The Man Upstairs – Unveiling the KING of Kings & LORD of Lords (Series Part 1)

It all started with the Spirit of God hovering over the waters, and God said, “Let there be light, and there was light.” Then He said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness..” –Gen.1:26

In 2005, I authored a book titled The Man Upstairs: Unveiling the King of Kings & Lord of Lords. When my mind-in-motion was thinking of my next serialized article, my thoughts centered on that published book. I would not serialize the entire content but focus on the book’s cornerstone. I do not know how many parts it would be but let me take the first step with the series Part 1.

Life and blessing come from God. And God inhabits the spiritual realm, earth’s reduced fecundity (fruitfulness) after the Fall can be thought of as a disruption of the power flow of the sustaining energy of the spiritual realm into the physical realm of our “two-storied” universe – ‘Upstairs & Downstairs’.

The ‘Man Upstairs’ was part of the creation. According to the Bible notes on Ephesians 1:11 (NIV Bible Study), “Christ is the center of God’s plan. Whether the universe or the individual Christian is in view, it is only in relationship to Christ that there is a meaningful future destiny.” The Man lives upstairs, and the whole World stays downstairs. There is only one way that leads to the upstairs. It is hard climbing the steps, except you stay focused on the Man only with His permission. He knows every living creature, and He loves His creation. He sees all and affects all positively or negatively depending on your relationship with Him. He is the only way, the truth, and life. You must know Him and pass through Him to reach the Father. He lives upstairs, where there are many mansions. I love the place He lives; His Glory dwells there. He beckons to all to know Him, proclaims His praise, and tells of all His wonderful deeds.

Once He came downstairs, He was brutalized by hooligans and sinners. He took all the beatings and punishment in His stride, still loving us. The Man died. He descended to the basement that we call hell to fight the battle against the evil one on behalf of those who brutalized Him. What wondrous love, He exhibited! He arose from dead on the third day, having won the battle against evil and death. Oh, death! Where is thy sting? He later ascended to heaven to remain upstairs and sits at the right hand of the Father, advocating for us.

This article encourages spiritual babes, ‘Come & See’ and ‘Follow me’ groups. It enlightens those who seek to know The SON OF MAN and THE SON OF GOD. Others might learn one or two things from it, but mostly it is an evangelical outreach. I have written it in poetic prose. I seek to be understood so that you might understand the deep love of Jesus Christ, who cares for us. Jesus Christ, the LORD of Lords and KING of Kings, is the only one to meet our basic spiritual and emotional needs. He was in the beginning and is still the same. Life without Him is meaningless.

The ‘Man Upstairs’ is our LORD, our REDEEMER, and the MESSIAH. Get to know Christ intimately, and you will never be the same. A sect claims He was born by a roman soldier who impregnated Mary. What a blasphemous (profane) statement on my Lord and Saviour. This group calls themselves cross-bearers. What cross do they bear?; if their Jesus is a bastard. My Jesus is the Son of God that came into being by the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit. A sin against the Holy Spirit is grave and can never be forgiven. The Word of God cautions us to test all words and beware of heresies and false doctrines.

Unveiling The ‘Man Upstairs’

Who Is He?

He is known by different names. He gave himself seven self- descriptions. “I am” is the first of these seven self-descriptions of Jesus Christ (John 8:12; 9:5; 10:7,9,11,14). He is the “Prince Of Peace,” and like the chorus of a song composed by Marc Imboden, I sing heartily:

“You are holy, You are mighty.

You are worthy, Worthy of Praise.

I will follow, I will listen, I will love you,

All of my days.”

The book of Isaiah tells us: “For to us a Child is born, to us, a son is given and the government will be on his shoulders, And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace, there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with Justice and Righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.” Isaiah 9: 6-7

According to the Word of God in Colossians 1:15-20:

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him, all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible. Whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities, all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and on Him, all things hold together. And he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead so that he might have supremacy in everything. God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace with his blood shed on the cross.

His genealogy is written in the gospel of Matthew and Luke (Mat. 1:1-17; Luke 1: 1-17). His birth was a miracle. Prophet Isaiah first prophesized it in Isaiah7:14b “The Virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him ‘IMMANUEL.'” An angel announced his birth (Mat.1:18 – 25; Luke 1: 26 – 45). His actual birth was recorded in the gospel of Mat. 2: 1-12 and Luke 2: 1-40.

As revealed by Apostle John in his gospel John 1:1, He was the ‘WORD’ that became flesh. The WORD is the Son of God. John 1: 1 – 5 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him, all things were made that have been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.”

His first known name is Immanuel meaning ‘God is with us. At birth, He was given the name ‘JESUS .’As a boy, He was overboard, ‘pure and blameless. He was always in the Temple with his earthly parents. Luke 2: 41-52 tells us about his life as a boy in the Temple. His for-runner was John the Baptist, who baptized him and witnessed His re-affirmation as the ‘Son of God. Matthew 3: 17 says, “And a voice from heaven said, “This is my son, whom I love; with Him, I am well pleased.” The Spirit of God testifies to Him as the Son of God the Father. Jesus Christ possessed two natures: Humanity and Divine.

The Humanity of Christ:

The Virgin Birth

Scientifically at conception, Man & God came together. At Jesus’s conception, the reconciliation of Man to God started. Scripture clearly states that Jesus was conceived in the womb of his mother, Mary, by a miraculous work of the Holy Spirit and without a human father. (Luke 1: 34-35, Matthew 1: 18-20, 24-25)

The Virgin birth of Christ is a reminder that our Salvation comes about through the supernatural work of God. (Galatians 4: 4-5). When the Holy Spirit comes on one, it purifies one; so the morally pure Mary was further purified to bring the World a pure Child, making Jesus Christ fully Man but without inherited sin. God promised in Genesis 3: 15 that the ‘Seed’ of the woman would destroy the serpent (Satan), so God brought this about by His power, not through human effort.

Human Weakness & Limitations

Jesus Christ was born like any Child and grew up like any Child in terms of physical, mental, social, and Spiritual growth. He had a human body, a human mind, a human soul, and human emotions. Jesus became tired just as we do (John 4:6). He became thirsty (John 19: 28). was hungry (Matthew 4: 2), and was physically weak (Matthew 4: 11; Luke 23: 26, 46).

As part of His genuine humanity, Jesus Christ learned a trade – carpentry and learned the normal process of how to eat, talk, read and write. Jesus Christ identified with other human beings. His brothers and sisters that grew up in the same household never realized that he was anything more than them until His death and crucifixion when He arose. They had no idea that He was God incarnated in human flesh.

Sinlessness

The New Testament affirms that Jesus was fully human but differed in one crucial aspect: He was without sin and never sinned throughout his lifetime. The difference between Adam and Jesus Christ is the disobedience of Adam and the total obedience of Jesus Christ.

Reasons for being Human

Jesus had to fully man if he was going to be the Messiah and earn humanity’s Salvation. Jesus Christ complied with these necessities by:

1. Representative Obedience – Jesus obeyed for us where Adam failed and disobeyed God (Luke 4: 1-13, Genesis 2: 15-13:7, Romans 5: 18-19)
2. Substitute Sacrifice – Jesus had to be a man to die in our place and pay the penalty that was due to us. (Hebrews 2: 16-17)
3. As a Mediator between God and Man – sin had alienated us from God, so Jesus had to be a mediator between God and us in fulfillment of God’s original plan and purpose to rule over His creation. The purpose of God for Man in Genesis 1: 28 was not fulfilled because of sin. Jesus obeyed and earned the right to rule over God’s creation on earth. (Hebrews 2: 7-9; Ephesians 1: 22; Matthew 28: 18).

To show us an example and patterns of living:

Jesus had to become a man to live as our example and pattern in life. 1 John 2:6; 3: 2-3; 2 Corinthians 3: 18, Romans 8: 29; 1 Peter 2: 21, Hebrews 12: 2, 30

The Pattern for our Redeemed Bodies:

Jesus had to be raised as a man to be the ‘firstborn from the dead (Colossians 1:18), the pattern for the bodies that we would have in eternity (1 Corinthians 15:42 – 44, 49)

As our High Priest

Jesus was tempted like us, yet He did not sin. Through His temptations and struggles in life as a man, He can sympathize with us more in our experiences, thereby advocating for us with God the Father.

The Son of Man:The Name by Which Jesus Most Frequently Called Himself

Whom do men say that I the Son of Man am?— Matt_16:13

Who Is Jesus Christ?

1. Jesus Christ is the Word of God incarnated to the World in Flesh – John 11
2. Jesus is the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the World – John 1:29.
3. Jesus is the Son of God – John 5: 19 – 47.
4. Jesus is the main theme of the Scriptures – John 5:39.
5. Jesus is the Bread of life – John 6:35.
6. Jesus is the light of the world – John 8:12.
7. Jesus is the only door to eternal life – John 10:7
8. Jesus is the resurrection and the life (He is the power over death) – John 11;25
9. Jesus is the only door to God and everlasting life – John 14:6.
10. Jesus Christ is the way and the truth and life – John 14:6
11. Jesus is the true vine – John 15:1 – 27
12. Jesus is the ‘Son of Man’ and ‘The Man Upstairs’ – Mat 19: 28

Jesus Christ used two names when He spoke about His person or work. One was the Son of God, and the other was the Son of Man. It was not often that He used the former title, if we may judge by the Synoptic Gospels, and when He used it, it was always in some moment of unusual importance and solemnity. But it is different with the latter, the Son of Man. That was constantly upon the lips of Christ. It seems to have been His most familiar Word when He referred to His person or His work.

So profoundly engraved upon our hearts and inwrought into the thought of Christendom that whenever we hear the expression “Son of Man,” we revert to our Saviour. Under this name, our Lord described Himself. By this, He conveyed His thought about Himself. It was a name He loved with deep affection that welled to His lips in the most diverse circumstances. Nor should it be forgotten that in the whole New Testament, where the title “Son of Man” occurs so often, only on two occasions is it used by anyone other than the Lord Himself.

Jesus Never Defined or Explained the Meaning of “Son of Man”

Notably, in all His use of it, our Lord never pauses to define the name. He does not explain what it conveyed to Him, nor what He meant it should convey to others. When our Lord gave Simon his new name of Peter, He was careful to interpret its significance. “Thou art Peter,” He said so that all could hear, “and on this rock, I shall build my church.” But when He laid aside His name Jesus and began to speak of Himself as Son of Man, He did not explain the name and never declared the reason for His choice. Equally noticeable is this that no one ever asked Him to define it. It seems to have been accepted without comment and, at least, to have been understood. For men were not slow to interrogate the Saviour and to ask Him what He meant by this or that, but we never find anyone enquiring of Him what was the meaning of this “Son of Man.”

Not a New Name:

Now the reason for that absence of all questioning will suggest itself to every reader at once. It was no new name, coined at a moment’s need; it was a name wreathed with the old association. There was not a Jew who heard the Master use it but would find it encircled with familiar thoughts. It was a name they had been accustomed to since childhood in their reading or hearing of the ancient Scriptures. And it came to them, not as a word of novelty, nor with the arresting touch of the unknown. But as a word that was a heritage of Israel from the far-off day of the prophet and psalmist. In other words, this was a borrowed name, and it was borrowed from the roll of the Old Testament. It was not a title coined for the occasion; it was fragrant with happy and holy memories. And what Christ did was to take the hallowed name, and to breathe upon it with the breath of life, so that it glowed into a new significance and expanded into undreamed-of fullness.

Let me say in passing that that is the real meaning of originality. If only we had just thought upon that matter, I think that we might understand our Saviour better. It is not the nature of originality to say what never has been said before. The most strikingly original genius is hopelessly in debt to all the past. Originality consists of taking the past and passing it through the heart and brain so that it leaps forth as a recreation.

We speak of the originality of Shakespeare, yet who is more deeply in debt to his predecessors? We speak, and we can do it with all reverence, of the originality of Jesus. Yet do remember that does not mean that Christ owes nothing to the past of Israel. It means that He gathers up that mighty past and makes it new just because He is new. It should never distress you to find the rudiments of one of the Beatitudes in the Old Testament. The past was Christ’s, but just because He was Christ, the old was all transfigured on His lips. And so with His favorite name, “the Son of Man,“; it was not new; it was an ancient title; it was drawn out of the storied past of Israel, but Christ has made it different forever.

Why Did Jesus Choose This Name?

Well, that being so, why did this title so appeal to Christ? Why did He love to use it of Himself? Why was it so often on His lips? There were many other names He might have chosen out of the stores of the psalmist and prophet. In Isaiah, you will get twenty titles describing Messiah’s office and glory. And all these were familiar to our Lord, whose mind and heart was steeped in the old Scripture, yet the one He chooses from them all is “Son of Man.” Why, then, did this title so appeal to Him? There is only one way to discover that: to go back to the Old Testament page and find the meaning of the words “Son of Man” there. If we discover that, then we discover the thoughts that moved before the mind of Jesus when in the quiet of Nazareth, He made His choice of the name to mark His ministry. I do not imagine for one moment that He dogmatically used the Word. Nothing complicated or cold about His use of it—nothing of fixed and stereotyped significance. It was a plastic and suggestive word for Jesus, now shining in one light, now in another, and we must reverently try to trace these lights to that Word which was a lamp unto His feet.

To Indicate His Humiliation—Psalm Eight:

First, we shall turn to the 8th Psalm for one of the notable uses of the Word: “What is the man that Thou art mindful of him, and the son of man that Thou visitest him?” The psalmist has been gazing at the heavens and contemplating their majestic grandeur. He stands perhaps upon his palace roof amid the silent beauty of the night. The moon has arisen, and the silver pathway of her radiance streams over the sleeping city. And the heaven above him, undimmed by any cloud, is ablaze with the countless glories of the stars. It is one of those eastern nights of perfect beauty when the stars are like the eyes of heavenly watchers looking down with an infinity of calm upon men’s weary and troubled hearts.

Now, had the psalmist been a poet only, he might have rested in that outward beauty. But he was more than a poet; he was a spiritual man awake to the divine’s touch. And looking upward into that night of beauty, what was borne upon his soul was this—how could a God whose finger made the heavens mindful of a creature such as Man? “When I consider Thy heavens, the work of Thy fingers, the moon and the stars which Thou hast ordained; what is the man that Thou art mindful of him, and the son of man that Thou visitest him?” You see, then, the thought in David’s mind when he uses the expression “son of man.” He is thinking of Man in all his native lowliness, of Man contrasted with the glowing heavens, of Man so frail compared with moon and star, yet crowned with a glory akin to that of angels. Man but a breath contrasted with the stars, yet more significant than they in fellowship with God; Man, the needy creature of a day, lifted above all heaven’s magnificence. “What is the man that Thou art mindful of him, and the son of man that Thou visitest him?”

Now, when you turn to the words of Jesus, you find Him using the name in the same way. For Jesus also, it carries Man’s significance in His lowliness yet exaltedness. “Foxes have holes, the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.” Or again, where He is foretelling His passion: “The Son of man shall be betrayed into the hands of men.” And yet this lowly and suffering Son of Man is to be crowned with glory and honor, for “Hereafter,” He cries, “ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power.” I think there can be no question that that was one charm of this old name for Christ. It blended His humiliation with the joy of glory set before Him. It spoke of Him as a man of sorrows. And as One who shared the frailty of our frame. Yet it ever suggested the glory that was His and the honor that was in store for Him from God.

A Prophet Identified with Manhood—Ezekiel:

Again, when we turn back to the Old Testament, we light upon the title in Ezekiel. God calls Ezekiel the Son of Man not less than seventy times. “Son of man, stand upon thy feet”; “Son of man, seest thou what they do?” It is thus that God constantly addresses him. You will then understand how the title “son of man” came to be charged with a prophetic import. It became familiar to readers of Ezekiel as the name for the prophet of the living God. And so when one called himself the “son of man,” amid a people so intimately acquainted with the Scriptures, it would at once suggest his claim in the Prophets’ succession.

But why did God choose this title for Ezekiel? Was it to indicate his lowliness? Nay, it was God’s reminder to His servant that he was one with the people he warned. He was not to speak as one who stood apart, untouched by the sorrow and the tears of Israel; he was the Son of Man, the sympathetic Man who was bone of their bone and flesh of their flesh. Thus you see that in the mind of Israel, there clustered these ideas around the title. Familiar with it from Ezekiel’s writings, it spoke to them of one who was a prophet; and yet this prophet was not a man aloof and unable to enter into his people’s hearts. He was a son of Man, the Man of sympathy, one who was touched with a feeling of their infirmities.

And again, when we turn to the words of Christ, we find Him using the term in the same way. He uses it to claim prophetic power and yet to reveal His sympathetic heart. “The Son of Man hath power to forgive sin”; “the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath day”—that is the voice of One who was a prophet, charged with a message greater than Ezekiel’s. And yet, “the Son of man came eating and drinking”; “the Son of man came to seek and save the lost”—that is the voice of One who was a Brother and filled with the intensest sympathy for Man.

That also is one secret of this ancient title’s charm for Jesus. It revealed a yet half-concealed prophetic claim and told that His Word was the oracle of God. Yet, it suggested that He was rich in sympathy and able to be compassionate to the weakest, and fitted to bear the burdens of humanity and to be the Brother of the tired and weak. Was He the Son of Man?—then He was Brother-Man, and all might find their Friend and Helper in Him. But was He the Son of Man? — then, like Ezekiel, He was the Prophet of the living God.

Associated with the Nations—Daniel:

Then, lastly, and most notably, we find this title in the Book of Daniel. Let me recall what it implies in Daniel and what connection it was introduced. Daniel had had a vision of four empires that came up like four great beasts out of the sea, and then to these bestial and inhuman kingdoms succeeded another and a nobler kingdom. Within it were all nations and all peoples; it was a dominion to last forever. And over it, coming with the clouds, Daniel saw One like the Son of Man. Now that was a vision of the Messiah’s kingdom, superseding the bestial kingdoms of the world. And who was the Son of Man who reigned within it? He was the expected Messiah of the Jews.

And so, as the Jews looked forward to Messiah and dreamed of the day when He was to appear, they came to think of Him and speak of Him under that ancient name of “Son of man.” Let beasts typify other kingdoms; the kingdom of Christ is typified by manhood. It is the perfect Man the Jews were looking for to reign in the golden age. And yet this Man is something more than Man, for He stands in the heavens engirdled by its clouds, and the passing of ages leaves no trace upon Him, and the Ancient of Days receives Him as His Fellow. It was such thoughts the Jews associated with the name “Son of man.”

It would not be a matter of debate if such thoughts were in the mind of Jesus. There can be no question in the matter, for we have the testimony of Christ Himself. On two occasions, our Lord recalled this prophecy in words whose reference is unmistakable, and both times He identified Himself with the Son of Man of Daniel’s vision. In His prophecy over Jerusalem, He predicted that they shall see “the Son of man coming in the clouds with power and great glory.”

And when standing before Caiaphas, He thus addressed His judges, “I say unto you, hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting at the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.” Of this, then, there is no doubt that the name was to Jesus a Messianic name, and He would never have used it had He not wished to intimate that He was the promised Messiah of the Jews. And so it tells us that there is Christ indeed; the Man in whom all humanity is centered, yet the Man who knew that He was more than Man, the Fellow of the everlasting God.

The Kingdom of God-Thesis 2-Final

In the Kingdom, God rules over you by sovereignty, and the life, mind, heart, nature, power, wisdom, knowledge, and will of God enter into you to become your reality. In its simplest definition, the Kingdom of God means that JESUS CHRIST IS LORD! He must be Lord in you, and He must be Lord through you. That is the mark and seal of Christ to make you a child of God. That is the power of the Kingdom.

Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent, ye, and believe the gospel (Mk. 1:14-15).

Theologians and others have involved themselves in controversy over the precise meaning of the Greek word ENGIKEN, here translated “is at hand.” The simple Greek word from which it is formed (ENGIZO) means, “draw near,” but ENGIKEN is the perfect tense of this verb. It is an important tense in Greek for which we have no exact equivalent in English. It indicates an action that has occurred in the past but has a continuing effect in the present.

The New English Bible seeks justice to this Greek perfect tense by translating it, “The kingdom of God is upon you.” The verb could also be translated as “The kingdom of God has arrived,” that is, it is a present reality now, not just a future eventuality. The importance of the message of Jesus was that God’s chosen time had arrived ‘NOW .’His Kingdom was already breaking into the world of men. It was no longer a promise for some distant future for which men must wait with hope so fragile that it soon dwindles into disillusionment. God’s action had begun; Satan’s realm was already threatened, invaded, and conquered.

In Jesus Christ, the firstborn Son, the new age of the Kingdom, had arrived. Its privileges and powers were available, and He used them freely and fully. Although the priests and other leaders of the static religious system of the day were busy with their time-worn routines of the dead past, and the slumbering world was doing business as usual, a new day had come, and Jesus came forth in the life of the Kingdom. Now the Son of God had to reveal Himself personally to all Israel, establishing a new order and providing the necessary guidance for all who believe and follow Him.

The Kingdom came when the King came. Jesus is King of kings and LORD of Lords. Nothing can be more evident than that. In His battle with evil, Jesus saw the foretaste of the ultimate triumph of God on the earth. Because He came preaching the Kingdom of God, He demonstrated that Kingdom’s glory and power. He showed the Kingdom’s glory’s wealth through His deeds for the few, which eventually will be done for all when His Kingdom’s light covers the earth as the waters cover the sea. In His death, He engaged in mortal combat with him who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and conquered. Jesus was declared by the Father to be the Son of God with power because of His resurrection from the dead. At the right hand of God, He continues to reign through His body on earth and shall continue to reign from victory to victory, and from glory to glory, until “He hath put all enemies under His feet” (I Cor. 15:25).

We see the initial victory in Christ’s incarnation, life, ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension. Through Jesus’ disciples during this dispensation of the Church, we see His continuing and increasing victory. And in the manifestation of the sons of God, we see His ultimate victory. The Kingdom spans generations and ages, from the advent of the firstborn Son in the world to the manifestation of God’s sons. The Final victory shall be achieved at Christ’s second coming. Then shall the Kingdom be delivered to God, even the Father, “that God may be all in all” (I Cor. 15:28).

The Practical Difference Between The Church And The Kingdom Of God

The Kingdom is the rule of God, and the Church is a society of women and men that are followers of Jesus Christ. The Kingdom creates the Church, works through the Church, and is proclaimed in the world by the Church. In contrast, the Church is the custodian of the Kingdom. In Jesus, the reign of God manifested itself in a new redemptive event, unexpectedly displaying the powers of the eschatological Kingdom. God is the King that reigns in the Kingdom, so the Kingdom takes its point of departure from God while the Church is from human beings.

The Church in this age will never attain perfection; it must display the life of the perfect order, the eschatological Kingdom of God. The entrance into the Kingdom is the participation in the Church, but entrance into the Church is not necessarily synonymous with entrance into the Kingdom. The first missionaries preached the Kingdom of God and not the Church (Acts 8:12; 19:8; 20:25; 28:23, 31). The subjects of God’s reign that share Christ’s reign forms the Church. The Church comprises people over whom God rules. The Kingdom as the present sphere of God’s rule is invisible and not a phenomenon of this world, whereas the Church is an empirical body of human beings. We can conclude that the Church is the custodian and community of the Kingdom, but never the Kingdom itself. Believers, therefore, cannot be equated with the Kingdom.

It is important not to confuse the ‘Kingdom of God with the ‘Church’; we must separate the two to understand the Kingdom better. The Church includes those who are not true children of the Kingdom. Thus the empirical Church has a two-fold character; it is the people of the Kingdom, and yet it is not the ideal people, for it includes some who are not children of the Kingdom. The Church must come to grip its mission to witness for the Kingdom. Jesus gave the Church the great commission. In complying with this commission, the Church is to witness God’s redeeming acts in Christ, both past and future.

The Church must display the life of the perfect order, the eschatological Kingdom of God, and the display of kingdom life like forgiveness, love, humility, etc. The Church, as the instrument of the Kingdom, must be separated from the Kingdom. The power of the Kingdom that worked through Jesus Christ also worked through Peter, Paul, and other disciples. As they went preaching the Kingdom, they too healed the sick. They cast out demons (Matthew 10:8, Luke 10:17).

The present-day disciples are also empowered to use their delegated power from the authority given to Jesus Christ to heal the sick and cast out demons. The Church is to be the instrument of God’s Kingdom in the Messianic struggle with the powers of Satan and death. The Church is the fellowship of those who have experienced God’s reign and entered into the enjoyment of its blessings, so it promotes the daily oiling of fellowship with God.

The Kingdom of God-Thesis 1

The Kingdom of God means the domain over which God exercises rule as King. Therefore, God’s declared purpose is that His People, His Holy Nation, His Peculiar Treasure, should be the domain over which He would rule as King, and ultimately all the earth and all things and every creature. The Lord’s greatest dominion at this time is in the lives of His Elect, the Chosen Ones.

Jesus Christ has extended the dominion of His Kingdom to our hearts and lives.

The term “kingdom” means “a rule or reign, an exercise of authority.” Application to the reign of God in the world means “the rule or Sovereignty of God the Creator.” Ladd defines “kingdom” in the following way: “The primary meaning of both the Hebrew word malkuth in the Old Testament and of the Greek word basileia in the New Testament is the rank, authority, and sovereignty exercised by a king. A kingdom is the authority to rule, the sovereignty of the King. “(1959, 19).

The Kingdom of God was established when Christ, the King, initiated His rule. Ladd’s approach to interpreting the Kingdom of God is synthetic, and he used inaugurated eschatology as the key idea for this interpretation of the “Kingdom of God.” Ladd’s dynamic interpretation is couched in already and yet to come ages. Two ages underline Ladd’s thought: the present reality of evil age corroborated in Gal 1:4; Rom. 12:2; 1 Cor. 20; 2: 6-8; 2 Cor 4: 4 and the age to come in Ephesians 1:21. Ladd stipulated that the age to come has become present already in Christ and the Spirit – 1 Cor 10:11, 2 Cor. 5:17, Gal. 6:15 (pointing to Isaiah 65-66).

Ladd’s postulation means that “God is now King, but He must also become King.” To Ladd, the Kingdom of God is God’s reign, and it came into history in the person and mission of Jesus Christ. The true Sons of the Kingdom are believers already in union with Christ, have died and been raised with Christ (Rom 6:3-11), and are seated with Christ in the heavenly places (Eph. 2:4-7, Col. 2:12).

The children of the Kingdom, according to Ladd, are:

(1) those who respond to Jesus and accept his word (M. 13:38);

(2) those who receive and depend entirely on the proclamation of Jesus as LORD of the Kingdom in this present age.

The age to come is the final and total destruction of the devil and his angels (Mt. 25: 41); the formation of a redeemed society with evil and perfect fellowship with God at the Messianic feast. (Ref: Mt. 13:36-43, Luke 13: 28-29).

The Kingdom is primarily the dynamic reign or kingly rule of God and, derivatively, the sphere in which the rule is experienced. Jesus’ disciples are members of the Kingdom, and the Kingdom is the rule of God. The Kingdom has come in Jesus to fulfill the Messianic Salvation within the old age, but the consummation awaits the Age to Come.

The synonymous parallelisms of Psalm145:11-13 define the nature of the Kingdom of God:

They shall speak of the glory of thy Kingdom, and talk of thy power; To make known to the sons of men his mighty acts, and the glorious majesty of his Kingdom. The Thy Kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and thy dominion endureth throughout all generations.

God’s Kingdom is one of Glory and Splendor. The synonymous parallelisms equate the Kingdom with power, mighty acts, and dominion. Thus God “does not merely sit on a throne, but He reigns by performing mighty deeds. His rule is not static but is expressed in acts of power” (Ferguson 1989, 7).

Although the Church reflects the rule of God in the world, the “kingdom” cannot be precisely paralleled with the “church.” Old Testament kingdom passages confirm that the rule of God existed before the coming of Christ, the ultimate King, and the establishment of the Church. Neither can the Kingdom be strictly equated with some cosmic event to occur when Christ returns. Although the consummation of the Kingdom will occur at the end of time, the Kingdom of God is a continuing historical reality.

The real purpose for which God sent Jesus into the world was to ESTABLISH ON EARTH HIS KINGDOM; His ultimate purpose is that the kingdoms of this world shall experientially become the Kingdom of our God and His Christ. The light of the Holy Spirit’s wisdom and revelation is shed with its quickening and illuminating rays upon our understanding, dispelling the mists, dividing the light from the darkness so that all the elect Children of God may find an abundant entrance into the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom is THE RULE OF GOD. Jesus came with just that message: the revelation of the RULE OF GOD within the hearts of men, and through men, over the whole world.

The purpose of the Kingdom of God is to restore creation to its original glory. The Kingdom of God is heavenly in its King; that King is the Son of God, Jesus Christ our LORD and Redeemer. The Kingdom of God is heavenly in its subjects; those subjects are the children of God. The Kingdom of God is heavenly in nature; that nature is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. The Kingdom of God is heavenly in its entrance. The gateway is not by human birth, or of the will of the flesh, or the will of man, but by being born of the Holy Spirit.

The Kingdom of God is heavenly in its laws; those laws are not ordinances, rules, or regulations; they are spiritual principles. The Kingdom of God is heavenly in its method; that method is not by might, power, or the enticing words of man’s wisdom but by the Spirit of the living God. The Kingdom of God is heavenly in its prerogatives. Those prerogatives are for the Children of God to be the salt of the earth, the world’s light, a kingdom of priests after the order of Melchizedek, and saviors on mount Zion. The Kingdom of God is heavenly in its privileges; those privileges are to be heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ to the inheritance that is incorruptible, undefiled, and cannot fade away. In summary, the Kingdom of God is the Kingdom of Heaven. It is the Kingdom of Heaven because it is the Kingdom or dominion of the GOD OF HEAVEN.

The Kingdom of God is limited to that domain where God’s saving power has defeated all opposition, broken down every wall, transformed all that is contrary to God’s nature, mind, and will, and has brought men into willing submission to His authority. Where the nature of God and the mind of Christ have mightily conquered, the state of things is called the Kingdom of God. Where hearts are changed, where sin, error, & darkness are defeated, where truth and righteousness advance, where the will and ways of God are raised as reality and life in a people, where the mind of Christ rules out of union with God.

**Concluding Thesis 2, tomorrow, Sunday 28 August, 2022

The Great Commission (The Mandate): Matthew 28: 16 – 20: Part Three (Final)

John Wesley, another great evangelist, sets out his methods to accomplish the command of Jesus Christ in the Great Commission with the resources given by Jesus Christ. Wesley’s methodology emerged by borrowing ideas from a wide range of diverse models, and the final product was a refined synthesis of proven techniques.

Wesley’s awareness of the Assurance of God’s favor became the cornerstone of his methods. Lorrie Sanny, the Chairman of the Board of the Navigators, defines evangelism as “taking a good look at Jesus Christ and then telling someone what you saw” this John Wesley did in his evangelical approach by:

• Making people Recognize their need for Jesus Christ and
• Understand how to Receive Jesus into their lives.

 Evangelism, to John Wesley, was both an act and a process. He did not just make converts but trained and mobilized them to share the good news effectively. Wesley’s evangelical revolution illustrates that long-lasting Spiritual transformation is not the product of dynamic preaching or correct doctrine but comes only through serious disciple building in keeping with Christ’s Great Commission.

Wesley used three distinct modes of evangelism and disciple-making in early Methodism.

The Modes are:

• The Society Meetings that aimed at cognitive instruction
• The class meetings that provided an environment for behavioral changes
• The Band that facilitated effective redirection.

“Metaphorically, the Society Meetings aimed for the head, the Class meeting for the hands and the band for the heart.” (Quote from D. Michael Henderson as written on page 112 of John Wesley’s Class meeting).

The three modes were built into the early Methodism and complemented each other. Wesley used them as tools for evangelism and disciple-making. The field preaching was also not neglected but used for effective evangelism to increase the numbers of participants in the modes and to spread Scriptural holiness throughout the Land. Wesley directed the community’s poor and the downtrodden people to the Scriptures. He pointed them to Biblical examples of people who had experienced a powerful, loving, and personal God at work. These are the People who believed in the ‘living faith.’ Wesley’s Methods of disciple-making are still potent today as they were in his days.

The learning progress of the disciples was to be demonstrated in their daily lives. Wesley defined a mark of a mature Christian as “consistent obedience to God, in which the new relationship of justifying faith is no longer interrupted by a wayward disposition but firmly grounded in a service of love.” His modes provided sequential order, with each phase building on the previous one, and this is the actual process of discipleship development Today. The Society Meetings of the Methodist systems are like what is today known as covenant groups called ‘Come and See’ phase. Wesley’s Class Meetings represent the basic accountability group known as the ‘Come and Follow Me’ phase of Today. Wesley’s Band represents the ongoing accountability group of ‘Be with Me,’ while Wesley’s Select group is the ‘Remain in Me.’

 Wesley’s principles are more potent Today for a disciple-making Church to grow spiritually and numerically. The Ministry in Africa Today has mature churches that are diverse and better articulated than at the time of John Wesley. Idol worshipping was more prevalent at that time. Missionaries like John Wesley brought Christian religion to Africa through their evangelical outreach. Wesley’s timeless discipleship principles were to define the end product and develop the recipe at each phase of the process. It has helped disciple-making churches to:

• Help newcomers understand the ministry they need when they join.
• Help Ministry leaders understand precisely their objective in discipling persons.
• Articulate church programs with “all the things” on their ladder.

How It Affects Our Theologizing:

Theology is an instrument of sound evangelical strategy. The word of God is the revelation, while theology is the indispensable support of the revealed Word of God. Our theologizing, therefore, must be the precise map of the knowledge of God for non-Christians. After Christ determined the pattern and end of all theology for His Church, the glorified Christ commissioned His Church to disciple the nations, baptizing and teaching His followers to obey everything He had commanded. The Great Commission then places upon the church specific intellectual demands. There is the evangelistic demand to contextualize, without compromise, the Gospel proclamation to meet the needs of every generation and culture.

There is the didactic demand to correlate the manifold data of Scripture in our minds and to apply this knowledge to all phases of thinking and conduct. And there is the apologetic demand to justify Christianity’s existence as God’s revealed religion and to protect its message from adulteration and distortion (Tit. 1:9). Theology has risen in the life of the Church in response to these concrete demands of the Great Commission. The theological enterprise serves the Great Commission as it seeks to clarify logically and coherently for men everywhere the truth God has revealed in Holy Scripture about Himself and the World He has created.

 The ways it affects our theologizing then include but are not limited to the followings:

1. Negligent Reflection

Reflection, at times, could be seen as an adversary of Gospel proclamation. According to Tite Tienou, this perception is a theological decision; African Christians should refrain from making the Gospel Kerygmatically Universal.

2. Denominational and Doctrinal Fragmentation

The various denominations and different theological doctrines upheld by African Christians prevent evangelicals from working together on a standard theological plan to advance the Great Commission.

3. Theological Failure

Our theological failures arise from:

• Our silence, allowing others to formulate African theology without our contributions; this situation is evident by the lack of evangelical presence in recent publications on African theology.
• Spiritual immaturity: even though Africa is reputed to have the fastest growing Church in the world, it could also be said to have the fastest declining Church due to a lack of Spiritual depth, Education, and Knowledge. This Spiritual immaturity has greatly impacted the fulfillment of the Great Commission.

4. Lack of Spiritual Commitment and
5. Lack of contextualization throwing away our African Culture.

Conclusion:

The justification of theologizing as an intellectual discipline could be adduced by five reasons, namely:

1. Christ’s theological method.
2. Christ’s mandate to his Church is to disciple and to teach.
3. The apostolic model.
4. The apostolically approved example and activity of the New Testament church
5. The nature of the Holy Scriptures.

The Church must remain committed to the theological task for these five reasons. And it can do so with the full assurance that its labors will not be a waste of time and energy. No intellectual pursuit will ultimately prove to be more rewarding than acquiring knowledge of God and his ways and works. Indeed, the scriptural mandate for the theological enterprise is so clear that the Church’s primary question should not be whether it should engage itself in theology; the Lord of the Church and His apostles leave it no other option.

The Church must be engaged in theology to be faithful to Christ. Instead, what should be of more significant concern to the Church is whether, in its engagement in theology, it is listening as intently and submissively as it should to the Lord’s voice speaking to His Church in Holy Scripture and, most significantly, the command in the Great Commission! 

In summary, the Church’s primary concern should be not whether to engage in theology but is its theology correct. Is it orthodox? Or perhaps better: Is it Biblical? How the theological task is described will be determined by the ‘Sitz im Leben’ of the individual theologian, governed by his academic qualifications, socio-economic, historical, learning, and theological situation. 

The Great Commission (The Mandate): Matthew 28: 16 – 20: Part Two

 The Objective

Jesus placed between the two resource statements the objective:

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them

in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit,

and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.

 The task given by Jesus Christ is both ‘Evangelism’ and ‘Discipleship.’ Colossians 1:28-29 says, “We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. To this end, I struggle with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me.” The word ‘perfect’ in this passage means Spiritual maturity or complete without flaw. The Church’s task is to baptize converts and bring them into spiritual maturity as disciples. Christ’s message is for all Christians; even Paul and Timothy, wherever they went, brought the Good News to all who would listen. This teaching is that Salvation is available through Faith in Christ.

 To be saved, the issue of sin must be addressed; it is a reality that we must decide. Baptism means ‘being washed.’ All human sins were washed away and passed onto Jesus Christ through His baptism. Jesus, after the resurrection, told His disciples to obey this example. And baptize new converts, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, into the new Faith and the new will of God. Apostle Paul states the essence of baptism in the book of Romans 6: 2 – 11:

 By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore, we were buried with him through baptism into death so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with Jesus in His death, we will certainly be united with Him in His resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin – because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. If we die with Christ, we believe we will also live with him. We know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died to sin once and for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

It becomes imperative to baptize the new converts into Christianity as Jesus commanded. Jesus said to make disciples; this is the passage’s main idea where the emphasis is focused. “Jesus said, teach them to obey everything I have commanded” the Church’s task is to teach people not just to observe but to obey. To obey is to apply the principle and enable the principle to become a reality. There is a difference between making disciples and making converts. When Peter saw three thousand converted at Pentecost, he knew his job had just started, Acts 2:41; the next verse 42 says the converts continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine. The Apostles’ doctrine was all the things Jesus had taught them. Every person born into God’s family and a member of the Church of Christ is to multiply. Something is wrong with a Christian not multiplying. A Christian is to lead others to Christ and disciple them. Working for Christ is different from producing for Christ. The devil’s great trick is to stop the Gospel’s spread if he can before it gets started or incapacitate a believer of Spiritual reproduction by remaining a spiritual babe.

A Worldwide Ministry:

Jesus Christ wants the Church involved in a worldwide vision and a worldwide ministry. Each Christian is to contribute to this worldwide ministry. The ways to execute this include:

1. Going Personally: Missionaries belong to this group; God has called many to labor in foreign fields.
2. Through physical or spiritual children: God may call someone close to us, like our physical or spiritual children, to serve in foreign missions. These people are an extension of our life and members of the Church of Christ.
3. Through Prayers: Prayer is the Master Key; every time we bow our heads and hearts to God, we have the capability of reaching around the world. Our intercessory prayers can enter into the labors of missionaries; therefore, we need to intercede for fellow Christians, especially the missionaries, regularly.
4. Through Finances: Nothing belongs to us. All things come from the Lord, and of His own do we give Him. When we are blessed with material wealth, it is an avenue to invest in spiritual labor; one can enter into the labors of any missionary through generous giving.
5. Through Vocation: Our Skills and Talents were given to us by God to use for ourselves and others. There are no Skills possessed by a Christian that is not needed in God’s vineyard and missionary organization; it is then imperative to enter the mission labors through our Vocation.

The Task Of The Church:

The Task of the Church will be addressed from the perspectives of some writers and evangelists with that I share similar theology. Christian Schwarz’s concept of the Church is based on the divine principle of Creation and Focuses on God, who created the Church to sustain the health and growth of the Church, like in organic farming where the root produces fruit. Schwarz formulated a concept using God’s growth automatisms: the Eight Quality Characteristics (Leadership, Ministry, Spirituality, Structures, Worship Service, Small Groups, Evangelism, and Relationships), and the three Paradigms: Biotic Principles, Spiritualizing, and Technocratic paradigms. He considered the ‘overestimated’ significance of Institutions, Programs, Methods, etc., of the Technocratic Paradigm. The ‘underestimated’ significance of Institutions, Programs, Methods, etc.; of Spiritualistic Paradigm and the Theological approach underlying natural Church development in Biotic Paradigm. He surmised that ‘the correlation between growth and the eight quality characteristics is statistically significant.’ 

 Charles Van Engen is more concerned with the local ecclesia regarding the missionary people. He targets the leadership of the ecclesia and sounds very passionate about the Biblical and Theological issues that are fundamental to the task God has given the Church. Van Engen’s theological purpose is to build missionary congregations in the world. Charles Van Engen’s ecclesiology is ‘the anticipatory sign of the Rule of the King’, and its mission is to spread knowledge of the Rule of the King. He sees the Church as a unique body of Jesus Christ that is divine and human, so the human and divine aspects of the Church’s nature must be unified to arrive at a true understanding of the ecclesial mission.

The congregations must intentionally live as the missionary person of God to make the Church become what it is truly by Faith. Van Engen’s ideas are biblical as it agrees with the Great Commission and Paul’s missionary ecclesiology in his letter to the Ephesians. Paul, in his writing, saw the local Church as an organism that should continually grow in the missional expression of its essential nature in the world. Engen’s ecclesiology is in Unity (Eph. 4:1-16); in Holiness (Eph. 1: 1-14, 4:17 – 5:5, 5:6 – 6:20) and in Mission to All (Eph. 1:15-23, 2: 1-22, 3: 1-13).

In Van Engen’s missionary perspective, there are four attributes of a church that he described as gifts and tasks of the Church’s life with Jesus Christ at the center. They are:

1. Unity

• Gathering to Jesus (Col. 1: 28)
• Invitation to the great feast (Matt. 22: 2-10)
• Incorporating Faith
• Establishing an organic cohesion (Eph 1: 9-10)
• Becoming “One” (John 17)
• Building up Christ’s body (Eph. 4: 11-13)
• Preparing for the Lord’s return (Rev 19:7)
• Preserving Unity in the bond of Peace (Eph. 4:3)

2. Apostolicity ((Proclaiming)

• Teaching & Discipling
• Receiving instructions (1 Cor. 11: 23)
• Theologizing
• Witnessing & Mobilizing
• Sending out (Acts 13: 1-3)

3. Holiness (Sanctifying)

• Forgiving & Healing
• Ministering as a nation of Priests (1 Peter 2: 4-5)
• Relating to God in holiness & Relating to others in Purity
• Reflecting the presence of the Holy Spirit by serving compassionately
• Conforming to the pattern of Beatitudes (Matt 5: 3-12)

4. Catholicity (Reconciling)

• Becoming world Christians (Phil. 2: 1-11)
• Accepting others (Rom 12: 3-10)
• Acting as Ambassadors (2 Cor. 5: 11-21)
• Bridging (Networking) & Giving oneself to the world
• Breaking down barriers & Loving (1 Cor. 13)

The Great Commission (The Mandate): Matthew 28: 16 – 20: Part One

 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshipped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in Heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded. And Surely I am with you to the very end of the age. (NIV).

Introduction:

In Christian tradition, the Great Commission is the instruction of the resurrected Jesus Christ to His disciples, that they spread the Faith to all the Nations of the world. It has become a tenet in Christian theology emphasizing mission work and evangelism and is the primary basis for Christian missionary activity.

The most familiar version of the Great Commission is recorded in the Gospel of Matthew28:16-20: Other versions of the Great Commission are found in Mark 16:14-18; Luke 24:44-49; Acts 1:4-8; and John 20:19-23. All these passages record words of Christ spoken after His resurrection. Matthew alone, among the four Gospels, uses the word ‘Church’ (ekklesia). In its Christian application, the word ecclesia (ekklesia) is usually translated as’ Church.’ Ekklesia was applied in ordinary Greek usage to the duly constituted gathering of the citizens in a self-governing city. It is also used in the Ephesians’ assembly in Acts 19:39.[1] It is found twice in the New Testament (Acts 7:38; Heb 2:12).

The early Church was called ‘Jesus Movement. The Church can then be defined as an assembly of believers in Jesus Christ. By AD 60, the word ‘Church’ was widely accepted by all believers in Jesus as a proper name for themselves (I Peter 4:16). Christian Theology is defined in terms of Theos and Logos. The New Testament is Christocentric and Particularistic. [2] Colossians 1: 18 affirms the headship of Jesus Christ “And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead so that in everything he might have the supremacy.” T. Tshibangu describes theology as ‘the science dealing with humanity’s divine destiny. This science to him is grounded on God’s revelation in Christ, and it is also based on ‘deep, thoroughgoing knowledge of human beings and the factors that condition their lives. [3]

Our theologizing is principally concerned with the theological message of the passage of Matt 28:18-20. It seeks to understand the text concerning the whole. To achieve this, we must work with the mutual interaction of the various corpora’s literary, historical, and theological dimensions and with these interrelationships within the whole Canon of New Testament Scripture. It will be the theological interpretation of the passage in and for the Church. It will proceed with historical and literary sensitivity and seeks to analyze and synthesize Jesus’ command and his relations to the world on its terms, maintaining sight of the Scripture’s overarching narrative and Christocentric focus. Our theologizing will best be judged by examining what it produces. The only three eternal things are God, His Word, and the Souls of men and women; these three eternal things are best stated for us in a command that Jesus gave to His disciples. [4]. 

 Today, we call that command the Great Commission. The Great Commission demands that we disciple men and women of all nations. We disciple by teaching all that Jesus commands, which is found in the Word of God. The best medium is the individual member of the Church of Christ in active participation in evangelism. The Great Commission is for the evangelicals and those Christians committed to the command of Jesus Christ as their doctrinal rule of Faith and practice. The Great Commission is not being fulfilled; the nations are not being discipled. What exactly is then the task of the Church? Whose responsibility is the Great Commission? We may say that it is the Church’s responsibility; however, when we refer to the Church, it is not the building but the people (the believers). Jesus did not give the eleven Apostles the responsibility to reach all nations alone; He also gave them the power and resources necessary to get the job done. That power and resources are still as potent for us today as it was for the eleven Apostles; all we need to do is harness them for the glory of God.

The Outline:

Jesus’ Appearance To The Eleven Disciples (28: 16 – 20)

1.    The Mountain(28:16); They meet on a mountain in Galilee as he had instructed them.
2.     The Mixed Reaction(28:17); some worship him, while others still doubt.
3.     The Mandate(28: 18-20)
4. Jesus’ Authority – 28:18
5. Jesus’ Assignment – 28: 19 – 20a
6. Jesus’ Assurance – 28: 20b

The Passage And Interpretation:

Jesus met with His disciples, on top of a mountain, after His resurrection. Matthew indicated that some of the disciples doubted, but Jesus told them, “He has all the power in Heaven and on earth.” Based on this authority, the disciples were to go and make disciples by teaching others all Jesus had commanded. It is interesting and noteworthy that Jesus started with the Resource (Power) to show the importance of the objective.

 The commission from Jesus indicates that His disciples must go, teach, and baptize. Although the command was initially given directly only to Christ’s eleven Apostles, Christian theology has interpreted the commission as a directive to all Christians of every time and place, mainly because it seems to be a restatement of the last part of God’s covenant with Abraham in Genesis 12:3. Commentators often contrast the Great Commission with the earlier Limited Commission of Matthew 10:5-42, in which they were to restrict their mission to their fellow Jews, to whom Jesus referred as “the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matthew 15:24). Textual critics note that the portion of Mark 16 which records the commission is not found in two of the oldest Greek manuscripts of the New Testament, the Codex Vaticanus and the Codex Sinaiticus. The response generally given is that this is immaterial, as essentially the same thing is quoted as having been said by Jesus in at least three other New Testament passages, and most especially the passage in question was regarded as part of the Canon of the Scriptures throughout most of Church history.

 The Resources:

**All authority in Heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go – 

 The English word “therefore” is a catalyst and a re-winder. When in a sentence, it means to stop and examine the statement before it. What is about to be said will be based on that statement. Jesus spoke of a resource in the process of commanding His disciples to reach the world. If the disciples should depend on their resources, the job would never be done. Jesus affirmed to them that their needs in Heaven or earth to get the job done would be met as He has the authority and the power to give them. Based on this resource, Jesus told the disciples, ‘Go therefore and make disciples of all nations. Nations mean the People, the Land, and the Governance. Jesus started with a resource and ended the statement with another resource “Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” It indicates the certainty of Jesus’ presence till eternity, so we are to act and trust Jesus that He is with us to do the task. Jesus’ promise to be with us unto the end of age means He will provide whatever our needs are. The Church is thereby thoroughly equipped to carry out the mandate effectively.

Notes:

•   [1] James Hasting, Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible, (USA: Hendrickson Publishers,2001), p.138
• [2] Dr. Charles E. Osume, in an oral lecture on June 26, 2007
• [3] John Parratt, (Editor) SPCK International Study Guide 23 (Advanced): A reader in African Christian Theology (Kaduna: Baraka Press and Publishers Ltd., 2004), p.29
• [4] David L. Dawson, Equipping The Saints Book One-A (Texas: Thomas Nelson Inc., Publishers, 1984), p.30