“Then Jesus came up and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’” —Matthew 28:18–20
In these concluding verses in Matthew, Jesus sends His disciples (and all His followers) out with the directive: “Go and make disciples.” We do this with His authority. And the way we receive His authority is through our knowledge and worship of the One whose name we bear. We cannot give what we do not possess. We must make a daily divine appointment to be filled—an appointment that will enable us to be respond as Jesus would to all that we encounter that day. Like manna, we are to collect the grace sufficient to meet our needs for the day. We cannot gobble up or store it up—it does not work that way. God desires to meet with us daily. Yet He will never force Himself upon us. We are the great losers when we neglect to meet with Him. His desire is to empower and equip us to share His grace upon all those who are in our spheres of influence. We do not have to sit around scratching our heads wondering what direction to take. He will make it clear. We must be ready, going forth in Christ’s power and authority. If we try to go in our own strength, our works will be fruitless.
I am reminded of Paul’s prayer in Ephesians regarding Jesus’ authority:
“Since the eyes of your heart have been enlightened—so that you can know what is the hope of his calling, what is the wealth of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the incomparable greatness of his power toward us who believe, as displayed in the exercise of his immense strength. This power he exercised in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms far above every rule and authority and power and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And God put all things under Christ’s feet, and gave him to the church as head over all things. Now the church is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.” —Ephesians 1:18–23
This same power is made readily available to all believers. We are to make the command of Christ our rule as well. As Jesus sends us out as His ambassadors, we go forth in His authority. He is the Lord of all. He has all power in heaven. He has authority over the angels and He has the power of intercession with the Father.
Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians:
“So then, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; what is old has passed away—look, what is new has come! And all these things are from God who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and who has given us the ministry of reconciliation. In other words, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting people’s trespasses against them, and he has given us the message of reconciliation. Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making his plea through us. We plead with you on Christ’s behalf, “Be reconciled to God!” God made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we would become the righteousness of God.” —2 Corinthians 5:17–21
At the conclusion of our verses today, we are reminded of God’s continual spiritual presence.
The Comforter abides with us. He is not against us, rather for us. He is at our side and takes our side. He is our very present help. He bears us up and pleads our cause. His eye is ever on us. He is with us in all service and in all sufferings—in all joy and in all sorrows. He makes our ministry effective and triumphant. All this is a continual favor even to the end of the world. His presence is constantly with us—all day, every day without intermission!
Become More
“All souls belong to Him, and to Him every heart and knee must bow, and every tongue must confess Him to be Lord.” —Matthew Henry
“For it is written, ‘As I live, says the Lord, every knee will bow to me, and every tongue will give praise to God.’ Therefore, each of us will give an account of himself to God.” —Romans 14:11–12
Further Reflections
“In short, the rod of Moses was a rod of power, a rod of authority. But it could not avail to hush the murmurings of the children of Israel; nor yet to bring the people through the desert. Grace alone could do that; and we have the expression of pure grace—free, sovereign grace—in the budding of Aaron’s rod. That dry, dead stick was the apt figure of Israel’s condition, and indeed of the condition of every one of us by nature. There was no sap, no life, no power. One might say, ‘What good can ever come of it?’ None whatever, had not grace come in and displayed its quickening power. So it was with Israel in the wilderness; so is it with us now. How were they to be led along from day to day? How were they to be sustained in all their weakness and need? The answer is found in Aaron’s budding rod. If the dry, dead stick was the expression of (our) barren and worthless condition; the buds, blossoms and fruit set forth that living and life-giving grace and power of God on which was based the priestly ministry that alone could bear the congregation through the wilderness … Priesthood alone could supply what was needed; and bring fruit out of a dry rod … All ministry in the Church is the fruit of divine grace—the gift of Christ, the Church’s head.” —C. H. Macintosh
“The God of Israel, the Saviour, is
sometimes a God that hideth himself but never a God who absents himself;
sometimes in the dark, but never at a distance.” —Matthew Henry