When God first called Abram, He announced: “In you all nations of the earth shall be blessed,” (Genesis 12:3) Before Isaac’s birth, God significantly changed Abram’s name: “No longer shall you be called Abram (High Father), but your name shall be Abraham (Father of Many), for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. I will keep My covenant with you and your descendants after you, an everlasting covenant it will be.” (Genesis 17:5) The New Testament defines such a descendent as “one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, as it is written, ‘I have made you the father of many nations.'” (Romans 4:16-17)
“You are worthy to take the scroll
Revelation 5:9-10
and to open its seals,
because you were slain,
and with your blood you purchased for God
persons from every tribe and language and people and nation.
You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God,
and they will reign on the earth.”
Millennial Kingdom
So God worked through one family that became one nation to prepare the world for the Messiah, Whose Kingdom–whose millennial kingdom, would include people of, in the words of Scripture, indeed in the words of Revelation, chapters 5 and 7 as well as 20, people from all nations: “because You were sacrificed and with Your blood You bought them from every tribe, language, people and nation to be God’s own” (5:9), “a large crowd that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people, and language standing before the throne and before the Lamb . . .” (7:9)
I am The Good Shepherd
These are all God’s Chosen people, gathered into the flock of Christ during the millennium, fulfilling what Jesus said and began to do in John 10:14-16: “I am the Good Shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me, as the Father knows Me and I know the Father. And I give My life for the sheep. I have other sheep, too, that are not in this fold. I must lead those, too, and they will listen to My voice, and so they will become one flock with one Shepherd.”
Jesus answered, “I did tell you, but you do not believe. The works I do in my Father’s name testify about me, but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”
John 10: 25-30
Both Jews and Gentiles
All who believe in the Messiah Jesus, including those looking forward to Him and those now looking back, both Jews and Gentiles, are a part of His kingdom. As Jesus said, “My sheep listen to My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me, and I give them everlasting life. They will never be lost, and no one will tear them out of My hand.” (John 10:27-28)
