And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 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. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”— Matthew 28:18–20
“Jesus’ universal Lordship now demands a universal Mission.” The Gospel of Matthew has been called the Gospel of the Kingdom. Its final verses, known as the Great Commission, bring this theme to a climax with this revelation: The cruel cross which left the disciples feeling defeated was in fact the path to their long-awaited Messiah’s victory.
They receive a commission from their king to be about the business of his kingdom. But this kingdom business looks a lot different than the sort of kingdom that many were anticipating. The Jews wanted a champion to fight for their earthly freedom—it’s no coincidence that, when presented with the choice to release Jesus or Barabbas, they demanded the release of the freedom-fighting zealot (John 18:40). But the kingdom that Jesus brought near (Luke 17:21) looked like freedom from the kingdom of darkness (Col. 1:13), into the freedom found following him—for “if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36).
The methods of the kingdom are unlikely and unimpressive. They look more like what a rabbi would do than a revolutionary. Jesus tells the disciples to go and make more disciples, to baptize them in the triune name, and to teach them to live like citizens of the kingdom. While this may not look like a revolution by any earthly measure, the followers of Jesus would be known by their opponents as “These men who have turned the world upside down” (Acts 17:6).
The Great Commission ends with a word of comfort for the disciples in their kingdom work, and for us as we continue the mission today: The King is always with us. When we follow the Great Commission, we aren’t building kingdoms that will rise and fall with our own commitment and consistency. We bring our lives under the authority of the King, and it is he who works through us. Our mission is to preach a gospel that carries his authority, to bring people into the ways of the King who rules over all things, and to teach the way of life he calls us to live.
Footnotes
1 R. T. France, Matthew: An Introduction and Commentary, 419.
