Matthew 28:18–20: “Then Jesus came up and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’”

Imagine being one of the people who received these words. Jesus Christ is telling you: you are supposed to start to think of yourself differently. You are supposed to start thinking of yourselves as the messengers of Jesus. You are supposed to start thinking of yourself as someone who has been commanded to do certain things, and not doing them will be rebellion.

Why? Because He said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me.” Which means: I am now commanding you. Which means: any disregard for My word is disregard for the word of God. Which means there is no alternative for you except to do exactly what I am telling you to do now.

“I am commanding you. I am instructing you that this is what you should do. You should go into the world and make disciples of all nations.”

This is not something they could have come up with on their own. They couldn’t have sat down and thought of themselves as… they were not in the “in crowd.” They had no political position to boast about. They had no financial resources to boast about. They had no academic pedigree to boast about. They had zero incentive to come up with an idea of a sort of world domination. Zero incentive. It definitely has to be God.

But look at the Person talking. We know the people Jesus was talking to. Who is this Person talking to them? Who is this Jesus saying these words? He is the King of kings and Lord of lords, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (Revelation 19:16; 5:5; John 1:29). He is God in the flesh. He is the Word who was in the beginning, who became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:1, 14). He is the Creator—“without Him nothing was made that has been made” (John 1:3).

So not your average Joe here. We’re talking about the power of God. We’re talking about the One who is the wisdom of God, the power of God, the righteousness of God (1 Corinthians 1:24, 30).

But He is not saying that you are not going to face any opposition as you go on His instruction, based on His mandate. He is telling you: this is what you should do. So: “You are going.” “Therefore go” tells you there’s a missing link. You are the missing link. You not going will be the missing link—but you cannot be the missing link.

Jesus walked on the earth, taught them and became an example for them. He taught them various things, and He is not saying, “Go and get a degree.” He says, “Teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” You just be a parrot. You just do that. “Everything I have commanded you, teaching them to obey.”

And what was their mandate? “Make disciples.” That is amazing. Because these people were just disciples a few weeks ago—they were just following Jesus. But this is like a graduation ceremony. This is like a graduation speech from Jesus. He is saying, “Now your training is over. It’s time for you to take the baton. It’s time for you to take over. This is why you have been called. This is the end point. You are not a perpetual student, a permanent student. You are now supposed to go and teach them.”

You do it because you have no other choice. You have no other option but to do it. “I am telling you. I am giving you the commandment that this is what you should do in My name.”

God bless you. See you later.