Command - or promise?

I was captivated by a profound quote in my reading last night:

Newbig on Acts 1:8: "The word, 'You shall be my witnesses', is not a command to be obeyed but a promise to be trusted."

Certainly we are commanded to be involved in the task of missions - Matt. 28:19-20 is in the imperative. But Acts 1:8 is more a statement of fact and is connected with the great promise of missions -- the empowering of the Holy Spirit.

Realizing that God has given the nations to His Son as an inheritance is the great assurance of missions. We don't know who among each people group will believe, but He does. And we can take assurance that there WILL be some from among each group around the throne!

Serve today in the great assurance of the promise!

Acts 1:8 "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."

Rev. 7:9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”