28th July 2026 Question box

OK, today’s question is:

“How come Jesus didn’t go to every nation?”

It interesting, from age 30 when he went public, till age 33 when he died and rose again, Jesus never went more than 120km from home. And so if Jesus is a Saviour for every nation, why didn’t he go to every nation?

Of course some people claim that he did go to their nation: There’s sect of Islam called the Ahmediyyah, who believe that Jesus actually died of old age in Kashmir, India. And then there’s the book of Mormon which says that Jesus went to America. Of course. But both of these traditions come from the 19th century and in historical terms they are pretty much “fake news.”

The eyewitness accounts of Jesus’ life say that he conducted his ministry where he did on purpose. For example there was one time when Jesus took some time out in modern day Lebanon, and while he was there, he said: “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.” (Matt 15:24) The focus of his ministry was on the Old Testament people of God. (Although Jesus was willing to make exceptions when people from other nations came asking for help… But they had to come and find him).

However this changes after his resurrection, when he says to his disciples: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations.” (Matthew 28:18-19) See, once there is good news of death for our sins and resurrection to life… then the focus switches to all the world. Jesus was sent to Israel; the disciples are sent from Israel.

But still… why only disciples? Why not go himself? Well think about it, if Jesus remains on earth in his body, he will only be in one place at one time. So instead he ascends to the father, if you like he goes up into the command and control centre for his mission… And he sends disciples in all directions, And as they go, they make and send disciples, who make and send disciples… And so Jesus has this team which exponentially grows, and can be active in every nation at the same time.

Something else: He promises that as we go, he is with us: (Matthew 28:20) “surely I am with you always…” He is with us by his Holy Spirit, and as we have seen from our recent sermons in John’s gospel, people really do meet Jesus himself when the Holy Spirit is active. In that sense Jesus is going to every nation, as his Holy Spirit works through believers to gather a people from all the world. Of course the challenge for us in our generation is to finish that task, so that Christ will indeed be present and active among all the peoples of this world.

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This question was originally answered in our evening service on 10 May 2026. I’ll aim to post another question and answer next week. You can read about how our question box works here.