Matthew 28:18: The Great Commission: the Authority

“Jesus…said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”  Matthew 28:18

“Everything I have and everything I became is because of the strength of the Lord, and through him I have accomplished everything.  Not because of my strength. Only by his love, his mercy, and his strength.”  (Yankees pitcher Mariano Rivera, in an interview with New York Magazine, June 9, 2013)

Matthew has laid out his case very clearly and convincingly.   The goal of his gospel is to show that Jesus of Nazareth is the promised Hebrew Messiah.   From fulfilled prophecy, to his teaching, his miracles, his claims, his death, burial and resurrection, Matthew has put on display in royal colors, Jesus the Christ.

Matthew now passes along our application to his gospel, what is commonly known as “The Great Commission.”   Many missionaries have received their call because they cannot get these verses out of their heads.  Entire missions movements are launched and sustained based on the teaching of these three verses.   These verses can be broken down into three subparts: the authority, the call, and the promise.   Here in verse 18 we will look at the authority behind the Great Commission.

Jesus says, “all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me,” (v. 18; emphasis mine).   He is Lord not just of planet earth but also of all creation.  “For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities,” (Colossians 1:16).

Matthew chapters 8 and 9 testify how Christ exercised authority over both the physical and the spiritual worlds.  He did this by performing miracles from calming a storm to casting out demons.   Christ’s intent was to show that he “has authority on earth to forgive sin,” (9:6) a quality only God himself possesses.  Chapters 8 and 9 are bookended by the crowds noting that Christ “was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes,” (7:29), then Jesus’ missionary call to pray for laborers (see 9:38).    

Without directly alluding to it, Matthew is reminding us again here in 28:18 about Christ’s fulfillment as the promised Messiah of Daniel 7.   There the Ancient of Days gives to a son of man “dominion,” (Daniel 7:14).  Not only dominion but “glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.”   In other words, to this “son of man” all authority has been given (v. 18).

Paul describes the spiritual authority of Jesus in Ephesians 1:21: “[He is] far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.”     The words “rule,” “authority,” “power” and “dominion” refer to demonic hierarchies.   As a young Christian in the 1980s I became irrationally and constantly fearful that demons would overwhelm me.  But I chose to believe not my fears but the truth of Ephesians 1:21, as well as, “he who is in (me) is greater than he who is of the world,” (1 John 4:4).    My fears dissipated as I took God at his word.

In 2007 I was with my family in China.   I still remember the traffic police.  They stood on platforms in the middle of busy intersections.  Armed with only a whistle and hand motions, they directed the movement of the cars and trucks along those streets.   Even though the laws of physics would have greatly favored the vehicles, they obeyed the police because the authority of the state was behind each and every policeman.    Likewise, we cannot exercise authority in our strength but only in the authority of the Lord.  

The Lord is calling us to go and make disciples of all nations.   But we will not go at it alone in our own power.  His authority has been given to us “over all the power of the enemy,” (Luke 10:19).   Nevertheless, as we take the gospel all the way to the remotest ends of the earth (see Acts 1:8), may you not rejoice in his authority given to you, but “rejoice that your names are written in heaven,” (Luke 10:20).