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The Great Commission · Reformed Thinking

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  Welcome along to Reform Thinking.
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  Great to be here. This is our deep dive where we
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  well we try to unpack some big ideas, maybe find things you
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  hadn't quite connected before. That's the plan.
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  And today we're looking at a whole set of sources, scriptures
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  really all pointing towards this, this grand idea, the
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  redemption of nations through Christ, and you know what the
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  church's specific role is and all that.
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  Yeah, it's a huge topic, a vital 1.
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  We've had requests actually to get right into the heart of the
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  Great Commission. Right, Matthew 28.
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  Yeah, but also how it connects back, way back to Old Testament
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  promises and what it all means practically for us today.
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  So our goal, our mission for this deep dive is to sort of
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  pull out the core message, the the theological bedrock of it
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  all. And make it clear hopefully.
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  Yeah, make the practical side clear too.
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  That's right. And we'll be looking at how
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  Jesus's actions, I mean, especially his suffering, but
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  also his glory, his position now, right?
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  How that's absolutely central to God's plan for, well, for
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  everyone, for all peoples. So we're tying together Matthew,
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  Psalms, Isaiah. Yes, connecting those key texts,
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  showing a a unified purpose across the whole story of
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  scripture. OK, sounds like we might connect
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  some dots people haven't quite seen linked up before.
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  Let's hope so. Get ready.
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  So where do we start? Matthew 28 feels like the
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  obvious place, the Great Commission.
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  It is, but you know, it's an interesting ending to Matthew's
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  Gospel. How so?
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  Well, if you think about it, you might expect Matthew to end
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  with, say, Jesus physically ascending.
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  Or maybe Pentecost, the Spirit coming down.
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  Like Luke does or acts. Exactly.
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  But Matthew gives us something else, something quite distinct.
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  OK, so let's unpack that. What's unique about Matthew's
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  ending? Well, it's not just him
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  reporting what happened. It's packed with theological
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  meaning. It gives us this, this picture,
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  almost like a sneak peek of Jesus's heavenly glory and his
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  reign. It shows him already exalted,
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  already ruling at God's right hand even before he leaves, you
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  know? OK, so the authority isn't just
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  future, it's present in that scene.
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  Yes, and that lines up with visions like Daniel 7, doesn't
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  it? Where the Ancient of Days gives
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  the Son of Man this Kingdom, this glory, so all nations serve
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  him. Right dominion and glory and a
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  Kingdom. Matthew wants us to see Jesus
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  holding that authority right there on the mountain.
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  It's a powerful statement about who he is now.
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  And the mountain itself is important in Matthew, isn't it?
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  He uses mountains a lot. He does think of the Sermon on
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  the Mountain. Right, the Kingdom teaching from
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  the mountain. Yeah, it's where God's rule is
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  revealed, character declared. It's different from, say, Luke,
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  who often has Jesus at a table like a banquet.
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  The Kingdom as a feast, more inclusive, maybe.
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  Right, but Matthew uses the mountain to picture perhaps the
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  structure, the authority of the Kingdom.
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  OK, so Matthew 28 on this mountain in Galilee, it kind of
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  echoes Revelation 14, maybe the Lamb on Mount Zion with all his
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  redeemed people. A picture of triumph and
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  gathering. Exactly.
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  It's a visual symbol. Mountains and Scripture often
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  mean divine encounter, God's presence, His rule, Sinai, the
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  transfiguration mountain. Matthew uses that imagery to
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  show that this Commission comes from a place of ultimate divine
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  authority. And this final scene, it
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  connects straight back to all those Old Testament hopes about
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  Mount Zion. Zion being central to Israel's
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  hopes. Absolutely hopes for salvation
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  for God's rule over the whole earth through the Messiah, the
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  gathering of Israel and the nation.
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  All peoples coming together. Yes, and eternal life, justice,
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  peace, all anchored in Zion, God's dwelling place, the center
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  of his government. And Matthew 28 is basically
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  saying, look, these Zion hopes, they're starting to happen right
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  now through Jesus, through his church.
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  Wow. So it gives the Great Commission
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  this huge historical sweep. It does.
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  It's not just a past given in isolation.
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  It's rooted in God's Angel promises.
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  OK, so if I'm getting this, the Commission isn't just Jesus
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  telling them what to do, it flows directly out of who He is
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  now. His glory, His authority, His
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  position. Yes.
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  So seeing that, seeing His Majesty, that's what really
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  fuels the mission more than just duty.
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  I think that's perfectly put. What what church needs always
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  needs, perhaps above all else. Is a fresh sight, a spirit given
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  vision of Jesus Christ, His glory, His splendor.
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  Seeing him as he is. When we truly grasp his
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  position, his reign, his beauty, well, the desire to be part of
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  what he's doing, this mission, it just flows naturally,
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  doesn't. It it moves from just obeying an
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  order. To joining in with God's own
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  work. An invitation, really.
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  OK, that focus on his reigning glory, his position that leads
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  us neatly into this idea you mentioned.
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  The enthroned Messiah inheriting the nation's.
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  Yes, and then commissioning the church to well, claim them for
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  him to really get that idea of inheritance, that the nation's
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  belong to Jesus, we need to look at Psalm 2, you said.
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  Yeah, Psalm 2 is foundational here.
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  You could almost call it a kind of prologue for the whole
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  Psalter in a way. Really.
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  How so? It sort of summarizes the
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  theology of the Messiah's Kingdom, His reign.
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  It points to his coronation, his rule from Zion.
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  It just sets the stage. And the New Testament picks it
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  up a lot, right? Oh, definitely.
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  It's quoted again and again, crucial for understanding who
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  Jesus is and what he came to do. So Psalm 2 paints this picture,
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  doesn't it? The nations are raging, plotting
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  against God against his anointed 1.
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  The whole world in rebellion. Yeah, and God's response?
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  Not panic, He laughs, Almost. And then he declares, As for me,
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  I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill.
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  A. Sovereign declaration.
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  This is my king. Exactly.
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  His enthronement is God's answer to the world's revolt.
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  And this King, the Messiah, he will rule, He'll subdue the
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  peoples, and blessing comes only by submitting to him.
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  And this connects to the promise to David.
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  Directly, second Samuel 7, the promise of an eternal Kingdom
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  for David's line, Psalm 2 shows its fulfillment in this
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  enthroned king. His reign is universal.
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  Now connect that back to Matthew 28. 8 Jesus says all authority
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  in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
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  Who gave it? Well, from Psalm 2 it has to be
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  God the Father. Exactly.
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  The Father gave it. Jesus isn't just claiming it,
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  He's stating a fact established by the Father.
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  His exultation is the Father's work.
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  Like Philippians 2 talks about. Precisely.
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  God highly exalted him, gave him the name above all names, so.
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  Every knee should bow. Every knee, every tongue
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  acknowledging Jesus Christ is Lord, all to the glory of God
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  the Father. It's a cosmic thronement, total
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  authority given by the Father. So.
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  His authority isn't self-made, it's appointed.
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  It's a gift, and that links to his identity as God's Son.
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  How does Sonship play into his reign specifically?
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  That's a queue link. Psalm 2, verse 7.
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  You are my son today. I have begotten you right now in
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  the original context that reflects the Davidic covenant
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  promise to Samuel 7.110. I will be his father and he
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  shall be my son. And adoption formula some call
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  it. Yeah, that's a helpful way to
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  think about it. In the ancient world, a King's
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  enthronement often came with this declaration of divine
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  sonship. It showed his unique
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  relationship to the deity, his mandate to rule.
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  So the the King rules as the Son of God on behalf of the Father.
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  Yes, by office, he's God's representative, his instrument
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  of rule. And as the Son of God, the
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  Messiah is God's ultimate, well, vice Regent, you could say his
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  job is to establish God's Kingdom, bring God's rule
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  everywhere. And this office, this role, it
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  actually links back to Adam. Adam how so?
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  Well, Luke's genealogy calls Adam the son of God, right?
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  And he was commissioned as king over the earth, ruling from
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  Eden, the original mountain of God.
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  You might, I'd say, but. For a Zion.
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  In a sense, Adam's job was to expand God's Kingdom rule for
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  his Father, gather creation and worship, but he failed.
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  Right disobedience. So the Davidic son, Jesus
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  inherits that Adamic mantle. He takes up that original
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  Commission to establish God's will perfectly where the first
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  Adam fell short. It goes right back to the
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  beginning. And here's the part that really
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  ties it to the mission from Psalm 2, verse 8.
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  God says to the Son, ask of me, and I will make the nation's
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  your inheritance. The nation's as a gift from
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  father to son. Yes, not earned by conquest, but
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  given in love. So when Jesus says in Matthew 28
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  go make disciples of all nations, he's.
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  Acting on that. Promise.
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  It's like he's saying, I asked the father for my inheritance,
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  the nations, He said yes. Now go gather them in.
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  Wow, that puts the mission right inside this divine relationship.
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  It does. It's part of this intimate
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  exchange between father and son. That really does paint a
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  cohesive picture. So that church's mission isn't
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  just our work for God. No, it's us getting caught up in
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  their work. The Father honoring the Son.
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  The Son receiving the Father's gift.
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  Yes, caught up in that divine exchange, that flow of love
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  between Father and Son, all empowered by the Spirit.
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  So participating in the mission means sharing in the Father,
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  loving the Son. Sharing in the father's
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  exultation of the son and the son's desire to honor the
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  father, it's an incredible privilege.
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  It makes a church on mission feel like like part of the inner
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  workings of the Trinity itself. Like a cog maybe, in that
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  wonderful wheel work of divine love, our work on earth reflects
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  their eternal purpose. OK, so we understand the Messiah
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  inherits the nation's. Now how does he commissioned the
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  church to actually claim them? You pointed us to Isaiah 2.
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  Right, Isaiah 2 gives us amazing hopeful picture of the latter
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  days. What?
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  Does it show? It shows the mountain of the
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  Lord's house established, lifted high, and all nations flowing to
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  it like rivers. People from everywhere.
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  Yes, saying, come, let's go up to the mountain of the Lord.
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  He will teach us his ways. We will walk in his path.
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  A. Picture of global peace and
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  justice. Rooted in coming to God,
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  learning his ways. It's a total restoration.
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  Societies transformed under his rule, and the background to this
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  theologically is crucial. It's the situation after Babel,
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  Genesis 11. The Tower of Babel.
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  Human pride. Confusion scattering.
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  Exactly. Defiance against God's command
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  to fill the earth. It led to scattered languages,
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  spiritual exile, endless conflict between peoples.
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  So Isaiah 2 reverses that. Directly reverses it.
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  Instead of scattering from a man made mountain built for human
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  glory, the scattered peoples now flow together to God's mountain,
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  Mount Zion, for His praise. And instead of war.
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  They beat swords into ploughshares.
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  No more learning war, lasting peace under the Messiah.
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  It's a healing of that deep human wound of division and
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  rebellion. And Isaiah too, also pictures
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  the fulfillment of the promise to Abraham.
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  OK, how does that connect? Well, after Babel, God calls
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  Abraham right? Genesis 12 Promise through your
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  descendant, your seed, all nations will be blessed.
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  The blessing reversing Babel's curse.
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  Yes, and that promise gets confirmed dramatically after
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  Abraham is willing to offer Isaac Genesis 22.
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  On Mount Moriah. On Mount Moriah.
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  And where was Moriah? It later became Mount Zion, the
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  Temple Mount. The connection.
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  It signifies that the nations will be restored, will flow to
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  Zion because Abraham's ultimate descendant, Jesus will be the
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  ultimate sacrifice offered there.
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  Which is why Matthew starts his Gospel.
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  Son of David, son of Abraham, right away linking Jesus to both
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  the royal promise and this universal Abrahamic promise for
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  all nations. It's really quite something, how
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  these ancient texts from Isaiah, Genesis, they just lay out the
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  whole framework for Jesus's mission and the church's job,
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  doesn't it? It shows the Great Commission
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  isn't just a New Testament idea dropped in.
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  No, it's the culmination, the goal God was working towards all
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  along. But this amazing vision, nations
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  gathering to Zion in peace, it doesn't just happen easily.
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  Right. You mentioned the cost.
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  Yes, it comes through as Isaiah 53 describes the bitter
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  humiliation and suffering of the Servant.
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  Jesus is suffering. His exaltation, the very thing
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  that empowers the mission, comes directly out of his dreadful
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  humiliation. We can't separate them.
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  That seems counterintuitive to how we usually think about power
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  or glory. It is.
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  Think about the temptation in Matthew 4.
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  Satan offering him the kingdoms of the world.
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  Yes, showing him all their glory from a high mountain.
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  Offering it all. If Jesus would just bow down a
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  shortcut to glory. Grabbing power without the
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  price. Right, and Jesus flatly refused.
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  Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.
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  His goal wasn't worldly power for himself.
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  No was bringing nations to worship the Father.
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  Exactly. He wouldn't compromise the
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  means, the path God ordained even for that prize.
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  So to get the nations as his inheritance, the Father's gift,
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  he had to embrace the Cross. Matthew 27.
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  The mockery, the thorns, the crucifixion.
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  It's agonizing to read, but Matthew shows us the king there
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  in a paradoxical way. His beauty, his splendor is in
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  his willingness to endure shame, to suffer.
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  Not to be served, but to serve. And to give His life as a ransom
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  for many. He endured it all to free the
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  nations from sin and death. What humility.
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  What love. And that's why the nations are
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  His. They were purchased by His
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  blood. All of the price.
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  His lifeblood shed to cleanse them, make them holy.
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  They belong to him. That's his inheritance and.
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  That's why the Father exalted him, because he finished that
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  work. Because He perfectly obeyed and
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  accomplished redemption. And that's why the Church must
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  go to disciple these nations he bought.
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  The mission flows directly from the Cross and Resurrection.
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  It's the natural result, the spirit driven response to his
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  finished work. So his suffering wasn't a
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  detour, it was the path to his reign over everyone.
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  That changes how you see his kingship, doesn't it?
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  Completely. It's a kingship founded on self
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  giving love, not brute force. Now how does this claiming
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  happen practically? Isaiah 2 again gives us a clue.
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  How did the nation's stream to Zion through the Torah, God's
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  instruction, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem?
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  So it's the word going out. Yes, the word of the risen Lord
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  going out from Zion. That's the instrument the church
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  uses to acclaim the nations. It's God's active tool, and this
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  word, it does two things maybe, OK, it's the word of salvation,
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  like Isaiah 60 talks about drawing people to God's light,
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  waking them up. Bringing them to faith.
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  But it's also a word of discipleship.
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  It instructs them, teaches them God's ways, turns them from
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  violence to love, shapes whole cultures to obey his will.
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  So not just conversion, but transformation.
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  Comprehensive transformation, Individuals, communities,
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  nations being reshaped by God's truth.
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  And that's what Jesus commands in Matthew 28, isn't it?
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  Disciple the nations. Teaching them to observe
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  everything I have commanded you. Exactly.
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  It's thorough teaching, aiming for obedience, shaping lives
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  according to God's will, and discipleship means relationship
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  with God and his people. Which includes baptism and
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  teaching. The Church's ministry of war and
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  sacrament. Baptizing into the life of the
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  Trinity, teaching them Christ's commands, and this obedience of
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  the nations. It's seen as a gift back to the
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  Son, a way he honors the Father. Like Paul says in Romans 15, the
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  fruit of the gospel is the obedience of the nations.
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  So the Church goes out, not in your own strength, definitely
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  not, but empowered by this vision of the reigning Christ
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  and crucially, by his presence with them, yes.
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  That gives the mission its backing, its power source.
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  She is sent by the enthroned Messiah who owns the nations.
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  She goes from him, but just as importantly, she.
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  Goes with him. Yes, lo, I'm with you always,
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  even to the end of the age. That promise underlines his
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  glory, his authority, but also his active personal presence.
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  He's not distant, he's present in the mission.
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  Yeah, that presence is the source of her courage, her
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  ability, her effectiveness. And Matthew 28 really highlights
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  the disciples seeing Jesus in his resurrected glory.
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  When they saw him, they worship. They worshipped.
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  They recognized his status reigning at God's right hand.
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  Now the text mentions some doubted or hesitated.
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  Which feels very real. It does.
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  It shows how staggering this new reality was.
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  But it also suggests that whenever the church feels weak
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  or, you know, sluggish in mission, it's probably because
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  we've lost sight of his glory. We've lost that vibrant sense of
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  the beloved Son's active reign. And.
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  Not going on mission. Yeah, it's almost like holding
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  back the Father's gift from the Son.
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  In a way, yes, it's lessening the full scope of his victory
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  and what he deserves as king. So the ultimate goal, the big
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  picture for the church, is gathering everyone all creation.
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  Every nation, tribe, tongue. Into worship and loving
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  obedience to God, leading them towards that final reality.
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  That's it. The mission doesn't stop.
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  It's permanent until the finer trumpet sounds and Jesus returns
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  in glory to. Gather the nation's fully into
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  himself. And usher them into the new
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  heavens and new earth, that new creation where there's no more
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  war, sin, sorrow, sickness. Only love and joy.
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  Just perfect love and joy and fellowship with God and His
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  people forever. That's the hope driving the
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  mission. That's the goal.
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  Wow, this deep dive, it really has shown an incredible picture.
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  Jesus's authority, his sacrifice, the amazing purpose
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  he has for his church. It connects everything doesn't
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  it? Genesis right through the
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  Revelation, with a Great Commission right at the heart of
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  it all for us now. It's a stunning narrative and
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  maybe a thought to leave with. OK, If Christ's suffering and
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  his exaltation are the very way the nations will finally come to
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  worship him, yeah, then how can we just in our ordinary daily
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  lives, how can we reflect that same sacrificial love and
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  reflect that hope of his coming Kingdom and how we interact with
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  people with different cultures right around us or even far
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  away? That is a powerful thought to
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  reflect on. How does that grand story shape
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  my Tuesday morning? Something like that.
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  Well, thank you for joining us on this deep dive.