“And God said to him, ‘I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come from your own body.’” – Genesis 35:11
At Bethel God affirmed to Jacob the covenant He’d made with His grandfather Abraham. The first and third parts of God’s promise to Jacob are simple, clear, and play out over the rest of the Old Testament – God established a new ethnic nation (the Hebrew people) by descent from Jacob, formed them into a political nation (Israel), and ultimately raised up kings descended from Jacob.
However, God also expanded and clarified His promise – “a company of nations shall come from you”. This is a most interesting promise, because the Old Testament doesn’t describe multiple nations forming from the descendants of Jacob. Indeed, the testimony of Scripture is of the ethnic unity of His descendants. This part of the promise points us straight to the ongoing work of Jesus Christ who is descended from Jacob.
Through faith in Jesus Christ, God creates a new people from among all nations and ethnicities that is united in Christ. The work of the church is to live out the second part of the promise in Genesis, going and sharing the gospel with people from all nations and people groups, making disciples, baptizing them into the family God promised Jacob, and teaching them to obey all Christ commanded.
The church IS the company of nations from Jacob! We live in the glory of the fulfillment of God’s promise to Jacob. We also know that in heaven we will see and join the company of nations, the great assembly of all peoples, tribes, and languages worshiping together and praising God!