개하기를 원하신다. (1:1-2)
2. 요나는 니느웨의 백성에게 경고하라는 명을 받았으나 정반대로 피하여 가는 불순종의 죄를 범한다. (1:3)
3. 이방인들은 위기를 만났을 때 신을 찾기 시작한다. 종교성이 있는 백성이 많다. 모두가 사실은 하나님의 피조물이기에 하나님을 향해 나가고자하는 심성을 근본에 가지고 있다. 하나님을 찾을 때까지는 만족이 없다. 피난민(1800만명)들은 더욱 하나님을 의지한다. 인생에 위기를 만날 때 사람들은 하나님을 찾는다. (4-5a)
4. 선지자가 사명을 버리고 잠자고 있다. 잠자고 있는 교인, 교회, 사명자가 없는가? 이방인들의 소리를 들으라. ‘우리가 죽을 지경에 있소. 당신이 믿는 하나님께 기도하여 우리를 구해달라고 하시오. 우리를 위해 기도해 주시오. 우리의 구원을 위해서 하나님께 기도해 주시오. 그러면 우리가 멸망을 면할 것이요.’ (6)
5. 하나님은 죄악에 찬 이방인들 보다 불순종하고 잠자는 그의 백성에게 더욱 책임이 있다한다. 폭풍우의 원인은 요나에 있었다. 그가 불순종하니 하나님이 위기를 허락하셨다. 먼저 하나님의 백성이 바로 서야 한다. 그들을 통해서 하나님은 하시고자 하는 일을 하시기 때문이다. 그렇지 못하니 하나님이 불순종을 깨우치기 위해서 요나에게 강풍을 허락하신것이다. (7-9)
6. 요나만 배에 없었다면 위기는 없었을 것이다. 요나만 배에서 떠나면 문제는 해결된다. 그러나 이방인들의 태도는 어떤가? 그들은 하나님의 선지자를 구하고자 한다. 육지로 후퇴하려고 한다. 다른 방도가 없다. 그들은 여호와 하나님께 부르짖는다. 이방인들이 하나님께 간구한다. 하나님께서 간섭하시고 자연을 주관하시고 계시다는 것을 안 이방인들은 하나님을 경외하고 예배를 드린다. 하나님을 찾는 이방인들과 불순종하는 요나를 비교하라.
The Book of Jonah 1. God selects the place of ministry (1:2). God is our Commander. We should listen to His voice for the selection of our mission field. He knows which place is our priority. When Jonah was obedient to God's command to go to Nineveh, the place where the Lord wanted him to go, there was a drastic change of Ninevites ? an enormous conversion.
2. The Gentiles who are receptive. It is an amazing thing to see natives converted. Sailors were religious people who believed supernatural beings. When they were endangered by violent storm, they "were afraid; every man cried out to his god" (1:5). They felt crisis, while Jonah was fast asleep. They were agitated by the natural disaster caused by the a great wind "the Lord sent out" (1:4). It is a problem that today's people are used to the present crises and have an apathy to the turmoils of the world. It was the time when they must do everything they can do to be delivered from that endangered situation. They tried to seek the help from supernatural beings. In such circumstances it looks strange that Jonah slept; he must also call on his God, the sailors would have thought that way. The captain said, "How can you sleep? [What do you mean, sleep?, NKJ] Get up and call on your God! Maybe He will take notice of us, and we will not perish" (1:6, NIV). When the storm continued to harass them even after they did whatever they could do, they decided to cast lots to find who is responsible for the trouble. They are religious in the sense that they thought that natural disaster, which put them in danger, was related to sins of men. They thought someone's sin is connected with the storm. When they knew Jonah was responsible, they said to him, "Please tell us! For whose cause is this trouble upon us?" When they knew true identity of Jonah, they were exceedingly afraid. They knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord (1:10). They knew that Jonah is a Hebrew and Hebrews believe "the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land" (1:9). They came to know that the storm was caused by the God who made the sea. Though they now knew that Jonah was responsible for the great tempest and he wanted them to throw him into the sea, they did not throw him into the sea. Such fact reflects that they feared the Lord of heaven who made the sea and controls it. "Nevertheless the men rowed hard to bring the ship to land." Only when the sea grew even wilder than before and they could not row back to land, they cried out to the Lord, "We pray, O Lord, please do not let us perish for this man's life, and do not charge us with innocent blood; for You O Lord, have done as it pleased You" (1:14). It is significant that they cried out to the Lord. Even after the sea ceased from its raging, the men "feared the Lord exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows " (1:15?16). What is the picture of Jonah in the book in contrast with sailors? He fled from the presence of God in right opposite direction from Nineveh to Tarshish, perhaps the city of Tartessus in southwest Spain, to what seemed like the end of the world. He intended to escape his divinely appointed task. Whereas the sailors were afraid of the Lord, Jonah was stubborn, disobedient, and apathetic to God's command. He run away from the Lord, and he was fast asleep having an apathy to what was happening because of him. He wanted to be indifferent to the concern and the command of God. Only after the experience of deliverance (1:17?2:10), Jonah became an unwitting witness of God's saving mercy. What a response of Ninevites was! All the prophet did was just to preach what God wanted him to say ? "Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned" (3:2, 4). Just on the first day of preaching, the people of Nineveh repented and believed God. Even the king covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust. He issued a proclamation: "Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence." Receptivity of Ninevites and their king is marvelous. Look to the hearts and attitudes of sails and Ninevites. See how they responded to the Lord. Consider their simplicity of faith. What a contrast with an apathy and stubbornness of Jonah!
3. God's concern vs. Jonah's (ch. 4)
Jonah and his country persons traditionally rejoiced on God's special mercies to Israel but wished only His wrath on their enemies. God here rebukes such hardness and proclaims His own gracious benevolence. Jonah is furious that God has extended his mercy beyond the borders of Israel to the Gentiles. He cannot stand to think of the Gentiles as part of salvation history. He cannot stand to think that his confessional formula (4:2b, cf. 34:6; Ps 86:15; 103:8; 145:8; Neh 9:17) was true even for the Gentiles. God taught Jonah a lesson, using a tree. What or who is the hurdle to mission? Financial support? Jonah had money for travel. There is God's news and message. There are people to respond to words of God. God controls the nature and the world. God directs our ways. The problem was only on Jonah who is recalcitrant and narrow?minded. Jonah was enthno?centric. And God taught him that he is too much concerned for his own safety and comfort; "You have had pity on the plant for which you have not labored, nor made it grow, which came up in a night and perished in a night" (4:10). In contrast with Jonah, God intended to say that He should be concerned for Ninevites, for He created them and cared for them. If he is concerned for the plant that appears in a night and perishes in a night, how much more is he to be concerned for the numerous souls that last forever? He lacked the love for the lost. He did not know about God's love for the Gentiles. He must be in accordance with God's concern. "Should I not pity Nineveh in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left...?" God had pity on Ninevites who looked like small children to Him. Do you have compassion for the lost peoples in the world?
Message of Jonah
1. God's history in Israel is to give blessings also to Gentiles as well as to Israel. 2. God accomplishes His will in spite of the disobedience of Israel. Israel's unfaithfulness cannot deter God's purpose in salvation history. 3. It seems that when Israel was not faithful in their commission from God, God's blessings for the nations are in danger. 4. When Israel was negligent to her mission, she is subject to God's judgment. She is to be consecrated and renewed to accomplish her commission of being a light to Gentiles (Hos 6:1?3; 8:8; Mic 4:1ff; Isa 2:2ff; 11:10). 5. Stubbornness of Israel is in contrast with repentance of Nineveh. When the sailors said to Jonah who served the Lord of heaven, "Why have you done this?" (1:10), it was words of amazement and rebuke (cf. Matt 12:41).
Israel’s Missionary Responsibility God is acknowledged as the rightful ruler of the nations, He blesses Israel in order that all the nations may come to recognize His sovereignty.
Abraham had worshipped the true God in the obedience of faith, and walked in a vital, trusting fellowship with the living God. Belief in God and submission to His sovereignty in every area of life are what God always desired of mankind. The simple duty of Abraham’s children were to portray and proclaim the same message; there were to “do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with [their] God” (Mic 6:8). In doing these things, they would proclaim to the world God’s identity and character, His saving power, and His ultimate victory in the establishment of His kingdom.
Israel had always, in the plan and purpose of God, been responsible for communicating the message of God's grace to the nations. Israel was meant to be a communicating nation. God's call 1) to proclaim his plan to bless the nations (Gen. 12:3); 2) to participate in his priesthood as agents of that blessing (Exod. 19:4-6); 3) and to prove his purpose to bless all the nations (Psalms 67).
Israel must be a sign to the other nations that Yahweh is both Creator and Liberator. One Servant song (Ia. 49:6) refers to Israel's mandate to become a light to the nations. Virtually every author who attempts to explain this call to Israel comes up with the concept of presence. Chosen by God to become the special recipients of his mercy and justice, Israel now has the corresponding duty to live as the people of God among the other nations in order to show them his grace, mercy, justice, and liberating power.
The wisdom literature of the OT is similar in both form and content to both Greek and Egyptian cultures. Without doubt, her own literature served Israel as a means of communicating her beliefs to the other nations. Moreover there is no other way of explaining the powerful missionary impact of Judaism during the Diaspora than to affirm that those dispersed Jews from their earliest days had heard and understood their call to witness directly as well as by their presence.
Campbell Morgan은 창세기를 창조(1-2), 타락(3-11), 중생(12-50) 등 삼분하였다. 아브라함과 이스라엘은 그들 자신을 위해서가 아니라 세상의 구원을 위하여 선택되었다. “너로 인해 땅의 모든 족속이 복을 받을 것”이라느 약속 아브라함과(창 12:3; 22:18)과 야곱에게(28:14) 주어졌다. 1) 이스라엘은 하나님으로부터 이 세상에 대한 하나님의 특별계시를 접수하고 보존할 사명을 받았다 (히 1:1-3). 2) 이스라엘은 구속자가 인류 역사의 흐름 속으로 들어 오실 통로가 되었다. 구속자는 아브라함의 자손 (마 1:1), 유다의 족속(창 49:10), 다윗의 가문(롬 1:3)에 속한 자였다. 3) 이스라엘은 열국 가운데 하나님의 종(사 44:1-2)과 증인 (사 43:10)이 되는 사명을 받았다. 나 여호와가 말하노라 너희는 나의 증인, 나의 종으로 택함을 입었나니 이는 너희로 나를 알고 믿으며 내가 그인줄 깨닫게 하려 함이라 나의 전에 지음을 받은 신이 없었느니라 나의 후에도 없으리라 (사:43:10)
이스라엘을 택하신 것은 그 자체가 목적이 아니라 목적을 위한 수단이었다. 이스라엘 선택은 이스라엘 자체를 위한 것이 아니라 세상을 위한 것이며 그 목적은 특권을 주는 것이 아니라 책임을 부과한 것이다. 선택의 목적은 봉사이다.
이스라엘 선택과 선교의 사명 그러면 하나님께서 이스라엘을 선민으로 택하시고 특별한 복을 허락하시고 총애하신 이유는 무엇인가? 주위 여러 이방 민족들에게는 관심이 없으셨는가? 하나님은 이방인들이 타락했으니 한 백성만 따로 세워 그 선민에게만 사랑을 부어 주려 하신 것이었을까? 사실 하나님은 이스라엘 백성을 특별히 선별하시었다. 이스라엘에게만 거룩한 하나님의 율법을 허락하시었다. 하나님을 섬기는 율법과 성전을 허락하시었다. 모세와 같은 하나님의 종을 보내시고 많은 선지자를 통해서 말씀하시기도 하셨다. 그러나 이스라엘 백성이 하나님의 총애를 받는 만큼 그들의 사명도 컸다.
우선 히브리 족속이 시작된 기원으로 돌아가보자. 이스라엘의 조상은 누구인가? 아브라함이다. 하나님은 창12장에서 갑자기 아브라함을 따로 부르셨다. 이방종교가 성행한 우르에서 떠나 아마도 이방신을 섬기는 부친, 친척집을 떠나게 하신 것일 것이다. 하나님의 거룩한 백성을 이루시기 위하여 아브라함을 하나님께서 부르신 것이다. 그리고 하나님께서 약속하셨다. 축복의 약속이다. ‘너로 큰 민족을 이루게 하신다’는 것이다. ‘너에게 복을 주신다’는 것이다. ‘너의 이름을 창대케 하리라’는 것이다. 그리고 덧붙어 말씀하시기를 ‘너는 복의 근원이 될지니라’고 하신다. 무엇에 대하여 혹은 누구에 대하여 복의 근원이 된다는 것인가? 12:3에서 그 해답을 찾을 수 있다. “땅의 모든 족속이 너를 인하여 복을 얻을 것이니라.” 모든 족속에 대하여 복의 근원이 되는 것이다. 즉 아브라함을 인하여 모든 족속들이 복을 얻게 된다는 것이다. 하나님께서 아브라함에게 복 주시는 것을 아브라함을 위하여 뿐만 아니라 그를 통하여 만민에게 하나님께서 복을 주시기 위함이다. 아담으로부터 시작한 인류는 노아 홍수이후 셈, 함, 야벳을 통하여 70민족을 이루게 되었다(창10). 만일 인류가 하나님께 순종하고 거룩하게 살았다면 굳이 아브라함을 부르실 필요가 있었겠는가? 죄의 삶을 살고 있는 70민족들 이후에 아브라함을 부르셨다. 그 민족들을 고려하시고 아브라함을 부르신 것이 아니겠는가? 그들을 구원할 뜻이 있으셔서 아브라함을 부르시고 그를 통해서 만민이 하나님의 복을 얻게 하려 하신 것이다. 즉 아브라함의 후손으로 형성된 이스라엘은 제사장적 역할을 담당해야 할 사명을 가진 것이다. 구약에서나 신약에서나 하나님은 같은 하나님이시다. 그는 모든 사람들이 구원을 받으며 진리에 이르는 것을 원하신다. 이스라엘을 통해서 하나님은 이방 백성들도 그를 경외하고 그가 참으로 유일하신 여호와 하나님을 알기를 원하셨다. 이스라엘은 거룩한 구별된 백성으로서 이방 민족들에게 여호와 하나님을 증거해야 한다. 여호와는 그 자신을 이스라엘을 통해서 온 세상에 알리기 위해서 이스라엘을 택하셨다. 이스라엘은 ‘온 땅에 그와 같은 이가 없음’을(출8:10; 9:14; 14:4, 18), ‘온 땅이 여호와의 것임’을(출9:29), 또한 ‘여호와께서 모든 신들보다 위대하심’을(출18:11) 나타내 보여야 했다. 이스라엘은 하나님을 위한 증인으로서 역할을 담당하는 도구였다. 출애굽, 아모리 족속과의 전쟁, 요단강 도하 등은 여호와가 이스라엘을 통해서 그 자신이 하나님이심을 선포한 중요한 사건들이다. 하나님께서는 이스라엘 백성과 함께 하신 하나님은 애굽 백성들에게 그가 유일하신 하나님임을 계시하셨다. 하나님은 애굽의 바로를 통해서 그의 능력을 보이시고 하나님의 이름이 온 땅에 전파되기를 원하셨다. 피재앙, 개구리재앙, 이와 파리 재앙, 악질, 독종, 우박의 재앙, 메뚜기와 흑암의 재앙, 장자죽음의 재앙을 통해서 애굽 백성들에게 하나님의 위대하심을 계시하셨다. 그리하여 하나님을 두려워한 애굽 사람들은 하나님의 말씀을 듣고 재앙을 피할 준비를 하기도 했다.
“내가 이번에는 모든 재앙을 네 마음과 네 신하와 네 백성에게 내려 너로 온 천하에 나와 같은 자가 없음을 알게 하리라...내가 너(바로)를 세웠음은 나의 능력을 네게 보이고 내 이름이 온 천하에 전파되게 하려 하였음이니라....내일 이맘때면 내가 중한 우박을 내리리니...바로의 신하 중에 여호와의 말씀을 두려워 하는 자들은 그 종들과 생축을 집으로 피하여 들였으나 여호와의 말씀을 마음에 두지 아니하는 자는 그 종들과 생축을 들에 그대로 두었더라” (출9:14-21).
“내가 내 손을 애굽 위에 펴서 이스라엘 자손을 그 땅에서 인도하여 낼 때에야 애굽 사람이 나를 여호와 인줄 알리라 하시매” (7:5)
미디안 제사장 이드로는 “이제 내가 알았도다. 여호와는 모든 신보다 크시므로 이스라엘에게 교만히 행하는 그들을 이기셨도다” (출18:11)고 고백한다. 라합 역시 이스라엘의 정탐군들을 만났을 때 비슷한 고백을 한다.
“이는 너희가 애굽에서 나올 때에 여호와께서 너희 앞에서 홍해 물을 마르게 하신 일과 너희가 요단 저편에 있는 아모리 사람의 두 왕 (헤스본의) 시혼과 (바산의) 옥에게 행한 일 곧 그들을 전멸시킨 일을 우리가 들었음이라. 우리가 듣자 곧 마음이 녹았고 너희의 연고로 사람이 정신을 잃었나니 너희 하나님 여호와는 상천하지의 하나님이시니라” (수2:10:11).
여호수아가 여리고의 동편 길갈에서 요단 강에서 취한 열 두 돌을 세운 후 말하길, 만일 후일에 자손들이 그 돌이 무슨 뜻이냐고 묻거든 다음과 같이 대답하라는 것이다:
“너희 하나님 여호와께서 요단 물을 너희 앞에 마르게 하사 너희로 건너게 하신 것이 너희 하나님 여호와께서 우리 앞에 홍해를 말리시고 우리로 건너게 하심과 같았나니 이는 땅의 모든 백성으로 여호와의 손이 능하심을 알게 하며 너희로 너희 하나님 여호와를 영원토록 경외하게 하려 하심이라 하라”(수4:23-24).
“또 주의 백성 이스라엘에 속하지 아니한 자 곧 주의 이름을 위하여 먼 지방에서 온 이방인이라도 저희가 주의 광대한 이름과 주의 능한 손과 주의 펴신 팔의 소문을 듣고 와서 이 전을 향하여 기도하거든 주는 계신 곳 하늘에서 들으시고 무릇 이방인들이 주께 부르짖는 대로 이루사 땅의 만민으로 주의 이름을 알고 주의 백성 이스라엘처럼 경외하게 하옵시며 또 내가 건축한 이 전을 주의 이름으로 일컫는 줄을 알게 하옵소서” (왕상8:41-43)
이 솔로몬의 성전봉헌기도는 이방사람들이 여호와의 이름과 권능을 듣고 그에게 그의 관용을 청할 것이라는 것을 전제한다. 이는 이스라엘의 이방 사람들에 대한 의미심장한 태도변화이다. 분명히 그들은 여호와의 이름을 부르는 이방인들이 기도의 응답에 관한 한 그들과 같이 여호와의 혜택을 누리는 자로 여기고 있다.
하나님의 이방인에 대한 사람은 구약에서도 나타난다. 예수님은 그의 갈리리 사역을 시작할 때 이방인에 대한 하나님의 관심을 언급하셨다. 먼저 선지자들이 고향에서 환영을 받지 못했다는 것이다. 유대인들이 선지자를 겸손하게 영접하고 그 선지자를 하나님의 메신저로 받아 들이지 못했다. 오히려 이방인들이 순수한 마음으로 선지자를 영접했던 것이다.
“내가 참으로 너희에게 이르노니 엘리야 시대에 하늘이 세 해 여섯 달을 닫히어 온 땅에 큰 흉년이 들었을 때에 이스라엘에 많은 과부가 있었으되, 엘리야가 그 중 한 사람에게도 보내심을 받지 않고 오직 시돈 땅에 있는 사렙다의 한 과부에게 뿐었으며, 또 선지자 엘리사 때에 이스라엘에 많은 문둥이가 있었으되 그 중에 한 사람도 깨끗함을 얻지 못하고 오직 수리아 사람 나아만 뿐이니라” (눅4:25-27)
그녀는 어떻게 생각하면 하찮은 이방의 땅 시돈의 어느 한 이름없는 보잘 것도 없는 과부에 불과하다. 하나님은 엘리야를 외국 땅까지 보내셨다 (왕상17:8-16). 그 작은 자 한 과부를 위해서. 아람 왕의 군대 장군 나아만은 그의 아내를 위해 수종드는 이스라엘 출신의 어린 소녀를 두었다. 이 유대인 소녀는 “우리 주인이 사마리아에 계신 선지자 앞에 계셨으면 좋겠나이다. 저가 그 문둥병을 고치리이다”고 여주인에게 말한다. 결국 나아만은 시리아 왕에게 부탁하여 이스라엘의 엘리사에게로 간다. 그는 그 선지자 말 대로 요단강에 일곱 번 몸을 담근 후에 치유 받았다. 그리고 그는 고백한다.
“내가 이제 이스라엘 외에는 온 천하에 신이 없는 줄을 아나이다....이제 부터는 종이 번제든지 다른 제든지 다른 신에게는 드리지 아니하고 다만 여호와께 드리겠나이다.” (왕하5:15, 17)
이와 같이 하나님께서 이스라엘 사람을 통해서 이방인을 사랑하시었다. 특히 요나서는 그가 니느웨의 백성을 얼마나 아끼시는지를 유대인민족중심에 빠진 요나에게 교훈하신 것을 알 수 있다. 박 넝쿨은 아끼면서 잃어버린 바된 수 많은 영혼들에게 무관심하고 그들을 싫어하는 유대인 요나에게 하나님은 말씀하셨다.
“네가 수고도 아니하였고 배양도 아니하였고 하룻밤에 낫다가 하룻밤에 망한 이 박 넝쿨을 네가 아꼈거든 하물며 이 큰 성읍, 니느웨에는 좌우를 분면치 못하는 자가 십 이만 여명이요 육축도 많이 있나니 내가 아끼는 것이 어찌 합당치 아니하냐” (욘4:10-11)
하나님께서는 이스라엘을 만민을 위한 제사장의 나라로 택하셨다(출19:5-6). 하나님은 이스라엘뿐 아니라 만민을 사랑하신다. 온 땅의 온 백성들이 구원 받기를 원하신다. 하나님이 이스라엘을 축복하신 것은 만민들이 하나님을 경외하고 하나님께 합당한 영광을 돌리게 하기 위함이다. 하나님은 모든 민족 가운데서 온 땅에서 영광을 받아야 한다.
“너희는 가만히 있어 내가 하나님 됨을 알지어다. 내가 열방과 세계 중에서 높임을 받으리라” (시46:10; see note of NIV Study Bible)
“하나님은 우리를 긍휼히 여기사 복을 주시고 그 얼굴 빛으로 우리에게 비취사 주의 도를 땅 위에, 주의 구원을 만방 중에 알리소서....하나?!--"<--> |