They are no longer without excuse. The light has shone on the nations.
For many centuries Yahweh was ethnic Israel's God. He was God of the Hebrew people. After the First Advent, He was God of the nations. The Gospel opportunity widened to embrace the darkened Gentiles. This was not the case prior to Calvary, with the special exception of Nineveh. The Gospel expanse has gone from "the nation" (singular) before the cross to "the nations" (plural) after the cross. The nations now contain God's chosen people, not simply the nation!
In the Old Testament, God governed Israel in a theocracy, Satan, on the other hand, ruled the nations. The Gentiles were overwhelmingly ignorant to God’s truth and outside of His covenant favor. They were spiritually deceived. They were bound in paganism and blinded by idolatry. They sat in spiritual darkness. Only one single Gentile village/town/city experienced salvation that we know of. The world in general was deceived, not knowing anything about the grace of God or His merciful way of salvation.
Acts 17:30 tells us: “the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent.”
What is “the times of this ignorance”? What does this mean? Who is this talking about? It is the state of the Gentile nations before the earthly ministry of Christ and the introduction of His Messianic reign. Before Christ came Satan was able to prevent the Word of God from being heard throughout the world. Before the cross, the heathen were ignorant to the truth and therefore in desperate need of enlightenment.
The Gentiles are constantly depicted in the Old Testament as being in darkness. They are described as being ignored, blind and without hope. They are depicted as being imprisoned in chains.
Acts 14:16 teaches that God “in times past suffered all nations to walk in their own ways.”
Did this mean every Gentile in the Old Testament time was unsaved?
No. This tells us that “all nations” were allowed “to walk in their own ways” in the Old Testament era. They were deceived by the lie of the devil and separated from God and from grace.
Before Christ came, Satan was able to prevent the Word of God from being heard throughout the world. The Gentiles are constantly depicted in the Old Testament as being in darkness. Before the cross they were ignorant to the truth and therefore in desperate need of enlightenment. Ignorance in Scripture is always linked to lack of knowledge of the Word of God. It is a fact that the Gospel witness had not reached the nations prior to the earthly ministry of Christ.
Ephesians 2:11-13 confirms this, saying, “ye being in time past Gentiles [Gr. ethnos] in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands; That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: but now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.”
The Gentiles generally were in a hopeless condition before the cross, “having no hope, and without God in the world” (Ephesians 2:12). That is a pretty grim state to be in. However, the darkness over the nations (ethnos) was lifted when the Gospel light began to shine. Now there was glorious hope and a way of escape from their despair. Satan had lost his grip over the nations, now it was time for him to be unseated in the lives of countless of millions of heathens.
Israel on the other hand, whilst often in rebellion, was subject to the truth. Prophet after prophet came preaching the unsearchable riches of God. They therefore had no excuse. The people were enlightened to the law of God and therefore God’s expectation of them. Notwithstanding, that did not mean the chosen nation was immune from satanic deception. Israel (who alone possessed God's special favor, and from whom the Messiah came) still mainly died in unbelief before Christ.
Satan was bound (or spiritually curtailed) in order to facilitate the invasion of his territory by the Gospel. Remember, Satan is a spiritual being; he must therefore be spiritually bound. That is what happened at the cross. Countless millions of Gentiles have come to Christ since the cross.
There was a spiritual deception over the Gentiles before the cross that has now been lifted. The darkness has been confronted and exposed and overcome through the Light of the truth. That light is centered in the person and message of Christ. Satan is no longer able to deceive the Gentiles in this New Testament age in the same manner and scope as he deceived them prior to Jesus’ binding Satan at the cross.
Scripture repeatedly identifies the Messianic intra-Advent period as the time of the enlightenment of the Gentiles. This does not in any way insinuate that all will be saved. Not in any way. With the global expanse of the great commission the Gentiles are now without excuse. The ignorance is gone. The veil is lifted.
When Scripture speaks about the enlightenment of the Gentiles and the removal of the deception it doesn’t mean that every Gentile will be saved, but that the Gospel message and opportunity would be extended to them as a whole – just like Israel experienced it in the Old Testament.
Zacharias the father of John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Ghost in Luke 1:67-80 and prophesied: “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people, And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David; As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began: That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us; To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant; The oath which he sware to our father Abraham, That he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear, In holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life … Through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us, To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace. And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his shewing unto Israel.”
As you read through the Old Testament and as you see the revelation of God being outlined prior to the beginning of Christ’s earthly ministry, believers knew that the Gospel was going to go the Gentiles. Here (in this passage) the enlightenment of the Gentiles is directly predicted. This is speaking about the great commission and this current intra-Advent period. Here is the foretelling of the enlightenment of the nations.
Luke 2:27 "the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law, Then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said, Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel."
Many conveniently overlook the seismic change in regard to the Gospel opportunity that exist today (in comparison to before the cross) in regard to the nations access to truth. Does that mean all Gentiles will be enlightened? Of course not. It is a general statement like Revelation 20.
The deception was lifted and truth shone bright throughout the nations.
