But as  truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord Numbers 14:21 

In 1886 the world’s first Coca-Cola was made. A curious Atlanta pharmacist named Dr. John S. Pemberton was tinkering around with different flavored syrups when he discovered the secret recipe for Coca-Cola. He mixed it with carbonated water and delivered the world’s first Coke! He sold an average of 9 Cokes a day for the first year, and since then, sales have only continued to climb. It is estimated that today 1.9 billion Cokes are consumed every day! That means that over a quarter of the world’s population drinks a Coke every day. One of the most amazing things about Coca-Cola is that you can buy a Coke in almost any town, city, or country in the world! You might be in a small, rural village in Africa, and they are selling Coca-Cola. You might be in a city in Asia, and you can buy a Coke. You might be walking down the streets of a Latin American town, and in every store, they have Coke. A majority of people in the world know what a Coke is and have tasted one. Coca-Cola has reached the world with a soft drink. In this verse, we are going to see God’s plan to reach every nation and fill the earth with His glory. 

In this lesson, we are going to see the heart of God for the nations and our part in spreading His glory. God has always cared about the whole world. Sometimes it is easy to think that God only cared about Israel in the Old Testament and the New Testament; he gave the command to go to all nations. However, that is not the case at all. Our God has always had a heart for the world. Ever since the fall of man in Genesis 3, God has had a plan for our redemption. He has and always will care for us. He is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:9  

We should consider the events leading up to Numbers 14:21 in the Bible. The nation of Israel had been liberated from Egypt through the plagues and power of God. Pharaoh finally was forced to allow the Israelites to leave, and God killed his army that he sent after the Israelites in the Red Sea. 

God sent a cloud to guide the nation of Israel by day and a pillar of fire by night. He led them through their wanderings in the desert and provided them with food by sending manna every morning. He protected them and gave them his law. In Numbers 13, we can see that Israel was about to enter into the promised land. They sent spies to search out the land. The spies found a beautiful land flowing with milk and honey. It was an amazingly fertile land that God was going to give them. However, Israel did not have faith in God. They heard about the huge giants and mighty men in the promised land and were filled with fear. The Bible says, “And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature. 33 And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.” (Numbers 13:32-33)

In the first ten verses of Numbers 14, we see that the Israelites were afraid and angry at God. They said that it would have been better for them to have died in Egypt. They plotted a rebellion against God and wanted to choose another leader and return to their slavery in Egypt. It is sad to see how we begin to live in fear when we lose faith in God. Two of the spies, Joshua and Caleb, beg the people to have faith in God and not live in fear of the giant. The people refused to listen, and God talks with Moses. He is furious and wants to destroy the nation of Israel.  And the Lord said unto Moses, “How long will this people provoke me? and how long will it be ere they believe me, for all the signs which I have shewed among them? 12 I will smite them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of thee a greater nation and mightier than they.” Numbers 14.11–12 

Moses argues with God and begs Him not to destroy Israel. He reminds God that many nations had already heard of His great power because of the mighty works that he had done with the nation of Israel. He tells God that all the other nations would say that God was not able to bring Israel into the promised land. They would defame the name of God. God responds to Moses’ request and says that he would give grace to Israel and pardon them. He does not destroy Israel. We then arrive at verse twenty one. The Bible says, And the Lord said, I have pardoned according to thy word: 21 But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord. Numbers 14:20-21 We see here that God not only pardons Israel but makes a fascinating statement that should help us learn something about our God and his heart for the world. God says that all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord. We can see here that God’s heart and desire have always been for the world and that the whole world will know Him. Here are three things about God that we can learn from this verse.

God’s Heart

In this verse, we can see the heart of God. He cares about the whole world and is why He sent his son Jesus to die for all. The Bible says in John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” God wants everyone to hear about the good news of the Gospel. He does not want anyone to perish. The Bible says in 1 John 2:2 “And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.” God’s heart is that everyone would hear about him and that they would be saved.

We can see this not only in the New Testament but also in the Old Testament. Numbers 14:21 talks about God’s heart for the world, and it is not an isolated verse in the Old Testament. Throughout the Bible, we can see this pattern. In Genesis 3, we see that God promises the coming of his son that will one day destroy the serpent. We see in the flood that God provides a way of escape for all who wanted to enter the ark. In Genesis 12, we see the promise that God made to Abraham that he was going to use Abraham and his descendants to bless the world. God was going to use the nation of Israel to draw people to himself and was going to send Jesus through the descendants of Abraham. When God delivered Israel out of Egypt, the Bible says that he wanted to demonstrate his power so that all the nations would know that He is God. We see in the psalms and the prophets God’s desire that all nations would know him.

In the New Testament, we are given the Great Commission to go and take the Gospel to the whole world. We are told to preach the Gospel to every creature. The Bible says in Matthew 28:18-20 “And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. 19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.” God wants us to go to all the nations and teach His word. So the heart of God that we see in this verse is reflected throughout the entire Bible. God has always had a heart for the nations in the Old and New Testament. 

God’s Method

God wants his glory to spread throughout the earth. He wants everyone to know His power and strength. How is He going to do that? Is he going to send angels to every country? Is he going to write in the sky? No, I believe that in the Bible, we can see that God wants to use ordinary men and women to tell others about Him. 

In Acts 10, we can see an example of this. Cornelius, who was a lost man, is praying in his house when an angel appears to him. It is fascinating to see what transpires. The angel that appears does not share the Gospel with him or show him how to be saved. The angel was already there, but he does not open a Bible or show Cornelius how to be saved. He simply tells Cornelius to send someone to find Peter and have him come to his house to share the Gospel. “He saw in a vision evidently about the ninth hour of the day an angel of God coming into him, and saying unto him, Cornelius.  And when he looked on him, he was afraid, and said, What is it, Lord? And he said unto him, Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God. 5 And now send men to Joppa, and call for one Simon, whose surname is Peter:” Acts 10:3-5 Peter listens to the messengers and goes to Cornelius house to preach the Gospel. Cornelius and his whole household get saved! “Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons:  But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him. The word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ: (he is Lord of all:)” Acts 10:34-35

We can see from this example that God wants to use ordinary men and women to spread his glory to the world. God is all-powerful. He could have used angels, or He would have written his word in the sky. God can use any means necessary to spread his glory to the world, but he has chosen to use His church and His people to tell others about his great name.

God’s Promise 

As well as seeing God’s heart and method for reaching the nations, we see God’s promise. In Numbers 14:21, we see that the Bible says,“All the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord.” God is making a promise that this is going to happen. One day the whole earth will be filled with his glory. The question is, when will this happen?

In a small way, the nation of Israel had a part in fulfilling this promise. In the Old Testament, God used Israel to spread his name to the nations. In the New Testament, God is sending his church and his people to the nations. In the Old Testament, God is using Israel to draw the people to him. God used the plagues to show his power. When Israel approached Jericho, Rehab says that the people had heard about God’s great name and power. In Joshua 2:10-12 Rehab is talking, and she says “For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red sea for you, when ye came out of Egypt; and what ye did unto the two kings of the Amorites, that were on the other side Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom ye utterly destroyed. 11 And as soon as we had heard these things, our hearts did melt, neither did there remain any more courage in any man, because of you: for the Lord your God, he is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath.” During the reign of King Solomon, the Queen of Sheba comes to visit Israel because of the name of the Lord. “And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord, she came to prove him with hard questions.” 1 Kings 10:1 God’s reputation had spread to faraway countries because of how He had used Israel and the great victories that He had given them. God took this nation that was angry at him in Numbers 14 and used them in a great way to spread his glory to the world!

We also see that sending missionaries to other counties to preach the Gospel today is part of this promise as well. Although God greatly used Israel, in the New Testament, we can see that there is a shift from using Israel to using His church. He has now commanded us to go to the uttermost parts of the earth to preach his Gospel. Acts 1:8 “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” Since Jesus said these words, many men and women have gone all around the world and are doing their best to spread God’s glory to the nations. God is working, and many countries are being reached with the Gospel of Jesus! It is exciting to see and hear about the missionaries who are working in many different counties and seeing souls saved from every tribe and tongue. God is doing a great work today!

However, the entire earth has never been completely filled with God’s glory in the Old Testament or today. The Bible tells us that one day in the future, Christ will rule and reign over this earth. On that day, his glory will fill the whole earth, and this promise will be fulfilled. We should rest in the fact that our God is going to be victorious! There might be sin and death on the earth today. People might be mocking God and living lives of sin, but one day His glory will fill the earth!

Application

However, the sad reality is that many of us have not considered how we can be a part of spreading His glory to the world. It is much easier to focus on our needs and comforts. We are more worried about our lives and our needs than want our God wants. We are thankful for our salvation and that we are not going to Hell when we die, but now that we are saved, we seemed to have forgotten that many other people around the world haven’t heard about our wonderful God and Savior. Here are several things that we can do to spread God’s glory to the nations. 

One, We should read God’s Word.

We can get to know the heart of God by reading his Word. Throughout the Bible, we can see God’s heart for the world. We should be spending time in God’s Word and meditating on it. God has given us his word so that we will be able to know Him. It has been said that if you take missions out of the Bible, you would only be left with the cover. I believe that is true. We should be taking time every day to get into the world of God and get to know His heart.

Two, we should pray for the nations. 

It will be difficult for us to have a desire to take the Gospel to the world if we do not know what nations there are in the world. Maybe you should take some time to pray for a missionary serving in another country. Perhaps you should pray for a country a month. What could you do to learn and pray more for the world?

Three, we should support missionaries. 

How are we going to get the Gospel to this lost and dying world? We are going to spread the word of God by sending men and women to take it to the nations. These men and women are called missionaries, and we can help them reach the world with the Gospel by supporting them. William Carey said that he would go to the mission field, but he needed someone to hold the rope. Maybe you could be that person holding the rope.

Four, consider giving your life as a missionary.

Maybe you are a young person, and God wants you to surrender to be a missionary. Perhaps instead of the career that you have planned, he wants you to serve Him on the mission field. Maybe you are not able to go to the mission field, or God has you serving where you are, and He wants you to be willing to allow your son or daughter to go to the mission field. When Hudson Taylor was born, his parents dedicated him to the Lord and were ready to send him anywhere that God would have him go. Maybe God wants you to do that with your children or grandchildren.

We have a God that cares about the world. He has a heart for every person on this planet and wants them all to hear the Gospel. What are we doing to spread His glory among the nations? Are we more worried about our comforts and desires than His? What could you do this week to spread His glory to others?