Then the call to praise is repeated in verse 5 with a new reason in verse 6. This second reason is that common grace is given to all. The first line in verse 6 is the statement: the earth, not Jerusalem or Judea, but all the earth has yielded its increase. Despite the curse, the truths of Genesis 1:12 remain: plants will yield seed according to their kind, whether sown by God’s people or not. And then the second line is a line of confidence: God will bless. Because we know it’s true that God’s rain and sun fall and shine on all, we have no doubt that God will bless.
God is in the business of distributing common grace. His sovereignty over the earth goes on unabated. And in that truth all nations should find gladness and sing for joy.
This is not to say that we are unconcerned about caring for our planet. We can’t just sit back and say, “Well, God will take care of it all.” We were given the task of cultivating and keeping or guarding this earth. Like all of God’s good gifts, we are mere stewards, not owners to do with what we will.
And this fact should change us and the way we think about our blessings. In the book of Acts, we see the apostles and other church leaders make a simple connection: if God treats the Gentiles like he treated us by giving the Holy Spirit, then the goodness of repentance and faith must be for them too: God’s goodness moved the disciples to goodness. The recognition that God’s grace extended beyond Judea transformed the world over the next several hundred years.
It wasn’t a new idea as we see from Psalm 67, but by the Spirit, God’s people finally embraced God’s desire for all nations to praise him. God does bless therefore indeed let all the ends of the earth fear him. And that really in a nut shell is what the book of Acts is about.
In Acts 1:8, we get an outline of sorts for the book. Jesus says, “And you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.” And that is what we see happening. By the beginning of Acts 4, there were 5000 believers in Jerusalem. By Acts 8, the gospel has spread throughout Judea and into Samaria. And by the time we get to Acts 17, we hear some people who are opposed to the gospel say that “these men” have turned the world upside down.
That is our calling: to turn the world upside down. But we do that by first receiving God’s favor, letting his graciousness rest upon us and be reproduced in us. The gospel working in us as we respond to God’s goodness will indeed change our communities.
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