“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me.”
– Jesus, to the disciples before the Great Commission (Matthew 28:17)
Standing on the mountaintop, just before He gave His followers what Christians call “The Great Commission,” Jesus declared that all authority in heaven and on earth had been given to Him. In other words, He is Lord over all.
Early in His ministry, Jesus rejected Satan’s tempting offer to walk the path of earthly glory that promised world power and authority without the shame of the cross. Jesus willingly chose to “set his face” toward Jerusalem, the city where He would die. He knew that the cross lay at the center of God’s plan to redeem His world. Through the Resurrection, Jesus conquered death itself, not by returning to His old existence, but by passing through death and out the other side. His Resurrection is the foretaste of what awaits all believers on the Last Day – the transformation of our earthly remains into glorified bodies.
“Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made this crucified Jesus both Lord and Messiah!” proclaimed Peter in the climax of his Pentecost sermon. Jesus is the true Lord of the world. “Our God reigns!” proclaimed the psalmist. Christians everywhere echo that phrase, with a crucial addition – “Our God reigns… through Jesus!” When we confess Jesus as Lord, we are agreeing with His own affirmation: all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Him!
Presidents and world leaders will come and go. Tyrants and dictators will be propped up and later dethroned. Empires sparkle and then fade. You’d be hard-pressed to find modern-day followers of Napoleon, Alexander the Great, or Caesar Augustus, no matter how strong their military strategies were.
But all over the world, whether thundering from the towers of cathedrals or rumbling from hidden locations underground, Christians faithfully proclaim that Jesus is Lord – to the glory of God the Father. All authority in heaven and on earth belongs to Him. Christians submit to the King in anticipation of the glorious consummation of His Kingdom.
written by Trevin Wax © 2007 Kingdom People blog
