James Montgomery rightly wrote in 1822 of ‘great David’s greater Son’. The focus is all-encompassing – ‘all authority’, ‘all nations’, ‘everything I have commanded’, and ‘always’. Jesus is the King who rules over all.
- 28:16-17. Maybe something like a soldier who has been thought to have been killed in war, but who turns up alive many years later. His family are overjoyed but hesitate to believe it.
- Esther 3:1-5. One only worships God, meaning Jesus is God.
- The King has all authority in heaven and earth.
- 28:18. Note Dan.7:13-14. Jesus is worshipped as King of the Jews at His birth – Matt.2:2; and He is derided as King of the Jews on the cross – Matt.27:37. But the resurrected Jesus is the King of heaven and earth.
- Charles Wesley:
All power to our great Lord
Is by the Father given;
By angel hosts adored,
He reigns supreme in heaven;
Join all on earth, rejoice and sing:
Glory ascribe to glory’s King. - ‘Go’ to all nations; Matt.10:5-6 was only for a time. Baptize (28:19). Teach (28:20a). Here is the risen king – Eph.1:20-23; Col.1:17-20.
- The King has the divine name.
- 28:19. There is one name there that covers the three divine Persons.
- The King is everywhere always.
- 28:20. See Ps.139:7-10; Jer.23:23-24.
That hard-hearted neighbour, those convinced Muslims, that indifferent colleague, that bigoted humanist, these frustrating lockdowns – they do not look so difficult now, do they?