(June 25, 2010) The Denver Post ran a story about Bible translation: “Bible translators hope to have every language covered in 15 years”. The article reports:
“A Christian endeavor of almost 2,000 years could be substantially completed by 2025. Protestant translators expect to have the Bible — or at least some of it — written in every one of the world’s 6,909 spoken languages. ‘We’re in the greatest period of acceleration in 20 centuries of Bible translation,’ said Morrison resident Paul Edwards, who heads up Wycliffe Bible Translators’ $1 billion Last Languages Campaign. Portable computers and satellites get the credit for speeding things up by about 125 years.”
Many dedicated men and women have served Jesus Christ over the last two thousand years. Bible translators have performed some of the most important roles in furthering the Kingdom of God since the incarnation of Jesus. In the performance of their calling as translators they have possibly played a role in helping to fulfill a prophecy that Jesus spoke to His disciples on the Mt. of Olives during His Passion week:
“And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come” (Matthew 24:14)
This is the only saying of Jesus that indicates the timing of the End-Times (in other sayings Jesus did describe what the End-Times would be like but not the timing except to say that no one knows the day or hour of His return). Notice that Jesus said the “gospel of the kingdom” will be preached in all the world and then the end will come. He did not say the Bible or Word of God would be in all the world but that the gospel would be preached to every nation before His second coming.
Many sources say there are as many as 195 countries in the world today (worldatlas.com). However, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) World Factbook lists 237 countries. Of these, thirteen countries have no registered percentage of Christians among their population.
Afghanistan
Bangladesh
Bhutan
Cambodia
Cocos (Keeling) Islands
Libya
Maldives
Mauritania
Nepal
Oman
Saudi Arabia
Somalia
Western Sahara (source: The CIA World Factbook)
I find it unlikely that there are no indigenous Christians in these thirteen countries. Even if there are no Christians in them it is likely the gospel has reached all the nations of the world through the Internet or by other means of media access. If so, does this mean we are close to seeing the fulfillment of this prophecy of Jesus? It is possible Jesus meant that when His followers did indeed preach the Gospel in every nation then He would return. However, I believe the Bible indicates this prophecy will be fulfilled in a supernatural way.
In the Book of Revelation God’s servant John witnessed a global event:
“6 And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, 7 Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come: and worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.” (Revelation 14:6-7)
Jesus said the Gospel would be preached “unto all nations” and the angel in Revelation preaches the Gospel to “every nation”. Thus, I believe this is the event which will fulfill this prophecy of Jesus. After that, the final seven bowl judgments occur culminating in the battle of Armageddon and the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.
From a prophetic perspective, I believe the most important sign Christians should have looked for was the rebirth of the nation of Israel. Several prophecies in both the Old Testament and New Testament involve the return of the Jews to the land of Israel and the rebuilding of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem. Israel became a nation in 1948 and gained control of Jerusalem in 1967. Therefore, all other End-Times prophecies should be interpreted in light of this prophetic event. But until the Lord’s return, Christians are to continue spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ and continue ministering to those with spiritual and physical needs.
Related posts:
- “And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies” – Revelation 11:9 (April 6, 2009 ) Today I visited a website that I had not been to in more than a year. As soon as I saw how dramatically their technology had improved I immediately thought of a prophecy in the Book of Revelation...God was showing His servant John what was going...
- Joyful Firstfruits, Resurrection, and Easter Sunday: “Occupy till I come” (Firstfruits, Resurrection, Easter Sunday - April 4, 2010) Nearly two thousand years ago God sent His Son Jesus Christ to the world to save mankind from its sins. In doing so God fulfilled many of the prophecies He declared to His people, the Jewish nation of Israel. Not only did...
- “And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke” (April 24, 2010) Today is the twentieth anniversary of the Hubble Space Telescope launch. In commemoration of that event NASA released this photo. This extraordinary display of God's creation brings to mind a prophecy from the Book of Joel: "1 Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm...
- Politics, Israel, and “declaring the end from the beginning” (May 31, 2010) I started writing a draft of this post more than a week ago. The subject is the importance (or lack thereof) of contemporary news events in relation to God's overall prophetic plan for the world. Earlier today a still developing story occurred when Israeli forces boarded a...
- “Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?” – Luke 18:8 (March 11, 2009) The Christian Science Monitor website had the following article: "The coming evangelical collapse" written by Michael Spencer, a well known Christian blogger and former pastor of the Southern Baptist denomination. He writes "We are on the verge – within 10 years – of a major collapse of...
- “And the fourth angel poured out his bowl upon the sun…and men were scorched with great heat” – Revelation 16:8-9 (June 6, 2010) In the last couple of years Hollywood has produced two apocalyptic movies (Knowing and 2012) in which the sun played a role in devastating the earth. I do not know whether or not the Bible played any role in the development of the storylines of these two...
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Hi.
I found your Web Site by Google
And I wish you the best you can get,
the peace of God through Jesus Christ.
Welcome to visit my Site.
Allan Svensson, Sweden
http://www.algonet.se/~allan-sv/INDEX.HTM
And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world
for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.
Matt. 24:14.
Has this been fulfilled? Both yes and no. By radio, TV,
books and magazines, E-mails and Websites on the
Internet, it is possible to reach out above the whole world.
We can say that God’s gospel has been spread out above
the whole world. The problem is that those who are
preaching, and those who are writing in books and
magazines and Websites on the Internet, they have an
insufficient knowledge of God’s word. They have not
learnt the first fundamentals of the gospel of God.
Those who ought to be teachers, yet need to get teaching.
Hebr. 5:12. This is the state of most Christians today. They
are not able to preach or teach about the Assembly of God,
or about the baptism by the Holy Spirit. They are lacking
of this knowledge. They believe that the Assembly of God
is a Pentecostal church. Please, consider what this expression
“the Assembly of God” in the reality implies. The Assembly
of God must be the same as the Greek word “ecclesia”, and
the Body of Christ. 1 Cor. 12:12-31.
Then it is easy to understand that this has nothing to do
with the Pentecostal Movement. Pentecostal churches have
existed about 100 years, but the Assembly of God has existed
ever since Jesus baptized his first disciples by the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit gave them the new life in Christ so that they
became born anew. Then the Assembly of God was born.
Since then, the Assembly of God has lived here on the earth
generation after generation.
The truth of the Assembly of God has never been preached
in the churches. Therefore, God’s people are totally
unprepared for Jesus’ coming. It is very urgent that all
God’s people understand the truth of the Assembly of God.
Nowhere in the Bible can, we find any hint of that the
Assembly of God is any church system, or that the church
buildings are temples of God, neither that the Assembly of
God is any organized movement. A living body cannot
become an organization, and an organization cannot become
a living body. Therefore, the Assembly of God cannot become
an organization. Nowhere in the Bible can, we read that they
organized a local assembly.
In the reality, the word “church” does not occur in the Bible.
I have five bible translations in Swedish. Nowhere in these
Bibles we can find the word “church” (kyrka). All churches
and free churches are religious black buildings, not founded
on God’s word.
God is the Love
But God’s love does not hinder us to study God’s word
http://www.algonet.se/~allan-sv/LOVE.HTM
Where is Jesus’ church?
Where is the church that Jesus built?
http://www.algonet.se/~allan-sv/PREPARE.HTM#Where
Why did the Pentecostal Revival take an end?
http://www.algonet.se/~allan-sv/CRISIS.HTM
The truth of the baptism by the Holy Spirit and the new birth
http://www.algonet.se/~allan-sv/CRISIS.HTM#baptism
In the free churches the world around
there are thousands of preachers
and bible teachers, but none can explain
what the Assembly of God is
http://www.algonet.se/~allan-sv/EXPLAIN.HTM#thousands
The condition of the Assembly of God
is now much worse than in the assemblies
in Ephesus, Sardis and Laodicea
http://www.algonet.se/~allan-sv/SARDIS.HTM#condition
I see that you have posted this article in the comments section of many other blogs. You wrote “The truth of the Assembly of God has never been preached in the churches. Therefore, God’s people are totally unprepared for Jesus’ coming. It is very urgent that all God’s people understand the truth of the Assembly of God.” I believe the Holy Spirit will stir believer’s hearts the closer we get to Jesus’ return. As I mentioned in my previous blog article (As it was in the days of Noah and Lot…) the Bible declares that believers will recognize the signs leading up to Jesus’ return while the world will scoff at or be blind to what God is doing.