Multitudes from the Nations

The promise to bless all nations in Abraham culminates in the innumerable multitude of the Redeemed inhabiting New Jerusalem.

The foundation of the doctrine of redemption is the Covenant with Abraham. It includes the promises that “all the nations of the Earth will be blessed in Abraham” and innumerable descendants of the Patriarch. “I will multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens, and as the sand which is upon the seashore <…> and in your seed will all the nations of the earth be blessed” – (Genesis 22:17).

Furthermore, kings will be among Abraham’s descendants: “I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you” – (Genesis 17:6).

[Photo by Elena Mozhvilo on Unsplash]

The promises of the Abrahamic Covenant are fulfilled in Jesus Christ. He is the Anointed Son appointed by God as King over the nations and kings of the Earth and the “Seed of Abraham”:

• “The Kings of the Earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together against Yahweh and His Anointed One <…> I have set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. I will tell of the decree: Yahweh said to me, you are my son. This day I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will give you the nations for your inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for your possession” – (Psalm 2:2-8).

The promises to Abraham were always part of the larger redemptive plan of God, the beginning point. The initial focus on Abraham’s immediate biological descendants was only the first stage of a much larger program. The New Covenant established by Christ through his Death and Resurrection is not a deviation or separate covenant, but a Kingdom built on God’s promises to the Patriarchs.

In his Letter to the Galatians, Paul is clear. Men of the “faith of Jesus Christ” are the true “children of Abraham” regardless of their nationality. God’s plan was always to justify the Gentiles through faith, especially since He promised Abraham that “In you will all nations be blessed.”

Men and women who place their faith in Christ are “blessed with faithful Abraham.” Moreover, Jesus is the true “Seed of Abraham” in whom the nations are blessed – (Genesis 12:3, Galatians 3:7-9, 3:14, Ephesians 2:11-19).

The Book of Revelation introduces Jesus as the “Ruler of the Kings of the Earth,” just as promised in the Second Psalm. By his death, “he freed us from our sins <…> and made us a kingdom, priests for his God and Father,” the latter, a promise made originally to the nation of Israel before Mount Sinai - (Exodus 19:5 [“You will be a kingdom of priests for me”], Revelation 1:5-6).

With the Enthronement of the “slain Lamb,” the covenant promises are no longer limited to the small nation Israel, the territory of Palestine, or Abraham’s biological descendants:

• “And they sing a new song, saying, you are worthy to take the book, and to open its seals, for you were slain and purchased for God with your blood men from every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation, and made them a kingdom and priests for our God, and they reign upon the earth” – (Revelation 5:9-10).

Not only does this Priestly Company include men from every nation, but just as promised to Abraham, it is so vast its members cannot be counted:

• “After these things I saw, and behold, a great multitude that no man could number from every nation and tribe and people and tongue, standing before the Throne and before the Lamb, arrayed in white robes, and palms in their hands” – (Revelation 7:9).

• “I will multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens, and as the sand which is upon the seashore” – (Genesis 22:17).

• “They are before the Throne of God, and they serve him day and night in his Sanctuary. And he that sits on the Throne will spread his tabernacle over them. They will hunger no more, neither thirst any longer; neither will the sun strike upon them, nor any heat, for the Lamb that is in the middle of the Throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to fountains of waters of life, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes” – (Revelation 7:15-17).

THE HOLY CITY

This same innumerable company is found in “New Jerusalem,” for it will be inhabited fully. The population of the “Holy City” will include the “nations” and the “Kings of the Earth,” fulfilling the Abrahamic Covenant and the messianic promises of the Second Psalm.

• “And I heard a great voice out of the Throne saying, Behold, the Tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them. And he will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more; neither will there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain any longer, the first things are passed away. <…> And the city has no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine upon it, for the glory of God illuminated it, and its lamp is the Lamb. And the nations will walk in its light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory into it” - (Revelation 21:3-5, 21:23-24).

The dimensions of “New Jerusalem” are vast, for the city encompasses the entirety of the New Creation. Its enormous size is necessary to contain the multitudes of men and women purchased by the “Lamb” from every nation and people  (“I saw a New Heaven and a New Earth, for the first heaven and the first earth are passed away <…> And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God” – Revelation 21:1).

The Apostle Peter likewise describes the replacement of the Old Creation by the New Heavens and New Earth where Christ’s People will dwell forevermore. Nothing “unclean,” false, or sinful will be found anywhere in this glorious place:

• “The Day of the Lord will come as a thief; in the which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fervent heat, and the earth and the works that are therein will be burned up <…> But according to His promise, we look for New Heavens and a New Earth where righteousness dwells” – (2 Peter 3:10-13).

• “There will enter into the City nothing unclean, or he that makes an abomination and falsehoods, but only those men whose names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life” – (Revelation 21:27).

Similarly, the Apostle Paul universalized and vastly expanded the original promise of territory to Abraham. Because of all that Jesus accomplished through his Death and Resurrection, the Patriarch and his “seed” are the “heirs of the world,” the ‘kosmos’. The Book of Revelation confirms this same reality in its portrayal of “New Jerusalem” and the New Creation populated by the vast innumerable multitude of men and women redeemed by the shed blood of Jesus - (Romans 4:13).

The Book of Revelation thus squares the biblical circle. The covenant promises made to Abraham are fulfilled in the populated city of “New Jerusalem,” in the New Creation, as men and women from every nation are purchased for God through the Death and Resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah who now reigns over all things.

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SEE ALSO:

• The Victorious Shepherd - (The kings and nations of the Earth are found in New Jerusalem because of the Lamb’s redemptive work)

• Shepherding Kings and Nations - (The Nations and the Kings of the Earth are found in the City of New Jerusalem because of the redeeming work of the Lamb)

• Shepherding the Nations - (The “Son” in the twelfth chapter of Revelation represents the Messianic figure in the Second Psalm who “shepherds the nations”)

• Bénir les Nations et les Rois - (La promesse de bénir toutes les nations en Abraham culmine dans la multitude innombrable des Rachetés habitant la Nouvelle Jérusalem)