“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)
Right from the start, the disciples and apostles of Christ began to share the gospel of the Kingdom with the world. Within the first 50 years it had spread throughout the Holy Land, Asia Minor, Greece, Egypt, and of course, Rome. By the time Christianity was accepted as the state religion of the Roman Empire, the gospel had been preached throughout the Middle East, the Mediterranean basin, and as far east as India.
Over the next centuries the good news of the Kingdom was taken to Northern and Eastern Europe, and during the era of exploration and colonization, it was carried to the Americas, the Far East, China, and Australia. All during this time there were ups and downs, advances and setbacks. Indeed, the world owes a debt of gratitude to these stalwart missionaries who edured hardships, loneliness, disease, and opposition to bring Christ’s message of salvation to a thirsting humanity. Through their heroic efforts, by the eighteenth century about 20% of the world’s population was identified as Christian.
And then, something remarkable happened. Beginning in the late 1700s and increasing in the 1800s, England, the United States, and a few countries in Europe witnessed an incredible revival of faith and interest in spreading the gospel. Concurrent with the resurgence of interest in the return of Christ, revival meetings sprung up, mission societies were created, new movements started, and missionaries began to pour out into the world as never before. Aided by advances in transportation, communication, and the doors opened by trade and colonization, wave after wave of clergy and lay people began bring the gospel of the Kingdom to peoples who had never previously been reached.
Accorrding to Stephen Neill in his book, A History of Christian Missions, the 125 years from 1785 until 1910 were a golden age in the history of Christian mission. During this period the proportion of Christians in the world rose from 20% at the outset to over 30% by the time of the Edinburg Conference in 1910. Never before or since has the world witnessed such a massive increase in the proportion of believers around the globe. And never in history had the gospel been preached so widely. As early as the mid-1800s, people were remarking that the Great Commission was being fulfilled in their lifetimes.
And the process continues. Although the proportion of Christians worldwide since 1910 has remained fairly constant, the good news of the Kingdom is more accessible than ever before. The Bible has been translated into hundreds of languages. It is available in print and digital formats in every country of the world. Christian radio, television, and Internet streams blanket the globe, reaching into even the most remote, inaccessible, and hostile regions of the earth, bringing to mind this quote from Isaiah:
“…for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.” (Isaiah 11:9)
This remarkable success also reminds us of the promise of Christ: “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) Those who take this promise seriously respond in different ways. Some believe that the gospel has indeed been preached to the nations, and expect Christ’s return very soon. Others feel that we may be close, which simply means we need to redouble our efforts. Still others claim that there are still millions of “unreached people” out there, particularly in the predominanly Islaamic countries.
Returning to the words of Christ, we notice He says that the gospel of Christ “shall be preached”. He did not say it would necessarily be accepted by all who hear it. As history shows, if we need to wait for every person of every nation, tribe, village, and family to accept the gospel of the Kingdom, then we may well be sending out missionaries for an eternity.
As it stands, there was probably no moment in time where we could draw a line and say, “On this day the gospel was preached to all the nations.” Nevertheless, it is becoming clear that the gospel is indeed being preached in all the world, as a witness to all the nations in many ways, every day.