God is With You

Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

—Matthew 28:16-20

Over the past week I have spoken with several friends who are deeply concerned, anxious and worried about health, financial security and questions regarding what the new normal will entail, and I have spoken with others who combine similar concerns with an overwhelming sense of loneliness and isolation. They are struggling, longing to return to their old life, knowing their old life is unlikely to return, and wondering what the new world will look like.

My spirit is burdened for them. This morning I read Titus, struck by the message Paul urged the young pastor to preach, but as I read, my mind kept returning to Jesus’ promises recorded as the last paragraph of Matthew’s gospel. In a short paragraph, Jesus makes two amazing promises sandwiching the Great Commission – Jesus’ command for us to go out to the world baptizing and teaching in Jesus’ holy name and His clear directive that disciples are anointed to live for others. Immediately before the Great Commission He promises that He has all authority in heaven and on earth, and immediately after it He promises that He is with us always. The promise is present tense yet infinite.

I feel my friends’ troubled spirits and my mind continues returning to Jesus’ amazing promises and I cannot stop fixating on the declaration of Jesus who is, now and eternally, present with us. But let’s step back a bit and consider where the passage fits in the narrative.

Jesus continued appearing to believers and teaching about the kingdom of God for forty days after the first Easter (see Acts 1:7). He appeared to Mary Magdalene, two men walking to Emmaus, the disciples and many others. On one occasion He appeared to 500 at the same time and place and while explaining this awesome fact, Paul mentions many of the people who witnessed the appearances were still alive when he wrote the words, providing remarkable support for the statement’s truth (see 1 Corinthians 15). Post-Easter Jesus appeared and taught often, and on some occasions He demonstrated His embodiment by eating the same food others ate. His resurrection was not merely spiritual; He was resurrected in the body.

Jesus conquered death. He suffered and died and through His resurrection we know He conquered death. As I ponder the phenomenal unearthly power revealed through the resurrection, I am drawn to the concluding paragraph of Matthew’s gospel.

Here we have Jesus in His post-resurrection glory talking with the disciples, and during the brief conversation Jesus declared two amazing promises. First, He promises that He has “all authority in heaven and on earth.” Who has unlimited authority? Only the sovereign One. This is one of His many statements of deity. Second, He promises that He is with us always.

Jesus is God. He has Godly power and all authority in heaven and on earth. He has authority over all of creation, over the universe, over the earth, the rocks, mountains and sea, over Satan and the demons who follow him, and over us. The limited authority we possess and evil forces possess are subject to His sovereignty. He has all authority and He is with us! He is with us always!  

So what does that mean? Why is that significant? Jesus is God. He has all authority in heaven and on earth, and He is with you. If He is with you, who can possibly oppose you? If He is with you and you abide in Him, what can possibly pry you away from Him? If He is with you, what do you have to worry about?  

Is it possible for us to fully accept the awesome truth of His promises? If we believe that Jesus is God, that He embodies all the characteristics of God, and that He is with us, yet we continue to worry and feel anxious, we must stop and ask why? Is it possibly because we do not really believe?  

Let’s not overlook the meat of Jesus’ promise sandwich. Between His two amazing promises, Jesus commands us to go, to make disciples of all nations, to baptize them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and to teach “them to obey everything” that Jesus commands. Once we reach the point where we truly believe in the depths of our spirit and soul that Jesus is God and He is truly with us, nothing could be more important than proclaiming that truth to everyone. We have been anointed to live for others because it would be awful for someone, anyone, to have the opportunity to know God now, to have Him dwell within them now, to experience His wholeness now and to commune with Him for eternity, but miss out.

I know God is revealing His glory all around us, through the global situation and the infinite variety of localized drama continually unfolding. Our awesome God, the One we have the privilege of calling Father, the One we have the privilege of calling Brother and the One who abides in us, is sovereign. He is in control. He is all-powerful and He has all authority. Perhaps He is allowing this chaos to swirl these days preparing each of us to embody His light, love and life to the world around us in ways we cannot yet imagine.  

God is with you always and He anoints you to go and proclaim. Pray for eyes to see the opportunities before you.