Signs of the Last Days: The Gospel Preached Worldwide
In today’s connected world of computers, satellites, cell phones, and a mass media that nearly covers the entire globe, it seems we have today the technology and ability to fulfill this command.
Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. [Mark 16:15]
This is our walking orders as Christians. To share the gospel with everyone. Regardless of our place in society, the country we live in, or whatever our circumstances… we are told to preach the good news. God loves ALL His creation and wants them all to know His plan for redemption.
In order to hear the gospel, there must first be a method of communication. For humans, that is the role of language. We communicate with other humans by way of spoken or drawn language. Technological advancements allow us to reach into all part of the globe, sharing the gospel via satellite and radio waves. What’s missing is a common language that all peoples understand.
The Fields are Ripe for Harvest
It’s been estimated there are still around 7,143 unreached people groups in our world. An unreached people is a people group among which there is no indigenous community of believing Christians with adequate numbers and resources to evangelize this people group without outside assistance.
According to the makers of the film, Sheep Among Wolves, the Muslim world is the final field of unbelievers to be harvested. The story unfolding in this radical Islamic country is encouraging as we lift our eyes to the coming King. He has a perfect plan that is perhaps unfolding in the Middle East.
I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. – John 4:35
God will not end humanity without giving EVERYONE the opportunity to either reject Him or accept Him (1 Tim. 2:4).
And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. – Matthew 24:14
Jonathan Welton points out in Raptureless, the root word oikoumene, used for “world” in this passage, actually means “inhabited or civilized world,” not world as in global planet earth (that would be the Greek word kosmos). This is the same Greek word used in Luke 2:1: “Now in those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus, that a census be taken of all the inhabited earth.” The apostle Paul used this same word later to confirm four times that the gospel had reached the whole civilized world as Jesus predicted (see Rom. 1:8; 10:18; Col 1:5–6,23).
In this context and based on Paul’s testimony, this prophecy would appear to have been fulfilled.