Morning Light – March 2nd, 2018 – Matthew 28: The Resurrection and the Great Commission

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Today: [Matthew 28] The Resurrection and the Great Commission: In chapter 28 of Matthew an angel appears at the tomb of Jesus to reveal that Jesus has risen. The soldiers on guard are struck with amazement and the women fall at Jesus’ feet to worship Him. He instructs them to remind the disciples to meet Him in Galilee. At Galilee, Jesus gives proof of His resurrection to the doubting apostles, and commissions them, and by extension commands us as well to bring the message of the gospel to all the world.
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[Mat 28:1-20 KJV] 1 In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first [day] of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre. 2 And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it. 3 His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow: 4 And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead [men]. 5 And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. 6 He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. 7 And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead; and, behold, he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him: lo, I have told you. 8 And they departed quickly from the sepulchre with fear and great joy; and did run to bring his disciples word. 9 And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail. And they came and held him by the feet, and worshipped him. 10 Then said Jesus unto them, Be not afraid: go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see me. 11 Now when they were going, behold, some of the watch came into the city, and shewed unto the chief priests all the things that were done. 12 And when they were assembled with the elders, and had taken counsel, they gave large money unto the soldiers, 13 Saying, Say ye, His disciples came by night, and stole him [away] while we slept. 14 And if this come to the governor’s ears, we will persuade him, and secure you. 15 So they took the money, and did as they were taught: and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day. 16 Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them. 17 And when they saw him, they worshipped him: but some doubted. 18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. 19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, [even] unto the end of the world. Amen.
In chapter 28 of Matthew we find the two Mary’s returning to the tomb of Jesus at the end of the Sabbath. It is Sunday morning, a Sunday morning that will change forever the significance of that particular day, that in Christian tradition will become the primary meeting day of believers around the world. This is disputed by those who claim the Sabbath, or Saturday is the day the church should gather, but in the New Testament record, 1 Cor. 16:2 and Acts 20:7 inform us beyond dispute that it was the custom of the early church to meet on Sundays in commemoration of the resurrection of Christ.
The two Mary’s arrive at the tomb just in time to witness a great earthquake as the angel of the Lord descends to roll away the stone from the sepulcher and sit upon it. The angel’s appearance was that of blazing light, as though he is clothed in lightning itself. The soldiers that are stationed there to guard the body of Jesus are struck like dead men in fright, which the angel ignores, turning rather to address the women telling them that Jesus is not there, but is risen. It is interesting to note then that when the angel rolled away the stone, Jesus was already gone. The stone was not rolled away to release Jesus, it was rolled away to give witness to men, the two Mary’s specifically, that Jesus was no longer there. The angel invites the women to confirm by looking into the tomb that the body is gone, that Jesus is risen and to go and inform the disciples that Jesus will meet them in Galilee. The two Mary’s turn and run to find the disciples when Jesus Himself intercepts them before they can leave the tomb, and the fall on their faces, holding Him by His ankles, worshipping Him.
The angel apparently didn’t expect Jesus to greet the women at the tomb. The angel came to give the women witness to the resurrection by showing them an empty tomb, and then instructed them to tell the disciples that Jesus could be found in Galilee. Jesus, however interrupts the plan by showing up immediately to greet His friends, the two Marys. It is as though Jesus Himself cannot wait to greet them, and instead of waiting till the disciples go to Galilee, He embraces the women, rejoicing with them and repeating the instruction that He will meet the 11 remaining apostles in Galilee.
After the women leave to find Peter and the others, the soldiers come to themselves and hurry to tell the chief priests that they as well had witnessed the angel and the rolling away of the stone, and in fact no doubt had seen Jesus, raised to life speaking to the two women. The Pharisees, chief priests and elders are very dismayed at this report and give the soldiers sizable bribes to claim instead that Jesus’ disciples came and stole Jesus lifeless body away in the night.
is taking their lives in their hands because in reporting they slept on duty, they could be executed, but the elders promise to vouch for the guards, so they took the money and gave false witness as instructed. For this reason, the false narrative of the theft of Jesus body persisted for many years after this among the unbelieving Jews, even though the story of the bribe was apparently made public as well not long after, perhaps because some of the guards converted to Christianity and admitted their crime.
In verse 16 the eleven disciples go to a mountain location in Galilee where they expected to meet with Jesus. Upon arriving, in this account, Jesus is already there, and they worshipped Him, although some of them doubted. We are not told here who the doubters were, but apparently it was more than just Thomas.
Jesus then declares to them, that all power is given unto Him in heaven and in earth. Because of this, the disciples are to go teaching all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Now, you will notice that Jesus tells them to go to ALL NATIONS, not just the Jews. This is not what the disciples did. The word nations there means “ethnos” and clearly should have been understood by the disciples that they should proclaim the gospel not only to Hebrews but to Gentiles as well. Unfortunately, however their Jewish prejudices ran deep, and they didn’t even hear what Jesus said, though He spoke quite plainly. It wasn’t until years later that the Lord appears to Peter in a vision, sending him to Cornelius’ house that Peter finally figures out that the gospel was not exclusively for the Jews alone.
It is important to note as well the statement Jesus makes about ALL power being given to Him in heaven and in earth. What about Satan? Is he not the prince of the power of the air? Did he not retain a rightful control over the earth by God’s design? If you believe what Jesus says here, that cannot be so. Satan retains control in certain areas of humanity not because God wills it but because of the dereliction of believers to accept what Jesus actually said upon His resurrection.
In fact, there is no scripture to be found that legitimizes Satan’s control in the earth for any reason. We do know from Genesis that God gave man dominion over all the earth, but there is no record anywhere in scripture that God gave, or even allowed Satan to ascend to earthly dominance in the world below. The only conclusion we can make is that when man bowed to Satan in the temptation that Satan then coopted the dominion given to man, who was the only legitimate inheritor of dominion in the earth by God’s command. Therefore, what Adam relinquished by transgression in the garden of Eden, Jesus reclaimed in the resurrection and then imparted that authority, or returned that authority to you and I through the New Birth experience.
Because all power is given to Jesus in heaven and earth, what are the disciples to do? They are to go and teach the nations. What are they to teach them? The word teach here means “to hold discourse in order to instruct…” In other words, the Great Commission is a mandate to engage the world in a dialogue about who Jesus is and what His claims are upon the earth and upon mankind. We are to confront mankind with the claims of Christ. To what end? Verse 20 tells us – we are to teach them to observe all things that Jesus had commanded them. The word observe there means to “keep or maintain”. This is something more than just praying the sinner’s prayer with someone. We have simplified evangelical engagement with Christ to a mere inaugural prayer rather than teaching people to implement in their lives the sayings and teachings of Jesus as He actually commanded us in His final instructions to His followers. What Jesus is saying to the men and by extension to you and I is that we are to go out and be to others what Jesus was to the 12 during His earth walk. We may not feel sufficient for this task, but the promise is that He will be with us in the task, even unto the end of the world. The time reference given means that this commissioning is not just something the disciples were commanded to do, but a generational instruction reaching down to you and I as well.