The Risen Jesus and the Great Commission (Matt. 28:16-20)

This sermon was preached on 1/1/2012

This is the second recorded appearance of the risen Christ in Galilee, the other being his appearance to seven disciples at the Sea of Tiberius (John 21). It had been pre-arranged by Jesus, which indicates it was one that he regarded as being very important for the disciples. The central words of the account have become known as the ‘Great Commission’, and obviously serve as the climax to the Gospel of Matthew.

As we consider the way that Matthew has structured his Gospel, we can note two details. First, he began his Gospel by saying that Jesus was both the son of Abraham and the son of David. An alert reader would have realised that Matthew was going to show how Jesus fulfilled the promises made by God to both these individuals. God promised Abraham that blessing would come to the world through his seed; in the Great Commission Jesus sends his apostles to all the nations with a message of forgiveness. Therefore, Jesus is now in the process of fulfilling the covenant promise to Abraham. Similarly, God had promised David that one of his descendants would sit forever on his throne; in the Great Commission, Jesus claims to be the universal king, thus fulfilling the covenant promise to David.

Second, many scholars have noted that Matthew depicts Jesus as similar to Moses. Moses had to be rescued at birth, gave God’s laws from a mountain, and left this world from another mountain (Pisgah). From Pisgah he surveyed the future inheritance of God’s people, commenting on various aspects of their life in the Promised Land. Jesus, too, had to be rescued at birth, gave God’s laws in the Sermon on the Mount, and is here depicted as surveying the future of the new Israel. He looks down the years ahead and sees the ingathering of a vast number of disciples from all over the world.

It is generally assumed by scholars that this occasion in Matthew 28 is the same one as mentioned by Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:6 when Jesus was seen by over 500 disciples at the same time. In Jerusalem, there seems to have been only 120 disciples, at least that was the number who gathered together after his ascension (Acts 1:15); but since Galilee was the area in which Jesus had given most of his teachings and performed most of his miracles, it is not surprising that he would have more followers there, so it is possible that such a meeting occurred in Galilee. Another reason for this suggestion is that Matthew says that some observers doubted that it was Jesus, which some commentators say is not likely to have been a response of the eleven disciples because they had already met with him previously. Personally I’m not sure about the suggestion that the two events are the same because the passage in Matthew only mentions the eleven apostles, and he was one of them. Surely he would have hinted that others were present if it was the same occasion as when Jesus appeared to the 500 disciples.

As we think of this Great Commission, we need to remind ourselves that the risen Christ gave it more than once to his disciples after he rose from the dead. In the Gospel of John is recorded a commission that he gave on the evening of the day on which his resurrection occurred: ‘Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you’ (John 20:21). In Mark 16:15, he said to the eleven, ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.’ In Luke 24:46-49, he said to the eleven that ‘repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And ye are witnesses of these things.’ Similarly in Acts 1:8 he says, ‘But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.’ In Mark, Luke, and Acts, the people spoken to by Jesus are the eleven disciples, so it is likely that they are also the ones present in Matthew.

One striking feature of this passage is the fourfold use of the word ‘all’. Jesus claims to have all authority, his disciples are to come from all the nations, they are to be taught all that Christ commanded, and he will be with his people all the days until the end.

The meeting with Christ

They were believers in Jesus, each one with a personal story to tell of how he had brought them to himself. Each of them had experienced the low of denying him and the high of seeing him risen from the dead. In loving obedience to their risen Master they had gone to Galilee in the assured hope of once more seeing him; as Matthew Henry says, it was a long way to go for one sight of Christ, but it was worthwhile. Further, it is likely that as they journeyed to Galilee and through Galilee they would have discussed the great deeds and profound words that they had seen performed by and heard from Jesus. They were marked by authenticity, anticipation and precious memories. Surely a great experience was ahead of them.

We are not surprised that when Jesus appeared to them they worshipped him. What more appropriate response could they give? Before their eyes stood the triumphant Christ, living in the power of an endless life. Songs of praise, words of adoration tumbled from their lips. Here was an occasion of heaven on earth.

Yet we are told that some of them doubted. Despite their personal encounter with Jesus, despite their already having met him alive from the dead, despite all that they knew, they doubted. Is this surprising? Not really. Someone else would have been with them on the road through Galilee, casting doubts on Christ’s promise and on previous experiences. That someone is the devil, and he is always on the move in order to prevent a meaningful encounter with Jesus.

In what ways could their doubt have been expressed? One possibility is doubt about their capability to function once Jesus had left them. Some of them, as we noted in a previous study on John 21, had experienced their inability to even catch fish without his help. That was at a mundane level. His physical absence was a possible reason for their concern because Jesus then proceeded to stress his ongoing presence with his disciples. Another possible source of concern was the fact that there was no sign that the resurrection of Jesus had caused the authorities to change their opposition to the message of Christ. His great achievement seemed to be having no effect outside their small group. It may also have been the case that he looked different from what they had seen of him on previous occasions after his resurrection.

The wonderful consequence of this is that Jesus did not exclude the doubters from participating in the Great Commission. This shows that Jesus was aware that what was needed is his power. It was not the faith of the strong that would achieve the Great Commission.

The supreme position of Christ

Jesus says that he has all authority in heaven and on earth. What is authority? It involves power and the entitlement to use it. For example, the army in Britain has the power to control our country but it does not have the entitlement to it – that authority belongs to our political leaders. Unlike our national situation, Jesus possesses both the power and the right to use it. There are several features we can note about this authority.

First, it was received by Jesus. It was given to him by the Father when he said to him: ‘Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool’ (Psalm 110:1). Therefore, this authority was not his inherent authority that he possesses as God. Rather it is authority given to him as the God-man, the Mediator. This leads to the question as to why he was given this authority.

Second, this authority was a reward for his life of obedience, which included his work of atonement. There had been an eternal agreement between the Father and the Son that included the Father’s promise that he would exalt the Son to the highest place once he had paid the penalty for sin. The fulfilment of this promise is described in Philippians 2:9-11: ‘Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.’

Third, this authority was given to a risen man. The point of this aspect is that it was given to the One who had defeated death. It is not clear if Jesus is speaking anticipatively here of his ascension and exaltation when he says that he has received this authority; or it may be the case that he had already experienced an inauguration in some way regarding his supreme authority. Several achievements were necessary before he could receive this power. Included among these achievements was his victory over both Satan and death, with his resurrection being the proof that he had triumphed.

Fourth, Jesus mentions the range of this authority, which is full authority in heaven and on earth. In heaven, he has authority to enact the Father’s purposes, he has authority to send the Spirit, and he has authority to be the Judge of all at the end of history. On earth, he has authority over human governments, over human wills, over providence. There is nothing over which he does not rule. As it has been put, there is not a second of history or an inch of geography over which Jesus does not rule.

All these details indicate that Jesus possesses a truly royal authority. I suppose we could say that some earthly kings, because of their power, exhausted the description of kingship. But when we come to Jesus, we have to extend our concepts because his reign is totally unique. There is no previous reign to which we can compare it.

The unchanging purpose of Christ

Jesus then proceeds to state what he wants his apostles to do. There is only one verb in verses 19 and 20 and it is the verb ‘to make disciples’ (’go,’ ‘baptise’ and ‘teach’ are participles connected to the verb, which explains why they are translated as imperatives). This indicates that the primary point of the verse is not the going, or the baptizing, or the teaching, but the making of disciples. These disciples are to be publicly identified (baptism) and comprehensively instructed.

These disciples are to be found in all the nations. This announcement from the King is not one of condemnation but one of compassion. As he spoke, the nations of the earth were in pagan darkness, but Jesus would yet have his disciples from among each nation. Within these nations, there were different classes of people, engaged in different activities, possessing various degrees of intelligence. Jesus tells his apostles that he wants disciples from each situation.

When he was on earth, Jesus saw the masses as lost sheep without a shepherd. He still sees humanity in this way. There is a story told of D.L. Moody. A group of English ministers wanted to find out the secret of his spiritual success. Moody was not educated, spoke English badly, and was not very refined. They came to his room and asked him for the secret. He took them across to the window and asked them what they saw. One said he saw some children playing, another said he saw couples walking together, and a third then asked Moody what he saw. He went to the window and said, with tears in his eyes, ‘I see hundreds of people who will be in hell unless they find the Saviour.’ He saw them with the eyes of Jesus.

Note that Jesus speaks with certainty. He does not tell his disciples to try and make disciples but to make disciples. Success is guaranteed, not because of the gifts of the apostles, but because of the power and wisdom of the King. These disciples could, as we can, look on the task ahead and conclude that they could do nothing. It was too much for them to convert even one individual from Israel, never mind individuals from other nations. In that situation, they were to stop looking at themselves and look at their Leader. He possesses the power not only to convert individuals but also to convert people from all the nations.

It is also important to note that Jesus expected nations as well as individuals to be discipled. His vision is comprehensive and large; we could say that he wants the range of disciples to be as broad as the extent of his authority. Further, his vision is not limited to one period of history, such as the Reformation. There have been periods in history when nations became Christian nations. This does not mean that everyone in them was converted, but it does mean that Christ’s teachings were the foundation of its national life. We can think of the success of the early church, the spread of the Reformation, the effects of the great revivals of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in Britain and America, and we can see it today happening in Africa and South America. This commission of Jesus is great in the sense that it holds out for us the prospect of conversions on a national, indeed multi-national scale.

Jesus focuses on the outward profession of these disciples and not on the inner change. This outward profession involved two things: baptism and instruction.

Baptism is a huge topic and cannot be covered in part of one address. Let me say two brief things about its meaning. First, baptism is a sign of ownership. It is an indicator that the baptised person belongs to the Trinity. I suppose we could say it points to adoption into the Father’s family, to redemption by the Son, and to sanctification by the Spirit. Second, baptism is the start of discipleship, because instruction begins after the baptism.

Christian instruction is based on the teachings of Christ. This means several things. First, there is the reality of fulfilment. The Old Testament must be interpreted through principles that Jesus gave for understanding it. He had the authority to dispense with some of its requirements such as the Levitical system. Therefore his disciples were to take to Jews the message that the Old Testament had to be read with the understanding of what Jesus had done.

Second, there is the reality of exclusiveness. Other religions must be dismissed as possible ways to God. If other religions could achieve this, there was no need for Jesus to send out his apostles with the message of salvation. They could have stayed in Israel and left other places to continue with the religions they already had.

Third, there is the reality of fullness. His disciples were not to be selective concerning which teachings of Jesus should be adopted. They were to teach all that Christ had commanded. His disciples were to be taught comprehensively; nothing that he taught was to be omitted from the instruction.

The assured presence of Christ

We can imagine the disciples feeling totally overwhelmed as they listened to the words of Jesus. If some doubted before, these concerns would have increased after listening to his requirements. How could they possibly do this? The answer to this dilemma is given by Jesus himself; he promises them his presence throughout the age until he returns.

Jesus promises to be present on a daily basis. Literally, he says that he will be with them ‘all the days’. He will be there on good days and bad days. This would have been a tremendous comfort for the apostles to recall when they were concerned that they had made a mess of things and when they thought they may have made a poor witness about their Master. And he is present with his power.

Obviously Jesus was present with the apostles in a unique way and there are aspects to their authority as Christ’s delegates that we do not have. Nevertheless, given that he mentions all the days until he returns, and since he also would have known that his immediate apostles would all have died long before then, he must have had in mind the church after their departure from the scene. So we can make legitimate deductions from their commission and apply it to our service for the Master, particularly in three details.

The first detail concerns his presence. Jesus was not promising his physical presence to his apostles; instead he was referring to his spiritual presence which we know, from elsewhere in the New Testament, is brought about by the Holy Spirit. Just as this spiritual presence was known by the apostles, so it can be experienced by Christians at all times and in all localities. We expect him to be present in our church services, but we should also be assured of his presence when we are working for him in other places, especially in situations of difficulty where our witness for him be may treated with contempt and opposition.

The second detail concerns the power that Jesus possesses. He has universal authority, but it was not limited to the lifespans of his apostles. Jesus promises to be with us as he was with the apostles and others who have preceded us. Who made Paul a soul winner? Who made Whitefield and Spurgeon soul winners? It was Jesus being present with them exercising his authority. Therefore, we can see him do great things today if he so chooses, which leads to the third detail.

The third aspect is that the promise of his presence does not mean that Jesus is only present in big gatherings. It is Jesus who chooses the number of disciples in a place. If he wants a big church, there will be a big church. If he wants a small church, there will be a small church. There was a small church in Colosse as well as a big church in Ephesus.

Application

Jesus has a comprehensive authority (everything is under his control), Jesus has a competent authority (he has the ability to govern all things), Jesus has a confident authority (he expects to have disciples), and Jesus has a compassionate authority (he offers mercy to those who have rebelled against him).

The messengers of Christ are ambassadors of the King with universal power. He, through them, comes to us offering pardon and forgiveness. In doing so, he assures that his great power will be exercised on our behalf. This is great consolation.

What happens if we refuse his message? It will mean that his almighty power will be ranged against us on the Day of Judgement. Does this statement of the risen Christ not call us to bow the knee to him? This is a great challenge.