Abraham was the one through whom all nations would be blessed, and yet it was from Melchizedek that Abraham received a blessing (Genesis 14:18-20) and it was to him that Abraham tithed. Hebrews emphasizes how important this makes Melchizedek’s spiritual standing. This priest symbolized Christ, but he seems to have been king and priest of a literal town in Abraham’s day, not Christ himself. What is even more astounding is that Melchizedek lived in the midst of the Canaanites, and presumably himself belonged to one of those heathen tribes that were so far from God that he promised their land to Abraham because, he wanted wiped them from the face of the earth in a few generations’ time. Perhaps it was the rejection of such witnesses as Melchizedek that made these people so worthy of divine judgment.

Moses’ father-in-law, Jethro, was ‘the priest of Midian,’ (Exodus 3:1) who advised Moses when the Israelites were in the wilderness. (Exodus 18:14-19, 23-24) He offered sacrifices to God and Aaron and the elders then ate with Jethro ‘before God.’ (Exodus 18:12). Many scholars see ‘the priest of Midian’ in this incident as having prominence over Aaron.

Balaam, the heathen prophet, also had a genuine encounter with God and seemed to know him (Scriptures) even though he eventually gave in to temptation (Scriptures). And have you ever stopped to wonder about the identity of Job and his friends? They do not seem to have been Israelites.

The Lord spoke in a dream to the heathen king Abimelech, not merely for Abraham’s sake, but because, says Scripture, God knew Abimelech had taken Abraham’s wife with a clear conscience and the Lord wanted to keep him from sinning (Genesis 20:3, 6). The Lord also appeared to Laban (who was not a descendent of Abraham) in a dream (Genesis 31:34). By a dream he revealed the future to Egypt’s Pharaoh (Genesis 41:25), as he also did centuries later to Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel 2:28). Later, God warned Nebuchadnezzar that he would suffer judgment in order to show him that ‘the most high rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever he chooses’ (Daniel 4:25). Daniel advised the king to change his ways (Daniel 4:27). Apparently Nebuchadnezzar failed to follow this advice, but through God’s intervention in his life, he came to know the true God in a deeper way and he praised God for it (Daniel 4:34-37).

Jesus highlighted the fact that in both Elijah’s and Elisha’s ministries, hundreds of needy Israelites were bypassed and instead, God performed miracles for people totally outside the covenant – a widow and her son facing starvation, and Naaman, the leprous high-ranking officer of pagan Syria (Luke 4:25-27).

Most of the Jewish religious leaders were unaware of the Messiah’s birth, but not so the Magi, the wise men from the east. The Magi are generally thought to have been Gentile astrologers. If so, this is not an endorsement of astrology, but a demonstration of the lengths God will go to in order to bring heathen to Jesus.

In John 10:16 and 11:51-52, Jesus says, ‘other sheep I have that are not of this fold,’ and he speaks of ‘children of God’ who are not of ‘the nation’ [of Israel]. These Scriptures apparently refer to heathen in other countries who, even as Christ spoke, had spiritual life, and the coming of the Gospel to them would enable them to become spiritually one with those of the Jews who had spiritual life.