Hallelujah, all authority has been given to Jesus, the Son of Man, in His resurrection, and He has sent us to go and disciple all the nations, baptizing them into the Triune God (see Matt. 28:18-19)!
The gospel of Matthew, a gospel on the kingdom of God, ends with the Lord meeting His disciples on a mountain, and there He tells them that He has been given all authority in heaven and on earth, so as such a One, He commissions them to go and disciple all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. What a great commission!
On the one hand we are told to go and preach the gospel of the kingdom to the whole inhabited earth for a testimony, and then the end will come (Matt. 24:14). On the other hand, we are to go and disciple all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Triune God.
This means that we have a dual commission, a great commission in two main aspects: we need to preach the gospel of the kingdom to make rebellious sinners into citizens of the kingdom of God, and we also need to disciple these new believers to bring them fully under God’s authority and even into the Triune God Himself. Hallelujah!
And all this is until the end of the age, with the view of ending this age. The Lord is with us until the end of the age, and He is the Son of Man in resurrection and ascension having all authority in heaven and on earth.
With such a One, in such a One, and in the name of such a One, we as His disciples go forth and preach the gospel of the kingdom and disciple all the nations, baptizing them into the Triune God, so that the kingdom of God would be enlarged and developed.
May we really see what is the intrinsic significance of this great commission, and may we all be one with the Lord to both preach the gospel of the kingdom and disciple the nations for the spread and the development of the kingdom of God.
As the kingdom of God is enlarged and established on earth, there will be a development of the kingdom, and we all are being discipled to be and live in the kingdom of God; when such a reality is gained to a certain degree, the Lord will return and will close this age.
First of all we ourselves need to know what is the gospel of the kingdom and come under the heavenly authority of our Lord, then we can go as His messengers, stewards, envoys, ambassadors, and heralds to announce the gospel of the kingdom and disciple all the nations!
All Authority in Heaven and on Earth has been Given to Jesus Christ, the Son of Man, the King of the Heavenly Kingdom
Have you ever wondered, why did the Lord Jesus say in Matt. 28:18 that all authority has been given to Him in heaven and on earth? Didn’t He already have this authority, since He was God?
In His divinity as the only begotten Son of God, the Lord had authority over all; however, in His humanity as the Son of Man to be the king of the heavenly kingdom, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Him after His resurrection.
This means that, when He was on earth, the Lord Jesus as a Man did not have all authority in heaven and on earth; but through His death and resurrection, He was not only approved and enthroned by God, but He was also given all authority (Matt. 28:1-10, 18).
He is the King of the heavenly kingdom, and He is the King as the Son of Man, as the God-man; as the God-man in His humanity, Jesus Christ is the King of the kingdom of God. Our King is a Man, and all the subjects in this kingdom are men.
Hallelujah, al the authority in heaven and on earth has been given to this One! Because He has all authority in heaven and on earth, Christ can now commission us, His disciples – the subjects in the heavenly kingdom – to go and disciple all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit!
It is only in the gospel of Matthew that we see this great commission, for this gospel is on the kingdom of God.
According to the gospel of John, after His resurrection the Lord came to meet His disciples in a room where the doors have been shut (John 20:19), and they were gathered there, being afraid for their life because of the Jews.
So the Lord came to them to strengthen them by life, and He breathed upon them and told them to receive the holy breath (John 20:22).
In Matthew the Lord charged His disciples to go to a particular mountain and there He will meet them; He then proceeded to commission them, based on the fact that all authority has been given to Him.
In John it is a matter of the breath of life, the Spirit being breathed into the disciples for their regeneration and spiritual life; in Matthew it is a matter of being commissioned and having all authority for the enlargement of the kingdom of God.
The gospel of John, a gospel of life, reveals resurrection as a matter of life, power, breath, and shepherding; the gospel of Matthew reveals resurrection as being a matter of righteousness, authority, and discipling the nations.
Hallelujah, we need both life and authority, both power and righteousness, both discipling and shepherding!
Hallelujah, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Jesus Christ as the Son of Man, and this One is the King of the heavenly kingdom of God! Praise the Lord, Jesus as a Man, the God-man, has been exalted by God and has been given all authority, and now we as His disciples are being commissioned by Him to go and disciple all the nations with His authority! Thank You Lord for not only coming into us as life by breathing Yourself into us as the Spirit, but also giving us Your authority to represent You and disciple the nations!
Having Christ’s Authority, we go to Disciple all the Nations by Baptizing them into the Triune God
Because all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to the resurrected Christ, He sent His disciples to disciple all the nations, and they go with His authority!
When we preach the gospel we many times emphasize life and grace and forgiveness of sins, and all these are important; but we need to realise that, as we go, we have the authority of the King!
According to the gospel of Matthew, we go with Christ’s authority to disciple all the nations, baptizing them into the Triune God! Christ has empowered us with all authority, and He is with us until the end of this age; therefore, we have to go in His name and with His authority to disciple all the nations!
The One who has been given all authority in heaven and on earth is our Emmanuel today; we are to go and disciple the nations with that authority in resurrection.
When we go and preach the gospel we need to be cognisant of the fact that we go not only with the divine life to sow the seed of life, but also with authority; we go to charge people to repent and tell them to believe into the Lord.
Too often our gospel preaching is in a timid way, almost begging others to please repent and believe into the Lord…it is time to be filled with faith, the faith of this authority that has been given to us, to the church, by the resurrected Christ!
We are now going out with this authority and in this authority to preach the gospel! We shouldn’t beg others or ask them; rather, we need to go with Christ’s authority and disciple the nations! Satan may have power, but we have authority.
We have been sent by the Lord not only to bring people to salvation but also to disciple the nations; this is a matter of the kingdom of God.
To disciple people is more than just to save them; to disciple them is to make them disciples, to make them followers of the King, the adherents of the king.
To disciple the nations is to make the heathen people the kingdom people for the establishing of the kingdom of God, which is the church on the earth today (see 1 Thes. 1:9; 2:12; Rev. 1:5-6, 9; 9-10).
We are not here merely to save people; we are here to preach the gospel of the kingdom and to disciple all the nations for the church life, the reality of which is the kingdom of God today.
The intrinsic purpose of our preaching the gospel is to bring people of the nations into the Triune God so that they would become citizens of the kingdom of the heavens.
The kingdom of God is nothing else but the Triune God Himself; the Triune God is the divine and mystical realm of the kingdom, a realm that is in resurrection, the kingdom realm.
When we preach the gospel of the kingdom and people believe into the Lord, we need to baptize them, immerse them, and put them into this realm – into the Triune God!
Through our preaching of the gospel and baptizing people into the Triune God we bring them into an organic union with the Triune God so that they would be one with His kingdom, being the constituents of the kingdom of God! Hallelujah!
Lord Jesus, we go with the authority of Christ to preach the gospel of the kingdom and disciple all the nations, baptizing them into the Triune God! Hallelujah, all authority has been given to Christ, and we go with this authority to disciple the nations by immersing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen, Lord, we are one with You to go and bring people into an organic union with the Triune God so that they would be the constituents of the kingdom of God, citizens of the heavenly kingdom!
This article can also be read in the Romanian language / Citiți acest articol în limba română vizitând următorul link, Mergem cu Autoritatea lui Cristos să discipolizăm toate națiunile, botezându-le întru Dumnezeu.
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by bro. Minoru Chen for this week, and portions from, Living in and with the Divine Trinity, ch. 5 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Development of the Kingdom of God in the Church Life and the Christian Life (2019 spring ITERO), week 8, Preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom and Discipling All the Nations for the Spread and Development of the Kingdom of God.
- Hymns on this topic:
# After He had risen, Jesus appeared to His disciples, declaring unto them: / Go, now go into all the world and proclaim the gospel there! / He who believes and is baptized shall be saved; be saved and not condemned! / Preach and proclaim unto all creation, going everywhere. (Song on, Go, Now Go!)
# Into His disciples the risen Lord breathed, / The Spirit of life thus to them He bequeathed; / Th’ ascended Lord poured at the Pentecost hour / Upon His disciples the Spirit of pow’r. (Hymns #278)
# Go forth, disciple all nations, teach the divine truths, / The kingdom’s gospel spread to all earth inhabited, / Till lampstands shine throughout all the earth, / Hasten the day of the Lord’s return, / Hasten the day of His return! (Song on, God’s Move Today)
About aGodMan
