The Mountain of Commission

Read Matthew 28:16-20

The Setting

We’ve reached our final mountain scene and it’s yet another mountain that is unique to Matthew’s account. The wider setting in which we find this mountain passage is the narrative section detailing the aftermath of resurrection, the appearance of the angel and then the Lord Jesus himself to the women who went to the tomb, their worship of him, and his important instruction for the disciples:

Matthew 28:10 NIV

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

What follows, in this final mountain scene, is both the climax and the key to understanding Matthew’s gospel account. We have sensed that Matthew was using mountains in a structural way in his gospel account so it is no surprise that here, as he reaches the climax of his gospel, another mountain features. In fact, I suggest that the other mountains have all pointed us forward to this one. What’s more, the theological themes that we have associated with the mountain motif are also summarised and completed in this final mountain episode.

Two main themes have occupied us as we have studied Matthew’s mountain passages:

Salvation history

We have observed the obedient Son of God recap Israel’s history, passing the tests they failed and earning our righteousness; we have observed the renewed prospect of a covenant relationship through the glorious Son of God, whose humble obedience led him intentionally into death for us; now in this final mountain scene, we see that a new period of salvation history has, in fact, dawned - a period that will last until the end of the age.

The new covenant, whereby we can know and enjoy the presence of God, is no longer a prospect; it is reality!

Christology

The Mountains of Temptation, Transfiguration and Commission are parts of a developed Son of God motif in which the Son, who was called into a life of humble obedience to the Father, resisted all attempts to deflect him from the path which led inevitably to the cross, but was finally vindicated by the Father in resurrection and exaltation.

On the Mountain of Temptation, Son refused the world-wide sovereignty that was his due, because it was offered on terms incompatible with his vocation of filial devotion.

On the Mountain of Transfiguration, Jesus' chosen path was proleptically vindicated, as his Sonship was reaffirmed and the authority of his words proclaimed.

And on the Mountain of Commission, worldwide sovereignty is declared as having been bestowed on the Son, not by the devil but by the Father, and Jesus commands that his words be taught among all nations.

Symbolically, we have seen the links to Sinai throughout our study and they are still present: Sinai was designated by God as the mountain to which Israel would come to worship him following the exodus (Ex 3.12; 19.11). In a similar way, Jesus designated a mountain in Galilee, leaving instructions for his disciples, who would meet him there.

The promise of God’s presence together with the instructions to teach obedience to his commands all hark back to the Sinai experience too. But here, at the climax of Matthew’s account (just as in the thinking of the Jewish culture of Matthew’s day) thoughts of Sinai are subsumed within Zion typology.

The Structure

There are three main elements to this passage: confirmation; commission; and covenant. Let’s look at each in turn.

1. Confirmation

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (Mt 28:18).

We have noted the “Son of God” theme in our last two talks; in fact, it’s a theme that binds together all of the mountain passages I’ve spoken to you about, because we have it in this passage too: “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” (Mt 28:19).

The interplay between Father, Son and Holy Spirit also connects with Matthew’s exploration of the Son of God theme, e.g. in the baptism and temptation narratives and, again, in this final pericope.

The proclamation of Matthew 28:18 is confirmation of the enthronement anticipated in the vision on the mountain of transfiguration. It takes us back to Psalm 2, which we considered previously.

Psalm 2:6–8 NIV

6 “I have installed my king on Zion, my holy mountain.” 7 I will proclaim the Lord’s decree: He said to me, “You are my son; today I have become your father. 8 Ask me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession.

The event which Jesus confirms by his proclamation on the mountain of commission - his receipt (from the Father) of all authority on earth - is the fulfilment (though not the final consummation) of what was promised in Psalm 2:8. Note that this is what the devil offered Jesus on the mountain of temptation. Jesus resisted that temptation and now receives what was promised to him by the Father, at the Father’s appointed time. Matthew want us to see him as the Messiah, the promised King, now ascended to throne in the power of his resurrection.

The mountain taking centre stage in Psalm 2 is Mount Zion and it seems to me that the theological significance of the mountain of commission derives from Zion. Mount Zion (the temple mount, but synonymous with Jerusalem in OT) is where God promised to install his King, the Messiah, the royal Son of God.

We’re pointed forward, of course, to a still future day when the Lord Jesus will indeed reign from Mount Zion. We’ve already seen the tension between the ‘already’ and ‘not yet’ aspects of the kingdom in Matthew’s gospel. And so far as Jesus’ kingship is concerned, he is already King, from the moment of his resurrection, but we don’t yet see that kingly authority in full sway. He waits for his enemies to be made a footstool for his feet! The final consummation of Psalm 2 is yet future, but Matthew wants us to see the already-ness of his kingship!

In the confirmation of the extent of his newly-received kingly authority, Matthew completes his understanding of the Son of God title.

We have understood the Son to be the one standing in the place of the nation of Israel, God’s son. We have also seen him as the successor to David’s throne, the Messiah, the royal Son.

But Matthew now presents this Son of God as having all authority in heaven and on earth. That goes some way beyond the promise of Psalm 2:8. That is the rule of God!

Psalm 110:2 NIV

2 The Lord will extend your mighty scepter from Zion, saying, “Rule in the midst of your enemies!”

The rule of God and the rule of his anointed King are one. The King rules with all the authority of God. The confirmation of his enthronement in Matthew 28:18 is actually a proclamation of his deity!

No wonder they worshipped him on the mountain of commission! On the mountain of temptation, Jesus had been quick to point out that God alone is worthy of worship. Now, the Son of God accepts worship - a clear testimony to his awareness and belief in his own divine Sonship.

It’s amazing to think that some doubted! The fact that Matthew records their doubts is a mark of the genuineness and historicity of his record. We can trust Matthew’s honest account. It’s an encouragement too, in our own struggle with doubts, to recognise that the Lord wants us to bring our doubts to the mountain, the place of covenant fellowship. That mountain fellowship still remains in churches of God and is the place where our doubts can be illuminated by his teaching, leading us to worship him.

2. Commission

Next comes the commission: “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations” (Mt 28:19).

The thrust of the commission is to make disciples and the Lord Jesus explains what he means by that: baptising and teaching defines the process of making disciples.

But I want to draw your attention to the “all nations” perspective of the Lord’s commission. From this point on, the Gentiles (i.e. non-Jews) are included as potential beneficiaries of the covenant relationship which had previously been exclusive to Israel.

In the Old Testament, when the subject of salvation for the Gentiles comes up, it is most frequently connected with the prophesied restoration of Zion. Often, when the little phrase “all nations” appears in the OT, it is linked to the vision of the end of the age, when God restores his people on Zion, his holy mountain. At that time, the Gentiles will be invited to come and share in the covenant blessings of Israel.

Let’s read just a couple of examples from Isaiah.

Isaiah 2:1–3 NIV

1 This is what Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem: 2 In the last days the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established as the highest of the mountains; it will be exalted above the hills, and all nations will stream to it. 3 Many peoples will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the temple of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.” The law will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

Isaiah 25:6–8 NIV

6 On this mountain the Lord Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine— the best of meats and the finest of wines. 7 On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations; 8 he will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove his people’s disgrace from all the earth. The Lord has spoken.

It’s a wonderful vision! Zion is the place to which all nations will come. A mountain-centred fellowship in which all the nations will see God, and will eat and drink, and will not die (just as Israel did at Sinai).

In Matthew 28, the disciples have gathered to the mountain Jesus designated and, in the commission, Matthew wants us to see the gathering of all nations to the mountain of his choice.

Once again, the theological significance of the mountain setting causes us to look forward to the end of the age when these tremendous visions of a worshipping community comprising all nations, gathered to Zion will be brought to complete fulfilment. Then the Lord will come in power and take his seat on David’s throne, reigning from Zion in the midst of his people.

But, here again, although there is a ‘not yet’ about the consummation of the events to which Matthew 28 alludes, there is also an ‘already’. The kingdom has already come, not in the fullest sense envisaged by Isaiah’s vision, but in the hearts of those who today acknowledge the authority of the King. The mountain-centred fellowship exists today among a people who gather to meet with God and to worship him, not at earthly Mount Zion, but at the heavenly one!

And the commission is for now! It’s a commission to make disciples and that’s a work of gathering. It’s not, in this day, a physical gathering but a spiritual gathering to the One to whom all of Matthew’s mountains lead - to the Son of God!

3. Covenant

Lastly, we come to the promise: “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Mt 28:20).

The promise to be with us is the essence of the covenant.

It was the essence of the Old Covenant, God first promising to be with his people, Israel, as he entered into covenant relationship with them at Sinai. The focus of that promise later transferred to Zion, with the building of Solomon’s temple, the house of God. That temple and the mountain upon which it was built became symbols of the ‘with-ness’ of God, his desire to be present with his people.

The Old Testament has numerous references to Zion as the mountain which God desired for his home (Ps 68.16). It is Zion (Ps 135.21; Joel 3.21) or Mount Zion (Ps 74.2; Is 8.18) or the holy mountain (Ps 43.3; Joel 3.17) that is the place where God dwells. And because Zion is the dwelling place of God, Israel can declare: “The Lord Almighty is with us” (Ps 46.4, 7, 11).

In Revelation 21, we get an outline of the culmination of the covenant promise of God’s ‘with-ness’. John sees a vision of the holy city, the new Jerusalem, descending from heaven to a “mountain great and high” (Rev 21:10). And he hears a voice from the throne declare:

Revelation 21:3–4 NIV

3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

So Matthew is, once again, pointing us forward “to the very end of the age”. Yes, and beyond that, into eternity. And, central to Matthew’s vision of the consummation of God’s covenant purposes is the Son of God.

At the beginning of his gospel, Matthew introduced him as Immanuel, God with us. And as his gospel reaches its climax, on the mountain of commission, he concludes with the promise of Immanuel: “I am with you always.”

Application

To conclude, let me give you three points of application corresponding to the three elements of this passage we’ve considered.

1. Exalt Him

We’ve seen that the passage to which the confirmation of Jesus’ enthronement on the mountain of commission alludes is Psalm 2. That Psalm, as you will know, declares the futility of resistance by earthly kings and rulers to the rule of the King whom God will install in Zion. The Psalm goes on to record the correct response of faith to the confirmation of the anointing of God’s Son.

Psalm 2:11–12 NIV

11 Serve the Lord with fear and celebrate his rule with trembling. 12 Kiss his son, or he will be angry and your way will lead to your destruction, for his wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

The application in the confirmation of his Sonship is simple - we are not to resist, but to celebrate his Kingship and to bow the knee in worship. We’re to “kiss the Son” , that is to surrender completely to his all-authority.

2. Bring others to Him

It’s worth noting that Matthew leaves his readers on the mountain of commission; he does not describe the break up of the mountain fellowship at the close of his narrative.

When we come to apply the great commission, so often we concern ourselves with thoughts of where, when and how we will go into all the world. Though the commission involves the command to go, it seems to me that it isn’t stressed.

Rather, the main thrust of the commission is to make disciples and we are left with the impression that gathering is the primary focus of that activity. So, we deduce that we need only go so far as it is necessary to gather!

The gathering point for us today is not a physical mountain, but a spiritual one. And, most importantly, it’s a gathering to the one to whom each of Matthew’s mountains lead us - the Son of God. Our business, in making disciples, is to gather people into a mountain-centred fellowship, a community gathered in the name of God’s Son. A place where they can be instructed in his teaching, where they will see God and eat and drink!

3. Rest in Him

Lastly, the application of the covenant promise is, quite simply, to rest.

It delighted me to realise that on our tour of Matthew’s mountains, we have seen the Son of God answering to each of the three parties present at Sinai, where God first promised his ‘with-ness’ to a people of his choice.

We have seen him as Son of God in the place of the nation of Israel, passing the tests they failed and fulfilling all righteousness.

We have seen him as royal Son of God, answering to the Davidic covenant’s promise of a King - a mediatorial office on behalf of the people of God. And, of course, we have also seen him in the mediatorial office of Prophet with all of Matthew’s allusion to him as the promised successor to the prophet, Moses, through whom the old covenant was mediated.

On this last mountain, we have seen him most clearly in the place of the God who sat enthroned at the top of Mount Sinai, instituting the covenant in accordance with his sovereign will and grace. Here he claims the divine title “I am” and makes the covenant promise, “I am with you always”.

The with-ness of God is promised by him and is guaranteed because it has been sealed in him. He is with us now. And the culmination of that with-ness is still to come.

What application can we make from the fact that his divine Sonship enables us to see him as covenantee, mediator and covenantor?

Surely, the point is simply that the whole of the new and better covenant is bound up and sealed in him. And that means there is nothing left for us to do, but to delight in, bask in, rest in that eternal promise of his presence and voice! Amen!