Reading Assignment: Matthew 28:11-20
Truth: The purpose of the risen Christ is unstoppable.
Key Verse: Matthew 28:18
Overview:
1. Resistance
2. Advance
Prayer:
1. Affirm Jesus’ authority over all things.
2. Commit to being and making disciples for Jesus’ honor.
3. Recognize His presence with us and thank Him for it.
Transcript
Let's pray and we'll begin.
Lord, we thank You for Your wonderful grace that has chosen those whom You will save from eternity past, and You have orchestrated all things to draw each of those precious souls to faith in Christ. You ensured that each one be justified, indwelt by Your Spirit, sanctified, and saved forever. The wonders of Your grace far exceed our expectations and even our imagination. Thank You that You, by Your power, You preserve every one of Your people. Thank You that Jesus's own presence is with us through His Holy Spirit, that none of Your children goes through life alone, isolated, resorting to their own resources and devices, but that we have Christ Jesus Himself as our shepherd and guardian to guide us, to provide for us to encourage us to help us all along the way, the pilgrim's journey; we give You thanks. Thank You for these many weeks of study through the Gospel of Matthew. We pray that You would teach us once again as we come to the very end of it. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
Our final reading assignment is from Matthew 28:11-20. This is the final passage out of Matthew. The central truth I want to highlight here is this: the purpose of the risen Christ is unstoppable. The key verse is verse 18, where Jesus says, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.” Jesus not only rose from the dead, but He rose from the dead as the God of glory who possesses authority over all things. And with that authority, He has a purpose, a mission for His people, to make disciples.
There are two parts to this section. First, there's the resistance. The Jews resist the announcement of the risen Christ and they do so in the most forceful way. But that doesn't stop Christ from fulfilling His purpose in His world. Thus, on the one hand, there's resistance, but on the other hand, there's an advance. The purpose of Christ will prevail and advance.
So, first, the resistance. Verse 11, “Now while they were on their way (that's talking about the women who were on their way to tell the disciples that Jesus has risen), some of the guard came into the city and reported to the chief priests all that had happened.” The soldiers from the guard report what had happened. They saw the angel and the stone which he had rolled away. They relay all of this to the chief priests. This means the chief priests were fully aware of the angelic appearance and the announcement of Jesus' resurrection. But of course, they did not believe. Their unbelief was a defiant denial of the truth. They knew it, and yet they denied it. But they did more than disbelieve. They actually opposed the truth with deception and bribery. This brings us to the next few verses. Verse 12 and following: “And when they had assembled with the elders and consulted together, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers, and said, ‘You are to say, “His disciples came by night and stole Him away while we were asleep.”’” This was, of course, a false testimony. In verse 14, they show that they’ve accounted for the governor’s potential reaction: “And if this should come to the governor's ears, we will win him over and keep you out of trouble.” They've already worked out all the details of this well-thought-out scheme. The incentive was money and their aim was deception. They want to spread a lie that the disciples stole the body, and pay the soldiers to spread this lie. And the money worked. Verse 15, “And they (the soldiers) took the money and did as they had been instructed; and this story (the false story of disciples stealing Jesus's body) was widely spread among the Jews, and is to this day.” That last remark by Matthew tells us that even at the time of the writing of this gospel, this falsehood was well known and widespread. So the bribery worked, so to speak. The soldiers took the money and they spread the lie, and there were no consequences from the authorities. So this false narrative continued to spread. There's an important lesson here with regard to the love of money. The love of money can corrupt character. These soldiers were willing to spread a lie to procure some money for themselves. This is how the opposition to the risen Christ was levelled against Him. But of course, no matter how hard man tries to oppose the work of God, God wins precisely because He is God. And so all of this resistance to the resurrection of Jesus makes no difference whatsoever to the cause of Christ. The resistance of man cannot thwart the purpose of God.
We now move on to the advance of the purpose of the risen Christ. As you’d recall, Jesus had instructed His disciples to meet Him at Galilee. He actually told them even before the cross, back in 26:32, but He also reminded them through the women. And so in verse 16 this is what happens: “the eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had designated.” And so the appointment that Jesus planned took place. Jesus met with the disciples at that mountain in Galilee, just like He said that they would. Verse 17, “When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some were doubtful.” So when the disciples saw the Lord, they worshiped Him. This is just like the women when they first saw the Lord. They held onto His feet, and they worshiped Him (28:9). The disciples knew exactly who Jesus was in His divinity, and because Jesus is God, they gave Him the worship that He was worthy of as God. This is the proper response of all who truly know Jesus for who He is. We worship Him. But Matthew also adds this interesting remark that some were doubtful. Now we can look at this from a couple of angles. First, it could be describing some of the eleven, but I strongly doubt that, because they had already seen the Lord up close and personal in Jerusalem before they met in Galilee. It’s also possible that the doubtful ones here were a part of the extended group of disciples. Let me explain. In 1 Corinthians 15:6, Paul tells us that Jesus “appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time.” So at some point there was a coordinated event when a large crowd of disciples saw the risen Jesus all at once, more than 500 of them. So, here's the question. When did Jesus appear in a coordinated event where more than 500 disciples had gathered and eyewitnessed His post-resurrection appearance? There is only one event in the New Testament. It’s this event, because this is the only event which Jesus had announced it beforehand that they should meet Him. So assuming that this was that incident, then it would seem possible that not every one of those 500 plus would have had the opportunity to talk with Jesus directly or to touch Him, or to see Him up close. Perhaps that's the reason why some were doubtful. No matter what were the details of the event, the fact of the matter is that not everyone was fully convinced at that juncture. This shows us that the purpose of the risen Christ did not depend on the quality of His disciples. There were some who were doubtful and weak-minded. But Jesus' purpose on earth advances, because, well, because He is God, and this is His world over which He has all authority. Well, with that said, now let’s look at Jesus’ message for His disciples. Jesus prefaces His message with a preface, a rationale for His main directive in verse 19. This is verse 18. He spoke to them these words, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.” Jesus declares that He possesses authority over all things. This is a universal authority. It extends to all of creation. It is also a bequeathed authority. Jesus did not arbitrarily claim this authority for Himself. This is the authority He has legitimately received from the Father. Therefore, He says all authority “has been given to Me.” This is also a divine authority. Universal authority would suggest this, and it is confirmed for us in verse 19 where we're given the Trinitarian formula for baptism, that Jesus, the Son, shares with the Father and Spirit the one singular name of God. Therefore, when Jesus declares His authority over all things, He is not only claiming universal authority, and given authority, but a divine authority as God the Son. And if Jesus has divine authority, then He has the right to demand His world, all the nations, to become His worshipers, i.e., to become His disciples who will obey Him as Lord. And this is the rationale for the Great Commission. Verse 19, “Go therefore (since Jesus has universal divine authority) and make disciples of all the nations (that's Jews and Gentiles alike), baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.” This was to be the very thing to execute as they made disciples, to baptize people. But it's not just to dunk them underwater, though the verb baptize means that. But it is to immerse people as a sign that they've died and come back alive with Christ. But even more than that, they were to affirm through their baptism their faith in Jesus as the second person of the triune God. They were embracing Jesus as Lord as they went under the waters of baptism. This is the critical detail. When a person comes to believe in Christ as Lord, and they undergo the ceremony of baptism fully cognizant of the truth that the Father, Son, and Spirit share the singular name of God. What is this name? The word “name” in the ancient world, represented the quality, the nature, the character, the essence of the one being referenced. And so, to come in the name of the king is to come, representing all that the king is. Or when Jesus comes in the name of the Lord, it means that the Messiah comes representing all that Yahweh is in His divine character. And so here when Jesus says that when people are baptized, they are to be baptized in the name of Father, Son, and Spirit, He is talking about the one singular nature, quality, character, and essence of God that belongs to these three persons that are named. This is most interesting. There's only one set of divine attributes, there's one name. But that one name is possessed by the three distinct persons on the Father, Son, and Spirit. This is the doctrine of the Trinity. There's only one God, but He exists in three distinct persons. There's only one divine nature, but it is possessed by three persons. What this means is that every baptizee is to embrace Jesus as the second person of the tribune God. They must see Jesus as God. This is so critical. This is a most critical part of the gospel, that when someone comes to be reconciled with God through Christ, they must embrace Jesus as the Lord, as in capital LORD. They must believe Jesus as Yahweh, that He is God the Son. Now, as important as baptism is, it is not the end of discipleship, but only the beginning. It is just the starting line followed by a marathon of obedience to the Lord. Verse 20 elaborates on this, “teaching them to observe all that I commanded you.” This is what discipleship is. It is to learn to obey all that Jesus commanded. You'll notice this is not about just knowing what Jesus commanded, but it is to do what He commanded. It is about obedience to the words of Christ. This purpose of Christ for His people reverberates throughout the New Testament. Peter says that the purpose of our election is that we would “obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood.” Jesus Himself asks, “Why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say” (Luke 6:46). Paul calls this response to the gospel, “the obedience of faith among the nations.” In Romans 6:17, Paul describes conversion as having “become obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you are committed.” Conversion is then the start of a new life of obedience to the Lord. Because we recognize Jesus to be the Lord and because we believe in Him, we become His worshipful disciples who obey His word. This is Jesus's vision for the world, that the entire world over which He has all authority to bow to Him and become His obedient worshipers. There is so much more to be said on this, but I can summarize the essence of what Jesus is saying in terms of two simple imperatives: be disciples and make disciples. Because we are first and foremost at the receiving end of the enterprise of disciple making, that is, the apostles were first commissioned to make disciples of the nations, we are actually part of the nations that were to be discipled. And so here we are, we have been discipled and are being discipled. That means our first and foremost priority is to be disciples. And secondly, as disciples of Christ, we perpetuate the work of Christ on earth to make disciples of the nations. And all of this is possible only because Jesus’ own presence is with us. We could not and would not be disciples or make disciples were it not for the strength, encouragement, and the shepherding care of our Lord Jesus Christ. For this reason, Christ promises His own presence through His Spirit to be with us, “and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
There's a lot to pray about from this. Acknowledge Jesus's universal divine authority. Express commitment to be disciples and to make disciples. Finally, depend on the presence of Jesus to help us be and make disciples
Let's pray and we'll wrap it up for today.
Lord, thank You for rising victoriously from the dead. You are the Lord. We believe in You. You have authority over all things. And we are in Your good hands, and You are with us so that we would live as disciples and that we would make disciples. We commit our hearts to You to the mission for which You have called us. And we pray that You would make use of us as we strive on our part to be clean tools in Your hands to carry out Your purpose on earth. You are God and You will accomplish all Your good pleasure. We know it. We just ask that we’d be a part of that plan. Won't You make use of us? Thank You for Your holy presence with us through Your Spirit. Continue to sanctify us and make us all the more useful for Your kingdom purposes. We worship You this day, our glorious God. In Your name we pray. Amen.
All right, and we are done for today and for this season of morning devotions.