The only rule of faith and practice that God has given is the Bible. It has the force of law. Because mission embraces "the totality of the task He sent His Church to do in the world" (Bosch, 1978), we must select a theme that is prominent in both Testaments.

That theme is the Kingdom of God. It dominated the ministry of Jesus and provides linkage to all "the many and various ways" by which God had earlier spoken to his people by the prophets (Hebrews 1:11). "Missiology is more and more coming to see the Kingdom of God as the hub around which all of mission work revolves; one can almost speak of a consensus developing on this point" (Verkuyl, 1978).

In our day evangelicals are finding that the biblical base for mission is far more complex than previous generations envisioned. Gone is the single focus of an overwhelming concern for the spiritual condition of "the heathen." Nor can credibility be gained by supplementing this concern with appeals to the Great Commission (e.g. Matthew 28:18-20) or by proof-texts supporting such related themes as the sending character of God, the compassionate compulsion of the Spirit, the example of the apostolic church, and the relation between missionary obedience and the second coming of Christ.

These themes are important, but one cannot build a comprehensive biblical theology of mission on them. The Kingdom or "rule" of God must be the dominant motif since by it God touches every aspect of the human condition: past, present, and future.

What is the relationship of the Kingdom of God to world mission? Begin with the reminder that God's kingship is both universal and covenantal. When God created the heavens and the earth by His Word and created the first human couple in His own image and likeness, it was inevitable that He would exercise a loving and preserving control over His creation and particularly over the human race. This can be described as His universal kingship. Both Old and New Testaments teach this universal kingship, but in the O.T. we also find God's kingly rule identified with Israel, a people with whom He established covenant relationship.

The Old Testament Contribution

In the opening chapters of the Old Testament, we find the first reference to mission as defined above. God said to the first man and woman: "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it" (Genesis 1:26-30; 2:15,18-25; Psalm 8:5,6). This command is frequently termed "the cultural mandate." By it God called Adam and Eve to accept responsibility for this world as His vice-regents, to serve and control it under His direction and for His glory. Its details pertained to their social existence, and mark the beginning of a stream of obligation-a mandate for family and community, culture and civilization-that widens and deepens as it courses throughout Scripture.

We are not surprised to find that in the Messianic Age that Christ later will inaugurate, these many obligations will be made even more explicit as part of His missionary mandate that the church proclaim and demonstrate "the good news of the kingdom" to the nations (Matthew 24:14). And such has proved to be the case. We might regard the cultural mandate as the prelude to the "Great Commission."

At the outset the expectation was that because God is sovereign, He will be obeyed. But this was not to be. Early on God imposed a moral test on Adam and Eve (the "trees," 2:16,17). In granting them freedom of choice, God was running a great risk: Would they freely choose to remain under His control or would they seek an existence separate from Him? Unexpectedly, they chose the latter and their fall (3:1-7) brought them under the dominance of "the tempter" and forged linkage with his hostile spirit-power and open opposition to the rule of God.

And even more was involved: Although they continued to carry out the cultural mandate, the obedience of Adam and Eve now was shaped by selfish impulses arising from their abdication of responsibility for the world and their surrender to the one who had now gained control of the world ("the god of this world," John 12:21 & 2 Corinthians 4:4).

Subsequent Genesis chapters (4-11) record the effects of the fall, ranging from patricidal murder to worldwide violence, from God's judgment of all ante-deluvians to the tragedy that came to the one family that was delivered (Noah's), and from human arrogance (the attempt to establish a universal kingdom with its defiant tower) to further judgment through the linguistic confusion and scattering of the people (Babel).

Since the cultural mandate no longer was being carried out under God's direction, God then began via election and covenant to unfold a redemptive purpose that would deal with the problem of human rebellion and alienation from His fellowship. He called a man named Abram out of Ur within the complex of Babel, and began to train him to live by faith that through his seed (Israel) "all peoples on earth" would "be blessed" (Geneis 12:1-3). His gracious desire was via Israel's disobedience to bring fallen people "by repentance and faith" to break with Satan's control (e.g., I John 5:19; Acts 26:18) and as co-laborers with their Messiah, to regain control of the world and those within it who would respond to His love.

But Old Testament history records repeated failure on Israel's part. Actually, over the years only a remnant within Israel believed and obeyed God. At the same time, however, their prophets predicted that God would ultimately realize the covenant goal He had set for a believing remnant in the nation: "to restore the tribes of Jacob" and to become "a light for the Gentiles" so that His "salvation" might be taken "to the ends of the earth" (Isaiah 49:5,6). The key to this total restoration will be "the Redeemer and Holy One of Israel"-strangely, the One "who was despised and abhorred by the nation" (49:7).

Despite this, Israel went ever deeper into spiritual infidelity, open rebellion and prolonged captivity, with only infrequent periods when through national repentance the blessing of God became partly evident in the life and worship of His people. The tragedy is that in the end the various contending parties within Judaism, though often at loggerheads with one another, united to participate in the final tragedy of standing against the One who came as the self-confessed "Son of Man" of Daniel, the "Suffering Servant" of Isaiah, and the "Smitten Shepherd-King" of Zechariah.

Old Testament Axioms of Mission

Five major axioms in the Old Testament are inherent in the New Testament unfolding of the Kingdom of God in relation to the Church's mission to the nations. They can be traced within this tragic history of Israel's experience with God:

1. God is sovereign in His kingship. His rule over individuals and nations is always righteous and just. He is the moral Governor of the universe (Psalm 22:27,28; Daniel 4:34,35).

2. God seeks the personal commitment of His people. His holiness demands righteousness on the part of all Israelites who would be in covenantal relationship with Him (Isaiah 55:6,7).

3. God's people are to constitute a "serving" community among the nations by example and through personal outreach. They are to oppose "by word and deed" all that demeans people (Micah 6:8).

4. God's purpose through His people is relentlessly opposed by the inveteracy of human evil and the implacable hostility of Satan and his hosts (Job 1&2; 2 Chronicles 36:15,16).

5. God's purpose for Israel and the nations always moves beyond present matters, and is invariably directed toward His future and ultimate triumph in history (Isaiah 2:2-4; Zechariah 14).

Specific Old Testament Contributions