The Great Banquet: Where All Nations Gather
Picture the ultimate celebration—a feast so magnificent that God Himself is the host:
Isaiah 25:6-7
⁶On this mountain the Lord Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine—the best of meats and the finest of wines. ⁷On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations.
This isn’t just any banquet—it’s the climax of God’s Story! In the heavenly Jerusalem, that divisive shroud (which separated people from God’s presence in the temple) will finally be destroyed. But Israel missed this incredible vision of all nations gathering together. They weren’t even living in an A > B world anymore; they had reduced God’s equation to simply A = C, completely removing B (the nations) from the picture.
Want to see how deep this mindset went? Consider this encounter with a Roman centurion:
Matthew 8:5-7
⁵When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. ⁶”Lord,” he said, “my servant lies at home paralyzed, suffering terribly.” ⁷Jesus said to him, “Shall I come and heal him?”
Jesus’s question carries more weight than we realize. He’s asking if this Roman really expects a Jewish rabbi to enter his Gentile home—something unthinkable in that culture! You can almost hear the gasps of the crowd as Jesus offers to violate cultural taboos by entering a Gentile’s house.
Matthew 8:8-9
⁸The centurion replied, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. ⁹For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”
The centurion gets it—he understands the cultural barriers. But watch Jesus’s response:
Matthew 8:10 – When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, “Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith.”
Imagine the shocked expressions on the disciples’ faces! But Jesus isn’t done. He seems to change the subject entirely:
Matthew 8:11 – I say to you that many will come from the east and the west and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.
What does this have to do with the centurion? Everything! Jesus is referencing Isaiah’s prophesied feast, announcing that people will come from every direction—from beyond Israel—to join it. Luke adds “north and south” in his account, completing the picture of global inclusion.
But here’s the fascinating part: Who’s seated at the head table? Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Not Abraham, Moses, and Elijah (the three greatest figures in Israel’s history). Instead, it’s Abraham (who had a problem with lying), his unremarkable son Isaac, and his deceptive grandson Jacob (who ended his life begging for food in Egypt). Why? Because these three received the original promise—that through them all nations would be blessed. Their presence at the head table reminds everyone that God kept His word!
This feast celebrates the fulfillment of both lines of the promise—God’s people (represented by Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob) and all nations gathered together. But it can only happen after every nation has been reached:
Matthew 24:14 – 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.
The end will come only after the gospel reaches all nations. Why is this so crucial? Because God promised ALL nations would be reached. If even one nation remains unreached, God would be a liar for all eternity.
When we get to heaven, we’re not going to celebrate by saying, “Not bad, Jesus. You almost did it. There are a few nations not represented here, but most are. Good job!”
No! We’re going to celebrate that ALL nations are represented in heaven. Every single one.
Is Jesus coming back tomorrow? No. There are still unreached people groups in our world. In the 1990s, the Center for World Missions had catalogued 12,000 unreached ethnic groups globally. At the writing of this book, there are less than 3,000. So, we’re getting closer to the goal of reaching all nations, but it won’t happen tomorrow. It might happen within a generation, though.
The Final Scene: Revelation’s Vision of All Nations
Have you ever been so invested in a story that you couldn’t resist peeking at the final chapter to see if your favorite character makes it? Well, let’s do just that with God’s Story. Let’s peek at the conclusion:
Revelation 5:9 – And they sang a new song, saying: “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation.”
We’re back at that great banquet again, and everyone’s singing a song of praise to Jesus. (By the way, since Revelation 5 is what we’ll all be singing at this banquet, you might want to memorize it now. I doubt they’ll be projecting the lyrics on the wall!)
But why is Jesus worthy? Because the promise made to Abraham at the very beginning of God’s Story has finally been fulfilled—both lines of it:
- The Top Line was fulfilled two millennia ago when Jesus died on the cross to pay for our sins (remember that blood sacrifice from the introduction?) and rose from the dead showing His power over death.
- The Bottom Line is what we’re still waiting for—but at this feast, it will finally be complete. Every nation will be there!
That’s why we’ll sing “You are worthy…”
- Because you were slain for mankind’s sins (Top Line Fulfilled)
- Because every nation is represented at this banquet table (Bottom Line Fulfilled)
Can’t you just imagine doubting Thomas jumping up: “Stop the music, stop the singing, hold everything! How do we know Jesus really redeemed people from every tongue and tribe and nation? How do we know He’s worthy?”
And Abraham, with a knowing smile, putting his arm around Thomas: “Go down through the clouds about 20 miles. Take a left until you hit a thunderstorm and then take a right until you see a great library. Walk past the first three aisles and on the left, you’ll find the book ‘The Register of the Peoples’. Check it out. He is worthy.”
The Story that began with a promise will end with its perfect fulfillment—not almost fulfilled, not mostly fulfilled, but completely fulfilled. A = B, from beginning to end.