A verse of scripture which challenges me is Matthew 28:18 — “All authority is given to me in heaven and on earth.” It precedes what we know as The Great Commission — “Go then and make disciples of all the nations…” “ALL authority in heaven AND on earth”! Nothing oblique about these words. So, why then have not we Christians exercised this all-powerful authority?
It’s instructive to go back to verse 16, where we read “the disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them, and as soon as they saw him they fell down and worshipped him, yet some hesitated. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority is given to me…”
We see that although the disciples obeyed the Lord’s instruction and went to where he had said he would reveal himself, some of them were doubtful when they saw him. Doubt has the effect of making us indecisive, double-minded. The disciples found the reality of the risen Lord difficult to cope with. So, Jesus assured them that all authority in both heaven and earth was now his, and that the responsibility to win the nations was now theirs.
Evangelist Reinhard Bonnke accepted the all-powerful authority of Jesus, and in the name of Jesus Christ led 78 million people to the Lord. Each one signed a decision card affirming his or her personal commitment to Jesus Christ as their Lord. Bonnke’s successor, Daniel Kolenda, reports that the number of converts is now close to 100 million. How many hundreds of millions more will do so when we too accept that the all-powerful authority of Jesus empowers every believer — that’s you and me — to do likewise and in so doing disciple nations?
Either most believers have never really understood that Jesus does have “all authority in heaven and on earth” (which would explain why the world has not seen it to the degree that it should have), or the church has been too busy with internal affairs to accept the responsibility Jesus has given it to reach out to the nations.
Muslims make clear that they are intent on doing that. So, your choice and mine is very clear: implement the worldwide authority of Jesus or sit by as an Islamic caliphate is introduced worldwide. Like the Lord’s first disciples, we need to rid ourselves of all doubt and double thinking. We must pray for our heavenly Father’s kingdom to come, and for His will to be done “on earth, as it is in heaven” — knowing that we have the authority here on earth in our Lord’s name to help to bring God’s on Planet Earth.