January 28
Matthew 28: Always in Charge, Always With Us
Genesis 29; Matthew 28; Esther 5; Acts 28
Whenever I ask a Christian audience, “How does the Great Commission in Matthew 28 begin?” the answer returns: “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations” (Matthew 28:19). And in one sense, that’s correct - that’s the part with the command.
But God never gives us naked commands disrobed from truth and His promises. Thus we are never to understand or seek to obey His commands without understanding and believing truth and His promises. Thus the Great Commission begins not with a command but with a truth:
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” Matt. 28:18
Then the command is grounded in a promise:
“And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (20b)
Sandwiched between this truth and this promise is the actual command. Now we understand what the therefore was referring back to:
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. (19-20)
This is a small, insecure, still-learning rag-tag band of mostly Galilean fishermen, charged with creating an empire of God in the world. The scope is total. When Jesus says “of all nations,” he does not just mean, a few people in each of the nations. All authority is given him, over all things. He wants all of the nations: their culture, their governance, their stories, their heroes, their economies - all of it.
Of course this always terminates on people. Real people must be brought not only to be baptized but to be taught to observe all that Jesus commanded, which applies to all of life. The kingdom of God will extend beyond the walls of the church to all the world.
Who is sufficient for this awesome task? Even the greatest superpower to date - the United States - has been an abysmal failure at “nation-building.” Thus the truth and the promise:
Wherever we go, whatever square foot of ground on this earth we stand on, Jesus is King and has total authority over that piece of ground, whether it be the throne room of a king or the beach of a far off island. Jesus is King of it all, by virtue of his resurrection and his coming Ascension.
So, leaning into this promise, that God will always be with you, ever-present. The same promise God gave Jacob as he ventured into an uncertain future (see yesterday’s entry) and the same promise God gave Joshua before conquering the Promised Land (Joshua 1:5, 9) is given to us, to you, Christian. He will never leave us nor forsake us.
So . . . go . . . baptizing and teaching.