THE BOOK OF MATTHEW
Lesson 96, Chapter 28 END
Today, we shall conclude what amounts to a 2-year study of the Gospel of
Matthew. Although there are some additional facts and events surrounding
Christ’s death, resurrection is far and away the central matter of chapter 28, as it
ought to be. Open your Bibles to Matthew chapter 28.
READ MATTHEW CHAPTER 28 all
Before we start studying these inspired words, I must first give you some
information about which most Bible students aren’t aware. Nearly every modern
and even earlier Christian scholar I’ve researched begins with a similar premise
that all 4 Gospel accounts are to be divided into Pre- and Post-Easter events,
instructions, and narratives. And that what happened before Jesus’s death and
resurrection matters considerably less than what happened afterward. Essentially
the mindset is that His resurrection changed circumstances so greatly that
whatever He said and taught prior to His crucifixion must not be given as much
weight… nor His instructions be understood as something that Christians are
necessarily bound to… as to what He said after He arose. Further that whatever
part of His life, speech and behavior is overtly Jewish in its tone and flavor is to
be disregarded as not for members of the Christian Church since although He
died a Jew, He was no longer a Jew when He arose and shortly after ascended
to Heaven. This premise is necessary because Christianity is, as admitted by
Church authorities since the 4
th
century, not a religion for Jews but rather only for
gentiles. To sum it up: the underlying assumption of the institutional Church as
regards His resurrection is that it opened a new chapter that essentially greatly
modified or even abolished most of what came before, up to and including what
Christ did and said.
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This is so important to be aware of that I’ll say it again in different terms: the
mindset is that it’s not only that the relevance of the Old Testament and its
teachings and commands are said to be not for Christians, it is that the relevance
of much of Yeshua’s pre-crucifixion and resurrection instructions have been
largely superseded. This is why various Bible scholars over the past couple of
centuries confess that what we have today in Christianity is not actually a Church
of Christ, but rather a Church of Paul. Part of the reason that this happened is the
realization that several of Yeshua’s teachings, and especially the Sermon on the
Mount, are problematic for a gentiles-only brand of Christianity… and we have
discussed several of those matters over the past 2 years. So, the companion
premise is that because of the resurrection Paul re-interpreted those earlier
teachings of Jesus that happened before His crucifixion.
I cannot accept this traditional position and it has much to do with why Seed of
Abraham Ministries exists in the first place. I hope after our deep dive into the
Book of Matthew (that I also hope was preceded by your study in the Torah with
me) that the age-old position of the Church dividing the relevance of Christ’s
teachings into Pre- and Post-Easter periods finally becomes unacceptable for
you as well. I also want to make it clear that my goal has never been to create an
anti-Church or anti-cross mentality. Rather it is my hope that some hopelessly
inappropriate doctrines that have crept into our faith over the centuries can be
exposed to the light of day, repented over and rooted out, before the End arrives
and Our Lord returns. Let’s move on.
The opening words of chapter 28 tell us when the events of the next few verses
occurred: it was on the 1
st
day of the week (what the Western world calls
Sunday). Because the CJB is what is known as a dynamic translation (whereby
in some cases the alleged meaning substitutes for the literal words), then the
words “1
st
day of the week” are (at the author’s discretion) not included.
Nonetheless, the day after the weekly Sabbath is the 1
st
day of the week and we
find that bit of information expressed in virtually all other English Bible versions.
NAS
Matthew 28:1 Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the
first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at
the grave.
“Towards dawn” is a general term that nicely equates to the common English
term “at sunrise”. Biblically, and as understood and practiced by Jews, Shabbat
had ended several hours earlier at the previous sunset and so at that point the
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day had advanced from the 7
th
to the 1
st
day of the week.
Miriam of Magdala (Mary Magdalen) and the woman called “the other Miriam”
(the one in the previous chapter identified as the mother of Jacob and Joseph…
who may or may not have been Yeshua’s mother) went while it was still dark to
visit the tomb where the wealthy disciple Joseph of Ramatayim had placed
Christ’s corpse. These same 2 women were, among other Jews, present at the
site of the crucifixion as Jesus hung dying upon the cross. That it was
2 women that are mentioned only adds to the historic evidence that this account
is true as the world in that era was a network of male dominated societies, and
especially the Hebrew faith placed men in the leading roles. So, the heavy
involvement and mention of women is a bit of a surprise. Although as Daniel J.
Harrington notes in his research on ancient Judaism, it was the custom at that
time for family and friends to keep watch over the tomb of a loved one for 3 days
to be sure that the person entombed wasn’t actually still alive, but had
accidentally been judged as dead!
Just as there had been an earthquake at the moment of Yeshua giving up His
spirit and succumbing to the horrible execution experience of the Roman death
stake, so now another earthquake occurs around the time of the women’s arrival
at the tomb. Matthew explains that the earthquake was directly connected with a
representative of God (an angel) arriving on scene, whereby the rock closing the
opening to the tomb was rolled away, exposing the entrance. The angel, quite
visible and no doubt frightening in appearance, sat upon the stone that had been
moved to the side. Saying that the angel’s appearance was like lightening must
be referring to the suddenness of it rather than a description of what he looked
like. What he looked like was summed up with the words: “his clothes were white
as snow”.
The Gospel of Mark, however, tells a somewhat different version of these same
happenings.
CJB
Mark 16:1 When Shabbat was over, Miryam of Magdala, Miryam the
mother of Ya'akov, and Shlomit bought spices in order to go and anoint
Yeshua.
2
Very early the next day, just after sunrise, they went to the
tomb.
3
They were asking each other, "Who will roll away the stone from the
entrance to the tomb for us?"
4
Then they looked up and saw that the stone,
even though it was huge, had been rolled back already. 5 On entering the
tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right;
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and they were dumbfounded.
Since neither Matthew nor Mark were eyewitness, and both were writing at least
30 years after the fact, then clearly they were getting their information from
different sources (that is the nature of all the Synoptic Gospels). In Mark no
earthquake is mentioned, 3 women and not 2 went to the tomb, there is no direct
explanation for how the tomb had been opened, and there was a young man
dressed in all white sitting NOT outside but rather inside the tomb next to where
Yeshua had been laid. We’re left to decide who this “young man” is. It is nearly
universally agreed that this “young man” was an angel. I’m not so sure. Why
wouldn’t Mark simply say “angel” if that’s the case? When we read a little more
of Mark, my suspicion increases that the “young man” wasn’t an angel.
CJB
Mark 16:6-9
6
But he said, "Don't be so surprised! You're looking for
Yeshua from Natzeret, who was executed on the stake. He has risen, he's
not here! Look at the place where they laid him.
7
But go and tell his
talmidim, especially Kefa, that he is going to the Galil ahead of you. You
will see him there, just as he told you."
8
Trembling but ecstatic they went
out and fled from the tomb, and they said nothing to anyone, because they
were afraid.*
9
When Yeshua rose early Sunday, he appeared first to Miryam
of Magdala, from whom he had expelled seven demons.
It seems to me that in Mark’s Gospel the intent of referring to the “young man”
is not to an angelic being but rather is more likely to be Jesus. Even though this
“young man” says “He’s not here”, and “He is going to the Galilee ahead of
you”, Yeshua regularly spoke of Himself in the 3
rd
person, especially when He
talked about the Son of Man. This could explain Mark’s otherwise rather
confusing verse 9 about Christ first appearing to Mary Magdalen that seems out
of place. My speculation is that Mark is writing about what the appearance of this
being was to the 3 women (a young human male) and not what his substance
was or who he actually turned out to be. If this is the case, then it differs
significantly from Matthew’s account.
I don’t think we need to fret much over any of these differences; for one reason
we can’t pepper the original authors with questions, so the why and wherefore
can be nothing but our guesses. Yet to pretend that there aren’t differences is
not intellectually honest. The precise details of the tomb opening and why the
women came, and even how many women were present (in Mark’s version it
was 3 women who intended to complete the funeral process of putting aromatic
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spices within the folds of the linen covering that envelops the dead body) aren’t
crucial to the point of the story, which is the empty tomb. So, as we continue in
Matthew we have the mention of guards (Roman guards) that had witnessed the
earthquake, the stone being rolled away, and the sudden presence of this
terrifying apparition that Matthew says is an angel. Saying the guards became
like dead men simply means they became frozen in fear.
Next, some of the most profound words of the entire New Testament are spoken
by the “angelic” being. He says that the women shouldn’t be afraid (no doubt
referring to the nature of his own appearance), and that he knows why they came
to the tomb, and that it was to look for Yeshua who had been crucified. He next
says that Yeshua isn’t there in the tomb BECAUSE He has been raised, just as
He had prophesied. So, the angel provides the reason that Jesus isn’t there; that
is, His body wasn’t taken, it had come alive again. The angel invites the women
into the tomb to see that no one was there and that they were to quickly run to tell
the 11 disciples about what has happened (no doubt meaning that the 11
disciples hadn’t scattered but rather stayed as a downcast group nearby, but it
also means the women knew exactly where they were). They are also to tell the
disciples that Jesus is going to be in the Galilee (again, just as He had said He
would be prior to His death).
What is described is so very brief, short on details, and leaves out perhaps the
most puzzling matter that we’d all like to know about: the resurrection itself. We
have no information on how it happened, or what it looked like as it unfolded
inside that tomb. Resurrection is given as a fact and nothing more. We’re not
really told by Matthew that Jesus arose on that 1
st
day of the week, only that the
tomb opened on that day and that He was already gone. Even the prophecy of
Jonah that Yeshua said He would fulfill as a sign doesn’t necessarily state that
He was dead for 3 days and nights; only (like Jonah in the belly of the great fish)
He would be sequestered inside the tomb for 3 days and nights.
CJB
Matthew 12:38-40
38
At this some of the Torah-teachers said, "Rabbi, we
want to see a miraculous sign from you."
39
He replied, "A wicked and
adulterous generation asks for a sign? No! None will be given to it but the
sign of the prophet Yonah.
40
For just as Yonah was three days and three
nights in the belly of the sea-monster, so will the Son of Man be three days
and three nights in the depths of the earth.
Similarly, Mark doesn’t say Christ arose on the 3
rd
day. Luke, however, says
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it was on the 3
rd
day that Jesus arose (meaning, came alive from the dead).
CJB
Luke 24:7 'The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful
men and be executed on a stake as a criminal, but on the third day be
raised again'
So, the ambiguity of the time of Christ’s revivification in Matthew and Mark is
settled by Luke. Let’s consider the timeline of events. Using standard Western
terminology for days of the week, this is the usual Christian timeline: Yeshua was
killed and placed into the tomb on Friday and arose on Sunday. But how can that
add up to 3 days and 3 nights to fulfill the prophetic sign of Jonah? Answer: it
can’t. At best it offers just a few minutes in the tomb on Friday, a full day on
Saturday, and a little bit of a day on Sunday. But no amount of spin can ever give
us 3 nights. Friday night and Saturday night are but 2 nights. The solution is
simple but it shakes up standard doctrine; there must be one more day and night
injected. The solution begins by returning to the fact that this was the Spring
Festival period when 3 God-ordained feasts occurred in rapid succession:
Passover, Unleavened Bread, and Firstfruits. When we view this from the only
way we should (from the Hebrew/Jewish way) that MUST include accounting for
the added feast sabbaths that are biblically ordained for the 1
st
and last days of
the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Doing that we can reconstruct a timeline that
works. Using the Hebrew model of days that changed at sunset (not at midnight),
and using the Hebrew numbering system of days (not the Roman day naming
system that we use), then we see that Yeshua died and was entombed on the
5
th
day of the week, lay there for the 6
th
and 7
th
days of the week, and arose on
the 1
st
day of a new week. I’ll say it a different way: He was placed in the tomb
just before dark on the 5
th
day (which begins a new Hebrew day), remained
entombed for the day and night of the 6
th
day (a festival sabbath day), and for the
day and night of the 7
th
day (the weekly 7
th
day sabbath), and arose around
daybreak of the 1
st
day of the new week. That gives us 3 days and 3 nights. All
other formulas simply don’t add up.
Further, my opinion is that just as when Yeshua died it was announced by an
earthquake, so therefore was the moment of His resurrection announced by an
earthquake, and we know this happened about daybreak. We’ll deal a little more
with this matter, shortly.
Verse 8 continues with the women dutifully obeying the angel’s instructions to
run and find the disciples and to tell them the news. The women were shaken
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and badly frightened by what they had just witnessed, but they were also
conflicted in emotion as they were filled with unimaginable joy because the death
of their Lord had seemingly turned to an unfathomable victory. Somewhere along
their way to find the 11 disciples (it wouldn’t have been a very long distance)
Jesus suddenly appears to them. John’s Gospel tells the story differently from
Matthew’s and Mark’s.
CJB
John 20:11-17
11
but Miryam stood outside crying. As she cried, she
bent down, peered into the tomb,
12
and saw two angels in white sitting
where the body of Yeshua had been, one at the head and one at the
feet.
13
"Why are you crying?" they asked her. "They took my Lord," she
said to them, "and I don't know where they have put him."
14
As she said
this, she turned around and saw Yeshua standing there, but she didn't
know it was he.
15
Yeshua said to her, "Lady, why are you crying? Whom
are you looking for?" Thinking he was the gardener, she said to him, "Sir, if
you're the one who carried him away, just tell me where you put him; and
I'll go and get him myself."
16
Yeshua said to her, "Miryam!" Turning, she
cried out to him in Hebrew, "Rabbani!" (that is, "Teacher!")
17
"Stop holding
onto me," Yeshua said to her, "because I haven't yet gone back to the
Father. But go to my brothers, and tell them that I am going back to my
Father and your Father, to my God and your God."
So, in John’s version it wasn’t an angel that told the women to go find the 11
disciples, it was the risen Christ (and, there were also 2 angels present). So, the
women weren’t on their way to find the disciples when they saw Yeshua;
instead, He was suddenly standing right there next to them just outside the
tomb’s entrance. Which of the 4 Gospel accounts gets the details of this event
most correct? I’d vote for John’s since he was nearby at the time, as one of the
original 11. John would have heard the story directly from the mouths of the
excited women eyewitnesses. John was the only Gospel writer that was part of
Christ’s first followers.
Much to unpack here but I want to begin with this: Jesus’s words once again
confound the co-equal Trinity Doctrine theory that is a mainstay for most of
Western Christianity. That is, if one claims that the New Testament tells us that
God manifests Himself ONLY as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (The
Trinity), then all 3 natures or “persons” of God are co-equal with no hierarchy of
authority, power or knowledge. Listen carefully to what Yeshua says.
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CJB
John 20:17 "Stop holding onto me," Yeshua said to her, "because I
haven't yet gone back to the Father. But go to my brothers, and tell them
that I am going back to my Father and your Father, to my God and your
God."
Yeshua not only refers to “My Father” but also refers to Him as “My God”. And
by saying “My God and your God”, He is putting His Father’s superior God-
status above Himself, the women, and the disciples.
Let’s talk now about resurrection, which to my thinking must be the fulcrum upon
which all belief in Yeshua as our Lord and Savior pivots. Paul says that without
Yeshua’s resurrection our faith is in vain. Yet it might surprise you to know that
not all Christian denominations believe in resurrection. Some denominations
don’t believe in any kind of resurrection (not even of the disembodied soul),
others believe that Jesus was resurrected but He’s the only one that ever will be,
and still others believe in resurrection of the soul and not body, and this even
includes the absence of possibility of the bodily resurrection of Yeshua. For some
of the older denominations (like the Baptists) there are splits in their resurrection
beliefs that can be traced to the rise of the European Enlightenment of the
18
th
century. Especially as we arrive at the mid-20
th
century the idea of bodily
resurrection (including of Jesus) within the various Western Church branches
was on the wane. This is due to the modern era insistence that the Bible must
agree with science; or better, must conform to science. From that view,
scientifically speaking since resurrection is a miracle, and since miracles cannot
be reproduced and proven in a laboratory, then there can be no such things as
miracles. This issue is one of a small handful that defines the basic division
between what the Church calls its Liberal versus Fundamental (or Conservative)
denominations.
As I have had the pleasure of researching the array of beliefs concerning
resurrection both in documents and (over my lifetime) in talking with Christians of
many denominations, it is sometimes a surprise to members of one side of this
argument or the other that a different view even exists. I assure you that there
aren’t just 2 sides to the debate: there are many. We could probably spend a lot
of time on all these various views, their nuances and their sources, but it would
take us down a rabbit trail that is not appropriate for our purposes. So, I’ll just
state to you that because I take the Bible as inspired, truthful and literal (literal in
its meaning and intent when taken within the context of the culture it was written)
therefore, I can confidently tell you that Jesus died on the cross, His dead body
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was placed into a tomb, and on the 3
rd
day the Father in Heaven miraculously
revivified Him both in body and soul. While so often this concept of resurrection is
taught within the Church as a new Christian innovation (that is, very much new
and apart from the Judaism of Christ’s day) in fact that is not so at all. Such a
thing was completely within the broad spectrum of Jewish theology of Yeshua’s
day and had been part of the Hebrew faith for centuries. Although, just as within
modern Christianity, there were (and continue to be) many more than 1 stream of
thought on the matter of resurrection that various Jewish groups adhered to. So,
this is where we’ll focus our attention for the next few minutes because it reveals
the mindset of the Jewish people and of 1
st
century writers of the New
Testament.
Of the several doctrinal disagreements between the Sadducees and Pharisees
was the subject of resurrection. The Sadducees did not believe in it but different
groups of Pharisees variously believed either in spirit-only resurrection or in
spirit and body. Therefore, the concerns of the Sadducee and Pharisee members
of the Sanhedrin that convicted Yeshua and wanted guards placed at His tomb
were different. The Sadducees truly believed that since resurrection was not
possible, then the only way that Christ’s body could go missing is if His disciples
took it. The Pharisees, however, had mixed motives. While they were afraid that
Jesus’s disciples indeed might come and steal the body, they also couldn’t
dismiss the idea that He could be resurrected. And what would they do about a
resurrected Jesus wandering around Jerusalem that would threaten their
authority over the Jewish people even more than the sad remembrance of a dead
and non-resurrected Jesus?
Going back to what many Jewish scholars think may be the first book of Bible
that was written down, is the Book of Job. In it we read this:
CJB
Job 14:11-14
11
Just as water in a lake disappears, as a river shrinks and
dries up;
12
so a person lies down and doesn't arise- until the sky no longer
exists; it will not awaken, it won't be roused from its sleep.
13
"I wish you
would hide me in Sh'ol, conceal me until your anger has passed, then fix a
time and remember me!
14
If a man dies, will he live again? I will wait all the
days of my life for my change to come.
So, from a very early date there was hope of a man being brought back to life by
God after he had died. This is what resurrection amounts to even if the word itself
had yet to be coined, and this because more formed thoughts about the subject
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had not yet been brought together. Much of the source of resurrection thought
actually revolves around the concept of monotheism (the concept that there is
only one God). In other words, if there is only one God, and God is the Creator of
life, and it is God who determines everything, then certainly the power of life and
death and even renewed life lies within His capable hands. So monotheistic
religions like Judaism, Christianity, and even Islam all believe in resurrection of
one kind or another. Another element of this resurrection reasoning is that a
human being was created as a moral unit. That is our body and soul form a unit,
and so they can only be separated to a degree. It follows that in our alive state
the condition of our soul will necessarily have a profound effect on our body, and
vice versa and that resurrection necessarily must be of body and soul together.
So, our basic belief in the One God is our best assurance that resurrection must
be an immutable fact. Our hope in Christ, then, is not about resurrection itself (an
already established fact), but rather the matter becomes our resurrection into
what? It was therefore perhaps the “resurrection into what?” question that
concerned and separated Hebrew thought into various groups and sects.
Because both Ezekiel and Jeremiah shared this view of resurrection as a given,
and of humans as God-defined and created moral units of body and soul, and
because of these Prophets’ messianic beliefs (that Jesus so much relied upon to
explain Himself to others), then resurrection gradually came to be seen as a
central part of the eventual reality of the coming Messianic Kingdom (what the
Gospel accounts call the Kingdom of Heaven or the Kingdom of God).
Resurrection and the Kingdom of Heaven of course only extended for the most
part to Israelites, and especially found its expression in Ezekiel’s famous dry
bones (representing scattered and dead Israelites) coming back to life and being
re-covered in flesh as living persons (as moral units). Daniel expressed a coming
resurrection that differed slightly, perhaps, from Ezekiel’s and Jeremiah’s.
CJB
Daniel 12:1 "When that time comes, Mikha'el, the great prince who
champions your people, will stand up; and there will be a time of distress
unparalleled between the time they became a nation and that moment. At
that time, your people will be delivered, everyone whose name is found
written in the book.
2
Many of those sleeping in the dust of the earth will
awaken, some to everlasting life and some to everlasting shame and
abhorrence.
3
But those who can discern will shine like the brightness of
heaven's dome, and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars
forever and ever.
4
"But you, Dani'el, keep these words secret, and seal up
the book until the time of the end. Many will rush here and there as
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knowledge increases."
The difference is that even Jewish scholars see this prophecy including the
possibility (although not a certainty) that it might include resurrection of the dead
even for some gentiles. But Daniel’s prophecy also says that there will be
general resurrection that will include not only the righteous but also the wicked.
Therefore, we have the beginning of the issue I spoke about a couple of minutes
ago: our resurrection into what? Daniel says for some it will be resurrection into
everlasting life, and others resurrection into everlasting shame and abhorrence.
The later Ethiopic Book of Enoch (this is not a book in the Bible so don’t go
looking for it in your index) builds on Daniel’s concept and
proposes that She’ol (the grave or the underworld of the dead) is divided into 4
chambers: 2 that house the righteous dead, and 2 that house the wicked dead. I
won’t get into the details, but of the 4 classes of people who die and get divided
up to live in those 4 different chambers, the 2 righteous classes plus 1 of the
wicked ones (all living in their separate chambers) will be resurrected; the
4
th
won’t be. The 3 resurrected classes were said to be fully body and soul
(moral unit) resurrections.
On the other hand, the Slavonic Book of Enoch (another non-Biblical work)
assumes that all will be resurrected, but only in spirit and never in body. The
Pharisees and Essenes (in general) believed in resurrection of the body and
spirit. However, both saw this as applying mainly or exclusively to Israelites. Over
time, after the destruction of the Temple in 70 A.D. and when the priesthood
became disbanded, Rabbis became the new driving force of theology in Judaism.
As one might expect, debates raged over who might be included in resurrection.
For instance; Rabbi Eleazar Ha-Kappar said “As all men are born and die, so will
they rise again”. He and other Rabbis shared this view and placed the timing of
the resurrection at the close of the Messianic era. Does all this sound familiar to
you? It ought to. We find this same conclusion coming from Yeshua, Paul, and
from John in the Book of Revelation.
CJB
Revelation 20:1 Next I saw an angel coming down from heaven, who
had the key to the Abyss and a great chain in his hand.
2
He seized the
dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the Devil and Satan [the Adversary],
and chained him up for a thousand years.
3
He threw him into the Abyss,
locked it and sealed it over him; so that he could not deceive the nations
any more until the thousand years were over. After that, he has to be set
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free for a little while.
4
Then I saw thrones, and those seated on them
received authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been
beheaded for testifying about Yeshua and proclaiming the Word of God,
also those who had not worshipped the beast or its image and had not
received the mark on their foreheads and on their hands. They came to life
and ruled with the Messiah for a thousand years.
5
(The rest of the dead did
not come to life until the thousand years were over.) This is the first
resurrection.
6
Blessed and holy is anyone who has a part in the first
resurrection; over him the second death has no power. On the contrary,
they will be cohanim of God and of the Messiah, and they will rule with him
for the thousand years.
So, when we read what Christ says, and even what Paul will later say, it is
nothing particularly innovative within the Hebrew faith. What is new is announcing
that the Messiah of the messianic era has arrived and His name is Yeshua of
Nazareth.
Let’s return to Matthew 28. Verse 11 explains that the Roman guards that had
been frozen in fear went into Jerusalem and told a senior priest what had
happened. The priest met with the Pharisee leadership and together they
decided the best course of action was to bribe the Roman guards to say that
indeed what they were guarding against had come to pass: some of Christ’s
disciples came and stole Jesus’s body. And should this matter wind up on
Pilate’s desk, the Jewish religious leadership will go to defend the guards and
smooth things over. Then we get verse 15 that is usually translated as we find it
in the KJV.
KJV
Matthew 28:15 So they took the money, and did as they were taught:
and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day.
The problem with this verse is the word “Jews”; it doesn’t say that. The proper
translation from Greek to English is not Jews, it is Judeans. That is, the Jewish
residents of Judea. Thus, it is the Judeans who bought in to the lie told to the
Roman guards and it is they who perpetuated it.
If the crux of the entire final chapter of Matthew’s Gospel is resurrection, then the
crux of the final 5 verses must be what the Church calls The Great Commission.
Apparently Yeshua had not only told the disciples that He would meet them in the
Galilee (something they clearly had not believed would happen), but also the
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exact location, even though that is not documented in the Gospels. When they
saw Yeshua they fell at His feet and worshipped Him; at least some of them did.
Others held back; some probably dumb struck with who was standing before
them, perhaps others fearful after having disowned Him if they would be still be
welcomed, and others not sure what to make of the whole thing.
Yeshua tells them that all authority in heaven and earth is given to Him. This
fulfills Daniel 7:14; or at least it does to a point.
CJB
Daniel 7:13-14
13
"I kept watching the night visions, when I saw, coming
with the clouds of heaven, someone like a son of man. He approached the
Ancient One and was led into his presence.
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To him was given rulership,
glory and a kingdom, so that all peoples, nations and languages should
serve him. His rulership is an eternal rulership that will not pass away; and
his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.
Nothing in Daniel prophecies Yeshua being in charge of Heaven and since the
Hebrew term shamayim means both the universe (what’s up in the sky) and the
Heaven where God lives, one has to wonder which is actually meant. Can the
Father really have just ceded control over Heaven to Yeshua? Or is it that
Yeshua has been given control over the earth and the Universe? Does the
opening credo “Our Father in Heaven” now change? I’m not sure I can answer
those questions with complete conviction; however, what I think the meaning is
that just as Jesus has been the Father’s agent on earth, so now (sitting at the
Father’s right hand in Heaven) Jesus has also returned to Heaven and is His
Father’s agent in Heaven. Peter’s Epistle might shed some light at least on how
He understood this instruction.
CJB
1 Peter 3:22 He has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God,
with angels, authorities and powers subject to him.
What comes next is Yeshua’s command to take the Good News of the Kingdom
(that now includes news of His resurrection) to all nations. The Church has
historically taken this to mean that gentiles are now added to the mix; and within
a couple hundred years changed it to mean gentiles only, Jews excluded. But
one has to wonder as we read the various Epistles if Christ’s 11 disciples
standing before Him that day, and the many more Jewish disciples that would
become part of the fold in the next few years after His crucifixion, really took it
that way, as opposed to meaning that they should take this message to the
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Jewish Diaspora who lived scattered among the many nations outside the Holy
Land? After all, well less than 10% of all living Jews at that time lived in the Holy
Land. Considering the strange encounter that Paul had with the risen Yeshua a
few decades later as he was sent by the Sanhedrin to hunt down Jewish
followers who were indeed taking Christ’s message to fellow Jews in the
Diaspora, and then Paul being told that he was Yeshua’s choice to take the
same message to gentiles, the passage favors the likelihood that Yeshua’s
commission was at first misunderstood. It only became apparent after Paul’s
experience with Christ on the road to Damascus that worldwide evangelism of all
humanity, Jews and gentiles, was what Yeshua had intended.
Therefore, this passage fulfills one of the oldest promises of God in the Bible; one
made to Abraham.
CJB
Genesis 12:1 Now ADONAI said to Avram, "Get yourself out of your
country, away from your kinsmen and away from your father's house, and
go to the land that I will show you.
2
I will make of you a great nation, I will
bless you, and I will make your name great; and you are to be a blessing.
3
I
will bless those who bless you, but I will curse anyone who curses you;
and by you all the families of the earth will be blessed."
Yeshua instructs that His disciples are to teach everyone all that He has taught
them. And I would add, not just whatever it is He taught them after His
resurrection. Perhaps one of the most comforting things that Yeshua could ever
have said that has brought peace to so many hurting, persecuted, ill, and
damaged Believers are the final words of the Book of Matthew:
CJB
Matt. 28:20
20
… And remember! I will be with you always, yes, even until
the end of the age."
Just as His Father did not create us and then abandon us to work our lives out on
our own, so Christ did not do a new work in us and then abandon us to work out
our Salvation on our own.
This concludes our study of the Gospel of Matthew.
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