Speak the Name: Part One

The Authority Behind the Name

(Matt. 28:18; Gen. 1:1–2; Psalm 8:1)

Before Jesus gives His disciples anything to do, He tells them who is doing the sending.

“Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.’” (v. 18)

Now I want you to consider this verse, meditate on it for a moment. Listen to it again “Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.’”

I want you to underline the word authority in your Bibles. Can you begin to feel its full weight? Not some authority. Not an authority in certain domains or over certain populations. “All authority in heaven” — over every spiritual power, every principality, every force seen and unseen. “And on earth” — over every government, every empire, every tide of history that human beings have ever tried to harness or redirect. All of it. Given to Him.

As a college professor, I gave academic advice, but the reality is that was all it was – advice. I did not have the authority to confer degrees or create transcripts. I was limited in my scope, power and authority. However, what Jesus declared in Matthew 28:18 “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” reaches all the way back to the first verse of the first book of the Bible.

“In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters.” (Genesis 1:1–2 NRSV)

Scientists would like to think that, given the right conditions, they can create something from nothing. Only God - the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have the authority to:

·       speak light into existence from nothing,

·       call order out of chaos,

·       breathe life into a pile of mud and call it good.

Do you understand the significance of what Jesus was saying on a mountain in Galilee that day? He is saying all of it – the authority - has been given to him. It means the Creator – the Father and the Commissioner – Jesus – are not different gods. They are the same God — Father, Son, and Spirit — “moving together in the same unbroken current of purpose that has been flowing since before the world began.” (Barry Davis)

In between Genesis and Matthew, the Psalmist declares “O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens.” (Psalm 8:1 NRSV)

Michael W. Smith wrote the song How Majestic is Your Name in response to Psalm 8:

O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth.

O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth.

O Lord, we praise your name.

O Lord, we magnify your name:

Prince of Peace, mighty God;

O Lord God Almighty.*

*(How Majestic Is Your Name | Hymnary.org https://hymnary.org/text/o_lord_our_lord_how_majestic_is_smith)

This mighty, majestic, missional God who created the universe with all its solar systems, stars, and planets, who exists beyond the heavens, is the God who said to a rag-tag group of eleven people on a mountainside in Galilee that He is entrusting them with his mission Dei. He entrusts them with the continuation of His mission. And it is exactly what God has always done and continues to do with us. He has entrusted us with the mission of making disciples of all nations. How is this even possible? It is possible because of the authority behind the commission. It is what makes the commission possible. We do not go in on our own authority or credentials. “We go under the authority of the One to whom all authority in heaven and on earth has been given. That does not make the task easier. But it changes everything about how we face what is ahead — because the outcome does not rest on our adequacy. It rests on His authority.” (Barry Davis)