The Significance of Christ's Ascension

Authority and the Great Commission (Sermon Manuscript)

Matthew 28:18–20 ESV

18And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Having all authority is the foundation of the commission and Grammatically-speaking, “Disciple-making” is the object of the section. Baptizing and teaching, then, are what support the command to make disciples. So, Christians are to bring people into the church through the proclamation of the Gospel, make disciples, then baptize them while continually teaching them everything that Jesus has commanded. This is to be done with Jesus’ pre-eminent presence over the entire process. Before I go into disciple-making, I am going to spend most of the time on the authority Jesus speaks of in verse 18. I think most of us skip past it, taking for granted the authority of Jesus. However, I am going to argue that Christians today must understand the full breadth of Jesus’ authority because it ultimately affects our understanding of and ability to fulfill the Great Commission. I will address the following questions:

-What is Authority?

-What does it mean for Jesus to be given authority?

-Has not God the Son always had authority as the Second Person of the Trinity?

-Who had the authority before it was given to Jesus? When exactly did Jesus get this new authority?

-What are the implications of this new authority on our lives?

What follows will be broken up into four sections, wherein many of my points and concepts will weave and overlap, while consistently building to a final point where all reasons and evidence culminate into practical theology. I will begin with the doctrine of the Ascension and I will work towards a practical application of it in the context of the Great Commission.

1. The Doctrine of the Ascension

2. The Rule of The Humanity

3. The meaning/picture of Authority

4. Where do we begin?

The Doctrine of the Ascension

Absent authority there is no mission. So, to get a clearer understanding of the mission, I am first going to differentiate the resurrection and the ascension so we can get a better understanding of Jesus’ authority.

In the Gospel of John chapter 20, starting in verse 15 I will let Jesus’ own words make the case for me concerning the significance of the Ascension after the Resurrection. At this point in the Gospel of John, Mary had appeared at the tomb on the morning of the resurrection and Jesus presented himself to her.

John 20:15–16 (ESV)

15 Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” 16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher).

Before I go any further, let’s take a look at verse 15, Mary supposes Jesus to be The Gardener. When Adam was created he was given a garden to keep and cultivate. Jesus’ resurrection invokes garden of Eden imagery, a picture of what Jesus is restoring as the better Adam. Resurrection Sunday shows us that Jesus’ work goes far beyond individual salvation and this is an aspect of my argument to support my thesis that we ought to understand the entirety of Jesus’ work to get a better grasp of our duty as Christians today. So, to whet your appetite for this topic, according to Genesis 2:15, Adam was called to work and keep the garden, which in one respect, was to guard the garden from evil (Leviticus parallel verse). When Adam failed to do so and humanity fell into sin, guess who replaced humanity’s vocation to guard the garden? In Genesis 3:24, the Scripture says,

24 He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.

The cherubim, that is, the angels filled humanity’s role to guard it. The Cherubim were now positioned to keep humanity out of the garden Adam was supposed to protect. Now going back to Resurrection Sunday, after Jesus was raised from the dead and overturned the power of sin and death, guess who let Mary and the disciples into the “garden” that morning. Matthew 28:1–6 and Mark 16:4-5 reveals to us something important,

Matthew 28:1-6 ESV

Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay.

Mark 16:4–5 ESV

4 And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back—it was very large. 5 And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed.

It is a picture of humanity being allowed back into the garden of Eden, the angels welcomed them in. Now, with garden of Eden imagery in your mind, we will take a look and verses 15-17 of John chapter 20 in full to set up the Ascension.

John 20:15–17 ESV

15 Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” 16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher). 17 Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” (Emphasis mine)

Mary was distraught, confused, exhausted, emotional, and probably thought Jesus was dead forever, and yet, here is Jesus alive. Everything is good right? Imagine the joy and relief Mary must have felt that morning, yet listen to what Jesus says in verse 17, “Do not cling to me.” Cling in this verse means to take hold of in astonishment and delight.[1] Jesus was just raised from the dead and here is the second and better Gardener. Yet, he says, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended.” The conclusion drawn from this is that there was still more that had to be done before his people could cling to him… He had to ascend.

Analogy: Keep this in mind as we move through the Ascension. It is an analogy I got from Patrick Shreiner’s book titled The Ascension: Recovering a neglected doctrine.

If you remember the storyline of the Lion King, when the baboon Rafiki raised up Simba over the ledge in the Lion King, he was designating Simba as the future king over the land. Fast forward in the movie, though Simba later conquered his Uncle Scar in battle, he has the right to Kingship but it was not formally established in winning the battle over the forces of evil. In order for Simba to assume his Kingship, at the behest of Rafiki, he had to ascend Pride Rock at the end to be ritually enthroned so that every creature would recognizes his authority as such.

The resurrection, which is what we are all familiar with, is when Jesus was raised from the dead in glorified human flesh 3 days after his crucifixion at the hands of men. Jesus was vindicated by the Father through the Holy Spirit and, in so doing, Jesus overturned the penalty and power of sin and death. Jesus was re-embodied at the resurrection and his appearance for those forty days was the physical proof. However, if we stop at the resurrection, we could make the case that Jesus was raised from the dead to just hang around and not be dead. To just prove he really was the Son of God. Over-simplification, sure, but intended to drive a point home and it does, on some level, make sense based on the implications of Jesus’ words in the scene we just looked at with Mary on the morning of the Resurrection.

Jesus led the way for us, and in a sense, we were united to him in his death, burial, resurrection, and ascension (Rom. 6:1-11 and Eph. 2:6). All of it had to happen for it to be completed. So, if we stop at the resurrection in our theology and not investigate the ascension, we miss a major point of the New Testament: The inaugurated Lordship of Christ.

In fact, The verse explicitly stating the Ascension, Psalm 110:1 (which we will look at shortly) is the most quoted Old Testament text in the New Testament. That is a pretty significant detail if you ask me. Additionally, Psalm 110 as whole is the most quoted Psalm in the New Testament. This Psalm is cited in key passages that unequivocally declare the inaugurated Lordship of Christ over all things by his ascension, and so it is central to the message of the New Testament.

In the Bible, there are many instances where we are shown the same event or taught the same principle from the human perspective and the divine perspective. This certainly applies to the Ascension.

Human Perspective

Acts 1:6–11 ESV

6 So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” 9 And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. 10 And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, 11 and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”

Divine Perspective:

Daniel 7:9–14 ESV

9 “As I looked, thrones were placed, and the Ancient of Days took his seat; his clothing was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool; his throne was fiery flames; its wheels were burning fire. 10 A stream of fire issued and came out from before him; a thousand thousands served him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him; the court sat in judgment, and the books were opened. 11 “I looked then because of the sound of the great words that the horn was speaking. And as I looked, the beast was killed, and its body destroyed and given over to be burned with fire. 12 As for the rest of the beasts, their dominion was taken away, but their lives were prolonged for a season and a time. 13 “I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. 14 And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.

Now, take a look at the parallels in the two sections of Scripture:

Acts 1:9 (ESV) - And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight

And

Dan. 7:13 (ESV) - “I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him.

The disciples on the earth saw Jesus leave with the cloud and then the heavenly scene picks up with Jesus arriving with the clouds (How cool is that?!).

As a note to keep in mind, Legal language pervades all of Scripture: redemption, adoption, imputation, and ransom are legal terms. Then there is also the concept of judging and judgement throughout Scripture and covenants are legal documents. Therefore, it is helpful for us to understand Biblical events in this sense when they are described as such. In regard to the study at hand, legal language certainly applies here. So, let’s take a look at verse 10 in Daniel chapter 7. This is a courtroom scene in the heavenly realm:

Daniel 7:10 ESV

10 A stream of fire issued and came out from before him; a thousand thousands served him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him; the court sat in judgment, and the books were opened.

What we learn in the prophecy is that the verdict of humanity is overturned through Jesus’s ascension by the heavenly court. Now that Jesus has ascended, the heavenly court strips the earthly kingdoms of their power and gave all that power to Jesus forevermore.

Matthew 28:18 ESV

18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

If you have a bible that contains footnotes, you’ll see that Jesus was referring to this courtroom scene in Daniel when he gave the Great Commission to his disciples. Jesus’ lordship was judicially exacted in the courts of heaven. Jesus said, it’s done, open the books, declare my kingship, so that I can sit on my throne and send my people the Helper, the Holy Spirit. The universe is mine, I am Lord of the cosmos, therefore, let’s get to work. This is why Jesus kept telling his disciples that it is better that he does leave them and go to his Father.

To bring the Simba analogy full circle:

- When Rafiki raised up Simba over the ledge in the Lion King, he was declaring Simba as the future king over the land, which is paralleled with Jesus being anointed at his Baptism “As God’s well-beloved Son” (Sonship language is related to Kingship).

- Though Simba later conquered his uncle Scar in battle, he has the right to Kingship but it is not formally established. Though Jesus died on the cross and rose from the dead to win the battle, he was not legally established King of the cosmos just yet.

- Simba had to ascend Pride Rock to assume his authority and to have his authority recognized by all. In the same way Jesus, in his humanity, had to ascend to receive all of his authority formally.

So, the ascension, we can say, is the Biblical event 40 days after the Resurrection where Jesus, still in his glorified human flesh, assumed his rightful throne in the immediate presence of the Father in the throne room of heaven and was then able to disperse the Holy Spirit to his people, which was actualized at Pentecost (Acts 2 cf. John 14:26, 15:26, Luke 24:49).

As a side note, it is not wrong to combine them in our language, as long as you know you are simultaneously including both the meaning if the resurrection and the ascension. The New Testament authors do this when they use the terms “Resurrection” and “exaltation” in contexts concerning Christ’s Lordship over all. So, in the pursuit of theological precision and clarity, it is helpful to differentiate the two events for a clearer, more full-orbed understanding of the Person and work of Christ. My main point here is that it is wrong when we imply that the resurrection is the end of Christ’s work.

Since the resurrection is to show that Jesus overturned the power of death and took on glorified human flesh, then we can rightly say that the ascension is the completion of the resurrection. The ascension tells us that Jesus was raised for a purpose. That Jesus not only conquered death and lives forevermore, but reigns forevermore. When we conflate the events, we miss the significance of the Ascension. So, again, in the pursuit of theological precision and clarity, it is helpful to differentiate the two events for a clearer understanding of the authority he is referring to in the Great Commission: His authority over the cosmological hierarchy.

The Rule of Humanity - The necessity of the physicality of the Ascension

Moving on to the second section of this article, let’s look at the meaning of the Ascension as it relates to Christ in his glorified human flesh, which is a very important, yet often neglected aspect of Christ. What we come to learn is that the implications of Jesus taking on human flesh and blood go beyond personal salvation. Jesus points us to this reality in John chapter 6 while discoursing with the religious leaders of the day (I recommend reading all of John 6 before proceeding).

John 6:35 ESV

35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.

John 6:41 ESV

41 So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.”

This is the scandal in John Chapter 6. The Jews were grumbling that Jesus claimed to be the bread from heaven. They couldn’t grasp that a person claiming to be the bread from heaven has taken on real flesh and real blood. Then we read shortly after…

John 6:61–62

ESV

61 But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, “Do you take offense at this? 62 Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?

At the end of the chapter, the disciples were now grumbling over the difficultly of that message too. Jesus didn’t play nice with the disciples and empathize with their lack of understanding and confusion, but he upped the ante. He didn’t say, “it’s okay, I know it’s hard to grasp, so, just take some time to wrestle with it.” Jesus did nothing of the sort and said, “Do you take offense at this? Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?” In other words, you think the bread from heaven coming down and taking on flesh and blood is scandalous and hard to understand? Guess what? The bread of heaven who came down to take on flesh and blood is going back up to heaven in flesh and blood! And as we find out, Jesus was too mean and many disciples no longer followed him after that…

We tend to think Jesus’ full humanity is only important to his crucifixion. That he put on flesh and blood just to redeem sinful flesh and blood from sin. Then after that, his flesh and blood, for all intents and purposes, doesn’t really matter to us anymore. However, on the contrary, it remains a vital truth for us today and for all eternity. This truth is of infinite significance. There is a wonderful book on it by Tim Chester called, The Ascension: Humanity in the Presence of God. Christ indeed took on flesh and blood to redeem and glorify humanity, but more than that, to rule the cosmos in flesh and blood as the representative of Humanity.

To explain what I mean by the “Representative of humanity,” I will turn you to the most quoted Old Testament verse in the New Testament: Psalm 110:1. This verse is specifically quoted by Peter upon the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, which is a key moment as it relates to the Ascension of Christ Jesus.

Psalm 110:1 ESV

1 The Lord says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.”

Acts 2:33–36 ESV

33 Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. 34 For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says, “ ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, 35 until I make your enemies your footstool.” ’ 36 Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” (Emphasis mine)

“God has made” – Wait a second. Wasn’t the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity, always Lord? How does he now receive this Lordship. What changed? The Son, fully and truly God, as the Second person of the Trinity has always been Lord over the cosmos, but, if you have been able to stick with me so far, you know what changed. The Son in his full and true humanity is Lord now. The newness in the Biblical narrative is human flesh and blood now reigning in the throne room of heaven on behalf of humanity. The Ascension and the outpouring of the Spirit on high is the certain proof of it according to Peter.

I will now highlight why this is a big deal by looking at what Adam was called to do in Genesis and explaining the meaning of authority. This is so that I can provide you more insight into the importance of the Ascension. Only then do I think the “Therefore” commands of the Great Commission become more substantial to us.

As Peter said, God made him both Lord and Christ. When Peter says Lord, he is proclaiming the authority of Jesus, that is, his Kingship over his Kingdom. So, the question we need to ask is, “what was the first Adam’s role in the garden in regard to Kingship?” God established Adam, as a Son of God, which theologically speaking, is directly tied to kingship as I said before. As king, Adam was commissioned to extend the garden-temple called Eden and God’s glory throughout the rest of the world (Gen. 1-2). This would have occurred by fulfilling the dominion mandate, which is to steward it, cultivate it, and nurture it according to God’s precepts. And this would come to fruition by being fruitful in their work and multiplying through procreation. And all these positive commands from God surrounded the one negative command: to not eat of the tree.

As Jeffrey Johnson wrote on Adam’s call to extend God’s kingdom over the earth in The Story of Redemption,

“This was to transpire as the children of God multiplied and carried within them the divine presence, as His image bearers, throughout the world. To bring up Children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. He and his offspring were to subdue and fill the earth with the knowledge and glory of God.” (Johnson, The Story of Redemption, 14)

It was a familial mission to rule and govern creation, with Adam as king over it. Adam was called to rule and enculturate the world.

Concerning the Fall of Mankind, Jeffrey Johnson further said,

“Though God remained sovereign, the Devil took legal control over man, and the kingdom of man was transformed into a kingdom of darkness.” (Johnson, The Story of Redemption, 24)

- To emphasize that point, the Devil took legal control over man and the nations, which is no surprise because that is where we get the “Ruler of this world” language in reference to Satan in the Bible (John 12:31, 14:30; Eph. 6:12; 2 Cor. 4:4). By succumbing to the temptation, Adam and Eve swore fealty to the serpent over and against the Lord of Hosts.

Going back to Daniel chapter 7 and the heavenly court scene, this is why Jesus needed ascend and be legally declared King of the cosmos by the heavenly courts. There was an official legal transaction at the Fall and there was an official legal transaction based upon Jesus’ person and work culminating in his ascension.

Humanity fell from both our communion with God and we fell from our role in the cosmos to reign as God’s vice-regents over the earth, which is why God the Son not only had to take on human flesh and blood to redeem humanity’s sinfulness, but he had to take on flesh and blood to redeem humanity’s creational call to be King, Priest, and Prophet. He did it all, and as you can tell my emphasis here is on Kingship.

So, what is this authority man gave up in the garden?

This rule and authority that Jesus claimed is not how we view authority in America today. Where you can have government officials you don’t like, don’t agree with, or in most cases, you don’t even know their names or who they are. In our contemporary age, it is common to view authority arbitrarily today in the individualistic culture we are immersed in with the unrelenting spirit of democracy, but we ought to take the authority of Christ seriously. The Godhead takes it seriously and the Apostles took it seriously because authority means something and Jesus’ rule over the world was not an arbitrary appointment. God the Son had to take on human flesh, subject himself to the curse he himself pronounced on creation, lived a perfect life, was slandered, was abandoned by his disciples, was crucified at the hands of men, had to be resurrected from the dead, and then had to go to the heavenly court to overturn the verdict on humanity and have the cosmos legally transferred to him. This was done all while fulfilling every role and task mankind failed at. Christ suffered and endured through all of this so that he could save God’s chosen people from eternal death and restore creation for his glory. If our King went through all that to rule over the cosmos for our sake, then his people ought to take him and his kingship seriously.

Here is a proposition: If the president of the United States came to you and gave you a lawful task and said name your price because the entire nation depended upon it, how much energy would you pour into it? Probably every waking hour.

Jesus graciously gifts his people eternal life in blessedness based on nothing good in us and tells us we will reign with him eternally along with many other incomprehensible promises. How do you think Christians respond today compared to how they should respond?

All in all, Complete and utter allegiance is what is demanded by a Monarch, and it is no different for Jesus. You were bought with a price and so, you are not your own as Paul once said. To use Jesus’ own words, he said,

Mark 12:30 ESV

30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’

In other words, with every fiber of your being you must serve him. Today in America, we have no idea of what a monarchy looks like, feels like, tastes like, sounds like. But, for a good picture of authority, I will take you to The Chronicles of Narnia in The Magician’s Nephew, which is the first book chronologically in C.S. Lewis’ series. I am appealing to the scene, which is quite early in the story, where Digory and Polly have made it to another world called Charn. They find themselves in a room filled with statues of people within a massive castle-palace type place. After Digory hits the golden bell, a statue comes alive, and it is none other than Queen Jadis. She is the White Witch in the next book in the series, The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, for those of you who are familiar with that story. Soon after her resuscitation, she leads Digory and Polly to a terrace over-looking the city of Charn, which was once a magnificent city. Come to find out, there was a great war between Queen Jadis and her sister, and once the armies of Queen Jadis failed her, she verbalized the Deplorable word. This was deep magic, which only she knew. And she knew that invoking this deep magic into the world would cause every living thing to die except the one who uttered it.

After hearing this tale from Queen Jadis, Digory and Polly questioned why she would do such a thing. Digory solemnly gasped, “What about the people?” and Polly soon expounded on Digory’s question, “All the ordinary people, who’d never done you any harm. And the women, and the children, and the animals.” (You know, all the innocent people…)

Queen Jadis responded, “Don’t you understand?... “I was the Queen. They were all my people. What else were they for but to do my will?”

To write out that last part again for emphasis: Queen Jadis said, “Don’t you understand? I was the Queen. They were all my people. What else were they for but to do my will?”

That is authority. She owned every fiber of their being and she knew it. Similarly, today, self-perceived autonomy in the grand scheme of things is synonymous with willful ignorance. You are a willing servant of someone whether you admit it or not. It is either the Devil, who is a cruel and wicked usurper like Queen Jadis who cares nothing for you and seeks to manipulate you for evil purposes, or you serve the Good and Gracious King on the throne in heaven. There is no gray area or a third option. Satan dominates you or Christ has dominion over you and so, it is not whether you will serve Satan or Jesus, but which. There is no neutrality.

Now concerning Jesus’ new authority, he reiterates and re-issues the dominion mandate in the Great Commission, which is also referred to as the cultural mandate that was once given to Adam in the garden. So, the King who owns every facet of your being, the one who paid the price for your salvation, has given a command. This is a big deal.

Firstly, let’s touch on the dominion mandate given to Adam to get a clearer understanding of making disciples, because taking dominion necessarily implies culture-making.

Colere (Root of Culture/Cultus/Cultic): cultivate, tend, and the veneration and worship of something[2]

Dominion mandate: cultivate, work, keep, and extend God’s glory over the face of the earth

(Genesis 1:28 and Genesis 2:15)

The infra of a culture is cultus/cultic, and if you are familiar with those words, it probably brings to mind religion or worship. Culture/Cultus/Cultic all come from the same root word in Latin called “Colere,” which means “cultivate, tend, and the veneration and worship of something.” Remember that the dominion mandate is to cultivate creation, be fruitful, and to extend the worship of God’s glory over the face of the earth. Culture and the dominion mandate are tied together, which means that placating an unbiblical culture is unbiblical in and of itself. Christians are called to institute a Christ-honoring culture over the face of the earth the same way Adam was called to from the beginning in the garden of Eden. Hence, Jesus reiterating the original dominion mandate in the Great Commission.    

To clear up any potential confusion by the use of the word “dominion,” I will differentiate it between the two types of dominion:

1.    There is Dominion in the sense of domination and authoritarianism. This type of tyrannical rule espoused by Queen Jadis in Narnia is employed by the Devil, who views you as expendable pawns and easily manipulated sacks of worthless ‘chemical reactions’ used to fulfill his whims and evil desires. He will manipulate you and then cast you aside once he is through with you. Whether you follow him willingly or blindingly to hell, it is all the same to him. If this is how he views humans, then this is how he views all of God’s creation. He will pervert, abuse, and manipulate all of it for his own purposes.

2.    The Biblical alternative of dominion is in the sense of “skillful mastery”, a conceptual framework I got from CR Wiley in his book called The House of Tom Bombadil. Skillful mastery implies first recognizing the purpose embedded within each aspect of God’s creation and then stewarding it and nurturing it righteously. Dominion requires patience and wisdom. Humans, as image-bearers of God, utilize our abilities to bring forth the fullest potential of God’s creation by first recognizing where it is in God’s created order, what it was made for, and how to maximize its potential. This is the Dominion employed by Christ.

Humans can’t not go out and do things; meaning, we are purposeful creatures by nature. And whatever your theology is, it will come out of your fingertips in everything you do. As you go out into the world, you will reflect the will of the god that you worship, and, in turn, the culture will reflect the god people worship.

-       If you worship evil that comes to breathes lies, make evil into good, be greedy, steal, murder, manipulate and destroy, then your culture will reflect that god.

-       If you worship the god that says humans are worthless sacks of randomized processes and cells from billions of years of evolution with no inherent value, your culture will reflect that god. The funny thing is, well… it’s actually not funny, but its that the powers that be today view humans as worthless sacks of cells and atoms with no purpose, yet they will fight tooth and nail for the minds of our little sacks of cells if they make it out of the womb.

-       If you worship the god of tolerance and therefore, sacrifice truth on the altar of “The fear of man,” cultural acceptance, peace keeping, Pluralism, Relativism, Reputation, or “You name it” because, at the end of the day it is all the same altar, your culture will reflect that god. Your culture will then say that there is no such thing as truth, so let’s just all agree to disagree. We are all guilty of it, I know I am. But here is something to think about that I found quite convicting. When you sacrifice the truth on this altar of the “Fear of Man,” peacekeeping, inclusion, societal standards and so forth, guess who you are sacrificing there? I will give you a hint, he once said something like, “I am the truth” (John 14:6).

And likewise, if you worshipped the Holy Triune God of Scripture, your culture would reflect the Holiness of the Trinity.

We are worshipping creatures by nature, and so we will worship something. Everything you do is liturgical, even if you are not a Christian. In other words, every thought, word, and deed is a form of worship of something and thereby hardening your conformity to that something. Therefore, for Christians, our worship cannot be reduced to a block of time on Sunday mornings, important as Sunday worship is, it is not all-encompassing of the worship of the Triune God. It also is not something you put on your to-do list for the upcoming week. Actually, you making your to-do list is a form of worship. Worship is comprehensive, it does not merely signify the Christian’s withdrawal from the world, it includes the manner in which the Christian goes out into the world and lives. It encompasses all of life because Christ redeemed all of your life, that is, every thought, word, and deed. Every fiber of your being.

Nature abhors a vacuum and so the question is not if you will worship something but what will you worship. On a larger scale, there will never not be culture, and so the question is which god will your culture imitate and reflect? Which type of dominion will your culture reflect? God’s prescription for the created order or the Devil’s perversion of it?

Where do we go from here: It starts with Knowledge

We begin our quest of fulfilling the Great Commission by understanding the object of the of it: Making Disciples. Before going further, I think it helpful to distinguish making converts and making disciples. We are to make converts through the preaching of the Gospel, and when Christ’s sheep hear his voice, they will be brought into the church. Once a new convert is brought into the church, then the arduous process of disciple-making begins. While disciples need to be constantly reminded of the Gospel message, the labor upon them is much more broad, deeper, and time intensive than preaching to the lost. Making disciples is when the work of the ministry begins, not when it ends (Eph. 4:11-12). When we conflate the terms “New converts” and “disciples,” which is quite prevalent today, the lines between them become blurred and our understanding of them becomes muddled and ambiguous. Consequently, affecting our ability to grasp and fulfill the Great Commission properly.

How do you know if you serve and worship the Jesus of Scripture and not an abstracted Jesus or a false god?

How do you know if you are making disciples of Jesus and not an imposter god?

The accomplishment of the Great Commission presupposes that those making disciples have the fear the Lord and know the entirety of the person and work of Christ deep, deep in their bones. They know that Jesus is worthy of worship and demands it because of his authority. And from this, they know all about Christ and His Word and His commandments in their context and have the ability to apply the teachings in wisdom. Moreover, they continue to grow in this knowledge of Christ and have an insatiable desire to fulfill the will of the Father just like Jesus did.

Absent the comprehensiveness of this knowledge, with any piece of it lacking, our duty to fulfill the Great Commission will severely lack. We seek not mere professions of faith as and end goal, that is only the beginning. We seek not mere professions that “Christ is Lord” because that is only the beginning. We don’t just want to see men profess faith; we want to see the whole of man renewed.

And here is the tie in with the command to make disciples that is embedded in the Great Commission and the original dominion mandate. It is the means by which Christians cultivate, nurture, and extend God’s glory throughout the earth in the new covenant. It is the dominion mandate reiterated in a distinctively Christian way to create a Christian culture. Remember the definition connection between dominion and culture? Culture is something that is cultivated, and this culture that is to be nurtured and tended to must be cultivated by individuals who are first nurtured and cultivated. It is a process and these individuals are disciples and so, there are no shortcuts to Disciple-making. It is intended to be a laborious process that takes diligent work and patience. It takes skillful mastery. Pastors, teachers, and disciple-ers plant the seeds, and faithfully provide the necessary cultivation, nurture, water, and care, all while God will provide the growth. As Paul said in Corinthians, “For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.” The dominion language is everywhere. So, it is only when we have disciples can we cultivate a Christian culture and extend God’s glory throughout the earth.

To do this, it takes the comprehensive knowledge I mentioned previously. Then, since disciple-making is not a one-size fits all process, the disciple-er recognizes the gifts, strengths, weaknesses, and situations of the disciple-ee so that they can maximize the disciple-ee’s role in Christ’s body. This takes much wisdom and experience and it is to be applied faithfully so that the body of Christ functions more efficiently and then, ultimately, the disciple-ee will become mature enough to become a disciple-er. That is how the kingdom multiplies like leaven leavening a loaf until we have a world full of Disciple-makers who fulfill their mission out of love for the King who demands it.

I really think if we picture discipleship as ‘a profession that requires skillful mastery’ then we will be more cognizant of the diligent work, preparation, experience, and study that goes into it. We should go about it like a professional sports coach runs a championship team, how a professional athlete stays at the top of his game, how a master craftsman or a professional musician sets himself apart from the rest of the competition, and so forth. It takes hours upon hours of devoted, systematic, hard, diligent work. If you are a Christian, you don’t have a choice because it is a profession that we have been conscripted to and may not abdicate. We have been given the necessary armor (Eph. Chapter 6) to accomplish the task, we have been given the mission plan and everything we need for the mission in writing, all while the King, whose throne is eternally secure, has promised to be with us as we do it. What more could you ask for? And Christians look at it like, meh…

This is why the New Testament heavily emphasizes teaching, maturing, and growing in the grace of knowledge of the Lord. Grammatically-speaking, as I said in the introduction, the focus of the Great Commission is disciple-making. And so, therefore, the commission, done properly by Christians, would result in a biblically grounded Christian culture over time, hence the re-commission of the dominion/cultural mandate to the church. Just because the Great commission is “distinctively Christian” does not mean it is restricted to within the walls of the church. It means making disciples so that they can take every thought captive to Christ and then go and cultivate Christian families, businesses, schools, farms, etc. They are to be trained up in biblical knowledge, understanding, and wisdom so that they can be biblically grounded Christian parents, politicians, citizens, employers, employees, writers, athletes, soldiers. There is no profession outside the Lordship of Christ.

It is a serious mission given by a serious king that requires faithfulness in every thought, word, and deed. Christianity is not a personal religion reserved to the heart, it is a religion that changes the heart so that you can go and live it out.

With great privilege comes great responsibility. In our age of technology and information, we live in the richest soil in history to study and proclaim the truth of our King, and so, there is the potential for marvelous increase of good fruit from every good work sowed and diligently cultivated. However, the richest soil will produce the wildest of plants born of bad seed and the abdication of duty, which is a debilitating combination. If the standard of truth is not upheld in the church and the public sphere, the fertile soil of human depravity will grow some scary plants. The church has long abdicated her responsibility while the rotten seeds of modernity and post-modernism have taken root, and so, we are seeing the wildest of plants today, both in the church and in the secular world. To counter the wild plants, we must recognize what Jesus’ authority means and what our duty necessitates because of His authority.

To conclude, in the ancient world there was a concept called a period of clemency. Clemency is where the conquering king would provide the conquered people a period of time to submit to his rule, that is, to give them a chance to claim their allegiance to this new king. The King granted this period of clemency to show how honorable, gracious, and merciful he was to his enemies as opposed to just slaughtering them all upon victory. You could not merely say “sure, I submit,” and live as if nothing changed like the majority of people do today with civil leaders and just wait for the next election. No, the expectation was that you submitted every fiber of your being to the will of the king. The end of the period of clemency, however, would mark the destruction of whoever did not submit. This is the period of history in which we live. We are the King’s soldiers and messengers sent out to all the conquered peoples daily to declare to them the goodness of the king and to teach them all about him while the period of clemency is still intact. We go out into dense enemy-controlled territories with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the knowledge of his Word, prayer, and the fellowship of the saints. We proclaim to them who the King on the throne is by our words and through our deeds, all while letting them know that their time is running out. Then, to those who do come upon receiving the King’s voice gladly, the church labors to make disciples out of them.

The Reign of Christ is not a superficial cultural formality, it is a cosmological reality.

[1] William Arndt et al., in A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 126.

[2] http://latindictionary.wikidot.com/verb:colere