Light to the Gentiles

"I, the Lord, have called You in righteousness, and will hold Your hand; I will keep You and give You as a covenant to the people, as a light to the Gentiles”
Isaiah 42:6*

God promised Israel that He would send His Anointed to them. Many details were given about the Messiah, so God's people knew what to expect. Born of a virgin, He would be Immanuel, "God with us" who would reign forever on the throne of David in Jerusalem. One additional fact was repeated a number of times; He would be a Light to the Gentiles.

Hundreds of years went by without the prophesies being fulfilled. Many of the Jewish people gave up waiting and re-explained the scriptures to mean other things., Gentile nations occupied and controlled Jerusalem without allowing a descendant of David to reign there. The prophesy seemed impossible to fulfill.

However, one curious bit of ancient history was playing out that no one expected. Ptolemy I, a general under Alexander the Great, ruled North Africa and commanded a Great Library be built in Alexandria, Egypt. He wanted a Greek translation of every book that existed in the world. Seventy Hebrew scholars translated the Old Testament. It was called the "Septuagint" which means "seventy". After that, this translation made its way into every synagogue of the Ancient Greek-speaking world.

Curious Gentiles read the prophesies of the Jewish Messiah, but the word that was used in Greek was "Christos" or "the Christ." Educated Greeks knew that this Christ was to come and huge numbers responded when they heard the message of the gospel, recognizing that Jesus of Nazareth was the promised one of God.

Paul and Barnabas saw this supernatural response of the Gentiles and paraphrased Isaiah's prophesy when they preached in Antioch of Psidia: "For so the Lord has commanded us: ‘I have set you as a light to the Gentiles, that you should be for salvation to the ends of the earth.’”(Acts 13:47).

The Jewish people had rejected their Messiah as king, so He'll come at a later time to reign. The part of the prophesy that has been clearly demonstrated already was that the Lord's Anointed became a Light to the Gentiles.

*Isaiah 9:1-2; 49:6; Luke 2:32, Acts 26:23.