“Look to Me, and be saved, all you ends of the earth! For I am God, and here is no other.” Isaiah 45:22
Just before Christ’s ascension into heaven, He gave to His disciples a commission. It is often called the “Great Commission.” At the end of Matthew’s gospel, we find it declared in its most complete form. When the Lord began speaking, He dealt with the first thing concerning that commission, or mandate. He began with the matter of His authority, and power, which had been given to Him in heaven and on earth. (Matt. 28:18) The reasons for which He did this were several, and certainly more than we can count, but the first issue is that of a vision of things that are TRUE from heaven’s standpoint. The eternal fact is that since Christ triumphed on the cross to become the overcoming, perfect slain Lamb of God, who accomplished the perfect work of redemption for all mankind, God the Father gave Him ALL authority in heaven. What does this mean?
In our small, limited capacity to understand it, it means that the entirety of the perfect and absolute authority of God to accomplish all that He declares in heaven and earth, was given to Christ. The worthy Lamb has received it, and now communicates it to His disciples, so that by it, they too can go forth conquering, and overcoming their enemies, the world, the flesh, and the devil, in order to proclaim the glorious Gospel to the ends of the earth, believing in the ever-present, and ever-sufficient Spirit of God in Christ to provide for every need for its accomplishment. To each disciple, or true believer in Christ, there has been given a specific “calling,” one that does not belong to any other member in the body of Christ. It is according to this calling that has been given, and specific spiritual gifts, that the effective, everlasting work will be done, and the commission accomplished. In the name of the Sovereign, Almighty Christ as Lord, by the soul-cleansing blood of Christ giving the believer access to God, and by the power of the Spirit of God, all becomes possible in the will of God for reaching the ends of the earth with the Gospel. The question then becomes who will hear and respond to God’s words: “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” To a man of great knowledge yet overwhelmed by the vision that God gave of Himself in His holiness and glory, Isaiah responded: “Here am I, send me.”
Only by the grace of God will an individual respond to the call of Christ, to believe Him for the full outworking of His will at home and abroad, in the reaching of the world for Christ. Who will pray earnestly to know the will of God for one’s life, one’s sole opportunity during this time on earth, to serve the King? The great reward in seeking Him, to know His will, and submitting joyfully to it, is the knowledge of Christ that God will communicate to the soul. It is coming to KNOW Him. God reveals Himself to the heart of the one who will follow Christ and obey Him. It was the Lord Jesus who said, “He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him, and manifest Myself to him.” (John 14:21) All believers are called to fellowship with Christ, to know and love Him. However, all believers are not missionaries, pastors, and teachers. But each has a calling that is specific to his life. The believer who will be faithful in that calling, using the gifts that God has provided, will be blessed with the revelation of Christ to the heart and through the life. This is life eternal, to KNOW Christ. It is in the fulfillment of the Great Commission that Jesus Christ can be known increasingly, honored, loved, and communicated with saving power to the ends of the earth.
Dear Father, Make us faithful servants. In Jesus’ name, Amen.