I’ve told the story before about the catalyst to the founding of the Alliance. A.B. Simpson was the pastor of a very prominent church in New York City. In his spare time he would go to the docks and evangelize to the Irish immigrants that were coming off the boats. When he brought these new believers to his church, the church rejected them, and so Simpson left his pastorate.
What happened next is the heartbeat of the Alliance. A new congregation began where the emphasis on evangelism and missions took centered stage. The mantra, “Bring Back the King,” became the cry of a movement that we are a part of today. Missionaries would be trained and sent out with all there belongings in a casket, because they weren’t coming back. Offerings were received where people would toss in every piece of jewelry they had, even wedding bands, because the call of Christ was so heavily on their hearts. They were all in, because the call of Matthew 28 was everything.
This call is what brings us back to our sermon series in Matthew were we are coming to a close after forty-six weeks of moving through the book, looking at the overarching themes that it contains. And as we open to the 28th and final chapter of Matthew, let’s look back at the five over-arching themes that we have seen.
The first theme we saw was that of who Jesus was. We saw his linage and the Magi. We saw the challenge of the devil, and the words Jesus spoke from mountain sides. Yes, he was the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy of a coming Messiah, but he was more. Through the actions of those around Jesus, in addition to his own actions and words, we saw that Jesus wasn’t just another Old Testament Messiah type, but God come down to his creation. God took on humanity in its entirety except for sin. This is why the Magi worshiped him and why the devil tried to usurp him.
The second theme we saw came from Jesus’ words to put his teachings into practice. His disciples needed to be those that not only said they believed, but did so too. Jesus wasn’t looking for lip service from his followers, but transformed lives that had at their foundation his words.
A natural question followed about who then could be Jesus’ disciple. It’s here that Matthew’s third theme was shown. Anyone could be a disciple, all it took was to trust in the Lord Jesus. If you put your trust into Jesus, you showed it by acting upon his word. Your life changed from your own and now was seen through the person of Jesus himself.
That trust was the focus of the fourth theme. Trust and Faith are usually synonymous in the Scriptures and section four of Matthew focused on the type of faith Jesus’ disciples are to have. This faith is a growing trust in Jesus, that is actively seeking him. It’s not a religious faith that checks the boxes, but a relational faith that seeks God’s will in our individual and collective lives. Individual as a disciple of Jesus and collectively as the Church of God.
Finally, we came to the last section of Matthew. It was here that the authority of Jesus was challenged. Again and again Jesus showed his authority over all aspects of life. From creation to the spiritual realm. And that authority was not hampered by the cross. To the world, the cross was a defeater, but Jesus willing sought the Father’s will, which was the salvation of humanity, but that was only through the sacrifice of the cross. Even to the end, Jesus was in full control of the situation, even willingly giving into death, but only once God’s prophetic word was accomplished.
As we come back to the final chapter of Matthew, that the sacrifice is seen as acceptable by God on behalf of humanity. Let’s read the final verses of Matthew, found in chapter 28.
1 After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.
2 There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. 4 The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.
5 The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. 6 He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.”
8 So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. 9 Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings,” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”
11 While the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened. 12 When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, 13 telling them, “You are to say, ‘His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ 14 If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” 15 So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day.
16 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
This is it! This is the climax of Jesus’ story in the Gospels. The resurrection, the restoration of the disciples, and the commissioning of Jesus’ Church.
Let’s take each of these three moments of the resurrection story and look at how they connect to what we have seen in Matthew’s Gospel.
We start with the resurrection itself. Last week we saw that it was the women who saw where Jesus was laid to rest. So it’s only logical that it is the women who go to the tomb first. This detail is immensely important. The presence of the women signals authenticity to the events. In the ancient world, a women’s testimony in civl matters was either not highly valued or dismissed all together. Yet it is the women and not the men disciples, who are the first human carriers of the good news of the resurrection.
It is the women who see the empty tomb first. By presenting the women as the recipients of the resurrection proclamation, Matthew is more interested in keeping historical accuracy than to fit in the social norms of putting men first.
But it’s in the empty tomb moment that we get connections to the beginning of the Gospel. Like at the beginning, it is an angel that proceeds Jesus. In chapter 1, an angel comes in a dream to Jospeh to announce the birth of Jesus. Here the angel again shows up to make the announcement of the resurrection to the women.
Also in the announcement of Jesus’ birth, the angle gives comfort to Joseph by telling him not to fear Jesus’ birth. Here the angel gives the women comfort by telling them not to fear what has happened, but that Jesus has risen. Both proclamations signal a type of birth, both proclamations lead into a worshipful encounter.
The angel then reminds the women about Jesus’ words to meet him in Galilee, signaling restoration. But then something happens. Jesus appears and the women instinctively worship him.
This is the first of two moments of post resurrection worship of Jesus. But worship is very important throughout Matthew. Worship is mentioned nine times and I want you to see the moments of those mentions. First the Magi seek to worship the new born Jesus (2:2); in response King Herod feigns interest in worshiping the new born also (2:8). Then the Magi find Jesus and actually worship him (2:11), but Herod doesn’t. The next time worship is mentioned it is in the devils temptations of Jesus. Here the devil wants Jesus to worship him (4:9), but Jesus responds with God’s word that only God is worthy of worship (4:10). Jesus’ words point back to the worship of the Magi as being right and head to other moments of people worshiping Jesus as being correct. We then fast forward to Jesus calming the sea, and his disciples worshiping him (14:33). This is followed by Jesus quoting Isaiah rebuking the false worship that the religious leaders were participating in (15:9). The alternative being that true worship is to turn to Jesus. From there we get the worship of Jesus by the women at the resurrection (28:9) and eventually by all the disciples in Galilee (28:17).
But it’s at the command to go get the other disciples to Galilee that Matthew takes a moment and gives us a historical situation with the Jewish leadership.
The guards return and report that the tomb is empty. The fears of the Jewish leaders has been realized. They have to move fast to quell any reports that Jesus actually raised. They paid off the guards to say the disciples came and got the body. Even though they had made the tomb secured just like Pilate had allowed them to. Then they made a political move to protect any guard involved from the repercussions of dereliction of duty, a protection they would need, because their punishment would have been death.
And so they started their own rumor to counter the resurrection story. Jesus didn’t resurrect, his body was stolen. This has given rise to four possibilities as to what happened that morning.
First the Jewish leadership was right and Jesus’ disciples stole the body. This would mean that the disciples over powered professional soldiers, took the body, hid it, and then died in horrible ways professing that Jesus had risen, all the while knowing they made the whole thing up. This seems pretty farfetched in itself, because just the idea that a person would die for a lie they knew was a lie is something that has been proved doesn’t happened. Sure people will die for a thing they believe is true, but who dies for an idea they know is false? No one.
The second story that has come out, is that Jesus never died. Stories that Jesus either passed out, or was replaced became popular. But just the excruciating torment that Jesus had to go through, coupled with the evidence from the other Gospels, of Jesus’ pierced side that produced blood followed by water, points to the definitive death of Jesus. Also, the historical writings outside of the biblical account speak to the death of Jesus as being a historical truth.
The third story is that the women got the tomb wrong. I mean women are notoriously bad at directions, so they must be wrong, right? Seems kind of sexist to me, plus if that were the case, the Jewish leadership could have easily pointed to the correct tomb and shown the body.
No the only story that fits all of the facts surrounding the empty tomb, is the resurrection of Jesus. This is why when journalists and detectives who’ve looked at the evidence come away with an assured conclusion that Jesus was actually raised on that first Easter Sunday.
It’s after this that we come to the conclusion of Matthew’s Gospel, something that has been in the background for several chapters, the meeting at Galilee.
On the mountain is where the disciples meet Jesus. They have met him in places like this many times. It’s where a lot of God’s people meet their Savior. The mountain represents the closeness of God to humanity and just like God met the man Abraham on Moriah, and Moses on Sinai, God is meeting his people once again on a mountain.
It’s here that we get another moment of worship that is given rightly to Jesus. But even in the worship there is doubt from some of the disciples. Does it come from the core eleven, or are there others there that doubt? We don’t know, but they are there, they are worshiping even if parts of them doubt. They are not rebuked for it, but they are given a point to focus on.
Jesus proclaims that “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” The way it’s stated in our Bibles might seem like Jesus didn’t have authority, and now does. But we have seen in the final section that Jesus did have it, so what does he mean? A better understanding is to read like this, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been put back in its place.” Jesus left the throne that he had sat on from eternity past, to come to earth to walk with his creation. God the Son wrapped himself in human flesh, by doing so he set aside certain aspects of his authority for a time. This is why Paul states in Philippians 2, “[Jesus], being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; 7 rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross (v.6-8)!”
By taking on human flesh, Jesus put a self restriction on certain aspects of his authority, one of which was his omnipresence. Yet, after he was killed by his creation and resurrected, his authority, in its full, was put back into place. And it's from that place that he commissions his disciples.
Out of Jesus’ full authority he sends out his disciples, “Therefore go,” is an emphatic call to action. It’s telling his people to arise and do what they have been saved to do. And this call to work echoes down to us today.
And what is that work? To make disciples. Make others like us. Worshipers of the risen Savior Jesus. And how do we do that? Through baptism in the name of the Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey Jesus’ commands. We are not called to have people say a prayer, or make a one time commitment, but to lay down their lives and pick up the life of Jesus. To turn away from their sin and to his righteousness. To live not in our own will, but the will of the Father. Not to live life in our own power, but in the power of the Holy Spirit.
And as we do this work, he will be with us until his return. There is no hope outside of Jesus. There is no power or authority greater than his. And so we turn to him, follow him, build our lives upon him, until the day we are called into his kingdom through the death of this dying body, or he returns in glorious trumpet sound.
Matthew’s Gospel is a connection from God’s salvation work in his people Israel, to his salvation work through Jesus’ death and resurrection. It is a call to understand God’s prophetic words in the Old Testament, God the Son’s arrival, his crucifixion, resurrection, and our need for it all. We cannot help ourselves, only Jesus can. We cannot save ourselves, only Jesus can. We cannot fix anything in this world, only Jesus can. So we must embrace this Jesus, who from eternity created the universe, watched as it fell into death, came to rescue it through his own sacrifice, and lives now to embrace all those that would trust in him.
My challenge is two-fold. First, if you haven’t accepted Jesus as your Savior what’s holding you back? If its questions, I’d love to speak to you about them. There are so many answers that we can easily miss, I would be glad to walk through them all. But don’t miss the calling of Matthew to embrace Jesus, because if you do, the return of Jesus will not be pleasant.
The second part of the challenge goes to those who have embraced Jesus as their Savior. Are you working in the commission Jesus has given you? Are you making disciples of all nations. That means you are doing Gospel work. Are you praying for and speaking to your neighbors, family and friends about their need for a Savior? Are you supporting the work of Gospel ministries at home and across the world? It is our highest calling to accomplish the task given to us on that mountainside in Galilee. No political campaign, no social war, no discussion or debate is more important than someone hearing the Gospel. And we who have trusted in Jesus as our Savior are called to arise and go to accomplish the work before us; that all nations would have a testimony to Jesus’ death and resurrection. When our work is accomplished, as Jesus said in Matthew 24:14, then his return will follow.
A mantra of the Alliance has always been, “Bring Back the King!” We do this by being about the work he has given. So let us be his people, doing his work, until his return. Amen.
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