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The Great Commission

Matthew 28:19-20

The last things people say before departing are often most important. That was certainly the case in Jesus' last words to His disciples when He rendezvoused with them in Galilee after His resurrection (Matthew 28:16-20)—words He affirmed to them just before His ascension later in Jerusalem (Acts 1:8). Jesus had spent three years pouring His life into His disciples; now it was time for them to pour their lives into the nations.

God's long-term plan was to reveal Himself to the world in order to redeem a people for Himself. The original plan was centripetal—God would attract the nations of the world to Himself by revealing His glory through the nation of Israel. Israel was to serve as a "light to the Gentiles," showing them the way to God (Isaiah 42:6; 49:6; 60:3). The prophets saw this happening in a vision now moved to the end of the age when the nations will stream up to Jerusalem to worship Christ the King when He returns (Zechariah 8:23).

When Israel failed in her mission to manifest God's glory, the mission was changed from centripetal to centrifugal. Instead of attracting the nations to Jerusalem God would send His Church from Jerusalem out to the nations to declare God's glory. The last words of Jesus to His disciples were affirming this new strategy: "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nation" (Matthew 28:19). Making new disciples was the mission of Jesus' original disciples—the only imperative command in the Great Commission. The other three actions in these verses—going, baptizing, and teaching—are all corollaries to the central theme. Just as Jesus had called His original disciples to Himself, He sent them out to make more disciples—learners and followers of Jesus—in all the nations of the world.

Matthew 28:19-20 is the fullest version of the Great Commission, but the same theme is found in the other three Gospels: Mark 16:15; Luke 24:45-49; John 20:21.

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