The nations first appear in the biblical grand narrative in the context of life after the flood—God’s catastrophic judgment on human wickedness. By Genesis 11 the nations have been scattered in confusion. The conflict of nations mirrors the brokenness of humanity as a whole. With undoubtedly deliberate intent, the final book of the Bible comes to its climax with the picture of the nations purged of all sin, walking in the light of God, bringing their wealth and spendor into the city of God, contributing their redeemed glory and honor to the glory and honor of the Lamb of God (Rev. 21:24-27). The brokenness of humanity is healed at the river and tree of life (Rev. 22:1-2). And between these two great scenes in Genesis and Revelation—the primal and ultimate state of the nations—the Bible records the story of how such cosmic transformation will have been accomplished. It is, in short, the mission of God... God’s mission is what fills the gap between the scattering of the nations in Genesis 11 and the healing of the nations in Revelation 22. It is God’s mission in relation to the nations, arguably more than any other single theme, that provides the key that unlocks the biblical grand narrative.

— Christopher J.H. Wright
The Mission of God