Proclaiming the Gospel to All Nations: Witnesses Empowered by the Holy Spirit | Luke 24:47-49

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Proclaiming the gospel to all nations is not an optional assignment for especially gifted Christians. It is part of Christ’s final instructions to His people. In Luke 24:47–49, Jesus tells His disciples that “repentance for the forgiveness of sins” must be proclaimed in His name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. Then He calls them witnesses and promises them power from on high.

The Gospel Must Be Proclaimed

In the previous sermon, we considered one of the most important questions anyone can ask: How can sins be forgiven? Jesus gives the answer in Luke 24:47:

“Repentance for the forgiveness of sins…”

Forgiveness comes through repentance. It is not earned by repentance, but repentance is the necessary turning from sin to Christ. We turn from our sin, our self-righteousness, our excuses, and our rebellion, and we look to Christ for mercy. But this raises another question: how will this truth reach the people who need to hear it? Jesus answers in the rest of the verse:

“…should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.”

The message of repentance and forgiveness is not to be hidden, whispered, or kept private. It must be proclaimed. To proclaim means to announce, declare, or herald. It is the way a messenger would carry the word of a king’s decree, or the way a runner might bring news from the battlefield that the war has been won. The gospel is good news, and good news is meant to be announced.

We Shouldn’t Keep the Good News to Ourselves

D. T. Niles famously said:

“Evangelism is one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread.”

That line captures the heart of Christian witness beautifully.

• When we find bread, we tell the hungry.
• When we find water, we tell the thirsty.
• When we find the Savior, we tell sinners.

There is a powerful Old Testament picture of this in 2 Kings 7. Samaria, the capital of the northern kingdom of Israel, was under siege by the Syrians. The famine inside the city had become horrific. People were starving, and the situation looked hopeless.

Then Elisha prophesied that by the next day, food would be plentiful and inexpensive again. Humanly speaking, that seemed impossible.

Outside the city gate were four lepers. Because of their disease, they were outcasts. They could not live among the people. As they considered their situation, they realized they had only three options.

1. They could stay where they were and die.
2. They could enter the city and die in the famine.
3. Or they could go to the Syrian camp, surrender, and perhaps be spared.

None of the options looked good, but the third seemed least hopeless. So they went to the Syrian camp.

What they did not know was that the Lord had caused the Syrians to hear the sound of a great army. The Syrians panicked and fled, leaving behind their tents, food, supplies, and possessions. The lepers entered the camp and found food. They ate and drank. Then they began hiding treasure for themselves. But their consciences convicted them:

“We are not doing right. This day is a day of good news…Now therefore come; let us go and tell the king’s household” (2 Kings 7:9).

They had found life while a city was dying behind the walls. They could not keep it to themselves.

That is what evangelism is. We are not superior people telling inferior people to get their lives together. We are beggars who have found the Bread of Life in Christ, and we tell other beggars where they can find Him too.

The Gospel Must Be Spoken, Not Just Shown

It is important to bring balance here. Our lives matter. Jesus said:

“Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16).

Peter also wrote that believing wives can have a powerful influence on unbelieving husbands through respectful and pure conduct:

“…so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives” (1 Peter 3:1).

So we should be clear: Christians should live in such a way that people see Christlike love, humility, holiness, patience, mercy, forgiveness, and compassion in us. Our conduct should never contradict the gospel we proclaim. But no matter how much our lives reflect Christ, Jesus still says the gospel must be proclaimed.

People are not saved merely by watching Christian lives. They must hear the message of Christ crucified and risen. They must hear of sin, repentance, forgiveness, grace, and salvation in Jesus’ name. This helps us think rightly about a popular saying often attributed to Francis of Assisi:

“Preach the gospel at all times. If necessary, use words.”

The statement sounds appealing, but it is misleading. The gospel cannot be preached without words.

A changed life may adorn the gospel. Good works may make the gospel attractive. Kindness may open a door for gospel conversation. But the gospel itself is news: Christ died for our sins, was buried, rose from the dead, and offers forgiveness to all who repent and believe. That message must be spoken. Paul makes this clear in Romans 10:

“How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard?…So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:14, 17).

Follow Paul’s chain backward:

• People are saved when they call on the Lord.
• But they cannot call on someone they have not believed in.
• They cannot believe in someone they have not heard of.
• And they cannot hear unless someone tells them.

Take away the proclaiming, and the whole chain collapses.

The Gospel Begins in the Least Likely Place

Jesus says this message will be proclaimed “beginning from Jerusalem.” That is stunning. The worldwide mission does not begin in a distant city that had nothing to do with Jesus’s death. It does not begin in a place that welcomed Him. It begins in Jerusalem.

• Jerusalem was the city where the leaders plotted against Him.
• Jerusalem was the city where He was falsely tried and condemned.
• Jerusalem was the city where the crowd cried, “Crucify him!”

Of every city on earth, Jerusalem was the most guilty of Christ’s blood. Humanly speaking, it seems like the least likely place to begin. But that is exactly where Jesus says to start. This was always God’s plan. Paul would later write:

“The gospel…is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek” (Romans 1:16).

And this is exactly what happened at Pentecost. Peter stood in Jerusalem and preached to the very people among whom Jesus had been rejected and crucified. He said:

“Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins…” (Acts 2:38).

Repentance. In Jesus’ name. For forgiveness. Beginning in Jerusalem. Luke 24:47 was fulfilled within weeks, and three thousand Jews were saved that day. If forgiveness reached hands stained with Christ’s blood, then no sinner is too far gone.

This Gospel Is for All Nations

The mission begins in Jerusalem, but it does not stay there. Jesus says repentance and forgiveness must be proclaimed “to all nations.” To us, the church’s worldwide mission may sound familiar. But to Jesus’s Jewish disciples, this would have been surprising and difficult.

They knew the Messiah came from the Jews. They knew the promises had been given to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David, and the prophets. They knew they were God’s covenant people, distinct from the nations around them. But Jesus says this message is not only for Israel. It is for all nations.

If you want to see how hard this was for them to accept, look at Acts 10. Even Peter did not naturally conclude, “Of course I should go preach Christ to Gentiles.” God had to prepare him through a vision. Peter saw a sheet coming down from heaven filled with all kinds of animals, and he heard the command:

“Rise, Peter; kill and eat” (Acts 10:13).

Peter resisted:

“By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean” (Acts 10:14).

Then God told him:

“What God has made clean, do not call common” (Acts 10:15).

This happened three times, showing how deeply ingrained Peter’s convictions were.

When Cornelius’s messengers came, the Spirit had to tell Peter:

“Rise and go down and accompany them without hesitation, for I have sent them” (Acts 10:20).

Even when Peter entered Cornelius’s house, he admitted how unusual this was:

“You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with or to visit anyone of another nation” (Acts 10:28).

Jesus had already said the gospel would go to all nations, but Peter still needed divine intervention to enter a Gentile’s house and preach Christ.

Only then did Peter confess:

“Truly I understand that God shows no partiality” (Acts 10:34).

God Always Planned to Save the Nations

Although many Jews struggled to understand it, the inclusion of the Gentiles was not a new idea. It was God’s plan from the beginning. God told Abraham:

“…in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:3).

He said again:

“…in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed…” (Genesis 22:18).

The Psalms said:

“All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you” (Psalm 22:27).

The prophets said:

“I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth” (Isaiah 49:6).

And John was shown what heaven will look like:

“…a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb…” (Revelation 7:9).

That is where Luke 24:47 is heading. The gospel begins in Jerusalem, but it ends with a redeemed multitude from every nation, tribe, people, and language worshiping before the throne.

We Are Living Proof That Jesus Meant “All Nations”

For those of us who are not Jews, this is deeply personal. Paul writes:

“But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ” (Ephesians 2:13).

We were the ones far off. But by the blood of Christ, we have been brought near. Paul continues:

“So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God” (Ephesians 2:19).

The gospel went out from Jerusalem. It traveled across cultures, languages, continents, centuries, and generations. Eventually, by God’s grace, it reached us. Every Gentile believer is living proof that Jesus meant what He said when He said “all nations.”

Jesus Sends Witnesses

After Jesus gives the message and the mission, He tells the disciples who will carry it:

“You are witnesses of these things” (Luke 24:48).

A witness is not someone who invents a story or argues a theory. A witness tells what he has seen and heard.

When Jesus says, “You are witnesses of these things,” He is referring to what He just mentioned. The disciples had walked with Him. They had watched Him suffer. They had seen Him die. Now, in that very room, they had seen Him alive again. They were eyewitnesses. Peter would later say at Pentecost:

“This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses” (Acts 2:32).

The Christian faith rests on eyewitness testimony. Luke himself says he wrote his Gospel from what “those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses” had delivered.

We are not being asked to believe a legend that developed long after the fact. We are not being asked to believe a myth invented by people who never knew Jesus. We have the testimony of those who saw the risen Christ with their own eyes.

And many of these witnesses suffered greatly and died rather than deny their testimony. Men may die for something false if they believe it is true. But men do not willingly suffer and die for what they know to be a lie.

Are We Witnesses Too?

We should be careful when we read Scripture. Sometimes we take words spoken to one group of people and apply them directly to ourselves without qualification.

When Jesus said, “You are witnesses of these things,” He was speaking to the apostles and those present with them. We are not witnesses of Christ’s death and resurrection in the same way they were. We did not see Jesus suffer, die, or rise from the dead with our own eyes. But there is still a sense in which every Christian is a witness. We can witness to what Christ has done in our lives:

• We are witnesses of His mercy.
• We are witnesses of His grace.
• We are witnesses of His power to transform sinners.

Think of the man born blind in John 9. After Jesus healed him, the religious leaders tried to trap him. They wanted him to explain things he did not fully understand, but he gave one of the simplest and strongest testimonies in Scripture:

“One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see” (John 9:25).

He could not answer every question. He could not win every theological argument. But he could say what Christ had done for him. That is the kind of witness every forgiven sinner can be:

• I was blind, but now I see.
• I was dead in my sins, but Christ gave me life.
• I was guilty, but Christ forgave me.
• I was lost, but Christ found me.

God Uses Ordinary Witnesses

You may not feel equipped to be a witness for Christ. But consider the people Jesus first called to be His witnesses.

• They were not experts.
• They were not religious scholars.
• They were not the trained men.

They were fishermen, tax collectors, and ordinary people. You do not need a degree to tell someone what Christ has done for you. You do not need to have all the answers. Witnesses on the stand are not asked to be eloquent. They are asked to tell the truth about what they know. That is all we are asked to do. A simple witness can be powerful. Sometimes it sounds like this: “I gave my life to Christ. I don’t do those things anymore.”

That may not sound impressive, but it is a real testimony. It says Christ has changed me. That is not who I am anymore. I belong to Him now. A witness for Christ does not have to answer every theological question, expound every passage, or present a polished sermon. Sometimes a faithful witness simply says, “That’s not me anymore. I gave my life to Christ.”

Gospel Witness Is Empowered by the Holy Spirit

Jesus continues:

“And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high” (Luke 24:49).

This is surprising. Imagine giving someone an urgent task and then telling them to wait. But that is exactly what Jesus does. He gives the disciples the greatest mission in the world, then tells them not to go yet. He says the same thing in Acts 1:

“…he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father…” (Acts 1:4).

Why? Because they could not carry out this mission in their own strength. Think of what the disciples were like before Pentecost. They ran away when Jesus was arrested. Peter denied Him three times. After the resurrection, they were hiding behind locked doors out of fear.

These were not brave conquerors of the world. But then the Holy Spirit came upon them at Pentecost, and the same frightened men preached Christ boldly, even when it meant persecution and death.

The Spirit Does What We Cannot Do

This should encourage us:

• It is the Holy Spirit who convicts people of sin.
• It is the Holy Spirit who softens hardened hearts.
• It is the Holy Spirit who grants repentance.
• It is the Holy Spirit who opens blind eyes to see Christ as Lord and Savior.

We cannot do any of those things. We can plant. We can water. We can speak. We can plead. We can pray. But only God gives the growth. That is humbling, because it leaves no room for pride. If anyone is saved, God gets the glory.

It is also freeing, because we are not responsible to do what only God can do. Our responsibility is to proclaim the gospel. God does the saving.

Conclusion: We Have Found the Bread of Life

In Luke 24:47–49, Jesus gives us the message, the mission, the messengers, and the power.

• The message is repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
• The mission is to proclaim that message to all nations.
• The messengers are witnesses—ordinary people who tell what they have seen and known.
• The power is the Holy Spirit.

Those of us who are saved are living proof that Jesus meant “all nations.” The gospel traveled across the world and across the centuries until it reached us.

Now we are witnesses. We have found the Bread of Life. We should not keep silent. And by the power of the Holy Spirit, we do not have to. Let us proclaim the message we have heard, and let us tell others where to find the bread that has been graciously given to us.