Acts 13:47

Acts 13:47. I have s et thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth. The apostles now show the assembled crowds that it was no momentary impulse of anger which had moved them to that solemn declaration of their intention to speak directly to the Gentile world. It was in obedience to the word of the Lord, spoken centuries before by the mouth of Isaiah (Isaiah 49:6). They could see, then, in their own sacred oracles, that the work of Messiah was not by any means to be confined to the Jews. A far grander field was to be subjected to the influence of His blessed Spirit. For similar indications of Messianic blessings to be poured on the Gentile nations, see Isaiah 2:1-10; Isaiah 42:6. On the threshold of the Gospel story, too, we find the aged Simeon, who, though waiting for the consolation of Israel, yet saluting the rising of the same glorious Light over the darkened Gentile lands (Luke 2:32).