Matthew 24:14

“And this Good News of the Kingly Rule will be preached in the whole world for a testimony to all the nations, and then will the end come.”

Jesus finishes this solemn section on a high note. Let them not doubt that through all the experiences of His followers, their testimony will go on, so that the Good News of the Kingly Rule will be ‘proclaimed' in the whole world for a testimony to all nations. The people of God may sometimes be down, but they will not be out. And His work will go on and prosper. Indeed sometimes when we look at church history, and then look at the church, we can only wonder that it has survived. And yet the wonder is that today there are more true Christians in the world than ever before (even if there are also many false ones whose apparent love has grown cold, or has always been cold). God has triumphed in spite of the failings of His people. And we should note that this Good News of the Kingly Rule is not some half-baked message for a lesser age (indeed in Mark it is ‘the Gospel'). It is the message described in chapter 13 and proclaimed by Jesus Himself, and by His disciples, and by Paul in Rome (Acts 28:23; Acts 28:31). It is ‘the things concerning the Lord Jesus Christ' (Acts 28:31). It is ‘righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit' (Romans 14:17). It is the Gospel of the present age (Mark 13:10).

‘To all the nations.' That Jesus knew that the Good News must reach out to all nations is apparent as early as Matthew 8:11. The only question was the timing, and we have seen how gradually His ministry had extended towards Gentiles (compare Matthew 12:18; Matthew 12:21; Matthew 15:21 onwards). Now the time has come for full openness in the outreach of the Gospel. There was a limited sense in which this universality was fulfilled at Pentecost, where men ‘from every nation under Heaven' were gathered (Acts 2:5). It could also have been seen as fulfilled when the empire was evangelised so that the Gospel had gone out ‘throughout the whole world' (see Romans 1:8). But today we are aware that He meant it literally, and that His aim is to reach to every part of the world (see Matthew 28:19). And then the end will come.

This should not have surprised them. It was an axiom of the prophetic teaching that in the end all nations would be brought under God's rule. To Abraham the promise was given that through his seed all the nations of the world would be blessed (Genesis 12:3). The Servant was to ‘bring forth justice to the Gentiles' (Isaiah 42:1) and indeed be ‘a light to the Gentiles, that you (the Servant) may be my salvation to the ends of the earth' (Isaiah 49:6 compare Isaiah 42:6). ‘The nations' would seek to the root of Jesse (i.e. a son of the Davidic line - Isaiah 11:10), and ‘will come from the ends of the earth -- and will know that My name is Yahweh' (Jeremiah 16:19; Jeremiah 16:21). Compare also Malachi 1:11; Psalms 96:10; Psalms 96:13).

We should note here how important the proclamation of the Gospel to the whole world is seen to be. While wars and natural disasters will go on and on, and Jerusalem may be destroyed, it is not those events, but the final successful proclamation of the Gospel that will affect the time of His coming. Compare for this 2 Peter 3:9. That is the final aim of this age.