EXPERIENCING, ENJOYING, AND EXPRESSING CHRIST (1)

Message Three
Discipling All the Nations by Baptizing Them into the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit

Scripture Reading: Matt. 28:16-20

I.　"All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth"— Matt. 28:18:

A.　God is the supreme authority, and He has all authority—Rom. 9:20-21:

1.　Authority issues from God's own being—Rev. 22:1.

2.　All authority—governmental, positional, and spiritual—derives from God—Gen. 9:6; Rom. 13:1-7; John 19:10-11; 2 Cor. 10:8; 13:10.

B.　There are two aspects of spiritual authority:

1.　The positive aspect is to serve the saints, to shepherd them, to supply them, and to build them up—Matt. 20:25-28; 2:6; 24:45; 2 Cor. 10:8.

2.　The negative aspect is to deal with the enemy and the things related to him.

C.　In His divinity, as the only begotten Son of God, the Lord had authority over all—Matt. 28:18.

D.　However, in His humanity, as the Son of Man and the King of the heavenly kingdom, authority in heaven and on earth was given to Him after His resurrection.

II.　"Go therefore and disciple all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit"— v. 19:

A.　Because all authority was given to Him (v. 18), the heavenly King sent His disciples to disciple all the nations.

B.　They go with His authority.

C.　To disciple the nations is to make the heathen the kingdom people for the establishing of His kingdom, which is the church, even today, on the earth.

D.　Baptism brings the repentant people out of their old state into a new one by terminating their old life and germinating them with the new life of Christ that they may become the kingdom people.

E.　Into indicates union, as in Romans 6:3 and Galatians 3:27:

1.　The same Greek word is used in Acts 8:16; 19:5; and 1 Corinthians 1:13, 15.

2.　To baptize people into the name of the Triune God is to bring them into a spiritual and mystical union with Him.

F.　There is one name for the Divine Trinity:

1.　The name is the sum total of the Divine Being, equivalent to His person.

2.　To baptize someone into the name of the Triune God is to immerse him into all that the Triune God is.

G.　For the constituting of the kingdom, Matthew discloses the reality of the Divine Trinity by giving one name for all three—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit:

1.　In the opening chapter of Matthew, the Holy Spirit (1:18), Christ the Son (v.18), and God the Father (v. 23) are present for the producing of the man Jesus (v. 21), who, as Jehovah the Savior and God with us, is the very embodiment of the Triune God.

2.　In chapter 3 Matthew presents a scene in which the Son was standing in the water of baptism under the opened heaven, the Spirit like a dove descended upon the Son, and the Father spoke out of the heavens to the Son—vv. 16-17.

3.　In chapter 12 the Son, in the person of man, cast out demons by the Spirit to bring in the kingdom of God the Father—v. 28.

4.　In chapter 16 the Father revealed the Son to the disciples for the building of the church, which is the life pulse of the kingdom—vv. 16-19.

5.　In chapter 17 the Son entered into transfiguration (v. 2) and was confirmed by the Father's word of delight (v. 5), bringing about a miniature display of the manifestation of the kingdom (16:28).

6.　Eventually, in the closing chapter of Matthew, after Christ as the last Adam had passed through the process of crucifixion, entered into the realm of resurrection, and become the life-giving Spirit, He came back to His disciples in the atmosphere and reality of His resurrection to charge them to make the heathen the kingdom people by baptizing them into the name, the person, the reality, of the Divine Trinity.

7.　According to Matthew, being baptized into the reality of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit is for the constituting of the kingdom of the heavens.

8.　Unlike an earthly society, the heavenly kingdom cannot be formed with human beings of flesh and blood (cf. 1 Cor. 15:50); it can be constituted only with people who have been immersed into the union with the Triune God and who have been established and built up with the Triune God, who has been wrought into them.

III.　"Teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you all the days until the consummation of the age"—Matt. 28:20:

A.　Teaching the believers to observe all that the Lord has commanded is for the discipling of all the nations—v. 19.

B.　The heavenly King is Emmanuel, God with us—1:23.

C.　Hence, wherever we are gathered into His name, He is in our midst—18:20.

D.　As such, He can never and would never leave His believers.

E.　Matthew proves that the Lord, as Emmanuel, is the heavenly King who is with His people continuously until He comes back.

F.　The consummation of the age is the end of this age, which is the time of the Lord's parousia, the Lord's coming:

1.　The word consummation means that there is a process that will be brought to completion or fulfillment.

2.　In Matthew 28:20 the consummation of the age indicates the end of this present age, the church age.

3.　The consummation of the age will be the three and a half years of the great tribulation—Dan. 12:4, 6-7, 9.

4.　The end spoken of in Matthew 24:6 is the consummation of the age, which will be the three and a half years (the last half of the seventieth week) of the great tribulation.

5.　The consummation of the age is not the end of the world but the completion of the church age, the age of grace; this age is very close to completion.

6.　The Lord promised that in His resurrection He will be with us all the days, with all authority, until the consummation of the age, that is, until the end of this age.