Revelation 14:6-7 “Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people-- (7) saying with a loud voice, "Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has come; and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water.”
The final witness quoted above, is the apostle John. In this passage, John is shown a vision of the angel that has the everlasting gospel to preach. And in the vision the Holy Spirit makes known to John, that God has ordained that the gospel message is to be preached to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people. In other words, none are to be left out. And so clearly this vision confirms to the church, that she is mandated by God to preach the gospel to all men everywhere. And so, there can be no doubt, that all three of the witnesses quoted in this section agree on the same point, i.e. that God has mandated that the salvation that He has made available to all, must be proclaimed to all. There is a comment that I need to make about this point however, which is, that whatever God does is always perfect, but when God uses man to fulfil His purpose, not always is His perfect purpose fulfilled. The reason for that is because the will of man has now become involved, and the will of men is not always aligned to God’s perfect will. And so, even though it is God’s perfect will for the gospel message to be proclaimed to all men, not always is the church obedient in proclaiming the gospel to all men. Think about the early church example we already discussed, where the saints initially preached the gospel only to the Jews. Nevertheless, as far as God is concerned, He has decreed that the gospel of salvation should be proclaimed to all men everywhere.
Michael E.B. Maher
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