The perfect sacrifice which Christ accomplished on the cross is of infinite power and worth, abundantly adequate for the reconciliation of the sins of the whole world.
Holy Scripture always relates that whole world to the redemption and re-creation.
The world was the object of God’s love (John 3:16). Christ came into the world not to condemn the world but to save it. In Him God reconciled the world, all things in heaven and on earth, to Himself.
Christ, accordingly, was a propitiation not only for the sins of those who at a given time believe in Him, but also for the whole world (1 John 2:2).
Just as the world was created by the Son, so also it is destined to belong to Him as the Son and heir (John 1:29; 2 Cor. 5:9; and Col. 1:20).
It is the Father’s good pleasure in the dispensation of the fulness of times again to gather all together in one with Christ as head, all, that is, in heaven and on earth (Eph. 1:10).
There are times coming of the restitution of all things; according to the promise of God we look for a new heaven and a new earth in which righteousness dwells (Acts 3:21 and Rev. 21:1).
Because of this abundant adequacy of Christ’s sacrifice for the whole world, the gospel of reconciliation must also be preached to all creatures.
The promise of the gospel is that whoever believes in the crucified Christ shall not perish but have eternal life, and this gospel must be proclaimed and presented without distinction to all nations and people to whom God according to His good pleasure sends the gospel.
It must be accompanied by the imperative of repentance and belief. Scripture does not leave the least doubt about this. In the Old Testament already it is said that the Lord has no pleasure in the death of the wicked but in his repentance and life (Ezek. 18:23 and 33:11).
There it is further said that all the nations shall sometime share in the blessings of Israel. The missionary idea is already contained in the promise of the Old Testament covenant of grace.
But it is expressed with crystal clarity when Christ Himself appears on earth and has accomplished His work.
He is the light of the world, the Savior who gives life to the world, who has other sheep besides Israel which He must also bring (John 10:16); and He therefore predicts and commands that the gospel will be preached in the whole world.”
–Herman Bavinck, The Wonderful Works of God (trans. Henry Zylstra; Glenside, PA: Westminster Seminary Press, 1909/2019), 341.
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