Fulfillment

Read: Matthew 28

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT: Let's revisit Matthew 20.18-19 for a moment, in which Jesus says to His disciples for the THIRD time, "We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day he will be raised to life!” These were prophetic words announced by Jesus, so they were subject to scrutiny under the Old Testament Law of Moses, found in Deuteronomy 18.15-22: "The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him..."a prophet who presumes to speak in my name anything I have not commanded, or a prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, is to be put to death.' You may say to yourselves, “How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the Lord?” If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the Lord does not take place or come true, that is a message the Lord has not spoken..." Matthew's Gospel was written for a Jewish audience, with the intent of revealing Jesus as Israel's promised Messiah and the fulfillment of God's work in and through the history of Israel. Jesus' resurrection from the dead, which He predicted prophetically three times prior to His final arrival in Jerusalem, is Matthew's ultimate proof of Jesus' identity: He did what He said He was going to do!

All four New Testament Gospels report and emphasize the resurrection of Jesus, but each record certain post-resurrection events that are aimed at each author's particular audience. In Matthew's case, he clearly wanted to address and dismiss the rumor that Jesus' disciples had simply stolen His body from the tomb, which had been "widely circulated among the Jews to this very day" (verse 28.15). Again, Matthew is speaking specifically to a Jewish audience in order to answer their questions and/or issues concerning Jesus.

By the time Matthew's Gospel was written and circulated, the Church had grown to include Gentiles as well as Jews, and local congregations were planted and growing in lands far beyond the traditional boundaries of Israel. For a Jewish reader expecting a Messiah who would save only Israel, this would seem completely unexpected and unexplainable, even though the following can be found in the Old Testament book of Isaiah:

“It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”

As a result, Matthew ends his Gospel with what has come to be known as the Great Commission. Jesus announces that all authority has been given to Him (by God), so He possesses both the power to act and the right to act everywhere. Where the disciples were previously sent out only in Israel to witness and minister, now they are sent to "all nations" (literally, all "people groups") to make disciples everywhere, following the example set for them by Jesus and relying on His power. It's a power on which they can count, because Jesus promises, "Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”