Reflective Bible Study

As Matthew’s gospel comes to a close, we come to one of the more famous passages in the entire Bible, and likely the most famous and quoted ending to any of the gospels. In Matthew’s conclusion, Jesus gives them what is often called the Great Commission, and He leaves them with a promise. However, far from being a promise just for Jesus’ first followers, this commission and promise extend forward to all of God’s people and to those who have chosen to follow Jesus.

Let’s read what Matthew describes as Jesus’ final message to His followers, and as we read, look for an interesting description of those who were present for this event. Our passage and event are found in Matthew’s gospel, chapter 28, and we will read from the New American Standard Bible. Starting in verse 16, Matthew tells us that:

¹⁶ [But] the eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had designated. ¹⁷ When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some were doubtful. ¹⁸ And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. ¹⁹ Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

In this grand conclusion to Matthew’s gospel, we read the amazing description that some were doubtful. While Matthew skips over some of the events the other gospel writers include that happened after Jesus’ resurrection, we might be tempted to think that the doubtful “some” was really Thomas, who gets the reputation for being a doubter in what is described in John’s gospel. However, John’s gospel circles around and describes Thomas giving up his doubt when he ultimately sees Jesus. This leads me to conclude that the doubtful disciples described in Matthew’s gospel did not include Thomas.

Before moving forward to focus on the great commission and the great promise, it is worth paying attention to this verse. Verse 17 tells us “When they saw Him [referring to the disciples seeing Jesus], they worshiped Him; but some were doubtful.”

From this verse, we can conclude three big things.

First, when Jesus appeared to these disciples, and presumably everyone else who was present, Matthew tells us that when they saw Him, they worshiped Him. This tells us that even though some of them were doubtful, doubt doesn’t have to stop us from worshiping. Some people believe doubt is a reason to not worship or believe, but here in Matthew’s conclusion, we see worship being given to Jesus in spite of some people feeling doubtful.

Also, in this verse, we can conclude that in some instances, it is appropriate to realize that doubt may always be present. However, just because doubt might be present doesn’t mean that it should be given recognition. I wonder if Matthew was one who had some doubts, since he includes this detail here. However, the doubts Matthew may have had did not stop him from worshiping Jesus, and these doubts did not stop Matthew from proclaiming the great news of Jesus till His dying breath. Matthew allows for doubt to be present, but he doesn’t let it get any recognition.

The third thing we can learn from this verse is a challenge. This verse challenges us with an unpleasant truth. Even after seeing Jesus in person and worshiping Him, some people will always question what happened. Some people will let their minds play tricks on them and will let doubt have a foothold in their minds. While some of those present might have still been trying to wrap their minds around the resurrection and what had happened a few weeks earlier, other people take extraordinary events and their default response is to doubt the events actually happened.

Denying an event happened when there is evidence saying the exact opposite is like claiming the traffic light is red when it is really green, or saying that that stop sign doesn’t exist and that it can be ignored. While it is clearly possible to reject the evidence you have staring you in the face, rejecting evidence is never a wise move.

However, a bonus thing we can learn from this verse in addition to these other three things is simply that when we see Jesus, regardless of any doubt we may have, the best thing we can do is to love and worship Him. The best response we can have when seeing Jesus is to worship Him, which is an outward example of loving, praising, thanking, and respecting Him.

After worshiping Jesus, Jesus gives these followers the great commission. He begins by giving the disciples the truth that He has been given all authority in heaven and on earth. This means that while Satan still claims to rule this world, he has to work around what Jesus has commanded, and because of Jesus’ death and resurrection, this world truly belongs to God. Jesus has all authority in heaven and on earth and this means that anything Satan does is an underhanded attempt to undermine Jesus’ authority.

This shouldn’t surprise us at all, but it should help us understand the spiritual battle we are in. Satan doesn’t want to let this world go without a fight, and while he has lost the war and his fate is sealed, he is still trying to win battles against God for the hearts and minds of those living on this earth. Satan doesn’t care about humanity. All Satan cares about is hurting God because through Jesus and His sacrifice, God showed the universe His character of love while also exposing Satan’s character of hate.

God wants the best for all of humanity, and it is His desire to save as many people as who will accept Him. God isn’t going to force people into heaven against their will or against their choice. A God who forces His will on humanity is not a God of love. In contrast, Satan doesn’t care about humanity and he is more than willing to ridicule, force as much as possible, and make life hard in as many ways as he can for those who have openly sided with God.

But this is all Satan can do. He can make the lives of God’s people challenging in this life, but he cannot steal our future lives away from us. When we have allied with God, we will outlive the devil and that is a promise we repeatedly see in the Bible!

God has challenged us to spread this great news with people. We are called to go to all nations, baptize people in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teach people to observe what Jesus has commanded us, and when we move forward doing this, we can claim the promise that even though our lives won’t always be easy, through the Holy Spirit, Jesus is with us until the end of the age!

Even if Satan tries to make our lives as disciples of Jesus hard, remember that Satan cannot steal you away from Jesus, and because of the cross, our ultimate victory is guaranteed and Satan’s fate is sealed.

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always challenge you to do, intentionally seek God first in your life and choose to stay with Him regardless of what Satan throws your way. Don’t let doubt gain a foothold in your life and don’t let any doubt that is present have any recognition in your mind. Instead, claim the promise that because Jesus has risen from the dead, He now has all authority in heaven and on earth and that He has promised to be with His people regardless of what Satan does or claims. Remember that with Jesus, we will out-live the devil.

Also, always pray and study the Bible for yourself to learn and grow closer to God each day. Choose to take everything you read and hear and filter it through the message and truth of the Bible. Don’t take my word, or any other person’s word for what the Bible teaches. Instead, study it out for yourself and in the process of doing this, discover a renewed relationship with Jesus.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or abandon where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

One week after Jesus enters Jerusalem on a donkey, He steps out of the tomb victorious over death. Over this past year, we have walked with Jesus through this final week, and we have focused in on what the gospel writers recorded during this time.

To wrap up this year focusing on Jesus facing the cross, I couldn’t simply end with Jesus being dead and in the tomb. Even though the cross and death was Jesus’ mission and goal, He always saw past His death and looked forward to His resurrection. On multiple occasions, recorded in multiple gospels, Jesus tries to forewarn the disciples that He would be put to death, but that He would also rise from the dead on the third day.

However, for all times Jesus predicted crucifixion weekend to His disciples, they still are surprised and caught off guard when it happened. Even on resurrection morning, we discover that an actual resurrection is the last thing on the disciples’ minds. Let’s finish this year by looking at resurrection morning through the eyes of Mark’s gospel.

Our passage is found in the gospel of Mark, chapter 16, and we will read about what happened from the New Century Version of the Bible. Starting in verse 1, Mark tells us that:

¹ The day after the Sabbath day, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought some sweet-smelling spices to put on Jesus’ body. ² Very early on that day, the first day of the week, soon after sunrise, the women were on their way to the tomb. ³ They said to each other, “Who will roll away for us the stone that covers the entrance of the tomb?”

⁴ Then the women looked and saw that the stone had already been rolled away, even though it was very large. ⁵ The women entered the tomb and saw a young man wearing a white robe and sitting on the right side, and they were afraid.

⁶ But the man said, “Don’t be afraid. You are looking for Jesus from Nazareth, who has been crucified. He has risen from the dead; he is not here. Look, here is the place they laid him. ⁷ Now go and tell his followers and Peter, ‘Jesus is going into Galilee ahead of you, and you will see him there as he told you before.’”

⁸ The women were confused and shaking with fear, so they left the tomb and ran away. They did not tell anyone about what happened, because they were afraid.

It is at this point in Mark’s gospel where some manuscripts end. However, regardless of whether Mark ends his gospel here, or whether the longer version of Mark’s ending is correct, we can discover from this passage that resurrection was not on anyone’s mind.

The women who go to the tomb early on Resurrection Sunday are discussing among themselves who they will ask to help them roll the stone away. They are oblivious to the fact that there had been an order to seal the tomb and a group of soldiers had been posted to guard the tomb. By the time they arrived, the guards had scattered, the seal on the tomb had been broken, and the large stone had been rolled away.

Since they had brought spices to put on Jesus’ corpse, they enter the tomb only to find a young man wearing a white robe who seems to be more aware of what has happened than anyone else, and when they look over to the place they remember seeing Jesus’ body last, no body was there.

As I read about what happened on resurrection morning, I cannot help but wonder if this friendly young man was the angel who came down, frightened all the soldiers, and tossed the stone aside to make way for Jesus’ triumphant exit from the tomb. While there were likely armies of evil angels guarding the tomb with the Roman soldiers, all it took was one of God’s angels to scatter Satan’s forces of darkness – both human and supernatural forces – and prepare the way for Jesus to emerge from the tomb.

In our own lives, while it might seem as though evil is winning when we look at the world today, know that Jesus has already won. Jesus has conquered not just sin and death, but evil as well. Satan has been judged as guilty and he knows his time is coming. The only thing Satan can work towards now is trying to steal as many people away from God as he possibly can. And this is what he has been doing for the past 2,000 years.

While it may appear as though Satan is winning the world today, God is still in control and just one of God’s angels is enough to push back the forces of darkness. When times are tough in this life, we are challenged to remember what Jesus not only accomplished through His death, but also through His resurrection. Jesus defeated Satan and with eternity as our focus, Satan’s time is coming up fast.

I don’t have any idea how much longer the world will continue before Jesus returns to put a final end to sin, suffering, and Satan’s apparent rule, but I do know that when Jesus does return, Satan will be exposed as the deceiver he has always been.

As we move through each day, each month, and each year, let’s remember what Jesus accomplished for us. Jesus came to this earth as one of us, and He lived the life we couldn’t live, so He could give us the life that we don’t deserve – and that life lasts forever with God.

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

Always choose to place God first in your life and intentionally seek to do His will each and every day. While times might look dark and events might prompt you to think that evil is winning, Satan’s time is short and God will not abandon His people. God is looking forward to the day when Jesus returns more expectantly than we could even imagine, and He wants as many people with Him in heaven as He can.

Also, as I always challenge you to do, pray and study the Bible for yourself and intentionally grow your personal relationship with God each day. Trust that God is still in control and even if life doesn’t make sense right now, know that from eternity’s perspective, God is moving history towards the end of sin and the salvation of His people!

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or abandon where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!