In this very famous passage about the Great Commission Jesus asserts that all power or authority has been given to Him (from God the Father) in heaven and in earth (and over all beings in heaven and earth including angels, the devil and demons and saved and unsaved human beings). This is a comfort and assurance for Christians or God's saved people both of the Jews and Gentiles or nations in this age or this dispensation within this age, although Jesus will have all authority over heaven and earth through age coming dispensations until God the Father takes primary authority again in the eternal age or dispensation.
Jesus states that in light of this we should go to the nations (ethnos from which we get our term ethnic group) but the word nations is also used for Abraham being called a father of many nations in Romans 4:17 and 18 and that God would bless all the nations through Abraham in Galatians 3:8 that are quotations from Genesis 17:4 on one hand and Genesis 18:18 and 22:18 on the other and in the Old Testament this word in Hebrew is goy or in the plural goyim which means a foreign (non-Jewish) nation or nations although the Jews or Israel would be included as one of the nations in the New Testament in the present Church Dispensation that will end with the rapture of the Church to heaven. Also this word (ethnos) for nation is used in Acts 17:26 where the Apostle Paul states to the Greek philosophers in Athens that God has made of one blood or ancestor (Adam through Noah) all nations to dwell on all the face of the earth and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation. The Apostle Paul before he trusted in Jesus as his personal Lord and Saviour was a leading Pharisee or teacher of the Law of Moses so he would know the Law of Moses very well and should be no surprise that he uses references to it in his New Testament writings. I think this verse in Acts 17 is no exception to this. In fact the nations and the bounds of their habitation I think is a clear reference to Deuteronomy 32:7-9 especially verse 8 that reads When the most High divided to the nations (goy) their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds according to the number of the children of Israel. Since all but Noah and his wife and his three sons and their wives were wiped out by the worldwide flood of Noah the current sons of Adam and those in Moses' time are those through the line of Noah only. In Genesis 10 the whole chapter talks about a table of the nations from which all people on earth now are derived and if you don't count Noah Himself or Nimrod there are exactly 70 nations in that chapter as I have also counted for myself and invite the reader to count himself or herself. I think it is these nations that are referred to in Matthew 28 and other times in the Old and New Testaments with this quote in Acts 17 for Deuteronomy 32 as well as the quotes in Romans and Galatians from Genesis with the blessings of the nations through Abraham where the same words are used for nations. Also in Exodus 1:5 the children of Israel (Jacob) were also of the number 70 that came up from Egypt when they came to join Joseph there, which of course is the same number of the nations in Genesis 10 as stated in Deuteronomy 32 and referred to in Acts 17 and that I believe can then be extended to other references to nations in the New Testament including Matthew 28.
Jesus then says he wants his disciples or followers to teach all nations, being I think divided into the 70 nations referred to in Genesis 10 that includes the Jews, and Arabs and other descendants of Abraham under Arphaxad and Peleg. We are to baptize them in the name not names of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. But this doesn't deny the doctrine of the trinity but only emphasize the oneness in being or essence of the three persons of the trinity as opposed emphasis on their three distinct personalities within the one being of the trinity or Godhead that is given in other scriptures such as in the baptism of Jesus in Matthew 3 or in different New Testament scriptures that associate in different places all three persons of the trinity with raising Jesus from the dead or that the trinity is a necessity for Jesus to bear the wrath for our sins from another person of the trinity God the Father as in Isaiah 53:4. Jesus also urged or commissioned his people or disciples to teach those people we are trying or that God is leading us to make his disciples all things whatsoever I commanded you which is all the New Testament and the Old Testament as well as in John 5:39. Finally Jesus gives the assurance that he is with his people or disciples or Christians until the end of the world. This word world is from the Greek word eon and means age. I think the world, eon or age Jesus is talking about is the one that began after the fall of Adam and Eve or perhaps from the creation of them and the world (cosmos). This world (eon or age) will end when the Lord Jesus Christ comes with His Church from Heaven to set up His Kingdom after previously catching us up to heaven at the rapture very soon to spare true or born again or of the Holy Spirit Christians the tribulation or 70th week of Daniel on earth. In the 70th week of Daniel or the tribulation Jesus and God the Father will complete the great commission in the dispensation of wrath when he will witness through the two witnesses of Revelation 11 probably Moses and Elijah and in Revelation 7 and 14 the 144,000 Jewish believers in Jesus who will all be part of God completing the Great Commission through his then resumed working on earth through Israel with the Church's part having been finished by the time of the rapture when we will be brought to our eternal home in heaven although we will still have access to earth in the Messianic Age with our heavenly or ressurrection or spiritual bodies. The scripture reference in Matthew 28 to the Great Commission with Christians (and then in the tribulation Jewish believers) going to all nations under Jesus' authority and protection to make disciples of all nations and them them from Jesus' commandments in the Bible especially the New Testament is as follows:
And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost (Holy Spirit): teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen. Gospel of Matthew 28:18-20
In this passage the Lord Jesus Christ starts by stating what he wants his people to witness about him, namely that it was necessary for Christ or Messiah to suffer including his death on the cross for our sins and to rise from the dead on the third day. The Bible makes clear Jesus rose from the dead in order to offer people who believe in Him God's new life as well as the assurance of eventual resurrection to life for us also. Christ Jesus' suffering or death for our sins and resurrection from the dead are the key parts of the gospel or message of salvation and life through Jesus that Jesus commissions each of his people to share with those who haven't yet trusted in Jesus and realized these blessings. Jesus further instructs that repentance or a change of attitude and mind from a mind and life centred on self and sin and this world to a mind and life that is humble and willing to yield to God and Jesus and His word - the Holy Bible and live for his world to come and depend on Jesus for salvation and strength for Christian service and on the Holy Spirit for Christian service. Jesus also urges his people to witness of Him that those still unsaved can have remission or forgiveness of sins through his name if they repent also in his name or trusting in His work of death for our sins and resurrection to give us new life. Jesus urges his people to witness or preach these things in all nations starting at Jerusalem which was actually the pattern the Church followed as recorded in the book of Acts of the Apostles. This instruction of Jesus could also be taken that he still wants the Jewish people to be a focus or reaching the world with his gospel message of forgiveness of sins through turning to him and trusting in his finished work of death or suffering on the cross for our sins and resurrection from the dead. Jesus said to the disciples that they were witnesses of all the things Jesus related to them after he rose from the dead as mentioned earlier in this chapter although all true or born again or born of the Holy Spirit have a witness in our heart of these things once we are born of and indwelt and counselled by the Holy Spirit. Finally Jesus tells His disciples he would then shortly send God's Holy Spirit from heaven to give them heavenly power although that was long ago and the Holy Spirit and His power are available immediatly now to anyone when they trust in Jesus and His death and resurrection and turn from selfishness and sin to God through Jesus. The scripture reference from Gospel of Luke 24 of the gospel message of Jesus' death and ressurection and remission of sins and repentance that is to be shared to the people of all nations starting at Jerusalem by all his people by the power of the Holy Spirit is as follows:
And (Jesus) said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved (was thought necessary for) Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And ye are witnesses of these things. And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry (wait) ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued (given and filled) with power from on high. Gospel of Luke 24:46-49
At the end of the 40 day post-resurrection ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ just before he ascended and returned to heaven his disciples asked him whether he would at that time restore again the kingdom to Israel. This is an important question and this question and Jesus' answer have caused much confusion in the Church and outside of it. The first thing to note is that unlike what some replacement theology Christians or others that believe that God or Jesus have no future for the Jewish people and God's promises and covenants to them Jesus did not criticize or rebuke the disciples for asking this question as he should have if this was an invalid question. Jesus simply said it wasn't for them to know the times and seasons that the Father has put in his own power or it wasn't for them to know the details of the time of Jesus' return with the kingdom of God. However it should also be kept in mind that this was before Pentecost and before the disciples received the Holy Spirit although just barely so. Soon after this as one of the first books of the New Testament God said through the apostle Paul in the book of 1 Thessalonians in perhaps AD 50 to 55 that the disciples or the Christians had no need that he write of the times and seasons and that they were not in darkness that that day come upon them as a thief or unexpectedly. This was in 1 Thessalonians 5 and here God through the apostle Paul was referring to the rapture or catching up of the Church or born again or true Christians to heaven. True Christians according to the Bible are those who have trusted in our heart that Jesus died for our sins and rose again from the dead to give us new life and has given us his Holy Spirit in our new birth. This rapture of the Church will precede by about 7 years the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ to the earth to the Mount of Olives to restore the Kingdom to Israel with these seven years being the time of the great tribulation of 70th week of Daniel in which the events of the Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24 to 25 and Revelation 6 to 18 will occur on earth and the true Christians all of them will then be in heaven but God will call out believers in Jesus and Himself separately from Jews and Gentiles like he did under the Law of MOses or Old Covenant (Testament) although it then wasn't known that Jesus would be the Messiah and as He also will in the Millennial or Messianic Kingdom following Jesus return to earth from heaven with his church to the Mount of Olives. Anyway for this age or the Church Age Jesus gives further details of the Great Commission to His Church. This is twofold one that the Christians or the true Church is to witness of Jesus and His death on the cross and resurrection from the dead as God's way of forgiveness and eternal life and bringing us into a relationship with God etc. from Jerusalem, then to Judaea, then to Samaria and then to the uttermost or most remote regions of the earth. This is also the order of the record of the Church's efforts in the Great Commission in the book of the Acts of the Apostles which was the apostles starting at Jerusalem and then to Judaea and Samaria and then to the uttermost parts of the earth with the latter starting with the conversion of Cornelius and his household in Acts 10 and 11. The other detail Jesus reveals about the Great Commission of the Church is that it wouldn't be done just by our own power but by God's power through His Holy Spirit who would indwell, empower and guide all true or born again or born of the Holy Spirit Christians. After Jesus gave these instructions of the Great Commission Luke reveals he was caught up by clouds to heaven. Jesus will come again in clouds when he returns to earth to set up His Kingdom with Israel although this shouldn't be confused of the rapture when he will come just to meet true Christians in the air and then take us to heaven that will precede the tribulation and that will have a meeting place with Jesus in the clouds or in the air not that Jesus will come all the way to earth in clouds as in the second coming. When the disciples were still looking up to heaven at the place where they had just seem him go up into heaven at his ascension two angels appeared probably in the sky to them that gave them the assurance that Jesus whom they had just see be taken up from the Mount of Olives on earth and be caught up to heaven with clouds would so come again in like manner. This is also prophesied in the prophet Zechariah chapter 14 and refers to Jesus' glorious appearing or second coming at the end of the tribulation to rescue his chosen earthly people Israel who will then be in siege by the unbelievers among the Gentiles or nations and to set up the thousand year kingdom for Israel. Jesus will then come from heaven with his church as prophesied in Revelation 19 which will already have been raptured or caught up to heaven just prior to the beginning of the seven year tribulation when God will allow the Antichrist or Beast out of the Sea to rule the world in an utmost demonic way for seven years and God will try the Jewish people to bring back a remnant to Himself and His Son and Messiah Jesus of Nazareth and judge the world and bring to Himself other people from all nations through the witness of the 144,000 Messianic Jewish witnesses. In the meantime after the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost which happened almost 2000 years ago and the rapture of the Church and end of the Church Age or Age of the Holy Spirit or of God's Grace on Earth a Primary Task of the Church is to Share the Gospel of Jesus Christ that he died on the cross for the sins of all people of the world and rose again from the dead to give us new life and that we have to with all our heart personally receive him as Lord and Saviour to have eternal life and a relationship and future blessed destiny with God and Jesus. The scripture reference of Jesus' return to heaven, giving the Great Commission to the Church and assurance of His coming again with the Church to set up His Kingdom where He will rule the world through Jerusalem and the Jewish people in Acts 1 is as follows:
When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father hath put in his own power. But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven. Acts 1:6-11
For more information, comments, questions or advice
contact Doug at info@spiritandtruthministries.org
Contact Spirit and Truth Ministries