Finding God in Other Religions

Text: Genesis 14:18-20

As disciples of Jesus, we are familiar with his words, “I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved” (John 10:9). We remember other words in that same chapter, “The one who does not enter through the gate is a thief and robber” (John 10:1).

From this it is a short leap to the idea that anyone who does not understand Jesus the way we do is somehow a thief and robber. “Other Religions” are not just “other,” they are devilish, demonic, dangerous, evil. God would never show up in those neighborhoods.

This fundamentalist view is corrected by other words of Jesus, again from the same chapter. “I have other sheep who are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also” (John 10:16). These “other sheep” who belong to “other sheep pens” already belong to Jesus. Over there. In that other place. Jesus will call them, yes. He has plans for them. Still, right now, while they are still over there, he acknowledges they are already his.

These twin truths,“I have sheep in other sheep pens” and “I must bring them” give two poles to our thinking about “other religions.”

1. We cooperate with Jesus in giving the invitation to those others to come and be part of this sheep pen. We do evangelism, witnessing, sharing or whatever label you prefer for communicating our beliefs and practices to others.

2. We recognize that people in those other pens--other religions--already belong to Jesus. Even the clergy of these "opposing religions" may well already belong to Jesus. So our evangelism is not based on condemnation of other people or other religions. We do not have to prove people are damned before we can offer them the good things God has given us.


These twin truths show up in the larger story of Scripture.

A. In the Bible, God is very outspoken in his choice of the Jews as his special people. (I will not bother listing texts.)

B. God freely works through non-Jewish priests, prophets and kings! (Below are a few dramatic examples.)

Priest/King
According to Genesis 12, God chose Abraham and promised to make him the father of a special nation. Some time later, Abraham meets a Canaanite priest, Melchizedek, who is the king of Jerusalem. (Remember, this is hundreds of years before Jerusalem becomes a Jewish city under David.) Abraham confirms the godly status of this Canaanite priest by paying him tithe!

This story is one of the most dramatic illustrations of principle that being “God’s chosen”–that’s Abraham–is not a negation of the ministry of others, not even a negation of the ministry of a Canaanite!

Prophet
Balaam is introduced in Numbers 22 as a Babylonian prophet who has direct communion with God. He is seduced by money, but his prophecies are preserved in Scripture and are celebrated still today as some of the earliest promises regarding the Messiah. In Balaam’s story we see God’s strong preference for Israel and God’s active involvement with a venal Babylonian prophet.

Kings
Isaiah, writing for God, refers to the Assyrian king as “the rod of my anger, in whose hand is the club of my wrath!” (Isaiah 10:5). Even though the King of Assyria has no conscious intention of cooperating with God, Isaiah writes that his attacks on Israel are actually holy work. God is in them.

Further on in Isaiah we read about Cyrus the "Lord's anointed." For the sake of Israel God will "call him by name and bestow on him a title of honor." God says, "I will strengthen you, though you do not acknowledge me. . . . I will raise Cyrus up in my righteousness . . . he will rebuild my city" (Isa. 45).

Jeremiah writes similarly about God's "servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. (Jer. 27:4-7).

Daniel pictures God at work in the court of Babylon eventually winning the allegiance of the King of Babylon. Nebuchanezzar's conversion does not make him a Jew (an official member of the official people of God). It does place a godly man at the head of the Babylonian system. What if the pope (or your favorite interpretation of the king of Babylon in Revelation) yielded to God’s initiative even partially? Would you recognize it?

Melchizedek the Canaanite, Senaccharib the Assyrian, Nebuchadnezzar the Babylon, and Cyrus the Persian are all recognized as servants of God. All of them except Senaccharib are presented as honorable servants of God. They are good people, doing God's work.

How does this apply in our own setting?

A. We confidently present to the world our understanding of the mission and truth of God. We want the world to know about a God who does not torture, a God who creates freedom and has exalted dreams for his people (to share the throne with him for all eternity–Rev. 22:5). We invite people to experience the enhanced quality of life that comes flows from the disciplines of healthy living–Sabbath-keeping, relationship cultivation, diet, exercise, education. We invite people to join us in “the remnant church.”

B. We renounce “Babylon-bashing.” We expect God to be active in other people, even in other religions. We honor what God is doing elsewhere. We do not confuse “being chosen” with condemnation of all the others. When we see others doing the work of God–and compassion, moral action, stewardship of earth, health care, restoration of relationships, easing of pain, recovery from addiction–we cooperate where we can. We take comfort in the assurance we have that God is active all over–not just everywhere in a geographic sense but also in a cultural, religious, ethic sense. God reigns.

The bottom line: our evangelism, our proclamation to the world is not driven by our conviction that everyone out there is evil and every other system is controlled by the devil. Rather, healthy evangelism is driven by an overflow of joy and gratitude. What God has given us is too precious to be hoarded. We are too happy with our treasure to keep quiet.