A Heart for the Lost

As Christians we all know that God’s Plan of Salvation is for the whole world. However the early church did not realise this straightaway. Even after Jesus died and was resurrected they believed the gospel was only for the Jews. They did not obey Jesus’ command to “go into all the world and preach the gospel”. Salvation for the Gentiles began with God’s revelation to Peter through Cornelius (Acts 10). Then the “mystery kept secret since the world began” was revealed to Paul and became a key to world evangelisation. He said that the gospel was “for the Jew first and also for the Greek “(Gentile) (Romans 1:16). Both Jew and Gentile are included in God’s plan. He has broken down the division between them in order to reconcile them both to God in one body “so as to create in Himself one new man from the two” (Ephesians 2:15). Sadly some hinder this by trying to maintain a separation between Jew and Gentile. They believe God has finished with the Jews because they rejected Jesus and the Gentile church has replaced them. However Romans Chapters 9-11 clearly tell us God’s “gifts and calling are irrevocable”. God’s heart is for both. Israel is still part of God’s plan but “blindness in part has happened to them until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in”. Their rejection of the gospel caused it to be taken to the world. Now it is coming full circle back to the Jews and this time more and more of them are accepting Jesus as their Messiah. There are more Jewish believers today than ever before in history. In this talk given at the 2015 Feast of Tabernacles in London Clive Urquhart clearly explains how both Jews and Gentiles fit into God’s plan of salvation for the whole world and urges us to have a heart for the lost.