And the gospel must first be published among all nations.
On the Mount of Olives the saying was given to Peter and James and John and Andrew in answer to when the temple would be thrown down and destroyed and what would be the sign of the fulfillment of all things, of His coming and of the end of the world. In that discourse it stands after warnings about deceivers coming in His name, wars and rumors of wars, nation rising against nation and kingdom against kingdom, earthquakes and famines and troubles as the beginnings of sorrows, and after foretelling that followers will be delivered to councils and beaten in synagogues and brought before rulers and kings for His sake for a testimony. It stands before the direction not to premeditate speech when led and delivered up because the Holy Ghost will speak, and before betrayal by family, hatred by all for His name, and salvation to him who endures to the end.
The discourse mingles the destruction of Jerusalem with the great day of His coming, because the disciples could not have endured the future events as He beheld them, so in mercy He blended the two great crises and left the disciples to study out the meaning. Where its prophetic words refer to the destruction of Jerusalem, they reach beyond that event to the final conflagration when the Lord rises out of His place to punish the world for iniquity. The entire discourse was given not for the disciples only but for those who will live in the last scenes of this earth's history.
It means the gospel must be proclaimed among all nations before the end, with worldwide proclamation coming first in that sequence. That worldwide proclamation takes place amid persecution, as His disciples give testimony for Him. The saying defines God's work as preaching the gospel to all nations and people, including cities where nothing has yet been done to make it known. Doing that worldwide work is justice and righteousness to His cause throughout the field, so means drawn from the churches should go to advance it rather than be tied up in centralized plans at Battle Creek.
On the Mount of Olives the saying was given to Peter and James and John and Andrew in answer to when the temple would be thrown down and destroyed and what would be the sign of the fulfillment of all things, of His coming and of the end of the world. In that discourse it stands after warnings about deceivers coming in His name, wars and rumors of wars, nation rising against nation and kingdom against kingdom, earthquakes and famines and troubles as the beginnings of sorrows, and after foretelling that followers will be delivered to councils and beaten in synagogues and brought before rulers and kings for His sake for a testimony. It stands before the direction not to premeditate speech when led and delivered up because the Holy Ghost will speak, and before betrayal by family, hatred by all for His name, and salvation to him who endures to the end.
The discourse mingles the destruction of Jerusalem with the great day of His coming, because the disciples could not have endured the future events as He beheld them, so in mercy He blended the two great crises and left the disciples to study out the meaning. Where its prophetic words refer to the destruction of Jerusalem, they reach beyond that event to the final conflagration when the Lord rises out of His place to punish the world for iniquity. The entire discourse was given not for the disciples only but for those who will live in the last scenes of this earth's history.
It means the gospel must be proclaimed among all nations before the end, with worldwide proclamation coming first in that sequence. That worldwide proclamation takes place amid persecution, as His disciples give testimony for Him. The saying defines God's work as preaching the gospel to all nations and people, including cities where nothing has yet been done to make it known. Doing that worldwide work is justice and righteousness to His cause throughout the field, so means drawn from the churches should go to advance it rather than be tied up in centralized plans at Battle Creek.