Matthew 28
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Matthew 28:2:
And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat. |
According to Daniel Whedon's Commentary: As there was darkness and earthquake at the death, so there is now earthquake and light at the resurrection. Both were given for the same purpose; namely, to manifest to the senses of men the mighty operations that were going on beyond the reach of sense. Death, and life, and power are secret and unseen principles; their manifestations are shown forth to mankind through the senses. The earthquake and the resurrection of course took place previous to the arrival of the women. Angels — The angel came not to awaken the corpse. That was done by the return of Jesus from his visitation to the spirit-world. No eye beheld his reviving body, warmed and loosened by the embraces of the soul. Rolled back the stone — Not that Jesus could not have burst the barrier; but the ministry of angels was necessary to give form to the transaction to human conception.
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Matthew 28:7:
When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted |
The Greek word used here (distazo) has their sense of "to hold back" or "to hesitate." Perhaps they felt it was too good to be true, or were frightened.
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This means we are to assert the Crown Rights of our King in all spheres. To coexist with an evil world is to acknowledge failure: we have a duty to convert it.
Jesus understood the importance of discipleship (the process of making disciples). In fact, it was so important, He made sure it was His last directive to those who followed Him. What precisely is discipleship and why is it so important? Is it simply a matter of making converts? No, it’s much more. The process of making disciples is often misunderstood and neglected in the Church today, and as a result, we are in danger of losing our identity as Christians. Christian discipleship is critical to Christian survival.
Even secular dictionaries recognize discipleship as something more than simply creating “members” or “converts”. Dictionary.com describes a disciple as “a person who is a pupil or an adherent of the doctrines of another.” Webster’s online dictionary defines a disciple as “one who accepts and assists in spreading the doctrines of another.” At least one aspect of discipleship involves learning the doctrines of a particular system or teacher. This intellectual aspect of being a disciple is affirmed in the Bible. The Greek word used for “disciple” in the New Testament is “mathētḗs” and its root, “math-“, means the “mental effort needed to think something through“. Disciples are “learners”, “scholars” and followers of Christ who “learn the doctrines of Scripture and the lifestyle they require”. There is an important connection between doctrine and behavior. It’s not enough to simply follow Jesus’ moral teaching related to behavior, true disciples must understand the doctrines of Christianity. What does our worldview teach, theologically or philosophically? How are we to make a defense (1 Peter 3:15), hold fast the faithful word which is in accordance with this teaching (Titus 1:9), recognize a heresy when we see one (Titus 3:10), and guard the treasure which has been entrusted to us (2 Timothy 1:14)? Becoming a disciple means becoming a learner. --J Warner Wallace
Even secular dictionaries recognize discipleship as something more than simply creating “members” or “converts”. Dictionary.com describes a disciple as “a person who is a pupil or an adherent of the doctrines of another.” Webster’s online dictionary defines a disciple as “one who accepts and assists in spreading the doctrines of another.” At least one aspect of discipleship involves learning the doctrines of a particular system or teacher. This intellectual aspect of being a disciple is affirmed in the Bible. The Greek word used for “disciple” in the New Testament is “mathētḗs” and its root, “math-“, means the “mental effort needed to think something through“. Disciples are “learners”, “scholars” and followers of Christ who “learn the doctrines of Scripture and the lifestyle they require”. There is an important connection between doctrine and behavior. It’s not enough to simply follow Jesus’ moral teaching related to behavior, true disciples must understand the doctrines of Christianity. What does our worldview teach, theologically or philosophically? How are we to make a defense (1 Peter 3:15), hold fast the faithful word which is in accordance with this teaching (Titus 1:9), recognize a heresy when we see one (Titus 3:10), and guard the treasure which has been entrusted to us (2 Timothy 1:14)? Becoming a disciple means becoming a learner. --J Warner Wallace
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Matthew 28:18:
And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth." |
Authority over all things, including disease, is given to Jesus. These are perilous times. They are also times of great opportunity for the extension and application of the gospel of Jesus Christ. He reigns now. |
Rick Warren Files
First, in Matthew 28:18 Jesus says: “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.”
There are four verbs in the Great Commission: go, make disciples, baptize and teach. Men and women are to do all four things. Women are to go, women are to make disciples. Women are to baptize and women are to teach. You can’t say: “Well, the first two are for men and women, but the second two are only for men.” The Great Commission was given to every person; not just men and not just ordained people. --Rick Warren
There are four verbs in the Great Commission: go, make disciples, baptize and teach. Men and women are to do all four things. Women are to go, women are to make disciples. Women are to baptize and women are to teach. You can’t say: “Well, the first two are for men and women, but the second two are only for men.” The Great Commission was given to every person; not just men and not just ordained people. --Rick Warren
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Matthew 28:19-20:
Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: l things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen. |
This means we are to assert the Crown Rights of our King in all spheres. To coexist with an evil world is to acknowledge failure: we have a duty to convert it.
"Jesus, at the end of the Gospel according to Matthew, commissions his disciples to go and make more disciples — ones of all kinds, from all different places. He doesn’t say make believers. He doesn’t say make carbon copies of yourselves. He says, “make disciples.” Make learners. Inspire the inquisitive mind and curious heart. Do not, therefore, be discouraged when you are met with reactions that do not seem ideal — whether you are reviled or admired.
You cannot control other people’s perceptions, and just because you’re admired (or despised) doesn’t mean that you’re doing something wrong." --Curtis Farr |
David Platt Files
“Our purpose on the planet is not to promote the greatness of our nation, it's to spread the Gospel to all nations. We have more opportunities than ever before in history, to spread the Gospel to the ends of the Earth today than any other people have ever had...In all this, I think one of my biggest concerns is to call the Church to see that Jesus is not a means to an end; He is the end. He is the One. God Himself is the goal of the Gospel. If we're not careful, we can subtly look to him as a means to a variety of other ends that will fall far short of what our hearts were created to find satisfaction in,”
--David Platt; Christian Post; David Platt laments 'idolatry of personal and political convictions' in the Church, issues call to unity 7.3.23
--David Platt; Christian Post; David Platt laments 'idolatry of personal and political convictions' in the Church, issues call to unity 7.3.23
Why then do we feel Him in the distance? It’s the dissimilarity in our natures; it’s the unlikeness. We’ve got enough likeness that God can commune with us and call us His children and we can say, “Abba, Father.” But in the practical working out of it, we sense our dissimilarity, and that is why God seems remote. What I’m trying to get across is simply this: nearness to God is not a geographical or an astronomical thing. It is not a spatial thing. It is a spiritual thing, having to do with nature. And so when we pray “God, draw me nearer,” or “God, come nearer,” we’re not praying (if we’re good theologians) for God to come down from some remote distance. We know God’s here now. Jesus said, “Lo, I am with you always” (Matthew 28:20). The Lord is here. Jacob said, “God is in this place and I didn’t know it” (see Genesis 28:16). He didn’t say, “God came to this place”; he said, “God is in this place.” What are we praying for, then? We are praying for a manifestation of the presence of God. Not the presence, but the manifestation of the presence. Why don’t we have the manifestation? Because we allow unlikenesses. We allow moral dissimilarity. That “sense” of absence is the result of the remaining unlikeness within us. This desire, this yearning to be near to God is, in fact, a yearning to be like Him. It’s the yearning of the ransomed heart to be like God so there can be perfect communion, so the heart and God can come together in a fellowship that is divine.
(AW Tozer, The Attributes of God Volume 1, 123)
(AW Tozer, The Attributes of God Volume 1, 123)
J Warner Wallace Files
Jesus understood the importance of discipleship (the process of making disciples). In fact, it was so important, He made sure it was His last directive to those who followed Him. What precisely is discipleship and why is it so important? Is it simply a matter of making converts? No, it’s much more. The process of making disciples is often misunderstood and neglected in the Church today, and as a result, we are in danger of losing our identity as Christians. Christian discipleship is critical to Christian survival.
Even secular dictionaries recognize discipleship as something more than simply creating “members” or “converts”. Dictionary.com describes a disciple as “a person who is a pupil or an adherent of the doctrines of another.” Webster’s online dictionary defines a disciple as “one who accepts and assists in spreading the doctrines of another.” At least one aspect of discipleship involves learning the doctrines of a particular system or teacher. This intellectual aspect of being a disciple is affirmed in the Bible. The Greek word used for “disciple” in the New Testament is “mathētḗs” and its root, “math-“, means the “mental effort needed to think something through“. Disciples are “learners”, “scholars” and followers of Christ who “learn the doctrines of Scripture and the lifestyle they require”. There is an important connection between doctrine and behavior. It’s not enough to simply follow Jesus’ moral teaching related to behavior, true disciples must understand the doctrines of Christianity. What does our worldview teach, theologically or philosophically? How are we to make a defense (1 Peter 3:15), hold fast the faithful word which is in accordance with this teaching (Titus 1:9), recognize a heresy when we see one (Titus 3:10), and guard the treasure which has been entrusted to us (2 Timothy 1:14)? Becoming a disciple means becoming a learner. --J Warner Wallace
Even secular dictionaries recognize discipleship as something more than simply creating “members” or “converts”. Dictionary.com describes a disciple as “a person who is a pupil or an adherent of the doctrines of another.” Webster’s online dictionary defines a disciple as “one who accepts and assists in spreading the doctrines of another.” At least one aspect of discipleship involves learning the doctrines of a particular system or teacher. This intellectual aspect of being a disciple is affirmed in the Bible. The Greek word used for “disciple” in the New Testament is “mathētḗs” and its root, “math-“, means the “mental effort needed to think something through“. Disciples are “learners”, “scholars” and followers of Christ who “learn the doctrines of Scripture and the lifestyle they require”. There is an important connection between doctrine and behavior. It’s not enough to simply follow Jesus’ moral teaching related to behavior, true disciples must understand the doctrines of Christianity. What does our worldview teach, theologically or philosophically? How are we to make a defense (1 Peter 3:15), hold fast the faithful word which is in accordance with this teaching (Titus 1:9), recognize a heresy when we see one (Titus 3:10), and guard the treasure which has been entrusted to us (2 Timothy 1:14)? Becoming a disciple means becoming a learner. --J Warner Wallace
Archbishop William Temple once said that the Church was the only organization which existed to benefit those who were not its members; we seem to have forgotten that. If we retreat to the margins and our own comfort zones and take refuge in the thought we are members of a purer ‘remnant’ safe in our ancient traditions, we betray the longest tradition of all – the Great Commission. Jesus did not say the his disciples, ‘hang round in upper rooms in Jerusalem and they will come to you’.