Often the Lord desired to gather the children of Jerusalem together, but they were not willing. As He was declaring a final word to them, He was still like a loving hen, stretching out her wings to brood over the little ones. But they were not willing to be gathered under His wings.
Although the Lord was rejected by the Jews, He is received by the believers.
At the end of the Gospel of Matthew, a book on the kingdom of the heavens, the Lord Jesus presents Himself as the One given all authority in heaven and on earth (Matt. 28:18-20). Matthew 28:18 says, “Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.” In His divinity as the only begotten Son of God, the Lord had authority over all. However, in His humanity as the Son of Man to be the King of the heavenly kingdom, all authority in heaven and on earth had to be given to Him after His resurrection.
The Lord’s being given all authority is for the believers to disciple all the nations, baptizing them into the Triune God. In 28:19 and 20a the Lord Jesus tells us, “Go therefore and disciple all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have I commanded you.” Because all authority had been given to Him, the heavenly King sent His disciples to go and disciple the nations. They go with His authority to disciple the nations. To disciple the nations is to make the heathen the kingdom people for the establishment of God’s kingdom, which is the church, even today, on earth.
The believers have not yet fulfilled adequately the commandment, the charge, given by the Lord Jesus in verse 19. To bring people to Christ and to make them believers is one thing, but to disciple them is another thing. Among Christians today we can see the making of sinners into believers, but we cannot see much discipling of the nations. The Lord, however, has commanded us to disciple the nations, to disciple the Gentiles. To disciple others is to make them genuine subjects of the heavenly kingdom. This is the goal that we want to carry out in our practice of the God-ordained way. Our goal is not simply to bring sinners to the Lord so that they may be saved and become believers. Our aim is to follow the Lord’s charge to disciple people, to make them the proper subjects of the heavenly kingdom.
If we are to disciple the nations, we must baptize those who receive our gospel preaching into the name, the person, of the Triune God. The Lord charges us to baptize the believing sinners into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Since the name signifies the person, to baptize the believers into the name of the Triune God is to baptize them into the person of the Triune God, into the living person of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, so that they may have an organic union with the Triune God. When we baptize others, we are actually putting them into the Triune God.
After charging us to disciple the nations, baptizing them into the Triune God, the Lord Jesus goes on to say, “Behold, I am with you all the days until the consummation of the age” (v. 20b). Christ, the heavenly King, is Emmanuel, God with us (Matt. 1:23). Here He promises to be with us until the consummation of the age, that is, until the end of this age, which will be the time of His parousia (coming).
When we go and disciple the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, we enjoy the Lord’s presence all the days. We will enjoy His presence every day until the consummation of the age. As we approach the consummation of the age, we enjoy the presence of the Lord Jesus, the One who is the embodiment of the Triune God.
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