Signpost 10—Gospel to All the World.

Jesus predicted that just before His coming the gospel would reach the whole world:

“And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”
—Matthew 24:14.

We’ve had great Christian missionary movements in history. But what has happened in the last few years is unprecedented. For decades almost half the globe was locked behind an iron curtain, shut away from the good news. Despotic, atheistic regimes suppressed Christian witness.

But then in 1989 almost overnight it seemed that Eastern Europe slipped from the iron grip of communism. Dictators fled their countries. Secret police forces went into hiding. The Berlin Wall came crashing down. And then, incredibly, the mighty Soviet Empire fell apart and stumbled toward democracy. Suddenly roughly half the planet was opening its arms to the gospel.

We’ve seen a spiritual revolution in the former Soviet Union as the gospel rushed in to fill an enormous spiritual vacuum. The same is true of other parts of the world. For centuries Muslims have closed their minds to the gospel of Christ. Now many Muslims are turning to Christ and are welcoming the hope of His Second Coming.

The gospel is truly going “to the whole world” as never before. With present technology it’s possible right now to transmit a Christian message simultaneously to almost every person in every nation. Simultaneous translation techniques enable individuals to understand the broadcast in their own language. We are living in the very day Jesus spoke of when He declared: “The gospel will be preached in the whole world” and then “the end will come.”