CHRIST'S COMMISSION TO HIS CHURCH.
THE church of Jesus Christ received her commission from him. Meeting his disciples according to appointment after his resurrection, he gave to them the following charge:— "All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you; and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." Matt. 28:18-20. 1. The obvious meaning of the above scripture is that all the authority and power of the church comes from Jesus Christ, and to him alone is she to look for power, and from him alone expect power. The gospel prophet had hundreds of years before pronounced a woe upon the people of God who sought to Egypt for help (Isa. 31:1), and the Lord through another prophet had declared a curse upon those who made flesh their arm, and whose heart departed from God (Jer. 17:5). Christ and his power alone is the only source from which power may be obtained by the church. 2. Notice further that it is because he has this power that Christ sends his servants forth, implying that he could not—would have no right to—give such a commission if he did not have this power. It is by virtue of his having the power that he gives the commission. This is shown by the word "therefore." I have the power, go ye therefore. 3. Note the power he has—all in heaven and earth—and can therefore supply all that his church needs. Do they need divine power? he will send it. Shall earthly powers be overruled that the church may better keep his charge? he has power there. And the power is to come from him and through him. The church is not to usurp his place; she is not to plan or devise the ways and means to do his work. Her duty is to learn the plan, the way, the means, which had already been devised by him before the commission was given. The church is not the head to plan, but the body to execute. In that body Christ has placed every gift—divine and spiritual—necessary to the carrying out of the gospel commission. (See 1 Corinthians 12.) But the headship to plan and direct rests with him. God "hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all." Eph. 1:22, 23. 4. The work of the church is to teach, not to rule, not to coerce, not to compel conscience. It is to persuade men, in view of the coming judgment and the love of God. Says the apostle, "Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men." 2 Cor. 5:11. In the same chapter the apostle says that as "ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us; we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God." Verse 20. The only compelling power is love. The weapons, the armor, which the church was to use, were not carnal, yet mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. 2 Cor. 10:4. It was "the armor of God" (Eph. 6:13-17), "the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left" (2 Cor. 6:7). Christ's was the power; Christ's was the armor; and the victory was of Christ. The only weapon of offense, or of defense save the armor, was the sword of the Spirit, the word of God. 5. The church was to teach the word, or all things which Christ commanded by prophet (1 Peter 1:10, 11; 2 Peter 1:21), by apostle (1 Cor. 2:13), by himself, and through all the Scriptures (Eph. 2:20; 2 Tim. 3:16). For as Christ is the Incarnate Word, so all the word of God, the "Scriptures of truth," came through him, partaking of his life and594nature. Teaching all things which Christ has commanded is therefore teaching the whole word of God, which is also the word of his gospel. Hearts were to be won, and that word could reach hearts. Heb. 4:12. Souls were to be begotten; that word could beget. James 1:18. Hearts were to be fed; that word could feed them. 1 Peter 2:2. Characters were to be built up; God's word could build them. Acts 20:28. Men dead in sin were to be given life; that word is spirit and life to everyone who believes. John 6:63. All that was needed was found in that word. 6. And then the promise, "Lo, I am with you all the days, even unto the consummation of the age." (Revised Version, margin.) Christ, by the Spirit of God, which is the power of God, would be with his disciples. "But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you." John 14:26. But this Spirit, as it must be obvious to all, teaches the church nothing contrary to what it has taught through prophet, apostle, or the Christ. God's word is truth (John 17:17); it is a complete storehouse of truth (2 Tim. 3:16); and when the representative of Christ, "the Spirit of truth," came, he came to guide into all truth; "for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak; and he will show you things to come. He shall glorify me [Christ]; for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you." John 16:13, 14. This is the Power, the Presence, which is promised to the church of Jesus Christ in the fulfillment of her lawful mission. This was the Power that was to glorify Christ in Christ's way. The Scripture does not admit for one moment that the church could trust to earthly power or influence and still claim the Spirit of God; for the Lord expressly says, "My glory will I not give to another." Isa. 42:8. God will not divide honors with earthly powers. 7. What was the result when the church went forward in the full faith of the promise, in full accord with the commission? Let Pentecost witness to the results. No attraction was needed to draw the multitude. When the Spirit was poured out, at the very time "when this voice was made," which the disciples in the house heard, "the multitude came together." Acts 2:6, margin. The Spirit which had prepared the apostles to preach Christ, constrained the people to come and hear, and thousands were converted. As a result of this preaching the apostles were imprisoned; but when God wanted them to preach, the prison doors were opened and his word proclaimed. And thus it continued. The teachers were flogged, stoned, imprisoned, and slain, but the gospel went on, graven images fell, idol shrines melted before the awful power of the simple word of God. One died bearing the cross of Christ; ten caught up the message from his lips and carried it in every direction. With all civil power against it, with all superstition and bigotry of an apostate church against it, with all the wisdom of the world against it, it lived, it fought, it conquered, with the weapons not carnal. Uniting with the world, the decay of the church began, and Christ's power departed. The armor of righteousness, the weapons not carnal, dropped from form and hand, and the State was appealed to to defend the professed spouse of Him who possessed all power and who had promised his constant Presence. She who had once been the chaste virgin bride of Christ, committed fornication with the world; and when the true children of God protested against the unlawful union, the false mother through the secular power put them to death by the millions. But the church which did this was not the church of Christ, nor was her work done under the authority of the commission of Christ. She was the apocalyptic harlot, "drunken with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus." And that church, whatever her name or profession, which departs from the commission of Christ and lays hold of the secular power, is committing fornication and is the daughter of the old mother of harlots. We have spoken of the commission of Christ and all which appertained to it as in the past, as it existed at the beginning. But it is a living commission now. If an angel from heaven preach any other gospel, the curse of God is upon him. Gal. 1:8. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, to-day, and all the days to come. His power in heaven and earth is the same. His commission is the same. His word is the same. His promised power and presence is the same, waiting to be poured out in abundant measure upon all who are wholly his. The true church of Christ will heed that commission, will claim that promise as at the first. She will not appeal to, nor will she heed the appeal of, secular powers for union or help. She will not array herself against secular governments. She will not endeavor to do through politics what can only truly be done by the Spirit of God. She will not work by political power in any way. Policy or expediency will have no part in her motives or plans. She will not ask for Sabbath laws or Sunday laws, knowing that it is not in the power of man to compel true Sabbath keeping, and that God's law and gospel are all-sufficient. In short, she will preach Christ, the way, the truth, the life. The latter rain has come. She has drunk of the first showers. She hears the voice of the risen Lord: "Arise, shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee." She may be persecuted, but in Christ she will not be discouraged and she cannot fail.