Through God's Eyesنموونە

Today, we will discuss what the mission is about. Missions begin with God Himself. God has a passion that He be glorified and honored by all people groups on earth. But Satan and his forces have stolen God’s glory, which belongs to God alone. God wants to restore His creation and bring all people back to His original purposes.

The Bible is a book made of 66 different books written by 40 authors over a span of 1,500 years. It is not just some made-up stories put together. It is one cohesive story from the book Genesis to Revelation. It’s the story of God’s glory. Remember when I said that Satan and his forces had stolen some glory that belongs to God? Let's go back a bit and share more of the story so that you understand the journey that we are about to take.

In the beginning, God created everything for Himself and His glory. Scripture says in Isaiah 43:7, "At the heart of creation He made man so that God could share Himself with others." Adam and Eve were told to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth with the glory of God.

However, man decided that God couldn’t be trusted - he was holding something back from us. Adam and Eve decided to live for themselves instead of God, which filled the earth with sin and selfishness. Adam and the first woman ate the fruit they were not supposed to. Therefore, God's glory was taken and distorted.

After Adam and Eve sinned against the Lord, sin entered into the world, and all who came after them inherited their sin. There was now a separation between man and God. Men no longer cared to bring God’s glory to earth. Instead, they focused on themselves and their plans. God didn’t like this; in fact, God flooded the entire earth and started over with a man named Noah (Genesis 6). When Noah stepped off the ark, God told him the same words he had told Adam, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth (Genesis 9:1).”

However, people looked to give themselves honor instead of God. Because they all shared the same language. So, the people made a plan. At a place called Babel, they would build up a tower to the heavens and, in doing so, make a name for themselves (Genesis 11). The people worked to build their own kingdom rather than obey God’s command. They had made the same mistake as each of the generations before them. Since the group had ignored His message to spread His name and His glory throughout the earth, God took matters into His own hands.

The Lord confused the people's languages, so they could no longer communicate easily. God had created many different tribes and peoples of the world.

Out of those nations, God chose a man named Abraham and made a covenant with him (Genesis 12). God told Abraham that he would bless him and all his descendants, turning them into a great nation that would bless all other nations. God eventually called this nation Israel and began demonstrating His glory in many ways. God gave them a set of laws (or rules) to live by to live separate and holy lives from all the other nations.

Sometimes, Israel would live out this calling well, understanding God’s desire to bless all the peoples of the earth through them. Other times, Israel would fall into the same trap that humanity had again and again - glorifying itself rather than glorifying God.

When Israel got off track, God intervened. Here’s the thing: the glory of God is so important. We are called to make His name, goodness, love, mercy, and so much more known. Glory is not about us but about Him. Why is that? It’s because God is Holy. He Knows no sin. He is Perfect. We are sinners.

Israel people represent us. In the cycle of ups and downs, they desired the One True King (Jesus) to come. God sent Jesus to show the Father’s love for all people. Angels proclaimed that His salvation would be for all peoples.

Time and time again, Christ reminded his disciples that God’s plan from the beginning was to bless all people, and His life modeled this message.

Jesus became angry when the temple wasn’t being used as a house of prayer for all nations. He told parables (stories) about the kingdom of God being a kingdom for all people groups. And he preached the good news of salvation to Jews, Gentiles, rich, poor, educated, and uneducated alike. Jesus taught all and served all. He was, and is, the true Messiah for all nations.

Jesus lived a perfect life, died a perfect death, and rose again with a perfect resurrection.

Then, He commanded us, “Go, make disciples of all nations!” (Matthew 28:18).

He told us that this gospel of the kingdom must be proclaimed in all the world as a testimony to all people, all races, all cultures, and all languages, and then the end would come.

That’s the story of the Bible. A single, cohesive story from cover to cover. God's story. The story of His glory among all nations can’t come to fruition until all nations have heard about Jesus.

There are more than 70 million Deaf people in the world. Over 98% of them still have not heard the good news of the Gospel message. We are called to be the hands and feet of Jesus (Romans 10:15). We have the opportunity to go and share the good news, to be disciple-makers. We were created just for this purpose - to share the good news, glorify Christ, and be reconciled to God.

Throughout this journey, we’ll share more of what that looks like and how you can participate in the mission that Jesus gave us. In fact, He invites you into that story. He invites you into that mission.

What part will you play?