Culmination and Continuation. Matthew 28.

Read Matthew 28 online here.

Matthew 28 is undoubtedly the most astonishing and exciting chapter of this short book which has been filled with almost unbelievable events, beginning with the appearance of angels to Joseph announcing the birth of Jesus. Then there is the coming of the Magi, and the appearance of the star, and a flight to Egypt at the behest of an angel in a night time appearance. Following this is an account of a most unusual man, with his teachings which draw huge crowds and a life of helping others including miracles of healing and of power over the forces of nature. His popularity and teachings are more than the authorities can tolerate, so they accuse him of treason and get the Roman authorities to put him to death. His close followers had come to hope that he was the one who had been promised from ancient times to come and deliver Israel from her enemies and oppressors. They had come to believe that he had a special relationship and powers from God—one had even declared that he was the Son of God.

Now he was dead, buried with a forbidden seal over the tomb and a guard of Roman soldiers protecting it. Words such as downcast, depressed, distressed, devastated do not begin to plumb the depths of their despondency. They had had such high hopes, seen such fantastic miracles, witnessed such self giving love, heard him talk about the kingdom of God. Now all was destroyed! Grieving—they truly loved him; hiding—the authorities would likely come after them also; futureless—their plans for the future were with Him and the coming kingdom; emptiness...

Then the great reversal. So great that some were still having a hard time believing it at the time of the great commission. Jesus was alive—risen from the dead. No one ever rises from the dead. The women must be delusional! But the reports kept coming—he was alive!

And as the days passed and they truly believed they received the final touches of their preparation: their belief became conviction; their fear became excitement in proclamation of the fantastic news; their disillusionment became understanding; their despair became purpose. And the world was changed one person at a time. The spread of the kingdom was greater in that first century than any time since.

Now notice some challenging details. First, note the great love of some of the women. They were up before daylight. I’m guessing they had already eaten their breakfast—I don’t think embalming was some ten minute chore. Second, note the appearance of one angel. The guards trembled and became like dead men even though failure to protect was punishable by death and they outnumbered the one angel. Third, the angel reminded the women that Jesus had predicted that he would rise from the dead. Fourth, note the refusal of the chief priests and elders to believe. They had remembered the prediction of Jesus that he would rise from the dead. That was why the guard was placed—to prevent theft of the body and a false claim of a resurrection. But now it had actually happened and the guards had seen it. Did the leaders consider the truth of this? No! They just sought to work around it and excuse it. Can we expect less from the agents of Satan today?

Fifth, we are given the great commission. As you may already know the main verb in the commission is not the word “go” but “make disciples”. “Go” in the original is a participle. As we go, wherever we go, whenever we go, we are to make disciples. “Baptizing” and “teaching” are also participles. So it would appear that the making of disciples has two parts. First is the bringing of a person to an acceptance of Christ culminating in baptism. Second is the teaching to them all that Jesus commanded.

Finally there is the promise from Jesus, Himself, that He will be with us always—throughout the age. And I believe that means until He comes again.



Today's article written by Harold Smith.