‘Ransom for the Nations’
Editor’s Note: This article is an excerpt from David Platt’s book The Name of Jesus, which includes a guide for praying for the nations during Advent.
“And they sang a new song, saying, ‘Worthy are you to take the scroll and open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.” – Revelation 5:9
Revelation 5 contains what may possibly be the most breathtaking scene in all of the Bible.
It begins with God seated on a throne with a scroll in his right hand. This scroll contains God’s ultimate plan for the eradication of sin, evil, suffering, and death in the world. An angel asks, “Who can open this scroll and break its seals?” In other words, “Who can bring about the end of sin and death in the world?” In response, no one is able to step forward, and John (who is telling this story) begins to weep loudly. You and I would do the same if we knew that sin, evil, suffering, and death would be the end of each and every one of our stories.
But then John turns and sees Jesus, depicted as a Lion-like Lamb who was once slain now standing before the throne of God the Father. Jesus goes to the throne and takes the scroll in a jaw-dropping display of his unique and unmatched glory. Immediately the worshipers around the throne fall on their faces and sing a song that had never been sung in heaven.
In that song, they praise Jesus for “ransoming” people with his blood. This word for “ransom” could also be translated “redeem” or “purchase,” and it refers to the price Jesus paid to make it possible for people from every tribe, language, people, and nation in the world to be saved. As we’ve already seen, when the Bible talks about “nations” like this, it’s not just referring to the 200 or so geopolitical entities that we might call countries today. Instead, it’s referring to the thousands of ethnic groups, or people groups, which dot the human landscape with their unique languages and cultures.
Revelation 5 is a declaration that Jesus loves people from every single ethnic group in the world so much that he has paid the ransom price for their salvation. This is why we have prayed in each of these days leading up to Christmas for a different unreached people group—because Jesus loves each of them and has given his life for all of them.
This means that if we have the Spirit of Jesus inside us, we will love all the ethnic groups of the world, and we will give our lives praying, giving, and going however God leads us until all these people groups in the world experience his love. All who know Jesus as the Ransom for the Nations will live with resolve to spread his worth among the nations until a multitude greater than anyone can count gathers around God’s throne to praise Jesus for the salvation he has brought to every tribe, language, people, and nation (Revelation 7:9-10).
REFLECT
What would it look like for your life to be consumed with praying, giving, and going wherever God leads for the spread of his redeeming love to all the nations? If this is the ultimate purpose of God in history, then what is keeping you from living for this purpose today?
PRAY
Praise Jesus for ransoming you with his blood, and pray for over 21 million Java Mancanegari people in Indonesia who have still not heard the good news of how Jesus has paid the price for their sin. Ask God to help you live for the spread of his love to them (and others like them).
