I will tell of the decree: the Lord said to me, “You are my son; today, I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession.”
– Psalm 2:7–8
Yes, this promise of the Son to Come, the Begotten Son of the Father, to whom the nations of the earth belong. All the ends of the earth shall be his possession.
Psalm 2:7–8 Illustrates the Father’s Esteem of His Son
This is why we pray most every day on this podcast for the nations, specific nations, to come to know Jesus because He is worthy of all of them. He’s worthy of all glory in all the nations. This is promised throughout the Bible. This is where all of history is headed. Revelation 5 and Revelation 7, every nation, tribe, people, and language gathered around the throne of God, singing praise for the salvation He has brought through Jesus, the one who has all authority in Heaven and on Earth over every nation, tribe, people, and language.
Matthew 28:18. Ah, live for this. Especially in a world where there are thousands of nations and tribes and languages and peoples where the Gospel has not yet gone, where they have not heard the good news of Jesus. More people alive today who are unreached by the Gospel than ever before in history. Do we feel that as the church of Jesus Christ?
Psalm 2:7–8 Reminds Us Jesus is Worthy of Being Known
There are three billion people in the world, in thousands of people groups, who have little to no access to the Gospel right now. Three billion people among the nations who don’t know about the truth and the love of God in Jesus. We should be talking about this all the time in the church. God help us to live for the spread of your grace and your glory, in Jesus to all the nations.
Lord, please use all of our lives toward that end. God, please help us and each of our churches to work toward that end, to give toward that end, to pray toward that end, to live toward that end. Lord, help us to faithfully make disciples of the nations right around us. God, we praise you for how you have brought so many unreached people groups to our doorsteps, to our neighborhoods, to the cities where we live. Lord, help us to faithfully reach the nations here and far from here.
Praying for the Dendi People
God, we pray for the Dendi people of Niger, hundreds of thousands of them, most having little to no access to the Gospel. We pray for the spread of the Gospel to the Dendi of Niger and other people groups like them. We’re asking you, God, according to your word in Psalm 2:8, that you would make the nations Jesus’ heritage. All of them, every single one of them. The ends of the earth, His possession, that He might be known and enjoyed and praised among all the peoples of the world.
God, help us all to live for that, to pray for that, to give toward that. Help us to go however you lead us where we live, anywhere in the world, for this end. We pray this according to your word and your purpose in the world. And God, we praise you for the privilege of being a part of this purpose. Help us to steward our lives, these vapors you’ve given to us, fully for your purpose. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
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.
