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18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen. ~ Matthew 28:18-20
Today, we conclude our study of the gospel according to Matthew. When it appeared to the disciples that all hope was lost the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ happened. Following His resurrection from the dead, He appeared to His followers no less than ten times. According to Acts 1:3, "He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God." Jesus Christ is the only person in history of whom we were told thousand of years in advance that He would be born of a virgin, that He would live a perfect life, die a perfect death and be raised from the dead. It was King David who wrote a thousand years before about His crucifixion and at a time crucifixion was unknown as a means of execution.
In v.18 of today's passage we read, "And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, 'All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.'"
You will remember that Matthew began his gospel by introducing the Lord Jesus as the King. He gave His royal lineage and had a group of kings seek Him as the King. And now, as Matthew concludes this account he quotes the Lord Jesus as having said, "All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth." The authority given to the Lord Jesus by His Father made Him King over all kings. This means the Lord Jesus is in absolute charge of everything. It was Satan who had arrested authority over this world from Adam in the Garden of Eden. When the Lord Jesus came and lived a perfect life and died a perfect death, He was granted by His Father complete authority over everything, even over this fallen world. His authority is based upon who He is and subsequently what He has done on the cross on our behalf. His Father affirmed His authority when He raised Him from the dead.
In v.19-20 of today's passage we read, "19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."
All believers have been granted the responsibility of making disciples. The calling of every believer is that we point people to our Savior praying they see Him for who He is and that they become His followers. The verb "make disciples" is an imperative meaning we are held responsible by God to be engaged in the lives of others around us to the point that we influence them to become followers of the Lord Jesus. But, we mustn't forget that He is the One who does the convincing and the discipling. We factor into the process as we share our personal relationship with the Lord Jesus with the lost and how God has led us to Himself and through this life. Integral to all of this is the involvement of His Spirit and His Word.
Even though it is the Lord Jesus who makes disciples, He involves us in bringing to Himself men and women, boys and girls. Our motive to participate in this work must be to bring glory to the Lord. We must not make disciples with selfish motives. The true sign that we are engaged in a way that brings glory to the Lord is that we are quick to give Him ALL the glory. As a result, our mission is to win the lost to the Lord Jesus. Interestingly, the Great Commission is repeated in all the four gospels but not in the epistles.
The Lord Jesus said, "Make disciples of all the nations" revealing yet again that God has always had a heart for all people groups. The word "nation" literally means "ethnic people groups." His desire has always been to bring lost people into a relationship with Himself. Interestingly when the Lord met with Abraham in Genesis 12 He had all the nations or all ethnic people groups in mind.
In order to accomplish this task of "making disciples" the Lord has given us three directives: to go, to baptize, and to teach. Literally, He said, "as you are going." Our commission is as we live our daily lives we are to expect Him to bring people into our lives who have yet to believe on the Lord Jesus as their Savior. He does not want us to wait until the world comes to us but that we are on mission, going to them. Once they come, we are to teach them the truths God has taught us. And, it isn’t just that they are taught. No, it is that we give them an example of what it means to enter into a personal relationship with the Lord God and to walk with Him and to abide in Him.
To baptize means to immerse those who believe in the Lord Jesus in water. God gave baptism to be an outward sign of an inward condition. Baptism is synonymous with salvation, though it in no way saves anyone. Water baptism is an object lesson of what happened to us when we first believed in the Lord Jesus and were baptized into the Spirit of God or were born again. Baptism is the outward visible symbol of what had been done by God in our hearts.
When we were saved, we entered into a personal relationship with the Lord where He is increasingly becoming to us more and more real. This is where teaching comes into the process. A person who comes to Christ will be a learner. His learning is always moved forward by his hunger. This hunger was created by God and satisfied by Him, as well. When we were born again by the Holy Spirit, He delivered into our souls a desire to know Him. Thus, we seek Him in order to find Him. And, when we find Him, He teaches us His culture. We cannot teach others that which we have never been taught.
Today's passage ends with: "and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."
When sin entered this world, we were separated from God's presence. The separation exists because God is perfect and we are not. A part of God’s perfection is His justice which demands that sin be judged. This is why the Lord Jesus came to die and to deal a death blow to death. This is what makes it possible for a perfect God to dwell in the hearts of sinful people. It also explains why God is always telling His people to build a place like the tabernacle or the temple. He issued those commands so that He could dwell among His people. The death and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus made it possible for God to dwell within the believer, so the buildings are no longer needed. And, the secret to any success that we experience is His abiding presence within us.
