Bible Verses: Matthew 28:5 And the angel answered and said to the women, Do not be afraid, for I know that you are seeki
Excerpts from Life-study of Matthew, Message 72 THE KING’S VICTORY Bible Verses: Matthew 28:5 And the angel answered and said to the women, Do not be afraid, for I know that you are seeking Jesus, the crucified. 28:6 He is not here, for He has been raised, even as He said… 28:16 And the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus directed them. 28:17 And when they saw Him, they worshipped Him, though some doubted. 28:18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 28:19 Go therefore and disciple all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 28:20 Teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you all the days until the consummation of the age. In this message we come to the King’s victory recorded in 28:1-20. Compared to chapters twenty-six and twenty-seven, chapter twenty-eight is short and simple. When we are in resurrection, everything is simple. [THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST BEING A MATTER OF RIGHTEOUSNESS] The resurrection of Christ was a matter of God’s righteousness. Have you ever considered the resurrection of Christ in this light? God was righteous to come in to judge Christ as our substitute on the cross. This judgment of Christ on the cross was just and righteous. By being judged by God, Christ fulfilled all the requirements of God’s righteousness. He bore our sins on the cross to fully meet all the righteous requirements of God. Thus, through Christ’s death on the cross, God’s righteousness has been wholly satisfied. In other words, the righteous God was judicially satisfied with Christ’s death on the cross. Therefore, Christ was buried in a new tomb that belonged to a rich man. This indicates that immediately after Christ’s judicial death and immediately after the satisfaction of God’s righteous requirements, Christ rested as the fulfillment of the prophecy of the Scriptures. After Christ was buried, God was held responsible in His righteousness to release Christ from among the dead. Not many Christians realize this. Most think that the resurrection of Christ was only a matter of the divine power of God’s life. Few realize that the resurrection of Christ was not only a matter of power, but also a matter of righteousness. If God had not raised Christ up after His death on the cross to satisfy all the requirements of God’s righteousness, God would have not been righteous. It was righteous for God to release Christ from death. According to His righteousness, God had to judge Christ on the cross because Christ was bearing all our unrighteousness. But after God had judged Christ in full, God’s righteousness held Him responsible to release Christ from death and to raise Him up from among the dead. The concept in Matthew regarding Christ’s resurrection is that it is related to God’s righteousness. Christ was both righteously judged and put to death and righteously raised up from the dead. Eventually, Christ became not only the powerful King, but also the righteous King. The heavenly Savior-King was righteously judged by God on the cross, and He was righteously raised up from the dead by Him to become the righteous King. He is altogether righteous. He is the righteous King for God’s righteous kingdom. [THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD AND HIS KINGDOM] [W]e need to consider Romans 4:25. This verse says, “Who was delivered because of our offenses and was raised because of our justification.” This verse links resurrection with righteousness. The Bible makes resurrection not only a matter of power, but also a matter of righteousness. Not only was God’s righteousness
manifested in raising Christ from the dead, but we were justified because of Christ’s resurrection. Therefore, Christ’s resurrection is a proof both of God’s righteousness and of our justification. Hallelujah, in Christ’s resurrection God is the righteous God, and we are the justified people! We have seen that resurrection is very closely related to God’s righteousness. The kingdom of the heavens is built and established upon God’s righteousness, which held God responsible to raise up the righteous Redeemer and to make us righteous. Hence, Christ’s resurrection is a realm of righteousness. In the sphere of Christ’s resurrection, God is the righteous God, and we are the justified people of God. Here we have the kingdom. Many Christians today know only the kingdom of love or the kingdom of grace. In other words, they are familiar only with the realm of love and grace. They have no understanding of the realm of God’s righteousness. But God’s righteousness, not His love or grace, is the foundation of God’s kingdom. The kingdom of the heavens is built not upon God’s love or grace, but upon His righteousness. How precious, necessary, and vital the righteousness of God is! It is absolutely necessary for the kingdom life. [“BREATH” IN JOHN AND “AUTHORITY” IN MATTHEW] Matthew’s account of the resurrection is very different from John’s. According to John’s record, after His resurrection the Lord met with His disciples in a room where the doors had been shut (John 20:19). The disciples were frightened, being afraid of the Jews. Because they needed to be strengthened by life, the Lord came to them as life, breathed upon them, and told them to receive the holy breath (John 20:22). How different is Matthew’s account! According to Matthew, the Lord charged the disciples to go to a mountain in Galilee. Surely He met with them on that mountain during the day, not during the night. Furthermore, when He met with them on the mountain, He did not breathe upon them and tell them to receive the holy breath. Instead, He said, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.” In Matthew it is not a matter of breath, but a matter of authority. John’s concern was for life, and life requires breath. But Matthew’s concern was for the kingdom, and the kingdom requires authority. The Gospel of John reveals that we need life to care for the little lambs and to feed the Lord’s flock. But in Matthew 28 there is no word about feeding the lambs. In Matthew the Lord commands the disciples to disciple all the nations (v. 19) to make all the nations part of the kingdom. This requires authority. Therefore, in John resurrection is a matter of life, power, breath, and shepherding. However, in Matthew it is a matter of righteousness, authority, and discipling the nations. In the Lord’s resurrection with His righteousness the kingdom is present, and we have the authority, commission, and position, to disciple the nations. In this way the kingdom is spreading. Read the verses and footnotes online: http://online.recoveryversion.bible/ Read the complete message online: http://www.ministrybooks.org/life-studies.cfm
