The word translated “power” here is exousia, which refers to authority or delegated power along with the right to use it. In this context neither “power” nor “authority” is an adequate translation. As the Lord used it in 28:18, exousia means “all the right of absolute authority and all the resources of absolute power.”

you and I don’t decide to make Jesus Lord; He is Lord regardless of what we think of Him.

The Greek verb translated go is actually not a command but a present participle (going). The only command in the entire Great Commission is “make disciples” (“teach all nations”).

Our authority could not come from a higher source. The unbelieving may challenge our right to take the gospel to other lands, but we have every right. We have a mandate that transcends that of any human political, religious, or economic power. We are commissioned to go, and go we must

In his penetrating book, Born to Reproduce, Dawson Trotman comments on our tendency in the church today:

The curse of today is that we are too busy. I am not talking about being busy earning money to buy food. I am talking about being busy doing Christian things. We have spiritual activity with little productivity.

Trotman continues,

The Gospel spread to the known world during the first century without radio, television or the printing press, because [the writings of the apostles] produced men who were reproducing.

In many respects, we have departed from this pattern. In most churches, the congregation pays the pastor to preach, win the lost, and build up the saved—while the church members function as cheerleaders (if they are enthusiastic) or spectators. The “converts” are won, baptized, and given the right hand of fellowship, then they join the other spectators. How much faster our churches would grow, and how much stronger and happier our church members would be, if each one were discipling another believer.

We are not called to go alone to city slums, arctic wastes, equatorial jungles, college campuses, or our own neighborhoods. The task would be impossible if “Go” were the only word, so the Lord added “Lo.”

The English adverb “always” renders an expression found in the NT only here—viz., pasas tēs hēmeras, strictly “the whole of every day” (Moule, Idiom Book, p. 34). Not just the horizon is in view, but each day as we live it.

He does not say “I will be with you,” but “I am with you,” and his I is emphatic, “no less than I.”

He is not speaking of a temporary residence with first-century disciples, but of a presence among his followers to the very end of time. This Gospel opened with the assurance that in the coming of Jesus God was with his people (1:23), and it closes with the promise that the very presence of Jesus Christ will never be lacking to his faithful follower.

Be encouraged, follower of Christ, for this mission is not based on who we are or what we can do. This mission is assured based on Christ’s presence through His Spirit.

Rather than being based on what we can do, this mission is based on who Jesus is and what He is able to do in and through our lives. Christ is able to do “beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us” (Eph 3:20).

Who are we to go to another people group, or even coworkers, and tell them that they are following false idols, and that if they don’t turn to Jesus, they will die forever? The world views this as arrogant, and even as far as many people in the church are concerned, communicating this to people makes no sense. However, if Matthew’s Gospel is true—that is, if Jesus died on the cross for the sins of the world, if He rose from the grave in victory over sin and death, and if there is no one like Him and He reigns as Lord over all—then telling a lost world about Jesus is the only thing that makes sense! What doesn’t make sense is millions of Christians sitting back and saying nothing to the nations. Instead, we ought to go with confidence, knowing that the One who sent us is sovereign over all and worthy of worship from all.

Since Jesus Christ today has all authority, we may obey Him without fear. No matter where He leads us, no matter what circumstances we face, He is in control. By His death and resurrection, Jesus defeated all enemies and won for Himself all authority.

Christianity is a missionary faith. The very nature of God demands this, for God is love and God is not willing that any should perish (2 Peter 3:9). Our Lord’s death on the cross was for the whole world. If we are the children of God and share His nature, then we will want to tell the good news to the lost world.