The first major event of history in the last two thousand years was the founding and establishment of the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire was established by Caesar Augustus around 31 B.C., a little over thirty years before Christ was born. This came into being for the spreading, the propagation, of the gospel. Before Christ was born, the Roman Empire was founded to prepare the way for the gospel to be spread to all the peoples under heaven. Before the establishment of the Roman Empire, the peoples around the Mediterranean were fully divided. It was the Roman Empire that made the Greek language the international language of all the peoples around the Mediterranean Sea. When the time came that the gospel should be preached, all the peoples around the Mediterranean were prepared to understand one language. One language, Greek, was sufficient for the preaching of the gospel. Wherever the apostles went, there was no problem of language because the Roman Empire had done this wonderful thing for the preaching of the gospel.
The Apostle Paul could freely visit other countries because the Roman Empire had unified all the different nations around the Mediterranean under one empire. This made it so convenient for the spreading of the gospel. One citizenship was good enough. In Acts 22, when Paul was about to be beaten, he appealed on the grounds of his Roman citizenship (v. 25). The Roman Empire also built highways throughout Europe and Asia-Minor, from Spain to Jerusalem. Not only was there the traffic on the Mediterranean Sea, but also there were the highways built on the land by the Roman Empire. This also was so convenient for the spreading of the gospel. Furthermore, the Roman Empire was strong to keep a peaceful order among all the peoples around the Mediterranean Sea.
The Roman Empire accomplished these four things. They made Greek the international language, they unified all the nations into one empire, they built highways, and they kept a very peaceful order for the spreading of the gospel. The Roman Empire was founded only about thirty years before Christ, and about thirty years after Christ’s birth, the gospel was accomplished and was ready to be preached. By that time the language was ready, the empire was unified, the highways were built, and the peaceful order was maintained. Everything was in favor of the spreading of the gospel. This was the first major thing that happened in these last two thousand years for the spreading of the gospel. Within less than fifty years the gospel was preached to all the nations under the heaven around the Mediterranean Sea.
After the church was brought forth, it began to decline and degrade, eventually reaching the dark ages. At this time Martin Luther was raised up to recover the truth concerning justification by faith. It was sovereign of God that also around that time Columbus discovered America. The reformation of the church and the discovery of the new land liberated man’s mentality which had been imprisoned under Catholicism. Since that time also science was improved and industry was increased. Through science and industry “isms” such as capitalism, socialism, and, eventually due to overproduction, imperialism came into being. All these isms are wrong things, but we must realize that they were sovereignly used by God to open the doors of the divided and closed people. This was the second major item of history-the liberation of the imprisoned mentality under Catholicism through the Reformation under Martin Luther and the discovery of the new world. History tells us that these events brought in a great change in man’s thinking.
The third great item of history was the defeat of Spain by Britain. After Columbus’s discovery of the new land, Spain became the dominant power of the whole world. For this reason Central America and South America are Spanish speaking. The so-called Latin Americas are actually the Spanish Americas. Since Spain was fully for Catholicism, God raised up Britain to defeat Spain. Merely by a short battle on the sea, Spain was defeated. From that time on, Britain became the major power over the whole world. It was said that the sun never set on the British Empire. Britain became such a wide-spread power over the world, and this was used by God to spread His gospel, not by Catholicism, but by the Protestant missionaries. It was through this third major item of history that the gospel was brought to every corner of all the continents, especially to Asia, Africa, and Australasia. Catholicism is not so prevailing on these continents. This was God’s sovereign doing to bring the gospel to all the nations.
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