In the grand architecture of the Holy Scriptures, the term Gentile stands as the great demarcation of the human race. From the calling of Abraham unto the appearing of our Lord, the world was divided into two distinct camps: the Circumcision and the Uncircumcision; the Sheep of the Fold and the Strangers to the Covenant. To understand who the Gentiles were is to understand the very heart of the Gospel’s reach from the dusty roads of Judea to the uttermost parts of the earth.
The word itself, derived from the Hebrew goy and the Greek ethnos, simply signifies the “nations.” In the Bible, it refers to all those who were not of the seed of Abraham through the line of Isaac and Jacob. They were the “other” nations—the Egyptians, the Babylonians, the Greeks, and the Romans—who sat in the shadow of spiritual death while Israel bathed in the light of the Shekinah glory. As the Apostle Paul starkly reminds us, there was a time when the Gentiles were “aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world” (Ephesians 2:12).
Yet, even in the Old Testament, the Gentiles were never entirely forgotten by the Almighty. While Israel was the “apple of His eye,” they were also intended to be a “light to the Gentiles.” From the faith of Rahab the Canaanite to the repentance of Nineveh under Jonah’s reluctant preaching, the Lord signaled that His mercy was a fountain that would eventually overflow the banks of Jordan. The prophets spoke of a day when the Root of Jesse would stand for an ensign of the people, and to it should the Gentiles seek.
The Great Pivot occurred at the Cross. When the veil of the temple was rent in twain, the “middle wall of partition” that separated the Jew from the Gentile was forever demolished. The Book of Acts chronicles this seismic shift: from the vision of Peter on the housetop to the conversion of Cornelius the Centurion. Suddenly, the “unclean” were made clean by the blood of the Lamb. The mystery, which was hid from ages and from generations, was finally made manifest: “That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel” (Ephesians 3:6).
Today, we live in the “times of the Gentiles,” a period where the grafting in of the wild olive branch has allowed us to partake of the root and fatness of the olive tree. We are the fruit of that costly grace. We are the evidence that God is no respecter of persons. However, we must walk in fear and humility, for the same Word that opened the door to the nations warns of a coming day when the fullness of the Gentiles shall come in, and the focus of the Great King shall return to His ancient people.
As we await the Lord’s Return, we must remember that we were once “afar off,” brought nigh only by the blood of Christ. Our identity is no longer found in our national heritage or our earthly lineage, but in our citizenship in a Heavenly Kingdom. As it is written, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28). The Gentiles were the outsiders invited to the King’s table, and the invitation still stands for any who will hear the Midnight Cry.