Thursday, February 12, 2026

Alex Buabeng-Korsah

TOPIC: SENT, BUT NOT RESPONDED  

THEME SCRIPTURE: “I will perform a sign among them… and I will send those who survive to the nations… to all the lands beyond the sea that have not heard of my fame or seen my glory.” — Isaiah 66:19

PREPARATORY QUESTIONS:

1. Who are those that God has sent to proclaim His fame among the nations?

Isaiah 66 gives us a startling picture of God on the move. He gathers people, reveals His glory through a decisive “sign,” and then sends survivors as messengers to the nations. The order matters. God saves first. Then He sends.

John R. Mott understood this pattern. As a young man at Cornell, his faith was awakened through the witness of J.K. Studd and sharpened under Dwight L. Moody. By forty-five, Mott stood before the 1910 Edinburgh Missionary Conference and named a hard truth: “It is startling and solemnizing that the Great Commission of our Lord Jesus Christ… is still so largely unfulfilled.” 

Mott's life became a living response to Isaiah’s vision—traveling, recruiting, mobilizing, insisting that the church exist for the sake of those who had never heard.

Isaiah calls the cross and resurrection a “sign.” Those who “survive” God’s judgment—rescued by grace—are then sent.

Beloved, many years after the Edinburgh Missionary Conference, it is still startling and solemnizing that the Great Commission is largely unfulfilled in our day. The tragedy is not that the 'sign' is unclear. The tragedy is that many who have seen it have never moved. Augustine once wrote, “The Gospel is kept alive not by being hidden, but by being proclaimed.” 

So, silence is not neutrality; it is disobedience.

Mission was not a department of the early church; *it was the pulse of the church. Athanasius could say of the early Christians, “They do not merely speak about Christ; they show Him by their deeds.”

Why, then, do billions still live without hearing God’s fame or seeing His glory? Good question. Isaiah points us inward before outward. Those who do not grasp the weight of God's judgment and the mercy of His salvation will never feel the urgency of being sent. Mott’s century-old warning still stands—not because God has failed, but because His people have hesitated.

 Precious one, this is not about geography alone. God sends across oceans and across streets, to nations and neighbors. The question is not whether God is sending, but whether we are willing to go or we are on our way.

Key Takeaway:

If the cross has truly saved you, it has also sent you. Grace received but not carried forward becomes grace withheld. Carry your candle. Run into the darkness. Seek out the hopeless, confused, and torn.

This year, bring them in to see His fame; His glory. And you will shine like the stars of the firmament.

Remain blessed.

FURTHER READING: Isaiah 66

Call to Salvation: Today is your day if you have not received salvation by turning over your life to Jesus Christ. Click here to do so.

QUESTIONS TO HELP YOU MEDITATE ON THE WORD

1. How has the “sign” of the cross personally shaped your sense of urgency for others?

2. Where might God be sending you that you’ve quietly resisted?

3. What would obedience look like if you took Isaiah 66 seriously today?

PRAYER

Lord, You gathered me, showed me Your glory, and spared me through the cross. Forgive my hesitation to go where You send. Rekindle in me the weight of eternity and the joy of obedience. Make my life a declaration of Your glory, so that those who have not heard may see and believe. In Jesus’ precious name. Amen.

One-Year Bible Reading Plan

Exodus 21-22; Psalm 41