Some scholars equate this appearance of Jesus on the mountain in Galilee as being the same as what Paul the Apostle wrote about in I Corinthians 15:6: “Then He appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep.” With this explanation, those who “doubted” in the group would not have been Jesus’ inner circle of eleven disciples, but others in the crowd who doubted, even seeing Him, that He had arisen from the dead. But this appearance is crucial, and giving the Great Commission is recorded in Mark 15:15, Luke 24:47-48 and Acts 1:8. It was the disciples’ “marching orders,” their command from the Lord to make known to all nations the Truth revealed and entrusted to them to be made known to all people. All who have become Christians since that day when Jesus gave this great commission to His disciples in Galilee have been blessed to be bearers of the good news. It came to us on the way to others; we still are subject to obey and proclaim the wonderful news of salvation through Jesus Christ.
Jesus had the authority to give such a commission. Through His life, His death, His burial and resurrection, and especially through His fulfilling the Father’s will to be the bearer of grace and restoration to all mankind, Jesus had the power to order His disciples to be message bearers. We may obey Him without fear. Many have been called out and commissioned since that wonderful day in Galilee when Jesus first assigned his disciples the joyful task of going and telling all people about Him. The very nature of the Christian faith is to want to share it. Well do I remember, at age nine when I met the Lord in forgiveness of sins and commitment of my life to Him, how I wanted to tell others. At school the next day after my decision in revival meeting, I shared with several how happy I was that I was a Christian. I really didn’t know very much about witnessing, because I had not had classes in it, having been a Christian less than a day. But I could share the peace and joy I felt in my heart, and how I knew without a doubt that Jesus had accepted me as one of His own! Some of my cousins and friends to whom I talked at recess at school also accepted the Lord in that same revival. When our pastor led the converts later into the cold waters of the Nottely River to receive believers’ baptism, (for we didn’t have a baptistry at that time in our church), there were twenty-three of us lined up to follow the Lord in baptism. Adults and children alike were in that long line of believers. And as we attended and were taught by faithful teachers in that church, we grew in faith and knowledge of the Word. I have been grateful since that long-ago time when I became a part of a missions-believing church that God has led me to seek to follow the Great Commission through love of others who need to hear, and through giving and going. When I was seventeen years of age, at a Christian encampment, I heard and responded to the call of Christ on my own life to dedicate myself to His service. The Great Commission was made so personal as we heard a challenging speaker, Miss Sarah Stephens, give the claims of Christ on those who would “go and tell,” that I thought surely the Lord was calling me to foreign mission service. But in the course of time His will for me was to marry a minister of the gospel. Instead of going as career missionaries to a foreign land, we were to stay in the states and “hold the ropes” for others to go by promoting mission causes, encouraging others to go, and seeking to lead the churches Grover pastored and the associations he led as director of missions to be more involved in missions. Looking back over many decades of thus serving the Lord, I can only rejoice that when I was very young He called me to be a Christian and to be aware of His claim on my life. When I have been tempted to turn aside from His personal Great Commission for me, the Holy Spirit has wooed and prodded me to get back into the will of God for my life. Dr. G. Campbell Morgan, a notable preacher of the last century, told about visiting a group of ladies once a week to read and study the Bible with them. He read from Matthew’s gospel: “And behold I am with you always, to the end of the age.” He said to them, “Isn’t that a wonderful promise?” And a wise lady responded, “Preacher, that’s not a promise, that’s a fact!” Yes! It is a fact that Jesus is with us when we faithfully bear His word and witness to others!
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