Memory Verse Day 17: Anywhere

"Acercándose Jesús, les dijo:’Toda autoridad Me ha sido dada en el cielo y en la tierra.’"
(Mateo 28:18 NBLH)

"And Jesus came and said to them,’All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.’"
(Matthew 28:18 ESV)

Today we start a three-verse run.  Like the last set of verses, they include some of the last words that Jesus said to His disciples before His ascension.

Of course, no self-respecting missionary should forget to memorize these!

I had never really thought about the first part of this verse.  Jesus came to them.  If you look at the passage, you can see that He was already there – at least in the order of the verses.  The disciples had come to the mountain and they saw Jesus, and worshipped Him.

Maybe He just came closer to them – the way you might do if you wanted to tell everyone something very important.

All authority had been given to Jesus.  This is the authority that the disciples could be confident of as they went out into the world.  It also gave authority to their message – with confidence they could tell people to obey the Gospel (ie 2Thessalonians 1:5-10).

This authority came from the Father (1Corinthians 15:27; John 5:26-27).  Of course, this doesn’t take away from the equality of the persons in the Trinity – it just shows that they each have different roles, perfectly coordinated, as one God.

Our confidence – as those in Christ – is that He has all authority, anywhere we go.  Anywhere.