DR 28
December 28
Matthew 28:16 to end. Christ meets his disciples on a mountain.
When the Lord Jesus was on earth, he had no palace in which to hold his court. It was on a mountain in Galilee that his disciples met together to behold him after his resurrection. Why was a mountain selected as the place of meeting? Because the tops of mountains are retired spots. As the Lord would not permit his enemies to see him after he rose from the dead, he chose a secluded place in a remote part of the land in which to meet his friends. None but those who loved him were there. More than five hundred brethren were gathered together to see him. (1 Cor. 15:6.) Was such an assembly ever known before or since! It is common to behold a congregation of five hundred people. But do they all love Jesus? Are they all brethren in Christ? No! in such congregations the children of wrath and the children of God are mingled. But there was not one of Christ's open enemies among the five hundred on the mountain. Paul calls them all "brethren." (1 Cor. 15.) We know not their names. But we may conjecture that those who had been healed, and pardoned, and instructed, came from all parts of the land to behold their risen Benefactor. Bartimeus, the blind beggar of Jericho, and the blind beggar of Jerusalem, may have been there, as well as Joseph and Nicodemus, the honorable counselors. Though they are called brethren, yet doubtless women were included in the company. It is probable that the pious women of Galilee were present, and even Mary, the Mother of Jesus.
We should like to know what Jesus said to those assembled on the mountain. It is not certain that the words recorded by Matthew in this passage were spoken before that assembly. They contain the Lord's charge to his apostles. "Go you therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit." The word "teach," in this verse, means "disciple." "Go, and disciple all nations," or make them my disciples. How could the apostles do this? By preaching the gospel. Those who believed were to be baptized, not in the name of Jesus only, but in the name of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the glorious Trinity. Thus Jesus showed that he was one with the Father and the Holy Spirit.
What an arduous undertaking the Lord assigned to his apostles! To go to a world full of the servants of Satan, to seek for servants for God! This was their work. How could they perform it! Their Master gave the encouragement they needed. He began by saying, "All power (or authority) is given unto me in heaven, and in earth;" and he ended by declaring, "Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world." He who had all power would be with them! He who lives forever would be with them! What could they fear with such a guard! But would the apostles live to the end of the world? No! but Christ would raise up other men like them in spirit, to teach the same doctrines they had taught. He is still with his faithful ministers, to bless their labors and to comfort their hearts. What an assembly will one day be gathered together upon the heavenly mountain, of all those who have believed through their word! There may have been some missing from the mountain in Galilee, who would have been glad to be there; but not one who loves Jesus shall be absent from the mountain of the Lord's house. Some, knowing that Jesus had been lately crucified, doubted at first whether they really beheld the risen Savior; but there shall be no unbelief in heaven. In a little while the brethren were obliged to descend from the sacred summit; but the glorified shall never descend from the heights of the heavenly Zion. Shall we be found among that blessed company? Let us now often seek Christ where he has promised to meet us—in secret—in our chambers—the door shut, the world shut out, and the heart lifted up to that glorious mountain where the hundred and forty-four thousand surround the Lamb.