Which nation has yet to have the Gospel preached within?

[mikekle]

I was reading some verses and took notice of this one…

Mt 24:14
And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached throughout the world as a witness to all nations, and then the end will come.

Does anyone know which nations have never had the Gospel preached in them?

Seems like most of them have by now.

 

[Lion_IRC]

Yes, with the Internet and global mass media, it seems impossible that any adult person in any country could claim to have never heard the Gospel.

 

[triumphguy]

I was reading some verses and took notice of this one…

Mt 24:14
And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached throughout the world as a witness to all nations, and then the end will come.

Does anyone know which nations have never had the Gospel preached in them?

Seems like most of them have by now.

Most of the kids in my school.

 

[Faxero]

Mt 24:14
And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached throughout the world as a witness to all nations, and then the end will come.

When I read this bible verse, the first thought in my mind was an undiscovered island populated by a distinct human civilization. Something like ‘skull island’ from King Kong. Such an island would have never been discovered by the conquering Spaniards, and thus, Christianity would be unheard of.

Maybe I watch too many movies.

 

[KendraDZ1902]

Yes, with the Internet and global mass media, it seems impossible that any adult person in any country could claim to have never heard the Gospel.

Does EVERY adult person have access to the internet?

 

[IdiNaPut]

North Korea myabe? Plus there exist uncontacted tribes in the Amazon, as well as remote populations in many countries.

 

[TimothyH]

Matthew 24:14 is part of the Olivet Discourse. It is about the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. It is not about modern times.

It does not say that the Gospel will be preached within all nations but throughout the world as a witness to all nations.

The word witness in Greek means martyr. The martyrdom of the Apostles and followers of Jesus was a “witness” to the whole world. Luke wrote the same thing in Acts 1:8

But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Sama’ria and to the end of the earth." (Acts 1:8)

-Tim-

 

[Lion_IRC]

Does EVERY adult person have access to the internet?

…or the global mass media. TV. Radio. Newspapers.

I would say it’s getting near to impossible that any literate adult on earth doesn’t know why calendars refer to an event 2015 years ago.

 

[TimothyH]

…or the global mass media. TV. Radio. Newspapers.

I would say it’s getting near to impossible that any literate adult on earth doesn’t know why calendars refer to an event 2015 years ago.

This is a very western mindset.

Women are not allowed to read in some Muslim countries. There are lots of poor people on earth and 18% of earth’s population doesn’t have access to electricity.

-Tim-

 

[QuestLove]

I was reading some verses and took notice of this one…

Mt 24:14
And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached throughout the world as a witness to all nations, and then the end will come.

Does anyone know which nations have never had the Gospel preached in them?

Seems like most of them have by now.

I don’t think there are any such nations but there are still some uncontacted groups within these nations, for example in Brazil/Amazon. I think I remember an article a couple years ago where aerial pictures were taken but the decision was made not to contact them because of the fear of exposing them to diseases etc.

 

[triumphguy]

…or the global mass media. TV. Radio. Newspapers.

I would say it’s getting near to impossible that any literate adult on earth doesn’t know why calendars refer to an event 2015 years ago.

There’s a whole nation of kids in every formerly Christian country rising up who have no relationship with Christ.

 

[marymary1975]

There are many countries in the world that have areas so remote that the civilized world hardly has any contact with them. This is particularly true in both Africa and Latin America. Brazil, Ecuador and Peru have indigenous people that there they have barely any contact with civilization. There are many groups in Africa in a similar situation. Add to that populations that live in extremely remote areas. While the Gospel may have reached to the civilized part of the country and a good portion of it, there may be areas where it has not reach yet.

 

[marymary1975]

This is a very western mindset.

Women are not allowed to read in some Muslim countries. There are lots of poor people on earth and 18% of earth’s population doesn’t have access to electricity.

-Tim-

Agree. Moreover, that is first world mindset. There are many people in many countries who don’t have access to anything. They don’t have access to water little less they are going to have access to news.

 

[TimothyH]

We can discuss parts of the world which have not heard the Gospel but Matthew 24:14 is about the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD.

It is not about the modern world or the end of the world.

-Tim-

 

[ProVobis]

There’s a whole nation of kids in every formerly Christian country rising up who have no relationship with Christ.

Indeed, Even hearing about Christ will not automatically convert you. In fact, I understand true conversion rates are not only low these days but are actually going in reverse. So we can scream “Lord, lord” all day long but at some point people will become immune to it.
Whatever our educational strategies are, they haven’t worked.

 

[mikekle]

Does EVERY adult person have access to the internet?

Notice that the verse did not require every person to hear the gospel, only every nation.

Many people in North Korea have heard the Gospel, in fact, one man was recently detained for leaving bibles there in a hotel room, if just one person heard this man preaching the gospel when he was there, it would fulfill that prophecy.

Remote tribes in the Amazon were preached to looong ago.

 

[patrick457]

Matthew 24:14 is part of the Olivet Discourse. It is about the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. It is not about modern times.

It does not say that the Gospel will be preached within all nations but throughout the world as a witness to all nations.

The word witness in Greek means martyr. The martyrdom of the Apostles and followers of Jesus was a “witness” to the whole world. Luke wrote the same thing in Acts 1:8

But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Sama’ria and to the end of the earth." (Acts 1:8)

-Tim-

Actually, I think it’s being conflated with Mark’s version, which does say: “And the gospel must first be preached unto all the nations.” But then again, the phrase is ambiguous and quite problematic in Mark. In context:

“But be on your guard. For they will deliver you over to councils, and you will be beaten in synagogues, and you will stand before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them. And the gospel must first be proclaimed to all nations. And when they bring you to trial and deliver you over, do not be anxious beforehand what you are to say, but say whatever is given you in that hour, for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit."

Note how the phrase kinda breaks the continuity of thought there. (Matthew has a tidier version.) But in Mark’s version the phrase seems to be connected more clearly with the preaching and eventual persecution of the apostles: it seems that Jesus in this version is referring to them as the ones who are supposed to preach the gospel to “all the nations.” (In Matthew’s gospel at least, Jesus does command them to do so: “make disciples of all nations.”) The way Mark’s version reads, the gospel “must” be preached to “all the nations” first before the apostles are persecuted and “the end” (of Jerusalem, as the context makes clear) comes.

In which case, you can “all the nations” as probably being sort of symbolic: St. Paul already refers to the gospel as being “now disclosed, and … made known to all the nations” (Romans 16:26) and “bearing fruit and growing in the whole world” (Colossians 1:6; cf. Colossians 1:26; Romans 1:5; 8:10; 15:19, 23).

Obviously Paul doesn’t mean that the gospel in his time had already reached literally every corner of the globe, but he could say it was already “made known to all the gentiles” - because he and the others had already propagated it in their world: the Roman Empire and its neighbors. Maybe it’s the same thing here. Jesus was just speaking the language of the people of His time: “all the nations” doesn’t literally have to mean “every country that will exist 2000 or so years from now.”

 

[patrick457]

Notice that the verse did not require every person to hear the gospel, only every nation.

Many people in North Korea have heard the Gospel, in fact, one man was recently detained for leaving bibles there in a hotel room, if just one person heard this man preaching the gospel when he was there, it would fulfill that prophecy.

Remote tribes in the Amazon were preached to looong ago.

Well, if we’re going to be literalistic here, first there’s the whole issue of what exactly constitutes a ‘nation’. Do we take it as ‘countries’ in the modern sense, or should we understand it as ‘ethnic group’ (irregardless of country they’re living in)?

 

[mikekle]

Well, if we’re going to be literalistic here, first there’s the whole issue of what exactly constitutes a ‘nation’. Do we take it as ‘countries’ in the modern sense, or should we understand it as ‘ethnic group’ (irregardless of country they’re living in)?

Probably whatever they considered a nation to be, at the time it was written.

 

[triumphguy]

You could say that all the nations of the earth were preached to at Pentecost:

Acts 2:5-13

**Now there were Jews living in Jerusalem, devout men from every nation under heaven. ** And when this sound occurred, the crowd came together, and were bewildered because each one of them was hearing them speak in his own language. They were amazed and astonished, saying, “Why, are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we each hear them in our own language to which we were born? Parthians and Medes and Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the districts of Libya around Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs—we hear them in our own tongues speaking of the mighty deeds of God.” And they all continued in amazement and great perplexity, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” But others were mocking and saying, “They are full of sweet wine.”