The Great Claim

So, these closing words of Matthew's gospel are often called the Great Commission, and it is

! The Great Commission is to go and make disciples of all nations.

!

This Great Commission is preceded, and it's based on, it rests on a great claim made by

the Lord Jesus in verse 18, where Jesus says to the disciples, all authority in heaven and

on earth has been given to me.

That is the great claim that Jesus makes, and that's what we're going to look at for a few

minutes this evening.

I want to begin with just a couple of observations, and the first is that today, as we meet here

in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, more than ever before, there are groups of Christ followers

all across the globe in more nations, tribes, languages, people groups than ever before.

Just from my own experience, I've been privileged to experience a small part of that huge diversity.

I remember attending four-hour-long services in Nigeria, which featured a lot of dancing, or meeting a saffron-robed leader of Christ devotees in North India,

or taking part in prayer meetings where people prayed in Dari, Farsi, Sarani, as well as in English.

And I've got friends who have translated the language of a remote tribe in Papua New Guinea.

Another friend who's translated it into the language of a Himalayan nomadic tribe.

And in both these people groups, there are churches today.

I've also had the privilege of worshiping in multi-ethnic churches in the Gulf, and also services conducted in Nepali, Urdu, Hindi, Ladakh, Gaelic, Hungarian, Tamil, Malayalam,

and a number of other languages, too.

And of course, worshiping in many congregations in the Free Church of Scotland as well.

But all of these are centered on the same Lord Jesus Christ.

And that's just a tiny fraction of what's going on in the world today.

And that's amazing when you think of that it all began with a few very ordinary, uneducated folk in Galilee,

in a backwater at the edge of the Roman Empire 2,000 years ago.

But the second observation is that there are still huge areas of the world.

Peoples, languages, ethnic groups that are hardly reached with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

There are still over 1,400 languages that have no part of the Bible translated.

Closer to home, there are villages, towns, parts of cities with very little in the way of access to the gospel

and widespread ignorance of the Bible's message.

And that's true of this city, too.

There are also people groups within our own nation with few or no believers among them.

And of course, every new generation needs to be evangelized, needs to be taught the gospel.

So there is still much work to be done.

So as we think of the Great Commission in Matthew 28, 18 to 20, perhaps the key word in that is the word all,

which appears four times in these few verses.

This is my own translation, which is slightly clunky, but it brings out the fact that this word all is there four times.

So the key word is all.

There's all authority, all nations, all Jesus' commands, and all the time.

But this evening, our time is short, so I just want to focus really on the first of those, all authority.

And this is the great claim that Jesus makes on which the Great Commission rests.

All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Jesus Christ.

He's claiming universal kingship.

If you read any of the gospels, you'll soon realize that a phrase that Jesus used a lot was the kingdom of God or the kingdom of heaven.

And the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven, has drawn near with the coming of Jesus.

And here, at the end of Matthew, very clearly, Jesus is identifying himself as that king.

He is the king.

He is making that claim of himself.

And he's saying that it's been given to him, given to him by God the Father.

But that raises at least three questions for us.

And I want to look at those.

First of all, the question is, why should we believe him?

Second, when was this authority given to Jesus?

And third, what kind of king is Jesus?

First of all, then, why should we believe him?

You might read or hear this claim.

All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

And you might think, hang on a minute.

How can this man, this first century Jewish peasant from near the margins of the Roman Empire,

who was also crucified in utter humiliation,

how can he claim to be the king of the whole world?

How can he claim to be the lord of the entire universe?

Why should his disciples believe him?

And why should we today believe him?

Why should we believe this claim?

Well, just to give a bit of context,

the Jewish scriptures, what we call the Old Testament,

prophesied a Messiah figure,

one who would come and reign with justice and righteousness.

And he would be the king of the Israelites,

but also his kingship, his authority would extend over all nations.

And here's just a sample of, there's more than this,

but this is just a sample of some of the passages in the Old Testament.

So first of all, Genesis 49, 10,

that the scepter will not depart from Judah,

nor the ruler's staff from between his feet,

until he to whom it belongs shall come,

and the obedience of the nations shall be his.

Or Psalm 72,

which is, I suppose, like a prayer about the king

in the line of David and Solomon,

may he rule from sea to sea,

and from the river to the ends of the earth.

May all kings bow down to him,

and all nations serve him.

But there's one passage in particular

that Jesus is riffing off in this Great Commission,

and that is Daniel chapter 7.

Daniel 7 · chapter mention

And in that chapter, Daniel has this vision,

the prophet Daniel has a vision of

four ferocious beasts

that represent four kings and four empires.

And then Daniel sees heaven and the throne of God,

and God in this vision is given the title

the Ancient of Days.

And Daniel writes

that in the visions of the night,

this is Daniel 7, 13, and 14,

and you can listen to the resemblances

with the Great Commission,

these words from Matthew 28.

Daniel writes,

in the visions of the night,

I saw one like a son of man

coming with the clouds of heaven.

He came to the Ancient of Days

and was presented before him.

He was given authority,

honor, and kingship.

All peoples, nations, and languages

will serve him.

His authority is an everlasting authority.

That will not pass away.

And his kingdom will never be destroyed.

So not for the first time,

Jesus identifies himself

with this exalted figure

in Daniel's vision.

This one like a son of man.

And you maybe heard some of the echoes

of this passage in Jesus' words.

All authority given to him.

All nations serving him.

And all of the time.

That it would be an everlasting kingship.

So Jesus is claiming that he is this king.

He is this Messiah.

He is this son of man.

Now this meeting in Galilee

at which Jesus says this

takes place days,

or at the most weeks,

after Jesus was brutally crucified

by the Roman Empire,

having been mocked and ridiculed

for his claim to be a king.

And yet here he was,

that same Jesus,

who had been crucified,

now standing before them alive.

The tomb where his corpse

had been laid is empty.

Because Jesus has been raised

from the dead

by the power of God.

And that resurrection vindicates Jesus

and all the claims that he made.

We know about vindication,

cases of vindication.

For example,

in recent history,

there was the post office scandal

where many postmasters

were falsely accused

of fiddling the books.

And some of them were put in jail.

And then it was discovered

and came to light

that it was a computer system fault.

And those postmasters

have been vindicated.

Their innocence has been declared

and they have been vindicated

of all the wrong

that they were accused of.

will magnify that

by an infinite amount

and you'll see

what the resurrection

does for Jesus.

The human verdict on Jesus

was that he was a fake king,

that he was an imposter,

deserving only of rejection

and torture and death.

But God has utterly turned

that verdict on its head.

This rising from the dead

is the most spectacular

and stunning vindication

of Jesus

and of all that he claimed to be,

all that he claimed for himself,

including that he is the Messiah,

that he is the Son of Man,

that he is the King.

And this resurrection of Jesus

is something that these disciples

witness with their own eyes

on this occasion.

They are there,

they see him before them.

And on a number of other occasions,

they saw him alive

after his suffering,

after his crucifixion.

And it was something

that they gave witness to

in their preaching

and then later in their writing,

what we have in the New Testament.

Their message was that

we have seen the Lord

risen from the dead.

And many of those disciples

paid for that claim

with their lives.

And so that is why

we can believe

Jesus' claim,

because he was vindicated

through resurrection.

Second question is,

when was this authority

given to him?

Jesus is a divine person.

We see that in verse 19,

where Jesus commissions his disciples

to baptize the nations

in or into the name

of the Father

and of the Son

and of the Holy Spirit.

Now, you see there,

you'll notice that

there's only one name,

the name of God.

In the Old Testament,

it's the name Yahweh,

the Lord.

And yet there are three

who share that name.

It's the name of the Father

and of the Son

and of the Holy Spirit.

And of course,

the Son is Jesus Christ.

He is the Son.

So he shares in the divine name,

in the divine identity.

He is himself God.

And as God,

in one sense,

he has always ruled.

There's no,

in one sense,

he was never given authority

because he's always had authority

as God,

God the Son.

The one with the divine name,

the divine identity.

But in Jesus Christ,

God came to this world

in human form,

in human flesh.

And so it's now

as the one who is

both fully God

and fully human

that he has been given authority.

He is now the,

both fully God

and fully human.

He is the mediator

between God

and human beings

who has completed

his mission

through his death

and resurrection.

And as the one

who has completed

that mission

as the mediator,

as the,

as the savior,

as the,

as the man Jesus,

he has been given

all authority

in heaven

and on earth.

The third question is,

what kind

of king

is he?

Maybe the idea

of someone claiming

to be king

over all the nations

of the world

makes you an easy.

It might sound

to you

imperialistic

and throughout history

and today,

empire

is,

well,

to say the least,

it can be problematic.

But this king

is radically different

from all the other kings

and emperors

and rulers

that world history

has thrown up.

We see that

in words earlier on

in Matthew's gospel

in Matthew 20

Matthew 20:25–28

verses 25 to 28

where we read

that Jesus called

the disciples to him

and said,

you know that the rulers

of the nations

lord it over them

and their great ones

exercise authority

over them.

That's,

of course,

all too familiar.

It's the world

that we know.

Then he says,

it shall not be so

among you.

But whoever would be

great among you

must be your servant

and whoever would be

first among you

must be your slave

even as the son of man

came not to be served

but to serve

and to give his life

as a ransom

for many.

Now when Jesus said

these last words

about giving his life

as a ransom for many,

that was still in the future

when he said these words

in Matthew 20.

It was still a prediction

but now it has happened.

Jesus has given

this ultimate service,

this ultimate act

for the benefit,

for the good

of others.

He has given his life

as a ransom

for many.

Jesus is the king

whose policy,

whose way of ruling

is service

and self-giving love,

of self-sacrificing love,

love that is,

that seeks the good

of the other

above his own good,

his own interest.

That's the kind of king

that Jesus is.

He is the king of love.

And so,

Jesus has all authority

in heaven

and on earth.

His reign is

universal.

He is the world's

true king

and lord

and rightful lord.

And the call of the

gospel today

to you

is

to turn to him

and to receive him

as your king,

to recognize

and acknowledge him

as the true king

and lord of all

and to give him

your allegiance

and your trust

and your love,

your devotion.

And,

if you have done that,

then,

your task

is the great commission

to go and make

disciples of all nations,

baptizing them

in the name of the Father

and of the Son

and the Holy Spirit

and teaching them

to obey

everything that Jesus

commands.

And his promise

to you is that

he will be with you always

to the very end

of the age

until that time

when the earth

is filled

with the knowledge

of the glory

of the Lord Jesus

as the waters

cover the sea.

Amen.

May God bless

his word

to us.

Amen.

Amen.