The Gracious, Longsuffering Friendship of God

Matthew 28:9-10 ESV

9 And behold, Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.”

Throughout the scriptures, there are several references to one being a “friend of God”. For example, James tells us that Abraham was called a friend of God. In the prophecy of Isaiah, God Himself calls Abraham His friend. And in John’s gospel, Jesus called His apostles, His friends.

And whenever I come across a portion of scripture where one is described as being a friend of God, I take notice and am sure to read carefully that I may really understand what is written.

And the reason why I am always sure to pay especially close attention and read the context surrounding such verses is because being a friend of God is a rare thing. In fact, everyone who is ever born, is by nature, the opposite of a friend of God, for everyone who is ever born is, by nature, an enemy of God.

Because of our inherent sin nature, man comes into this world hating God, being fearful of God, knowing nothing of God other than that he wants nothing to do with Him.

He is a kind, benevolent, gracious, loving, absolutely just God. Everything about Him is good and holy. Yet we naturally repel from Him. As Adam fled from God when He heard Him coming near in the Garden after he sinned against Him, so does man, in his natural state, flee from God when he is peculiarly aware that God is near.

This is the natural state of man, one who is perpetually at odds with God. For this reason, when man, who is naturally at odds with God, is then considered to be a legitimate friend of God, what we know is that a genuine miracle has taken place.

And a man becomes God’s friend when a man is graciously saved by God. But what makes that especially remarkable is that because man is naturally at odds with God and God is naturally at odds with man what the salvation of a man then requires is for one of the two parties, either God or man, to make a gracious concession for the other.

In other words, one of the two parties has to, in spite of the fact that the other is their sworn enemy, will to mend their broken relationship so as to go from being enemies to being friends.

Now, it should be obvious to all that this most certainly is not something that man can do. Man cannot mend his broken relationship with God.

Man most certainly cannot make concession to mend this relationship with God. God is the One Who has been offended by man, and man is utterly incapable and furthermore, man is naturally unwilling to have this relationship mended. Therefore, God, the One Who is offended must not only will to mend this relationship with a man, but He must also graciously provide concession, that is, provide the means of reconciliation.

Thus, God wills to mend this relationship with certain men who are naturally His sworn enemies. But God then goes a step further in not only willing to bring about this reconciliation, but also in providing the means to bring about this reconciliation through the Lord Jesus Christ.

But then God goes a step even further than that, because, as I said; man is the natural enemy of God, therefore, God chooses who He saves and then works in the hearts of those He chooses to save that they may then be willing to come to Him and become His friend.

Thus, becoming a friend of God is most certainly a divinely appointed supernatural event that could be orchestrated and conducted only by God.

Who we encounter in our reading for today are both God, and the friends of God, but even more, what we see in our reading for today is the communion that God and His friends share, and lastly, what we will see in our reading for today is the Great Shepherd will to gather together His little flock that He died for.

We begin our reading for today by reading the words:

Matthew 28:9a ESV

9a And behold, Jesus met them

In our message last week, we ended by speaking of how an angel of God, after rolling away the stone that had previously guarded the tomb of the Lord, had commanded the women who had gathered at the tomb to depart and report what had happened to the Lord’s disciples.

At hearing this command, the women departed as they ran to tell these glad tidings to the Lord’s disciples just as they were commanded. But now our reading for today tells us that as the women fled, the resurrected Jesus appeared to them, physically meeting them on the road.

This is one of those things that we who have attended church for years and years are used to hearing. You know, Jesus rose from the dead and He appeared to those who followed them. And because we have heard it so often, it is quite possible that we have lost sight of how meaningful this appearing was.

The One Who these same women just days earlier had saw suffering and dying upon a cross, the One Who these same women had witnessed being buried, was now standing before them as alive as ever! Even after hearing the report of the angel, how overwhelming this appearing must have been!

But then look at what Jesus said to these women after appearing to them in the next part of this ninth verse, where it says that Jesus met them:

Matthew 28:9b ESV

9b and said, “Greetings!”

Once again, we look at this and probably don’t think too much about it; but it is very significant. We know that when Jesus returns the second time and He appears in this same resurrected form to those who have not trusted Him, He will not be saying “Greetings!”. Rather, when He appears to them, He will appear, expending wrath.

But when He appears to these women, when He appears to His disciples, when He appears to those who are saved at His second coming, He will say, “Greetings!”.

That is extremely significant because such an address signifies friendship. When an unwelcomed guest comes to your home, one who you are opposed to and don’t want there, you don’t give such a person a warm smile and say, “Greetings!” and the fact that this is how Jesus addressed these women signifies that these were His friends, the friends of God.

And when He returns and He looks upon those of us who have trusted in Him, the address will be the same, “Greetings My friends!”.

And the response that we will give to such an address and such an appearing will be as the response that these women gave to the Lord when He appeared to them. We find this response at the very end of this ninth verse where it says:

Matthew 28:9c ESV

9c And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him.

As was said, the enemies of God flee from God, but the friends of God, they worship God. Jesus had claimed these women for Himself, Jesus has and will continue to claim every believer in every age for Himself. And because these are His, they worship Him.

And when the Lord returns, the response of those whom He has chosen to be His own, those whom He has made His bride, will be the response that these women gave when He appeared to them as their Friend.

The response will be loving adoration. The love that He extends to His elect will be answered, will be returned with love.

The 18th century preacher, philosopher, and theologian Jonathan Edwards said that Christ is the end for which God created the world, He, Christ, is the Purpose. Furthermore, he said that Christ is how God most vividly expresses His beautiful love to sinful creatures. And lastly, he says that the expression of that love is in selecting a bride for Christ that she too might beam with the same beauty as her Bridegroom.

Thus, the purpose of this world is that God the Father may make for God the Son, a bride. And that creation may be culminated as the bride is fully prepared for her Groom and joins Him in eternal matrimony.

And thus, the end for which creation is will be fulfilled when God the Son, as our Friend, as our Groom, appears to us, and we lovingly adore Him, joyfully submit to Him as our Groom, giving Him the worship that He deserves.

Thus, the women fell at the feet of the Lord, took hold of Him, and they worshipped Him. We then, in the last verse of our reading, verse 10, see the response of Jesus to this worship where it says:

Matthew 28:10 ESV

10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.”

As these women fall prostrate, clinging to the feet of the Lord, offering Him worship, He speaks the same words to them that the angel at the tomb spoke to Him when He says, “Do not be afraid”.

Now, we ask why would Jesus say this? Why does He tell them not to be afraid? We may think that as these women cling to the feet of Jesus and give Him worship, that fear would be the farthest thing from them, but what we also have to realize is that as these women behold the resurrected Lord Jesus, they recognize that He is even more than what they imagined Him to be.

They knew Jesus to be sent by God, they knew Him to be the Christ, but now they recognize Him as divine; as God Himself.

And like I said, the friends of God, those who God saves; they don’t flee from Him; rather, they worship Him. But still… this is God! And God is to be fearfully apprehended. Throughout the Scriptures, when God would reveal Himself, the response of those whom He revealed Himself to would be great fear. Great fear because this is God!

Yet here stands Jesus, the One Who is now fully revealed as God, and to these women who fearfully cling to Him and offer Him worship He says, “Do not be afraid”.

“Do not be afraid” the Lord says, “for though I am God, I am nonetheless your God. Thus, My coming to you is not a fearful thing, for you are My people”.

But while He tells the women what not to do when He tells them not to fear Him, He also tells them what to do when He says, “go and tell My brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see Me”.

Thus, the Lord reiterates the command of the angel when He commands these women to report the good news of His resurrection to His disciples and to also go to Galilee, where He will meet them as He has met these women.

Now, something interesting that we see at this juncture is that Jesus refers to His disciples as His “brothers”. He says, “Go and tell My brothers”.

Now, this isn’t overly strange as Hebrews 2:11 tells us that Jesus is not ashamed to call those who follow Him, His brothers. But we may indeed find it strange when we take the context of that which surrounds this narrative and the Lord’s disciples into consideration.

You see, the last time that the Lord had seen His disciples, they scattered. They had proudly proclaimed that they would remain by the Lord’s side until the bitter end, claiming that they would never ever deny Him.

But after Jesus had been apprehended and arrested, we read in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 26, verse 56 at the end of the verse, “Then all the disciples left him and fled.” Mark, chapter 14, verse 50, “And they all left him and fled.” And in all four of the gospels, we read of Peter’s infamous denial of Jesus.

And while Peter’s denial and abandonment of the Lord is most infamous and well-known, as we have just observed, it is written that all of the Lord’s disciples in one way or another, abandoned Him when the pressure was on.

But as the Lord addresses these same disciples as brothers, what it reveals is that while they abandoned Him, He never abandoned them.

This shows the legitimacy of the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints. As through this, we are reminded that it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, Who has mercy.

If the perseverance of the believer’s salvation were dependent on his own faithfulness to the Lord, then obviously the salvation of the Lord’s disciples would have been lost forever when they denied Him.

But here we are reminded that our salvation is dependent not on our own will and determination and obedience, but on the mercy, grace, and longsuffering of God Himself as the Lord not only addresses His disciples as “brothers” but that He also guarantees their reconciliation as He reveals that He will soon gather them together with Him, as His flock, in Galilee.

Beloved, great is the faithfulness of God! Great is the mercy of God! Great is the longsuffering, the everlasting love of God!

Beloved, great is the determination of God to make us His friends, and to graciously maintain us as His friends!

Amen?