The Text — Matthew 28:18-20
“And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.” (Matthew 28:18-20, KJV)
The English Scripture quotations here are from the King James Version and the World English Bible (both public domain), with the translation labeled after each citation.
Within these three verses of what is called the Great Commission, three statements stand side by side. “All power is given unto me” (Authority), “teaching them to observe” (Commandment), “I am with you always” (Presence). These three did not fall together by accident. Read Scripture with Scripture, and it becomes clear: all three are fruit borne by the New Covenant that Jesus established through the cross and the resurrection (Jeremiah 31:31).
First Mark, Authority — Authority Given to the Mediator of the New Covenant
The declaration “all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth” (Matthew 28:18, KJV) is not placed at random. Within this same chapter 28, it follows the angel’s proclamation, “He is not here: for he is risen, as he said” (Matthew 28:6, KJV), after passing through the bribing of the guards (28:11-15) and the summons to Galilee (28:16). Authority is declared after the resurrection — the arrangement of the whole chapter shows this order.
Hebrews unfolds this order theologically. Christ “has been revealed to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself” (Hebrews 9:26, WEB), and as a result, “he, when he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God” (Hebrews 10:12, WEB), “For by one offering he has perfected forever those who are being sanctified” (Hebrews 10:14, WEB). “Sitting at the right hand of God” is the place where the enthronement promised in Psalm 110:1 — “Sit at my right hand” (Psalm 110:1, WEB) — is fulfilled, and Hebrews 10:13 directly picks up this psalm. Enthronement is followed by authority — this is the inner ground of Matthew 28:18, “all power is given unto me” (Matthew 28:18, KJV).
Yet this enthronement is not a fleeting victory. “By so much, Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant” (Hebrews 7:22, WEB). While the Levitical priests were cut off by death, “he, because he lives forever, has his priesthood unchangeable… he is also able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, seeing that he lives forever to make intercession for them” (Hebrews 7:24-25, WEB). Only a high priest who does not die, who lives forever, can mediate without interruption — and that eternity is precisely what interlocks with Matthew 28:20, “I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world” (Matthew 28:20, KJV).
Hebrews sums all this up in the language of covenant. “But now he has obtained a more excellent ministry, by as much as he is also the mediator of a better covenant, which on better promises has been given as law” (Hebrews 8:6, WEB). “For this reason he is the mediator of a new covenant, since a death has occurred for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first covenant, that those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance” (Hebrews 9:15, WEB). The “all power” Jesus received is not power seized by force, but power obtained as the mediator of the New Covenant through overcoming death. And “those who have been called” in Hebrews 9:15 are not confined to Israel alone — so it follows naturally that in Matthew’s own text, “all nations” in 28:19 comes right after this declaration of authority in 28:18.
Second Mark, Commandment — A Commandment That Can Be Kept Because It Is Written on the Heart
“Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:20, KJV). This command is not unfamiliar, for a reason. Israel had already said the very same thing at Sinai — “All the words which Yahweh has spoken will we do” (Exodus 24:3, WEB). That oath was read aloud again (Exodus 24:7) and confirmed with blood (Exodus 24:8). But before Moses had even come down from the mountain, the people made a golden calf (Exodus 32:4), and Deuteronomy defines Israel as “a stiffnecked people” who “have been rebellious against Yahweh” (Deuteronomy 9:6-7, WEB), reaffirming that this rebellion continued throughout the wilderness (Deuteronomy 9:24). The problem was not the law engraved on the tablets itself, but that there was no heart to keep it.
The New Covenant establishes this very point differently. “Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah” (Jeremiah 31:31, KJV). “But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people” (Jeremiah 31:33, KJV). Ezekiel shows the mechanism one step further. “I will also give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you. I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh… I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes. You will keep my ordinances and do them” (Ezekiel 36:26-27, WEB). Obedience does not flow from a resolve human beings scrape together on their own — it flows from the Spirit God himself places within.
Hebrews declares that this prophecy has already been fulfilled in Christ. “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days,” says the Lord, “I will put my laws on their heart, I will also write them on my mind… I will remember their sins and their iniquities no more” (Hebrews 10:16-17, WEB). It is not a theologian’s interpretation but Scripture itself that says Jeremiah’s New Covenant has been fulfilled in Christ. So “teaching them to observe” in Matthew 28:20 is not a hopeless repetition of a command. The very obedience that Israel swore under the Old Covenant — “we will do” — and then repeatedly failed to keep, becomes actually possible under the New Covenant, through the law written on the heart and the Spirit who dwells within.
Third Mark, Presence — The Final Word That Immanuel Completes
Matthew’s Gospel opens with the prophecy, “Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us” (Matthew 1:23, KJV), and it closes with the promise, “lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world” (Matthew 28:20, KJV). This structure, which frames the entire Gospel, is not a matter of personal interpretation but a fact shown by the arrangement of the text itself — beginning and end are locked together by the same single word, “God with us.”
And this “being with” is the very promise the New Covenant has repeated all along. Jeremiah 31:33 already said, “will be their God, and they shall be my people” (Jeremiah 31:33, KJV), and Ezekiel repeats the same covenant formula (Ezekiel 36:28). Before he departed, Jesus promised again that this presence would not be broken. “I will pray to the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, that he may be with you forever: the Spirit of truth… I will not leave you orphans. I will come to you” (John 14:16-18, WEB). Hebrews confirms this same faithfulness again. “Be free from the love of money, content with such things as you have, for he has said, ‘I will in no way leave you, neither will I in any way forsake you'” (Hebrews 13:5, WEB).
The one who gave authority, the one who wrote the law on the heart to make obedience possible, at last promises, “I am with you always.” The Great Commission is the command given only after all three of these have already been accomplished — it is not a burden laid on us apart from these three.
Today’s Application — Living Out the Great Commission by the Strength of the New Covenant
These three marks change the way we move forward in evangelism and mission today. First, we do not go forward relying on our own eloquence or qualifications. All authority already belongs to Christ (Matthew 28:18), and we simply go as those sent under that authority. Second, obedience is not a matter of forcing ourselves to follow rules. Within the New Covenant, God’s law is already written on the heart, and the Spirit already dwells within (Ezekiel 36:27), so living out the gospel is not imitating someone else’s example but something that flows out from within. Third, the reason we can move forward without fear is not statistics or outcomes, but the promise of Immanuel — “I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world” (Matthew 28:20, KJV). Whether in the place where we share the gospel with a neighbor or in the place where we set out for an unfamiliar land, the One who sends us is, at the very same time, with us.
An Invitation to Prayer and Commitment
Lord, I believe that you send me with all the authority you obtained by overcoming death. You have written on my heart the commandment I could never keep in my own strength — let me live in obedience according to that law now written within me. And wherever I go, let me hold fast to your promise, “I am with you alway,” and give me courage today to share this gospel with the one person beside me. Amen.
References
- Matthew 1 (Korean Revised Version 1961, Korean Bible Society)
- Matthew 28 (Korean Revised Version 1961, Korean Bible Society)
- Exodus 24 (Korean Revised Version 1961, Korean Bible Society)
- Deuteronomy 9 (Korean Revised Version 1961, Korean Bible Society)
- Psalm 110 (Korean Revised Version 1961, Korean Bible Society)
- Hebrews 7 (Korean Revised Version 1961, Korean Bible Society)
- Hebrews 8 (Korean Revised Version 1961, Korean Bible Society)
- Hebrews 9 (Korean Revised Version 1961, Korean Bible Society)
- Hebrews 10 (Korean Revised Version 1961, Korean Bible Society)
- Hebrews 13 (Korean Revised Version 1961, Korean Bible Society)
- Jeremiah 31 (Korean Revised Version 1961, Korean Bible Society)
- Ezekiel 36 (Korean Revised Version 1961, Korean Bible Society)
- John 14 (Korean Revised Version 1961, Korean Bible Society)