This chapter is based on Matthew 28:16-20.
(HLv 545)
Standing but a step from His heavenly throne, Christ gave the commission: “All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations.”“Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” Mark 16:15. Again and again the words were repeated, that the disciples might grasp their significance. Upon all the inhabitants of the earth was the light of heaven to shine in clear, strong rays.
(HLv 545.1)
The commission had been given to the Twelve in the upper chamber, but it was now to be given to a larger number. At the meeting on a mountain in Galilee, all the believers who could be called together were assembled. The angel at the tomb reminded the disciples of His promise to meet them in Galilee. The promise was repeated to the believers at Jerusalem during Passover week, and through them it reached many who were mourning the death of their Lord. With intense interest all looked forward to the interview. From every direction, with wondering hearts they came.
(HLv 545.2)
At the time appointed, about five hundred believers collected in little knots on the mountainside, eager to learn all that could be learned from those who had seen Christ since His resurrection. From group to group the disciples passed, telling all they had seen and heard of Jesus, and reasoning from the Scripture as He had done with them.
(HLv 545.3)
Suddenly Jesus stood among them. No one could tell whence or how He came. Many had never before seen Him, but in His hands and feet they beheld the marks of the crucifixion; and when they saw Him, they worshiped Him.
(HLv 545.4)
But some doubted. So it will always be. There are those who find it hard to exercise faith, and they place themselves on the doubting side. They lose much because of their unbelief.
(HLv 546.1)
This was the only interview that Jesus had with many of the believers after His resurrection. His words, falling from lips that had been closed in death, thrilled them. Now He declared that “all power” was given to Him. The minds of His hearers were lifted to the highest conception of His dignity and glory.
(HLv 546.2)
Christ’s words were the announcement that His sacrifice in behalf of man was full and complete. The work for which He came to this world had been accomplished. He was on His way to the throne of God. He had entered upon His mediatorial work. Clothed with boundless authority, He gave His commission: “Go therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age.” Matthew 28:19, 20, RSV. He commissioned His disciples to proclaim a faith that would have in it nothing of caste or country, a faith adapted to all peoples, nations, all classes of men.
(HLv 546.3)
Christ plainly stated the nature of His kingdom. His purpose was to establish a spiritual kingdom, not to reign as an earthly king on David’s throne. He said, You see that all I revealed to you concerning My rejection as the Messiah has come to pass. All I said in regard to the humiliation I should endure and the death I should die, has been verified. On the third day I rose again. In all these things the specifications of prophecy have been fulfilled.
(HLv 546.4)
Christ commissioned His disciples to do the work He had left in their hands, beginning at Jerusalem. Jerusalem had been the scene of His amazing condescension for the human race. Few had discerned how near heaven came to earth when Jesus was among them. At Jerusalem the work of the disciples must begin.
(HLv 546.5)
The disciples might have pleaded for a more promising field, but they made no such plea. Christ had scattered the seed of truth, and the seed would yield an abundant harvest. The first offers of mercy must be made to the murderers of the Saviour.
(HLv 547.1)
Many in Jerusalem had secretly believed on Jesus, and many had been deceived by the priests and rulers. They were to be called to repentance. While all Jerusalem was stirred by the thrilling events of the past few weeks, the preaching of the gospel would make the deepest impression.
(HLv 547.2)
But the work was not to stop here. It was to be extended to earth’s remotest bounds. To His disciples Christ said, Although Israel has rejected Me as the Scriptures foretold, they shall have still another opportunity to accept the Son of God. To you, My disciples, I commit this message of mercy. It is to be given to Israel first, then to all nations, tongues, and peoples. All who believe are to be gathered into one church.
(HLv 547.3)
Through the Holy Spirit, the disciples’ testimony was to be confirmed by signs and wonders. Miracles were to be wrought not only by the apostles, but by those who received their message. “In My name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.” Mark 16:17, 18.
(HLv 547.4)
At that time unscrupulous men did not hesitate to remove by poisoning those who stood in the way of their ambition. Jesus knew that many would think it doing God service to put His witnesses to death. He therefore promised them protection from this danger.
(HLv 547.5)
And a new endowment was promised: the disciples were to preach among other nations, and they would receive power to speak other tongues. The apostles and their associates were unlettered men, yet through the outpouring of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost, their speech, whether in their own or a foreign language, became pure and accurate, both in word and accent.
(HLv 547.6)
Thus Christ gave His disciples full provision for the prosecution of the work, and took on Himself the responsibility for its success. Go to all nations, He bade them. Go to the farthest part of the habitable globe, but know that My presence will be there. Labor in faith and confidence.
(HLv 548.1)
The Saviour’s commission includes all believers to the end of time. It is fatal to suppose that the work of saving souls depends on the ordained minister alone. For this work, the church was established, and all who take its vows are pledged to be co-workers with Christ. Whatever one’s calling in life, his first interest should be to win souls for Christ. He may not be able to speak to congregations, but he can work for individuals. Nigh and afar off are souls weighed down by guilt. It is not hardship or poverty that degrades humanity. It is guilt, wrongdoing. Christ would have His servants minister to sin-sick souls.
(HLv 548.2)
Everyone is to begin where he is. In our own families may be souls starving for the bread of life. There are heathen at our very doors. If performed with faith, the work will be felt to the uttermost parts of the earth. The humblest worker, moved by the Holy Spirit, will touch invisible chords, whose vibrations will ring to the ends of the earth, and make melody through eternal ages.
(HLv 548.3)
The gifts of the Spirit are promised to every believer according to his need for the Lord’s work. The promise is just as trustworthy now as in the days of the apostles.
(HLv 548.4)
Christ came to heal the sick, to proclaim deliverance to the captives of Satan. He imparted His life to the sick and those possessed of demons. He knew that those who petitioned Him for help had brought disease on themselves, yet He did not refuse to heal them. And many were healed of their spiritual disease as well as their physical maladies. The gospel still possesses the same power. Christ feels the woes of every sufferer. When fever is burning up the life current, He feels the agony. He is just as willing to heal now as when He was personally on earth. He desires through His servants to exercise His power.
(HLv 548.5)
In the Saviour’s manner of healing there were lessons for His disciples. The cure could be wrought only by the power of the Great Healer, but Christ made use of simple and natural remedies. He taught that disease is the result of violating God’s laws, both natural and spiritual. The great misery in the world would not exist if men lived in harmony with the Creator’s plan. He taught that health is the reward of obedience to the laws of God. The Great Physician had spoken to His people from the pillar of cloud: “If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in His sight, ... I will put none of these diseases upon thee, ... for I am the Lord that healeth thee.” Exodus 15:26.
(HLv 549.1)
For the sick we should use the remedies God has provided in nature and point them to Him who alone can restore. We should teach them to believe in the Great Healer, to take hold upon His strength.
(HLv 549.2)
Only by partaking of Christ’s love, through faith, can the life-giving energy flow from us to the people. There were places where the Saviour Himself could not do many mighty works because of their unbelief. So now unbelief separates the church from her divine Helper. By her lack of faith, God is disappointed and robbed of His glory. Where there is no active labor for others, love wanes, and faith grows dim.
(HLv 549.3)
Angels marvel at man’s shallow appreciation of the love of God. How would a mother and father feel if they knew that their child, lost in the cold and the snow, had been left to perish by those who might have saved it? The sufferings of every man are the sufferings of God’s child, and those who reach out no helping hand to their perishing fellow beings provoke His righteous anger.
(HLv 550.1)
Christ gave His disciples their message. Teach the people, He said, “to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.” That which He had spoken, not only in person but through all the Old Testament, is here included. There is no place for tradition, man’s theories, or laws ordained by ecclesiastical authority. “The law and the prophets,” with the record of His own words and deeds, are the treasure to be given to the world.
(HLv 550.2)
The gospel is to be presented, not as a lifeless theory, but as a living force to change the life. Those whose course has been most offensive to Him He freely accepts. When they repent, He imparts to them His divine Spirit and sends them into the camp of the disloyal to proclaim His boundless mercy. Through His grace men may possess a Christlike character and rejoice in His great love.
(HLv 550.3)
He is not content merely to announce these blessings; He presents them in the most attractive way, to excite a desire to possess them. So His servants are to present the riches of the unspeakable Gift. The wonderful love of Christ will melt and subdue hearts, when the mere reiteration of doctrines would accomplish nothing. Words alone cannot tell it. Let it be manifested in the life. Christ is sitting for His portrait in every disciple. In every one, His longsuffering love, His mercy and truth, are to be manifested to the world.
(HLv 550.4)
The first disciples prepared themselves for their work. Before Pentecost, they met together and put away all differences. Of one accord they prayed in faith, weighted with the burden for souls. Then it was that the Holy Spirit was poured out, and thousands were converted in a day.
(HLv 550.5)
So it may be now. Let the Word of God be preached. Let Christians put away their dissensions, give themselves to God for saving the lost. Let them in faith ask for the blessing, and it will come. The outpouring in apostolic days was the “former rain,” and glorious was the result, but the “latter rain” will be more abundant. See Joel 2:23.
(HLv 551.1)
All who consecrate soul, body, and spirit to God will be constantly receiving a new endowment of physical and mental power. Through cooperation with Christ, in their human weakness they are enabled to do the deeds of Omnipotence.
(HLv 551.2)
The Saviour longs to manifest His grace and stamp His character on the whole world. He desires to make men free and pure and holy. Through the blood shed for the world there are triumphs to be achieved that will bring glory to God and the Lamb. Christ “shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied.” Isaiah 53:11.
(HLv 551.3)