The great commission bids us go into all the world with Gospel; and we
have pointed out the evident connection with Mt. 24:14: " This Gospel
of the Kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all
nations; and then shall the end come" . This definitely suggests
that the great commission will be mightily obeyed in the last days. There
are may other Biblical implications that there will be an unprecedented
spread of the Gospel to the whole planet in the last days:
- Dan. 12:4 speaks of a time in the very last days when “many shall
run to and fro (an idiom often used concerning response to God's word:
Ps. 119:32,60; 147:15; Amos 8:11,12; Hab. 2:2; Jn. 8:37 RV; 2 Thess.
3:1 Gk.), and knowledge shall be increased [the context is of Daniel
wanting to understand about the second coming of Jesus]...many shall
be purified, and made white, and tried (in the tribulation); but the
wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but
the wise shall understand" . This increase of knowledge of the
Gospel is to be spread world-wide by many running to and fro in the
last days. The great commission will be fulfilled then as never before.
- The parable of the marriage feast highlights the tragedy of
Jewish rejection of what could have been theirs. There will be an ever-increasingly
vigorous preaching campaign by the " servants" , seeing that
" they which were bidden were not worthy" (Matt. 22:8) - the
Greek implying not enough numerically. As a result of this
preaching, " the wedding was furnished ('filled' - numerically)
with guests" (Matt. 22:10). This indicates that in
some ways, God does work to a number. Once the required number of converts
is made, then the supper can begin. Their appeal being to " the
poor...maimed...halt and...blind" suggests that the marginal and
desperate within society will be those who respond- and this is happening
right now in the triumphant progress of preaching in our day. The servants
are sent " into the highways" (Matt. 22:9), the Greek meaning
'a market square'. This must be designed to recall the parable
of the labourers standing idle in the market place at the 11th. hour
(Matt. 20:6,7). The very short probation of those 11th.-hour
workers will match that of the latter-day converts. And again, it was
the old and weak who nobody wanted to hire.
- In the parable of the great supper, which is similar but not necessarily
the same as that of the marriage feast, the same point is made. The
servants going forth " at supper time" (Luke 14:17) fits more
naturally into the context of a preaching appeal just prior to the second
coming than to the first century. The " supper"
, i.e. the Kingdom (Luke 14:15; Matt. 22:2), is prepared, and at "
supper time" - 'Kingdom time' - the appeal is made.
" All things are now ready" (Luke 14:17) explains the unmistakeable
sense of urgency in the commissions given to the servants to preach.
This again indicates reference to an eleventh hour preaching campaign
just prior to the second coming. The 'decorum of the symbol'
suggests that the animals being killed for the meal would necessitate
a brief period of invitation immediately prior to the feast, rather
than them being on the table for 2,000 years.
- A careful reading of Mt. 10:16-39 reveals many links with
the Olivet prophecies concerning the latter day persecution of the saints;
verses 17-21 are effectively quoted in Lk. 21:12-18. However, Mt. 10:16
prefaces all this by saying that these tribulations will attend those
who go out preaching the Gospel in that latter day period. At this time,
when many " shall be offended" (spiritually stumble) and "
the love of many shall wax cold" for the truth (Mt. 24:10,11),
the " Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in all the world
for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come" (Mt.
24:14)- i.e. the full establishment of the Kingdom. At that time, "
What ye hear in the ear (in quiet halls at the moment), that preach
ye (then) upon the housetops" (Mt. 10:27). This seems to be giving
special encouragement to persevere in preaching during the last days.
There is a connection here with Mt. 24:17, which advises those upon
the housetops to go with Christ at the time of his coming. This implies
that at the moment of Christ's coming there will be zealous " upon
the housetops" preaching by the faithful. This latter day witness
will be accompanied by some measure of persecution.
" Ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake" connects
with " this Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached for a witness
unto all nations" (Mt. 24:39,14). " My name's sake" and
the Gospel of the Kingdom's sake are interchangeable expressions (Mt.
19:12,29; Mk. 10:29; Lk. 18:29).
- Before every 'coming' of the Lord there has been a period of persecution
and zealous preaching: Noah preached righteousness before the flood,
as Lot probably tried to before the Lord's coming down in judgment on
Sodom (would God have wrought such wholesale destruction without giving
the people a chance to repent? Cp. Nineveh and Jonah). The schools of
the prophets preached from the street corners and temple steps to warn
of the coming of the day of the Lord at the hand of the Babylonians
and Assyrians. And of course the dramatic coming of the Lord in judgment
upon Israel in AD70, was heralded by Paul and his committed band of
zealots staging the greatest preaching campaigns this world has seen.
- We have suggested elsewhere that the great commission is repeated
in John’s Gospel but in more spiritual language. The whole world is
to know the Gospel because of the unity of the believers (Jn. 17:18,21,23);
and it follows that a situation will arise in which the extraordinary
nature of true Christian solidarity over linguistic, ethnic, social
and geographical lines will make a similar arresting, compelling witness
as it did in the first century. The Lord had prophesied that His followers
over time “shall become one flock” (Jn. 10:16 RV); they would be “perfected
into one, that the world may know” (Jn. 17:23 RV). He surely hoped this
would have become true in the first century. As the Gospel spreads world-wide
in the last days, the unity of the believers will become all the more
comprehensive, and this will of itself provoke yet more conversions.
It could have been like this in the first century- for Eph. 3:9 speaks
of how the unity of Jew and Gentile would “make all men see” the Gospel.
This is the urgency of Paul’s appeal for unity in Ephesians- he knew
that their unity was the intended witness to the world which the Lord
had spoken of as the means of the fulfilment of the great commission
in Jn. 17:21-23. But sadly, Jew and Gentile went their separate ways
in the early church, and the possibility of world-converting witness
evaporated.
- Dan. 11:32,33 speaks of how in the time of the end " The people
that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits...instruct many
.
- The dragon/ beast made war with the seed of the woman " which
keep the commandments (word) of God, and have the testimony (i.e. preaching)
of Jesus" (12:17); it was because of " the word of their testimony
(i.e. preaching) (that) they loved not their lives unto the death"
(12:11), and then Rev.12 goes on to describe how this final witness
amidst tribulation is resolved by the coming of Jesus and the establishment
of the Kingdom.
There are some definite links between the Greek text of Matthew’s record
of the commission, and the LXX of the end of Daniel 12:
- Daniel being sent away with God’s promised blessing, the very
picture of spiritual calmness and peace with his maker, sure in hope,
yearning for the day…this is the very picture which the Lord gives of
His preachers as He sends them forth. If we are to understand the time
periods at the end of Daniel as literal days, i.e. a three and a half
year period at the end, then we have in the great commission a specific
hint that it will be fulfilled during the three and a half year tribulation.
This possibility is developed at length in The Last Days.
The crucial question, of course, is whether the Gospel has truly gone into all the world. One perspective to bear in mind is that in the preaching of Paul, ecclesias which he founded are taken as representing a whole area- e.g. Philippi is called "Macedonia" (Phil. 4:15); Thessalonica is "Macedonia and Achaia" (1 Thess. 1:7); Corinth is Achaia (1 Cor. 16:15; 2 Cor. 1:1); Ephesus for Asia (Rom. 16:5; 1 Cor. 16:19; 2 Cor. 1:8). In this sense Paul felt that he had fully preached the Gospel in a circle, moving from Jerusalem through Asia to Rome, and projecting onwards to Spain. Perhaps the Gospel goes into all the world in the sense that believers, however small in number, are to be found world-wide. And that seems to be where we're now up to in the 21st century.
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