The BOOK – The Commission

When you read the Gospel of Mathew 12, we see much controversy among the leaders concerning Jesus. Then we see a Life’s most important question in Mathew 16:13. “What do you think of Christ?” This is the question we need to ask ourselves. Peter replied to this question, “You are the Christ, the son of the living God”. It grasps Christ as the Messiah, the fulfilment of the prophecies of the Old Hebrew prophets. This confession is great because it exalts Christ as the son of God and lifts him above humanity and crowns him with deity.

Mathew 21 to 28, we see the Triumph of the King. On the morning of Palm Sunday it was understood that Jesus was to enter the city. Jesus for the first time permitted a public recognition and celebration of his rights as Messiah-King. The end was approaching with awful swiftness and he must offer himself as Messiah, even if only to be rejected.

Christ’s authority was brought into question as he went into the temple and ordered the merchants out, overturning their tables and telling them they had made the house of God a den of thieves. A bitter controversy followed. “Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words” (Mathew 22:15). He bade farewell to Jerusalem until he would come again to sit on David’s throne.

Much of Jesus discourse in Mathew 24 and 25 is devoted to Christ’s second coming. He exhorts us to be ready in the parables of the faithful servant (Mathew 24: 45-51), the ten virgins (Mathew 25:1-13) and of the talents (Mathew 25:14-30). 

Although a large number of disciples believed in Jesus and followed him, the opposition of the religious leaders was bitter and they determined to put him to death. On the grounds of blasphemy, and of claiming to be King of the Jews, thus making himself the enemy of the Roman emperor, Jesus was delivered up by Pilate to be crucified. After hanging on that cross, the saviour died, not from physical suffering alone but of a broken heart, for he bore the sins of the whole world. We hear his triumphant cry, “It is finished”. He paid the debt of sin and became the world’s redeemer.

The mode of Messiah’s death had been foreshadowed by various types and symbols in the Old Testament. The brazen serpent in the wilderness signified that he was to be lifted up; the lamb upon the temple alter that his blood must be shed. 

Jesus was put in Joseph’s tomb, and on the third day he arose, as he had said. People thought he was dead and his kingdom had failed. By his resurrection, Christ assured his disciples that the king still lived and that one day he will come back to establish his kingdom on earth. 

The climax of the book is found in his great commission. “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Mathew 28:18-20). 

Christian faith is no national or racial religion. It knows no bounds of mountain or sea, but it envelops the globe. We are called not to run the world with armies and make people submit under the sword, nor are we called to bribe people and make them submit to get the numbers. A follower of Christ is called to be an example to the people around him and teach them and show them how to live a Christ centred life and pray for their needs so that the Spirit of God will turn them in the path of living water. May God bless you to be a faithful servant of the most high.