194 - To the End of the Age!

You pick up your Bible and wonder, is there more here than meets the eye?

Is there anything here for me? I mean, it's just words printed on paper, right? Well, it may look like just print on a page, but it's more than ink.

Join us for the next half hour as we explore God's Word together, as we learn how to explore it on our own, as we ask God to meet us there in its pages. Welcome to More Than Ink. Hey, you've heard people say famous last words. Oh yeah, final words are important. Yeah.

Well, they're important, especially here. We're finishing Matthew and Jesus' last words? To his disciples, they are going to direct the rest of their lives.

The rest of their lives, and we'll see what that is today on More Than Ink. Well, good morning. This is Jim.

And I'm Dorothy. And you're back with us, and we are a little bit saddened because we're finishing the book of Matthew. Oh, Matthew.

It's been a lovely journey. Yeah, we've been in Matthew a long time. The Gospels are just a treat in so many ways. And so we're actually at the closing scene with Jesus and the apostles, and it gives them a really important commission. Well, yeah, the last verse of Matthew is very famous, right?

It goes by that title, The Great Commission. But we don't very often pause to really consider exactly what he said. So we'll have a few minutes to do that today.

Chew on it a little bit, because in many respects, it's kind of unusual if you just stop and slow down. So if you're following with us, we're going to be reading out an ESV version of the English Bible, and we're going to come in in chapter 28, verse 16. And this is actually the fulfillment back in chapter 26. Jesus had told them, after I'm raised up, I'm going to go before you into Galilee. And so here we are, we're actually in Galilee, and this is Jesus meeting with them. So it's the fulfillment of what he had prophesied was going to happen a couple chapters back.

Well, that does raise a question for me, because it's apparent that during those 40 days that he was appearing after his resurrection, they were in Galilee for part of it, and then they went back to Jerusalem at some point, if you put that together with the beginning of Acts. And there's Jerusalem appearances that John covers. Right, right.

So Matthew leaves a lot of those out and jumps to this last commissioning. Okay. Which is good. It's good, we just kind of need to be aware of that. So starting in verse 16.

Yeah, let's do it. Now the 11 disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him, they worshiped him, but some doubted. 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. The end of Matthew. But let's wind it back, so we've got the 11 disciples. They're in Galilee.

They're on some mountain we don't know about, but probably a place they've visited a lot of times. Yeah, and Jesus had told them not very long before this. After I've raised, go to Galilee.

Go to Galilee. Right, that's what the angel said to the women to pass on. But just as a reminder, this is not the first meeting of the disciples with the risen Jesus. Right. But it could potentially be the last one.

And it's kind of hard to tell from the timelines. But here we are anyway, and he gives them actually a very important thing. If you remember when Jesus was dead, he was buried, he was in the ground, a lot of what we talk about, about what the apostles really were worried about, maybe, I mean, what's our future like? We left everything behind to follow you, and now at the death of Jesus, and even at the resurrection, the question still lingers in my mind, so what's next for us?

I mean, we spent the last three years following you and listening to your teaching, so what's next on the agenda? This is the answer to what's next on the agenda for them after the resurrected Jesus. Interestingly, early in his ministry, he had sent them out before. Oh, that's right. And said, now go and preach the gospel to every town and village in Israel.

Right, go cast out demons and say the kingdom of God has come. So this is not a wholly new idea. They had been sent out before, but then they were going to go out and do something and come back and report. Right. And this is a little different. This is like, well, you're on your own now. Well, sort of.

But the good news is that they're not on their own, and that's the fascinating thing about this. So their first response on seeing them in Galilee is they worshiped him. And does he resist that? Does he shun that and say, no, no, no, I'm not worried of that? He goes with it. He does worship.

But then... It's interesting that Matthew includes them, but some doubted. Like there were still some who were hesitant to believe the reality of the resurrection. Even here in front of the risen Jesus, and not the first time in front of the risen Jesus. So yeah.

Well, okay. So Matthew, Mark, John, Luke, they all record some element of doubt at different times of the resurrection. Remember, they doubted the women when they came back and told them. Thomas was doubting. I just can't believe that unless I see him myself, right? And then Luke makes reference to others that had seen him and come back and said, he's risen. We've seen him, and still they were doubting.

Well, to be fair, I think we would too. I mean, it's such a big thing. Such a big thing. But I was curious about that doubted word. There's a couple of doubted words.

And this one, it's not quite as bad sounding. When someone doubts and they're settled in their unbelief, they say, no, I'm not going to believe I doubt this. I'm never going to change my doubt. This is more like a temporary kind of disorientation, kind of a hesitation. Well, it's an uncertainty that I'm willing to be persuaded. It's kind of like, I believe, but help my unbelief. Right, yeah. Like that guy. This isn't them digging their heels in and saying, I'm never going to believe.

No. It's not that kind of doubt. It's like, I'm still trying to get used to this idea kind of doubt.

And so, that's okay. Even seeing the risen Jesus, though, it's fascinating to us, doesn't seem to purge that hesitation. It's like, this is still a big deal. I believe that ultimately it would have.

Yeah. Well, it does. I mean, we know it does.

But even at this point, it doesn't necessarily. So, then Jesus came and he says to them, interesting start. All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

Wow. This is what we call the preeminent statement of the authority of Christ. This is the preeminence of Christ. Well, and given to him by whom? Right. By the Father. Yeah, yeah. And when we say that Jesus is equal with the Father, this sure sounds like it right here.

Right? I mean, it's all there. Well, and you know, he had said that throughout his ministry. I'm thinking about John 5, where he says, you know, the Father has given me the authority to judge and to speak truth. And anybody who believes in me doesn't come into judgment, passed out of judgment into life. So, he has always been in authority. But for some reason, he says it this way, right here after the resurrection. Right. And this is a prelude to what he's going to command them to do after this.

And it's interesting, because here's the deal. I always do this. You're probably getting tired of me doing this.

I never get tired of you. But when I read the Bible, I read it like if it was a fictional piece and I was the author of the fictional piece, what would I have written right here? Which to me, I would have put rather than what I see.

Right? I would have put right here, knowing what he's going to command them to go around the world and talk about him, I would put right here, all authority is given to you. I would tell them, you're going with all the authority, so don't worry about the fact I'm sending you around the world. I'm giving all this authority to you. Go for it.

You're there. So, a statement of empowerment. Yeah. But he doesn't do that.

Well, that's interesting. He says, all authority has been given to me. The authority is his, and the message is entirely about him. Right. Not their position or their authority at all.

No, no. So this isn't a simple kind of delegation. I mean, this isn't where he says, you guys go and hope that all works out for you, and I'm sending you because I'm in charge. He's basically telling them that you're going because I have been given all the authority. I've been given this authority, which implies early on in this command, something that we'll read a little more clearly in a second, but it's that you guys aren't going out there based on what you are, on who you are.

Right. You're going out there because I'm going with you, because I'm the authority. You're not the authority. I haven't delegated authority to you. I'm still the authority. I'm the authority. Yeah. So, you go.

Exactly. Because I am still the authority, and I am with you. So that's a subtle difference, but I would have tried to put their minds at rest before I laid it on him, saying, you know, I've worked with you guys for three years, and so you're all ready to go. I've prepped you.

You're everything. And in a sense, he has. But he doesn't say, on the basis of that, go out there and hope things work out for you. He says, nope, I've got all the authority, so here we go. I think it's just fascinating.

It's a fascinating thing. All authority in heaven and on earth. Why does he include heaven on that? I mean, why did he just say all authority on earth, so that I'm going to send you to the earth people, and you know, there you go. Well, they already had experience of casting out demons, and they had seen Jesus casting out demons.

Right. And they understand all authority in the spiritual realm is given to him. Yeah, so it really highlights the fact that they're going to be not just talking with human beings. They're going to be in battle with spiritual realms in the process. They're going to be pushed back from. Oh, and if you read the book of Acts, it becomes very clear, maybe we should do Acts sometime soon. Oh. Not right away.

Acts is a good one. We've got another plan. Yeah, we'll introduce where we're going next. But yeah, so here, you know, as they go out, they're going to face a whole bunch of problems, and they're going to face a lot of pushback. They're going to have troubles even communicating with people, because we know they go worldwide into different language groups and stuff like that. But the principal problem they're going to run up against is really this powerful pushback from the realms of the evil one.

And at those moments, they're going to ask themselves, are we ready for this? And they can say to each other, oh, don't you remember he says that Jesus has the authority over earth, which is where we are, but also everything in heaven, the spiritual realms. He's on top of that too.

So you know, we're on top of this. So it's just a great encouragement. I don't want to say the obvious, but he doesn't just say I'm all authority in earth, all authority in heaven and in earth. Well, and it's really important that we remember as his disciples that our battle is not against flesh and blood, as Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 10, right? Our battle is against spiritual authorities, right? The spiritual darkness in the high crisis. So now I just mangled my quotation of that, but you can read that in 2 Corinthians 10.

Where is that? Okay, I just opened to it. You can read it now, right? So Paul says in 2 Corinthians 10, and let's start in verse 3, though we walk in the flesh like in human bodies, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We're destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God. And we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. So he says that the battle is not against your fellow human being. The battle is against the spiritual authorities in another place, and he unpacks that even more in Ephesians 6. So what was that passage again? This is 2 Corinthians 10, when he's talking about the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh.

It's in the mind and the spirit. So he's not just sending them out as ambassadors or emissaries to people groups. He's sending them out to actually challenge the realms of spiritual evil in the process, because that's going to be arraigned against them.

And they're going to have to remind themselves, who sent us here, and do we have the authority to be here? And remember, he had the authority to cast out demons. And so he still has the authority to cast out demons.

Yeah, exactly. All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Here's Jesus saying he's equal with the Father. There is no doubt. Well, and that's going to become clear a little farther down in the statement. And I might also point out, before we push a little bit further, this word, this first word he says, all, that's probably the big word in this entire passage. All means all. All, all, all. Just keep watch for this. There's a lot of them.

I circled them. That's what I mean. Yeah. Yeah, there's a lot of alls here. So this is a very absolute thing.

So just keep watch for that. Let's go to verse 19 and see what he says next. Okay. So he says, go therefore, therefore, because I have the authority. Because he has authority.

Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. That's a singular name. One name, three beings. One name.

One name. Yeah. This is kind of a first indication of this triune nature of God who's at work here. Yeah. Yeah. So baptizing them, teaching them to observe all that I've commanded you. And then he just rounds up.

I say, behold, I'm with you always to the end of the age. Right. Right.

Okay, so. So their job. Their job is to make disciples. Disciples. What's a disciple? Right.

And he's using a Greek word. When you see the word disciples, think Aristotle and Plato where young men would come and sit at their feet and say, I'm here just to listen to what you have to say. So these, what we're doing is we're making followers based on information, basically.

Okay. So on becoming a learner and following in the teaching of a particular master, but kind of presumed on that is that the disciple, the longer he presses on in his discipleship becomes more and more like his master. And the students have made, excuse me, have made a choice to invest in this one master. It's also worth noting the obvious thing that disciples aren't just generated with a snap of a finger. You know, this is, this is not the same thing as making converts.

Okay. Converts are people who actually switch from following their own selfish sin and following God instead. But the making of disciples is this gradual process. It's a process. And it's a long term process.

It's a long term process. It is a relational process. And it has, it has a lot to do with the transforming of our minds, like Paul says in Romans 12, this transformation of what we think and what we understand. And so. Which then works its way out into the way we live.

Yeah, exactly. That's the writer of Hebrews, or I guess it's Paul's point in Romans when he says, be transformed in mind that you may prove out what the will of God is. Don't be conformed to this world anymore. So, so their job at this point is to make informed followers, people who are going to continually and gradually become transformed in the image of Christ himself through a teaching process, through a teaching process. You know, walking with, you know, there's an ancient expression about having the dust of the rabbi on you, right from following so closely the dust raised in his footsteps gets on you.

That's this idea. You are closely associated in doing life with, following your master. And we see this clearly, I think more clearly with Paul because he's so much better documented in Acts. But I recall the time when he went in, I think on his third journey where he went to Ephesus.

And he went and he lived with him for three years. I mean, and even at the end of that, he said, hey, did I hold anything back? Right. Nope. I let it all hang out.

I gave you my very self. Yeah. Yeah.

So I also find it fascinating here. We're to make these disciples in all nations, all, there's the second all. There's the second all. But all nations.

All nations. And what he's saying is that this is, this is in contradiction to what he said earlier in his ministry. Something has changed now because I went back and looked and there's, there's a place back in Matthew 10 where he says, you know, now go, go nowhere among the Gentiles and no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. And then that time he goes up to the, the Lebanese coast today and the Canaanite woman comes to them and they have this discussion about whether or not she should benefit. And he says to her, well, I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, but now he's sending the disciples out and he's saying, go to all nations. Okay. But being sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel did not stop Jesus from ministering to Gentiles.

No. And, and he is in that example. That's right. He responded to Gentiles who came to him in faith. Right. So they weren't excluded ever. But now we're talking about a broad, a broad dissemination of the gospel to not just Jews. Which God had always intended. Right. And Paul says in Roman, I'm sent to the Jews first and then the Gentiles. Right. So, so they're, they've always been included in this, but here Jesus is making very clear to them. I don't want you to just hang around in Judea.

We're going to all the nations and we're talking all the nations as far as you can go. And so they make disciples there and then they baptize, yeah, this is interesting, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. So yeah. So, you know, to baptize is, it's an interesting word, right? It does have some other uses, but it just means to plunge something into water, right? To fully immerse it. By kind of extension, you can cleanse it, to wash it, to make it clean.

You rinse it off. Right. Right.

You baptize it. But it also means to be overwhelmed. Exactly. Plunged into. It literally is the idiom we use when you say you're in over your head. Right. It means to be in deep into something that it's bigger than you.

Okay. And it was a word that was used when they launched a ship. They would plunge it into the element, which it was designed to function in. I've always found that a very helpful idea here when we are baptized. Well, it is. And we end up over-religizing the word, I think, but he's basically saying, you know, you need to have them placed fully into, because this word in is actually into, have them fully into the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. Right.

In the life of God. So we're not just talking about a ceremony. Right. I think that's the point. And that's probably important. And you can track that, actually, as it happens in Acts, right?

Because there's a lot of different ways baptism takes place and a lot of different times, different circumstances, and that's kind of a helpful study. Yeah. We don't have time for that now.

No, no. But it's just important for us to realize that when we use the religious word, baptize, we think of the whole water thing. Right. It was used in a more general sense in many cases, just to be saying you're being placed into. Because remember, Jesus responded to one of the apostles and said, are you willing to be baptized?

With the baptism, I'm going to be baptized. And he said, well, what's that all about? Well, he was talking about his suffering. What he was going to be placed into. Right.

And he was going to be placed into something big, bigger than him. So that's the point right there. It also has the idea of a public identification. Yes, it does. That when you plunge a ship into the water, it is identified with the water. You recognize that's what it's designed for.

That's where it will function. It belongs in the water. Yeah. As opposed to drinking a drink, instead of the water being in you, you are in the water.

The water's the dominant theme, not you anymore. Well, now that's interesting, because that actually is, that is actually a New Testament picture of being in Christ and Christ in us. Exactly.

Ooh, now we're looking ahead to where we're going after Matthew. Never mind. Hold that thought. Well, and it's a picture, it's a metaphor used in the Old Testament, because the Spirit is metaphorically the wind. You can't see it. And they use, in both cases in the Old Testament, the fact that you actually, you exist in the atmosphere. Right. You are in it, but you also breathe it in.

So it's in you. Yeah. So it's both things simultaneously.

And both are necessary for life. Yeah, yeah. That's right.

Ooh. I might add here too, just briefly, back to my silliness, if I was writing this, I would not say baptizing, I would say circumcising. If this is the Jewish Messiah, wouldn't he be saying, you need to go about circumcising them.

Isn't that interesting? But he doesn't. But he doesn't say that.

No, he doesn't say that at all. Because you're not making them Jews. Right, exactly. You're bringing them into Christ. Right. So in the name of, identified with, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Right.

All of whom are a critical element of being transformed by coming to believe in Christ. Right, right. Yep. Ooh, we're going to run out of time. Well, let's go to 20 then.

Okay. And here's the critical thing that follows believing and being baptized, is teaching them to observe all that I've commanded you. So it's the teaching, the learning, the bringing into their experience that demonstrates that they are being discipled. Yeah, and I think at this point, the poor fishermen are thinking, wait a second, wait a second, for the last three years, you were the teacher, not me. And now I'm the teacher? Yes, you're the teacher.

You know stuff that no one else has ever seen. Well, but he says, teaching them what I've commanded you. Yeah.

Right. So he's just passed it on to them. So that brings up the question, well, what did Jesus command? So just without even looking very far, I just turned to John 15, looking at that final conversation on the last night before the cross. And right in John 15, he gives them some very specific commands, abide in me, love one another, believe me, keep my word, all of those things. And if you read John 15 carefully, you know, abide, keep or sometimes obey and believe and love.

They're all tied up together in this tight little ball. You actually can't tease them apart, but they all are essential to obeying what Jesus said. They're going to know you're my disciples if you love one another.

Yeah. And, you know, Jesus mentioned in another place that if you love him, his word abides in you. Well, John 15. John 15.

My word abides in you. If you keep my commandments, if you treasure, guard them, regard them as important. So there's that part up there about being baptized into this, yeah. And teaching them to preserve all that I, and it's not just teaching them facts about Jesus. He doesn't say teach them the law. No, he does not. He says teach them what I have commanded you, because it's a new commandment I'm giving you that you love one another as I've loved you.

Right, right. And it's the new covenant that he said in the upper room just previously in his blood. And it's the answer to when that guy came up and said, what's the most important commandment? He says, to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and your neighbor as yourself.

You neighbor as yourself. So love God and love others. Right.

So there you go. That's what he commanded. And that's just a perfect reflection of the character and heart of God.

And at this point they're thinking, wait, we have to go all over the world and tell them what Jesus told us. Right. And so he answers them. He says, behold, I'm with you always, even to the end of the age. So you know, when he says, I'm with you always. He had told them that back in John 14. Oh yeah. He started talking about the coming of the Holy Spirit. Now I know I've jumped into John because Matthew doesn't give us that inside look at that. Yeah, that's okay. We'll let you.

We'll let you. But Jesus said, now when the Spirit comes, you're going to know that I'm in you and you're in me. He's going to convict the world of sin. He's going to convict them of righteousness. So he unpacks all the functioning of the Holy Spirit. He says, then he's going to be in you and he's going to give you remembrance of what I've told you.

Yeah. Because if you read the book of Acts, there's the Holy Spirit everywhere. But I do want to point out the obvious again here, because if I had read this line, I'm with you always to the end of the age, then I would expect to open up the book of Acts and see Jesus everywhere. Well, you do in chapter one.

In chapter one, but then he's not there. So did he lie about saying, I'll be with you to the end of the age? No, because he's speaking of himself in terms of the Holy Spirit. And he had said again in John 14, the Spirit is coming and he will be with you forever. Right. But here his language, it's a gigantic clue about the Trinity to us, because in the first person he's saying, I am, and he's actually meaning the Holy Spirit. Right. Well, is that a conflict between the Son and the Holy Spirit? No, because they're one and the same. So when he says, I'm always with you, he's talking about the Holy Spirit.

It's not a conflict in terms of the bodily Jesus is not there. But that's what I would have expected when I read this line. And how long? To the end of the age. So when Jesus used that term in the book of Matthew, back in chapter 13, he used it several times, and he was talking about the time of judgment, the time of reaping, the time when the angels come and separate the wheat from the tares, it shows up in three or four parables there. That's when he's talking about, from this point on, I am with you always. Until the judgment comes. Or actually until I come back a second time. Till I come back. Well, when the judgment will be, because he comes a second time to judge. So I'm not really leaving you, I'll be with you always. And then I'll be here when I come back again. So there you go.

Oh, man, we're out of time. Yeah, this is such an incredible passage. I encourage you readers to go back now that you've kind of picked your way through Matthew and just read the book in a sitting again and look for all the things that grabbed onto you.

Yeah, that's a great idea. And Jesus kind of wraps it up, or Matthew wraps it up, the same way he began the book. If you remember back in chapter one, he had said through Joseph, name the baby Emmanuel, God with us. And here we have him finishing the book, I am with you. So the early church is not a church that's left on its own to hope that it survives.

This is a church that has Christ himself in it. Well, we are done with Matthew and we hope you come back next time and we're going to start a whole new book. And I'm Jim. And I'm Dorothy. And we'll see you there on More Than Ink. There are many more episodes of this broadcast to be found at our website, morethanink.org. And while you're there, take a moment to drop us a note. Remember the Bible is God's love letter to you. Pick it up and read it for yourself and you will discover that the words printed there are indeed more than ink. This has been a production of Main Street Church of Brigham City.