p. 151 | THE GREAT COMMISSION by Elder S. N. Haskell

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jan 9, 1893

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 19, No. 10.

THE GREAT COMMISSION.

By Elder S. N. Haskell

BY ELDER S. N. HASKELL.

THERE could be no period of greater interest to the disciples in their acquaintance with Christ than the forty days between his resurrection and his ascension. There is no period which contains more important information so briefly stated. He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils; and she went and told them that had been with her as they mourned and wept, but they could not believe this joyful news; to them it was as idle tales. Mark 16: 9-11. He then appeared to Peter (1 Cor. 15: 5; Luke 24:34, 45); after this he appeared as a stranger to two as they went into the country (Mark 16:12); he then appeared to the eleven as they sat at meat (Luke 24:36-45); after eight days again he appeared to them when Thomas was present (John 20: 26-29); also again after they had toiled all night fishing and had caught nothing (John 21:3-14); to James, and then to over five hundred in Galilee (1 Cor. 15:3, 6; Matt. 28: 16, 17); and finally, on the day of his ascension, he met with a few at Bethany (Luke 24: 50). How many other times which are not distinctly recorded, we cannot say. But it will be noticed that the commission to preach was given the first, third, fourth, and fifth times that he appeared to them assembled. We may therefore reasonably conclude that it was constantly kept before their minds, as well as the outpouring of the Spirit to fit them for the work.

There are two occasions, however, which are quite prominently mentioned, one of which is recorded by Luke and John and alluded to by Mark: First, when they sat at meat, on the evening after the day on which he rose from the dead (John 20:19-23; Luke 24:36-45; Mark 16:14); the other at a time when he said: "And these signs shall follow them that believe: In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover" (Mark 16:17, 18).

In connection with his ascension, among his very last words, we find two important events mentioned: First, the going into all the world to preach the gospel to every creature, and, second, the tarrying in Jerusalem until they should receive power from on high. It should also be remembered that it was after he had left the temple for the last time before his crucifixion, that he uttered the words, "And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come." Matt. 24:14. These expressions occurring at the close of his ministry, and repeatedly during the forty days after his resurrection, and in connection with his ascension, after they had been out preaching the gospel three and a half years, were calculated to deeply impress their minds with the work that was before them.

When the twelve were first commissioned to go forth, they were not to go in the way of the Gentiles, nor even in the cities of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel; and before they had gone over the cities of Israel, the Son of Man would come. Matt. 10:5, 6, 23. He followed them in their work, and revealed himself as they had said he would. They said that the kingdom of God had come nigh, and revealed the fact that the Son of God had appeared. Their mission was confirmed by miracles and signs following. The Saviour further confirmed their testimony by his own presence, evidencing to all who would believe that he was the Son of God. But now, as he was about to leave them, the commission which he gave them was to go into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. They were now to extend their field of operation to earth's remotest bounds. They were to take up the work the Saviour had begun and had instructed them how to do, and carry it forward to completion; but they were unprepared to do this until they were endued with power from on high.

The various expressions used by the evangelists in this connection are forcible when taken together. Matthew says, "Teach all nations;" Mark says, "Preach the gospel to every creature;" Luke says, "Repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem;" and in Acts, the words of our Saviour, as Luke records them, are, "But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you; and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth."

These expressions were not fully comprehended by the disciples, for, as late as A. D. 42, when the gospel had reached Antioch and a great number of Grecians had turned to the Lord, in alluding to the scattering of the disciples after the persecution that arose about Stephen, the record states that they "traveled as far as Phenice, and Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the word to none but unto the Jews only." Acts 11:19. Even the vision which Peter had the year before was not understood by him or the disciples that they were to go to the Gentiles as a people; but the opening and development of the work in Antioch fully convinced them of the nature and extent of the gospel.

From this time onward so rapid was the spread of the gospel that within fifteen years from the ordination of Paul and Barnabas, Paul wrote to the Romans: "But I say, Have they not heard? Yes verily, their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world." Rom. 10:18.

From the above we draw the following conclusion: First, the disciples, when first sent out, were sent especially to the house of Israel. Second, the Jews, as a nation, having rejected the message of the disciples, and Christ himself, the commission was then repeated, and designed from its very nature that it should go to the world; and to this end their lives and substance were devoted. Third, from such expressions, "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world;" from the fact that the gospel should be preached in all the world as a witness, and then the end should come, and from the fact that the First Angel's Message of Revelation 14 was to preach the gospel "unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people," we conclude that the giving of this great commission to the disciples at the close of his visible presence with them was especially designed not only to acquaint them with the work they were to take up as he ascended to heaven, but that in the last days the same work would be taken up by his people, and the fullest design of the gospel would be accomplished in the world; and that the angel coming down from heaven and lighting the earth with his glory, as recorded in Revelation 18, represents the most complete work of the gospel, both in extent and the manifestation of its power, that has ever been since man fell.