| The Great Commission[317] After his resurrection, Jesus gave “the Great Commission” to go tell “everyone, everywhere” the good news. “This good news about the kingdom will be preached through all the world for a witness to all mankind—and then the end will come.”[318] Hundreds of Christian groups proclaim their version of the “gospel.”[319] Much of it is hardly good news! If God really was like Satan has pictured him—arbitrary, vengeful, unforgiving, and severe, I would hope he would stay away for as long as possible! I’d be afraid of him, and wish he’d never return. But the good news is, as the angels told those who saw Jesus leave earth: “This same Jesus will return!” The same Jesus he always was on earth! The same Jesus which children and animals loved, that hugged lepers, that said, “I don’t judge or condemn anyone.” What most Christians believe is the gospel— the mere fact that Jesus died “for you to be saved”— has been preached in all the world. This is not the good news Jesus preached. The witness that he gave as “the true and faithful witness”, the same witness that his people are to give to the universe, is about God. This gospel—the good news—that we are to spread to the world, was encapsulated in the final statement Jesus gave as he was ascending into heaven: “I have been given all authority in heaven and earth—” in other words, it is Jesus—the one whose very nature is self-sacrificing love, service for others, meekness and humility—he is the one who will rule the universe forever! And he will always run it in the way he did while here on earth. “So go! Tell all people, everywhere! Make them my students[320]!” He had said, “If I be lifted up, I will draw all unto me.” If you lift me up—if they see the truth about me and my government—they will be drawn to me. They will be won, and become students of my ways. They will become like me. “Baptize them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” They will be totally transformed. So much, that they will seem to have died and been born a second time (this is what baptism symbolizes); new creations, with new hearts and right spirits within them. “And teach them to obey everything I have commanded you.” What has he “commanded” us? “This is my commandment: that you love one another, in the same way that I have loved you. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”[321] Satan’s Wrath This message will go to the world. Everyone must have an opportunity to choose the tree of life. But Satan will not take this lying down. “Woe to you, inhabitants of the earth! For the Devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows his time is short.”[322] God has always limited Satan’s destructive activity. Satan tells God, “You’ve never really let me demonstrate my kingdom.” Thus God will finally step back completely, so the universe can see what kind of government the devil would have. Satan’s deceptive powers have been sharpened by constant practice; he has had 6,000-plus years to perfect his skills. He knows that you can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. He knows that if he were to present himself as a hideous monster with cloven feet and bat’s wings, most would flee in terror. Besides, his wish has always been to be worshiped—not as a devil, but as God.[323] Every time God has acted or spoken, Satan has met the truth with a lie. Without fail, Satan presents a counterfeit of the genuine. |
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| 317 Matthew 28:16-20 318 Matthew 24:14 319 Old English for “good news” 320 “disciples” 321 John 15:12, 13:35 322 Revelation 12:12 323 Isaiah 14:14, Ezekiel 28:2, Matthew 4:8, 9 |
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