“I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you.”
-Genesis 17:6
Genesis 17:6 is such a great verse. This is God making a promise to Abraham about how he would be fruitful. How from him would come many nations, just like we saw in Genesis 12:3. God’s blessing upon many nations, and even kings coming from him, which we know Matthew, in the very first chapter in the New Testament makes clear that ultimately King Jesus would come from Abraham’s line.
Jesus came to save sinners, but this good news is not known among many peoples throughout the world. We must pray and we must go.
This Verse Discusses The Kazakhs People
There’s so much in Genesis 17:6, but I want to think specifically about this picture of nations. And the blessing of God spreading to the nations, and just remind us of that picture in the world today. Today, I was looking at the Qinghai Kazakhs in western China. This is a native Kazakhs people spread in western China specifically. This is a people group among whom there are no believers right now. No one that we know of, knows the grace of Christ, the love of Jesus in the gospel. No one in this people group. The Qinghai Kazakhs in western China, none of them know how much God loves them, that he has sent his son Jesus to die on the cross for them. None of them knows that King Jesus has come.
Here’s a picture of a nation, a people group, a family, clan, in the earth, where the blessing of God has not yet gone. I just want to lead us today, in light of a promise given to Abraham centuries ago about a king to come that bring blessing to all the nations. I want us to pray the fulfillment of that promise among the Qinghai Kazakhs in western China. Would you pray that with me right now? And just know, wherever you are, we’re about to pray to God. He’s listening to us, and let’s believe that we’re asking God to do what he’s promised to do to bring about his blessing among all the nations. We know that the blessing of salvation hasn’t made known among this people group.
Genesis 17:6 Prays For God To Spread His Word To Other Nations
God we pray, we pray right now, knowing you’re hearing us, knowing that your will is to be worshiped among all the peoples, among all the nations of the earth, including the Qinghai Kazakhs in western China. So God, we pray, there’s no believers there right now, at least that we know of, maybe you know some. If there are some, oh glory be to your name for the salvation that has come, but God, we’re assuming right now, there’s none there yet. So we’re asking please, please, please, oh God, please make your grace and glory known among them. Cause your blessing to spread to that people group, to that nation, to that tribe. God please, cause the good news of King Jesus to be made known among the Qinghai Kazakhs in western China.
God, may it be so. Like today, may it be so soon, please oh God, cause other Chinese believers, other Kazakh believers, people who are your missionaries to go. We pray for the spread of the gospel for that people group. We praise you for the privilege you’ve given us right now of praying, and our prayers being a part of the accomplishment of our purpose, the fulfillment of your promise. God, help us to pray like this all the time, to pray the fulfillment of your promises in the world, the accomplishment of your will, the spread of your worship among all the peoples of the world. We pray for the Qinghai Kazakhs in western China. In Jesus name, amen.
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David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
