The Promise and Power of Missions

Today I was reading Psalm 22 for my Through-the-Bible reading plan (yeah, I know, I'm a couple days behind).  Verses 27-28 jumped out at me.

All the ends of the earth shall remember

and turn to the LORD,

and all the families of the nations

shall worship before You.

For kingship belongs to the LORD,

and He rules over the nations.

This passage is a promise for missions, and power to back it up.  "Missions" is the work of the church in bringing the Gospel to unreached people.  The reason we can have confidence in doing this is promises like this one in Psalm 22.  The promise is that all the ends of the earth shall turn to the LORD and worship before Him.

But what if the promise fails?  What if people don't turn?  What if Christians don't go?  This flood of questions and doubts can threaten to undermine missionary zeal, unless the promise of missions in verse 27 is accompanied by the power of missions in verse 28.

We can be absolutely confident that all the ends of the earth will turn to the LORD, that "a great multitude that no one could number from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages" will one day stand before the throne, because "kingship belongs to the LORD."  God is sovereign over the nations, He is sovereign over the flow of history, He is sovereign over the darkened hearts of men, He is sovereign over salvation, He is sovereign over missions.  The same God who spoke omnipotently into darkness and said, "Let there be light," still speaks with the same omnipotence into blinded, darkened hearts around the globe, saying "Let there be light" (2 Corinthians 4:4-6).  The mission will not fail, because kingship and sovereignty and wisdom and power belong to the Lord.  We can therefore obey His summons and go with confidence, knowing that there is power to back up this glorious promise.