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<title>A Light to Nations</title>
"A Light to the Nations", also known as "or la'goyim" (אור לגויים), is a term originating from the prophet Isaiah which may express the universal designation of God's kingdom of priests as a mentor for spiritual and moral guidance for the entire world.

Although the idea itself may first arise in Adam's mission to tend and keep the Garden of Eden, and in the contrast between Noah and Abraham. (video: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlJtjIjpeEs|Contrasting Noah and Abraham for Noachides]]), the concept itself of a group of people who will be used to spread God's glory throughout the earth is found throughout the Hebrew scriptures.

Source: https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/topics/Mission,-Of-Israel

== Torah
=== The Chosen Nation
God sets up Israel to be a kingdom of priests, and states that Israel will be the vehicle by which the nations learn the name of the Lord.

* "(and) you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.”" (Exodus 19:6)
* "all the nations on earth will see that the name of the Lord is proclaimed over you" (Deut. 28:10)

Then in Numbers 14, we find an interesting statement over one of the reasons Caleb, would inherit the land:

<blockquote>
20 Then the Lord said, “I have pardoned, according to your word.\\ 21 But truly, as I live, **and as all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord,**\\ 22 **none of the men** who have seen my glory and my signs that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and yet have put me to the test these ten times and have not obeyed my voice,\\ 23 shall see the land that I swore to give to their fathers. And none of those who despised me shall see it.\\ 24 **But my servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit and has followed me fully, I will bring into the land into which he went, and his descendants shall possess it.**<cite>Numbers 14:20-24 ESV</cite></blockquote>

=== Abrahamic Blessings
* (seeing that) Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? (Genesis 18:18)

* I will make you a great nation, I will bless you, and make your name great; and so you shall be a blessing; I will bless those who bless you, and curse those who curse you; and in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.” (Genesis 12:2-3)

* and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.” (Genesis 22:18)

* "I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and will give to your offspring all these lands. And in your offspring all the nations of the earth shall be blessed," (Genesis 26:4)

Although the Abrahamic blessings do not state that his descendants will be a light to the nations directly, it sets up Israel (by whom the promise was to be fulfilled) as a preserved nation by which all the other nations of the world were to be blessed. It really is exclusive -- "and in you all the families of the earth will be blessed." They must be blessed in Abraham's name, and no other blessing was foretold -- "For the Lord God does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets." (Amos 3:7).

=== The Witness Nation
In Exodus 19:9 God states he will speak to every Israelite at Mt. Sinai:

* And the Lord said unto Moses, “Lo, I come unto you in a thick cloud, so that the people may hear when I speak with you, and believe you forever.” And Moses told the words of the people unto the Lord. (Exodus 19:9)

What did God say? He said, "I am the Lord thy God," (20:2). The meaning is that Israel became the witness nation to the presence and qualities of God. The fundamental quality of God they were witness to was "I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage." (20:2). A description of God that follows any other predication is an erronous description. One will invariably find that the predication of the witness nation has not been included in such a description.

What's more, he stated the mechanism by which they would be a witness nation and a light to the nations:

* 5 See, I have taught you statutes and rules, as the Lord my God commanded me, that you should do them in the land that you are entering to take possession of it.
* 6 Keep them and do them, for that will be your wisdom and your understanding **in the sight of the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people,’**
* 7 **For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the Lord our God is to us, whenever we call upon him?**
* 8 **And what great nation is there, that has statutes and rules so righteous as all this law that I set before you today?**



What's more, the nation of Israel was commanded to remember that they were witnesses:

<blockquote>9 “Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your children's children—

10 how on the day that you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb, the Lord said to me, ‘Gather the people to me, that I may let them hear my words, so that they may learn to fear me all the days that they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children so.’

11 And you came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, while the mountain burned with fire to the heart of heaven, wrapped in darkness, cloud, and gloom.

12 Then the Lord spoke to you out of the midst of the fire. You heard the sound of words, but saw no form; there was only a voice.

13 And he declared to you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, that is, the Ten Commandments, and he wrote them on two tablets of stone.

14 And the Lord commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and rules, that you might do them in the land that you are going over to possess.<cite>Deuteronomy 4:9-14</cite></blockquote>

=== A Witness to what?
God stated that because they were a witness to unique events, this is a de facto proof of God's existance.

<blockquote>32 “For ask now of the days that are past, which were before you, since the day that God created man on the earth, and ask from one end of heaven to the other, whether such a great thing as this has ever happened or was ever heard of.

33 Did any people ever hear the voice of a god speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you have heard, and still live?

34 Or has any god ever attempted to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs, by wonders, and by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by great deeds of terror, all of which the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?

35 To you it was shown, that you might know that the Lord is God; there is no other besides him.

36 Out of heaven he let you hear his voice, that he might discipline you. And on earth he let you see his great fire, and you heard his words out of the midst of the fire.

37 And because he loved your fathers and chose their offspring after them[c] and brought you out of Egypt with his own presence, by his great power,

38 driving out before you nations greater and mightier than you, to bring you in, to give you their land for an inheritance, as it is this day,

39 know therefore today, and lay it to your heart, that the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other.

40 Therefore you shall keep his statutes and his commandments, which I command you today, that it may go well with you and with your children after you, and that you may prolong your days in the land that the Lord your God is giving you for all time.”<cite>Deuteronomy 4:32-40</cite></blockquote>

=== The Sole Witness
In Exodus 33 we see that Israel would be the sole witness;
<blockquote>12 Moses said to the Lord, “See, you say to me, ‘Bring up this people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my sight.’ 13 Now therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please show me now your ways, that I may know you in order to find favor in your sight. Consider too that this nation is your people.” 14 And he said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” 15 And he said to him, “If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here. 16 For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Is it not in your going with us, so that we are distinct, I and your people, from every other people on the face of the earth?”

17 And the Lord said to Moses, “This very thing that you have spoken I will do, for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name.”<cite>Exodus 33:12-17 (ESV)</cite></blockquote>

== Psalms
Psalms 147 is a famous exposition of "a Light to the Nations".

* Psalms 147:19-20
* 19 He declares his word to Jacob, his statutes and rules to Israel.
* 20 He has not dealt thus with any other nation; they do not know his rules. Praise the Lord!


== Isaiah
<blockquote>6
he says,
“It is too light a thing that you should be my servant
to raise up the tribes of Jacob
and to restore the survivors of Israel?"
**"I will make you as a light to the nations,
that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth."**

7 
Thus says the Lord,
the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One,
to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nations,
the slave of rulers,
“Kings shall see and stand up,
princes, and they shall prostrate themselves,
because of the Lord, who is faithful,
the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”<cite>Isaiah 49:6-7</cite></blockquote>

Continuing in the theme that God wants everyone to follow his commandments. In the bible, God states the Jews are a light to the nations and that (therefore) in the end times the world will come to knowledge of God //via the nation of Israel.//

<blockquote>3 
Many peoples shall come and say,
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the house of the God of Jacob;
that he may teach us his ways
and that we may walk in his paths.”
For out of Zion shall go forth instruction,
and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.<cite>Isaiah 2:3</cite></blockquote>
    
<blockquote>I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness,
**I will hold you by the hand and guide you,
and I will give you as a covenant nation;
as a light to the nations.**<cite>Isaiah 42:6</cite></blockquote>

* Isaiah 42:1 "Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations."

<blockquote>3 Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.<cite>Isaiah 60:3</cite></blockquote>

* Isaiah 51:4 "“Give attention to me, my people, and give ear to me, my nation; for a law[a] will go out from me, and I will set my justice for a light to the peoples."

To conclde, Isaiah 61:6 comes full circle and reminds us of Israel's mission among the nations, by speaking of the relationship of the nation of Israel to the nations in the manner of the Levites among the 12 tribes of Israel:

* Isaiah 61:6 "(but) you shall be called the priests of the Lord; they shall speak of you as the ministers of our God;"

== Zechariah
In the Messianic prophecy of Zechariah, God states the Jews will be the vehicle through which the gentile nations come to God -- not Jesus.

<blockquote>20 Thus says the Lord of hosts: Peoples shall yet come, the inhabitants of many cities; 21 the inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, “Come, let us go to entreat the favor of the Lord, and to seek the Lord of hosts; I myself am going.” 22 Many peoples and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem, and to entreat the favor of the Lord. 23 Thus says the Lord of hosts: In those days ten men from nations of every language shall take hold of a Jew, grasping his garment and saying, “Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.”<cite>Zechariah 8:23</cite></blockquote>

Thus we may conclusively state that it is God's will for us to follow his commandments versus believe in any sort of messiah.