And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age (Matthew 28:18-20).

This is considered the central Great Commission passage of the New Testament (cf. Mark 16:15; Luke 24:46-49; John 20:21; Acts 1:8), whereby Christians are called to bring the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ to the world. This is an often preached passage, but I thought for the sake of completeness, it would be good to rehash the main teachings on this passage here on this site. 

First, notice that the commission of Matthew 28:19 proceeds from Jesus' declaration of having "all authority" in verse 18. This is why the two verses are connected by the word "therefore". In other words, Jesus was commissioning the disciples to go and make disciples in view of His sovereign authority to save and draw out followers from among the nations. 

Second, while not particularly clear in the English translations, the central imperatival verb is "make disciples," while the words translated "go","baptizing" and "teaching" are all circumstantial participles connected to the central verb. Consequently, the central command is "make disciples." Related to this central command are the subordinating actions of "going", "baptizing" and "teaching," which carry some of the force of the central command. Some have suggested that these subordinating actions define how disciples should be made.

What is clear is that the subordinating actions are tied to the central mission of making disciples, that is, making followers of Jesus Christ. The implication here is that Jesus is not commanding a ministry of charitable outreach, whereby we simply help as many people as we can. He is not simply commanding a ministry of baptism, whereby we make as many converts as possible. Nor is he commanding us to simply teach the commands of Christ to those that have no relationship with him. No. All of these actions must be tied to a real and ongoing relationship between the disciple and Christ.

It is when we fulfill Jesus' purpose in the Great Commission, namely, to make disciples, that Jesus promises to be with us "always, even to the end of the age." The sense of this last assurance is that Jesus will be approving and empowering our obedience to this commission.

As a final observation, notice that baptism carries some of the imperatival force of the command to make disciples. I believe the reason for this is that emphasis is being placed on water baptism rather than the Spirit baptism that every believer would receive when they trust in Jesus. While baptism does not save anyone, this should, nevertheless, keep us from minimizing this important ordinance. It is clear from the historical record of the early church in Acts that every new believer was always and immediately baptized in water.

This baptism was likely by immersion, as the very word implies (i.e baptizo in Greek suggests total identification, as immersion in dye completely changes the color of clothes). It represented an identification with the Name (singular - so one God) of the three Persons of the Trinity, that is, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Friends, let us take this Great Commission to heart, for it is a calling for all of us to obey and not just the first disciples; otherwise, Jesus would not have used the words "to the end of the age." Clearly, Jesus was looking beyond the ministries and lives of the original disciples. 

Let us go near and far to make disciples. Let us not neglect the ministry of baptism, which does not need to be performed by a pastor or a priest or a minister. There is no such restriction given in Scripture. Any believer can baptize another believer. And let us actively and continually teach the full counsel of Scripture so that every believer can grow up in their faith to a full maturity in Christ. 

When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, telling them, “You are to say, ‘His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day (Matthew 28:12-15).

The chief priests and the elders met to devise a plan to contain the fact of Jesus' resurrection. Aren't these leaders like so many rats in a maze, thinking they will go this way or that, all the while being completely oblivious to the omniscience and power of God? These leaders, along with their secular accomplices, were certainly involved and responsible for Jesus' crucifixion:

"This man was handed over to you... and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross" (Acts 2:23).

Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed (Acts 4:27).

But while they were responsible, for such is what they conspired to do in their own hearts, they were not in control. That is why we read in Acts 4:28,

They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen.

And Peter also says,

This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him (Acts 2:23-24).

What are we to learn from all this? We don't need to be like those that devise plots, schemes and strategies. These are what politicians and unscrupulous leaders, whose only god is their money, intelligence and worldly influence, do. We don't need to be like them, because we know that God is in control. He sees schemes before they are devised, and He turns traps against the very ones that set them. Thus, we also read,

There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan
that can succeed against the Lord (Proverbs 21:30).

So we do not need to adopt such tactics to spread the gospel. If we say that the ends justify the means, are we not failing to trust God, who is sovereign over both ends and means?

And if we do these kinds of things against each other, are we not being worldy and carnal? Are we not failing to trust God, who sees hidden things as if they are in plain view?

These things come to mind as I see our political leaders devising various schemes and tactics to gain an advantage over each other. As I watched the presidential debates, I was deeply disturbed as I saw each candidate willing to exaggerate, distort, and filter truth in order to win the debate, or otherwise, gain political advantage over each other. It was not much different from seeing two children arguing against each other, with each one insisting they were right and the other was wrong. 

It is now only days before election day. I hope all of you are registered to vote. I pray that your voting will not be on the basis of worldly ideals but Christian principles and values. Remember, every outcome is in God's control, but we are responsible for the decision of our hearts. As we learn from the Proverbs,

To humans belong the plans of the heart,
    but from the Lord comes the proper answer of the tongue (Proverbs 16:1).

In their hearts humans plan their course,
    but the Lord establishes their steps (Proverbs 16:9).

The lot is cast into the lap,
    but its every decision is from the Lord (Proverbs 16:33).

I praise God that He is fully in control of all things. Therefore, whatever the outcome of this election, God is still in complete control. 

The book of Matthew closes with Christ's death and resurrection. What spoke to me this morning was the recognition of guilt on those that betrayed Christ. Firstly, Judas' realization of the consequences of his betrayal.

 (Matt 27:3-5) "When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders. "I have sinned," he said, "for I have betrayed innocent blood." "What is that to us?" they replied. "That’s your responsibility." So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself."

Here the Pharisees and their followers accept the guilt for Christ crucifixion and later some of the followers recognize their crime by acknowledging Christ as the messiah.

(Matt 27:24-25, 54) "When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that instead an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. "I am innocent of this man’s blood," he said. "It is your responsibility!" All the people answered, "His blood is on us and on our children!" Then he released Barabbas to them. But he had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified"

A few verses later after Christ gave up his spirit….

….(54) When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, "Surely this man was the Son of God!"

Its amazing to me the power of sin in our lives, our nature drives us to do crazy things that most often we regret. Its so fitting that we see the contrast between one of the greatest (or infamous) betrayals, to the worlds greats act of love. And wasn’t that the point that Christ died for all humanity despite their flaws and wicked nature.

What is of interest to me is the idea that Judas was selected by Christ as one of the disciples, for sure he knew that Judas would betray Him. We could argue that for Gods plan to occur Jesus needed to be betrayed, but there were many opportunities for Christ to be seized by the Pharisees Judas was not really necessary for Christs capture. So why did Jesus intentionally choose him? The bible doesn’t say, but maybe God wanted us know that even though we betray Him his love and grace conquers and overcomes any sin.

Then Jesus shouted out again, and he released his spirit. At that moment the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook, rocks split apart, and tombs opened. The bodies of many godly men and women who had died were raised from the dead. They left the cemetery after Jesus’ resurrection, went into the holy city of Jerusalem, and appeared to many people (Matthew 27:50-53).

This is the first time I've read/remembered about the dead rising from the tombs.  At least, I don't recall the other Gospel's mentioning this fact.  Since Matthew did not reference scripture, does the dead rising hold any significance to OT readings?  Was it merely something God did to again show people that Jesus was indeed His Son?  How long did these resurrected dead live again?  Were they full bodies or merely spirits visiting (to help guide the way for Jesus, so to speak?

Yujin responds... Great question! These were certainly not "spirits" because the text reads that "the bodies" were raised. And if they were spirits, the tombs would not need to be opened. As for the length of their lives, I would see this as similar to the resuscitation of Lazarus (John 11), whom Jesus also raised from the dead. I suppose that these people came back to life at whatever age they died, and then lived the remainder of their days. Now, this is not a "resurrection" per se, because the resurrection would only occur in the End Times (Revelation 20). This is what we would call a "resuscitation."

It appears that Matthew is the only Gospel that includes this event. One of the reasons for this is because Matthew was likely written to a primarily Jewish audience. The resuscitation of saints, perhaps Old Testament saints, would have particular significance to Jews. While not the final resurrection, which will not be till the End (Revelation 20:4-6, the resurrecton of the righteous), much of what happens in the time of Jesus and the apostles are a foreshadowing of the end. In the OT, there are Scriptures that speak of a resurrection of the saints (e.g. Isaiah 26:19; Job 19:25-27; Daniel 12:3, 13). To understand how this plays out, consider Martha's dialogue with Jesus in John 11:23-27:

Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”
Martha said to Him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
She said to Him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”

Martha speaks of the final resurrection "at the last day." Jesus helps her to understand that He is the source of resurrection and life. After this dialogue, Jesus would raise Lazarus back to temporal life; however, for Lazarus, Martha and everyone else, it is ultimately faith in Him that would result in eternal life ("shall never die").