The Eternal Reign of the Eternal King
Extended Easter Series: Matthew 27:32-28:20 • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Matthew 28:16-20 ESV
16 Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17 And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. 18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 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, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Today marks the recognition of what is undoubtedly the very most important event in our faith. What we recognize today is what makes our faith the one, true legitimate faith. Because what we recognize this morning, on Easter morning is that the One Whom the scriptures speak of as being the Savior and Redeemer of God’s elect people is alive!
What we recognize on Easter morning is something that should be recognized and celebrated by the faithful Christian every time that he gathers with his brethren on the Lord’s Day for corporate worship.
And while those of the orthodox faith recognize the everlasting being of Christ Jesus on a consistent basis, on Easter morning, what we are sure to specifically recognize is the event itself that proves that Christ Jesus lives forever!
Thus, what we can know from that which we have been studying over the last several months is that the wicked intention of those who opposed the Lord Jesus was to silence Him forever by crucifying Him and sealing Him in a tomb.
But what we also know is that on Easter morning, Jesus proved that because He is Who He is, because He is God the Son, that not even death, let alone a sealed tomb could defeat Him.
In resurrected glory, the Lord Jesus powerfully defeated His foes, showing all that His enemies have great reason to fear, and that His friends have great reason to rejoice.
We’ve already read and talked about the events surrounding the resurrection of the Lord Jesus and how He appeared in resurrection glory before the female disciples who visited His tomb. When He appeared to these women, He commanded them to tell His disciples to travel to Galilee where He will also appear to them in His resurrected glory.
Thus, we begin the exposition of our text this morning knowing that all of this has already taken place and sets up that which we will read today.
And as we look to our reading, we are introduced to those whom Jesus would appear to when we read in the very beginning of this 16thverse about “the eleven disciples”.
Now, when we speak of the Lord’s disciples, we typically speak of their number being twelve. But we know that by this point, one of the twelve was no more, as Judas Iscariot, that son of perdition manifested that he was never truly a follower of Christ Jesus when he betrayed the Lord. Thus, we are left with eleven disciples.
Something else that I found interesting is that what this also signifies is that these eleven had remained together in Jerusalem long enough to receive the women’s message, despite their earlier scattering.
Having received the message from these women who had personally seen the risen Lord, we then see what the eleven disciples do next, when the second part of verse 16 tells us that they:
Matthew 28:16b ESV
16b went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them.
These had received the command of the Lord Jesus through these female disciples to meet Him, in His resurrected glory in the Galilean hills. And having received the command, the eleven set out for their Galilean homes, not in dejection and defeat, but in hope and anticipation.
Then in the first part of verse 17, we see that which occurred when they arrived in these Galilean hills, when it says:
Matthew 28:17a ESV
17a And when they saw him they worshiped him,
As the eleven traversed across the Galilean hills, “they saw Him”. Thus, as these arrived at that place which Jesus commanded them to go, that place where He said He would meet them, when they arrived there, He appeared to them.
In resurrected glory, the Lord Jesus appeared to them. And as He appeared to them in such a state, the conclusion was obvious, Jesus is not just a man, Jesus isn’t just what they thought the Messiah would be, no, Jesus is God!
And because these recognized that Jesus is God, they fell at His feet and worshiped Him. And when the text says that they worshiped Jesus, that’s exactly what it means. They recognized Jesus as God; therefore, they worshipped Him as such.
But this worship was not the only response given to the Lord’s appearing. For, as the last three words of verse 17 tells us:
Matthew 28:17b ESV
17b but some doubted.
When the Lord Jesus appeared to the eleven, they worshiped Him, “but”, though that is the case, there were still some who doubted.
Now, we may wonder who exactly doubted. We think that it certainly cannot be any who were among the eleven. Some commentators have even gone as far as to say that there were more disciples there besides the eleven and that it was those disciples who doubted. But you know, the text doesn’t really seem to indicate that. Rather, it would seem as though the text explicitly refers to the eleven here.
And thus, the text says that some of the eleven doubted. And what this doubt consisted of may have been several different things.
There are several instances in other gospels where it mentions the resurrected Jesus appearing to His disciples and they not realizing that it was Jesus Who stood before them.
In the Gospel of Luke, we read of two disciples walking to a village near to Jerusalem named Emmaus. And as these walked, what seemed like a stranger joined them and conversed with them. In fact, it wasn’t until they arrived at Emmaus and broke bread with the Lord that they realized Who He was.
Later in that same chapter, it is written that the disciples were gathered together speaking of the resurrection of Jesus when suddenly He appeared to them and said, “Peace to you!”. But even after seeing Him and He blessing them with peace, it is written there that the disciples were frightened and thought that they had seen a spirit.
The point that I’m trying to make here is that while Jesus did indeed rise, His appearance now that He had been resurrected had obviously been changed to some degree as even His closest disciples didn’t always recognize Him.
Thus, the doubting of some at this particular point in our reading was most likely in not knowing for sure whether or not this was actually Jesus Who stood before them.
It also may have been that they didn’t know how exactly they should react to this situation and were bewildered, just as the three disciples, Peter, James, and John were in a state of bewilderment at the Transfiguration of the Lord.
But though these stood in a state of confusion and bewilderment, the first three words of verse 18 likely reveal that which overcame all of their doubts and fears where we read:
Matthew 28:18a ESV
18a And Jesus came
Some worshiped, others doubted and feared, but Jesus came. Jesus came to them. This serves a twofold purpose, first, it shows that Jesus accepts the worship offered to Him by those who worshiped Him there, and second, as He comes to those who doubted and feared, He reveals to them that it is truly He, therefore, there is no need to doubt and fear.
And as Jesus comes to the eleven, He reveals something astonishing to them as we look at what He says to them in the last part of verse 18:
Matthew 28:18b ESV
18b “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”
Jesus comes to the eleven, revealing that not only is their worship of Him acceptable, that not only is there no need to fear Him due to the fact that He has claimed them, but also revealing to them that He, their Master, having submitted to death on behalf of His elect people and rising again to resurrected life has now received from His Father all authority in heaven and on earth.
Let’s look at this statement bit by bit. First of all, Jesus reveals to His disciples that what He has received is “all authority”. To have or hold authority is to possess the power and the right to rule and to command obedience.
And the measure of authority that Jesus tells His disciples He has received is “all authority”. Thus, it is not a small measure of authority, it is not a small measure of power and governorship that Jesus possesses. No, He holds every bit of power and authority that can be held. He holds absolute sway and there is none who can legitimately challenge His claim.
We also see here the sphere of authority which Jesus holds. His sphere of authority, the domain which He sovereignly governs is not confined to a country, or a group of countries, or even to a planet or a group of planets, but rather, He proclaims that this authority encompasses all of heaven and earth.
Whenever the scriptures speak of “heaven and earth” it refers to everything that there is, every last bit of God’s creation, everything that has ever been created. This includes everything that can be seen and everything that is unseen, physical and spiritual. Thus, Jesus proclaims that He is the sovereign Ruler over everything.
And lastly, Jesus says that this authority has been given to Him. Now, in order for someone to give something to someone else, it requires the one who is giving to have possession of whatever is given. Now, Jesus said that universal authority is that which had been given to Him and the only One Who could realistically have this authority is God Himself.
Therefore, Jesus says that God the Father has been pleased to give all authority over heaven and earth, over all that there is, to God the Son.
What this indicates is that the accomplishment of Jesus’ mission on earth has resulted in the universal, everlasting reign of the Godman.
You see, people had been wrong and misunderstood the scope and nature of the Messiah’s kingship time and time again, they thought that it would be anything but what it actually consists of.
Even the Lord’s disciples, these eleven, misunderstood the scope and the nature of the Lord’s kingdom. But now the Lord reveals to them the true nature of His kingdom, which is much greater than the way that the messianic kingdom had been conceived of by those who misinterpreted the scriptures.
But most of all, what the Lord Jesus revealed to His disciples here was that this kingdom was not something still to come, but it was and is a present reality.
Thus, having received universal kingship and the authority to carry out whatsoever He pleases, the Lord now gives His disciples, His subjects, His royal commission. We see this commission in the last two verses of our reading:
Matthew 28:19-20 ESV
19 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, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
First of all, we see Jesus use the words “Go therefore” which, as I always say, when we come to the word “therefore” in scripture, we always know that it’s there for a reason, and that reason is to always speak of the consequences that come from whatever was spoken before the word “therefore”.
Before this, Jesus spoke of receiving universal kingship, thus He says, “therefore”, or, in light of this, “Go”, do what I as your King now direct you to do. And that which Jesus directs these disciples, His subjects to, is to make disciples of all nations.
Now, these who Jesus speaks to are His disciples, they are those who followed and learned from Him. But they didn’t just follow and learn from Him, God had compelled them to devote their entire selves to Jesus, and what Jesus now commands of the eleven is that they reproduce themselves, that they influence and lead others to likewise devote their entire selves to Jesus.
But what would be even more interesting to a first century Jewish reader is that Jesus commands that these disciples be not made up of those exclusively from Israel, but those who were “of all nations”.
This means, beloved, that God has made for Himself an elect people from every nation, tribe, and tongue, and that it is the responsibility of us, current disciples of the Lord Jesus, to reach out and bring these future disciples into the fold through the power that God affords us.
Furthermore, Jesus speaks of the initiation rite into the covenant community when He speaks of those who are brought in being baptized “in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit”.
What this shows is that such a one has been claimed by God and now, or, in the case of an infant, in time, will confess his or her confidence in the name of, or, in the power and goodness of the Triune God.
This baptism, this initiation rite into the covenant community Jesus says, is followed with “teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you”. This signifies that it is the responsibility of the eleven to lead new disciples in that way in which Jesus had personally commanded them, teaching them the orthodox doctrines of the Christian faith.
Indeed brethren, this command is just as applicable for us today as it was for the eleven. Then, now, and until the end of the age, heresies will abound both within and without the church. And those who always fall prey to such damnable heresies are those who are not properly educated in the orthodox faith, therefore, it is our responsibility as those who adhere to the orthodox faith to consistently lead each other and all other disciples of Christ that we come across in the way of truth.
Beloved, this is our purpose: to worship God in spirit and in truth. And this includes not only the weekly attendance of corporate worship, but devoting the entirety of our lives to Christ, placing Him as our chief desire, as our proper object of worship in every area of life, and in so doing God is glorified and more and more people, more and more generations of disciples are brought to the orthodox faith.
But best of all, this can be accomplished, indeed, it will be accomplished as the Lord Jesus promises His eleven and thus promises every one of His true disciples in all ages that because He lives, He will be personally present with us until the ushering in of the world to come.
Beloved, royal subjects, the King lives! Let us then fully submit to the King of kings!
Amen?