God has a mission-heart; and he has always
been busy carrying out his gracious mission-plan to lost mankind. I have,
therefore, attempted to describe in my Commentaries some aspect of God’s
mission-plan in every verse of the New Testament, beginning with the Gospel of
Luke. And in addition, in the paragraphs that follow, I have also attempted to
very briefly describe God’s mission-plan in order to prepare you, my readers,
for what you will see in my Commentaries. All of Scripture reveals the
mission-heart of God and his mission-plan. God is love (1 Jn4:16), and
therefore, he has a most gracious mission-heart. And mankind is the crown of
his creation and the main object of his love; therefore, he has always longed
to live together with all human beings in perfect relationships in a perfect
world forever (Ezekial 18:32; 1 Tim 2:4). That was and still is his eternal
plan. However, he also created mankind with the freedom to choose whether they
would return his love or not, since it would not be true love if he forced
anyone to love him. And sadly, the first two persons that he made, Adam and Eve
did soon make the wrong choice and chose to sin (Gen 3:1-14), and thus they
also passed their sin on to all of their children, to all of mankind (Ps 51:5).
But God had, of course, foreknown this tragedy; and even before creation, his
mission-heart had already compelled him to graciously create a mission-plan;
therefore, he quickly called Adam and Eve to repentance and faith and promised
that he would send someone to destroy the power of sin and death (Gen 3:15).
And since he graciously never forces anyone to return his love, he depended on
them to tell others the message that he graciously loves all people. Therefore,
they should repent of their rebellion against him and return his love (Mt 5:14).
Furthermore, since his mission-heart is full of grace and great patience, God
likewise made three choices: that he would not send his rescue immediately,
that his Gospel would remain unwritten for many generations, and that he would
allow his mission-plan to develop very slowly over many, many years as he
patiently waited for those who are lost to repent (2 Pt 3:9). This first volume
in the series shows us how God fulfilled his promises made long ago to provide
a Savior. This fulfilled promise was so important that men and women gave their
lives to bring the good news to others. This volume will help us see their
actions and their motives more clearly.