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Scripture Reading: Matt. 28
We have seen that the book of Matthew is clearly a book concerning Christ versus religion. Now we come to the last chapter of this book. It is not a long chapter — indeed it is rather short — but its entire record is full of the contrast between Christ and religion. From the beginning to the end we may see the difference and the distance between Christ and religion.
In verse 1 we read, “Late on the Sabbath...” The Sabbath, we know, was the symbol of the old Jewish religion. Therefore, “Late on the Sabbath” means at the end of the old religion. Hallelujah! The resurrection of Christ is the end of the old religion. A new age has dawned, the age of the resurrected Christ, not the old age of the old religion. We read further, “As it began to dawn toward the first day of the week...” Something was dawning — it was the resurrection of Christ. Something ended, and something began.
Now notice that it was Mary the Magdalene and the other Mary who came to look at the grave. There is much significance, we know, in whatever the Bible says. We must realize that in the Old Testament every great event was always revealed to men, not to women. It is rather difficult to find one case in the Old Testament where God revealed anything first to a woman. In the Old Testament women were not reckoned. But here we read that the new start of the new age was discovered not by men but by women, and all the women here were of the same name — Mary. There were no males — just females. This was against the old way, against the religious regulation. The old way was always with the men, but the new way is always with the women. I hope that the brothers will say, Hallelujah!
Let me check with you all, especially the brothers. Are you male or female? Today in the new age we must answer, spiritually speaking, that we are all females; we are all Marys. This is the vision; this is the new beginning.
It is not a small thing to discover the resurrection of Christ. We must be clear that the resurrection had occurred already, but before the women went there, it was not discovered. At the end of chapter 27 we read that the chief priests and Pharisees sealed the grave with a stone and set a watch. But they never witnessed the resurrection. The stone was still there, but Jesus was gone. Apparently, nothing had happened. Nobody knew that Jesus was resurrected, but by the coming of these Marys, it was discovered. We read that there was a great earthquake, and an angel of the Lord descended out of heaven and rolled away the stone (28:2). Did he roll away the stone to let Jesus out? No! It was to show the sisters that the tomb was empty.
The Lord’s way today is not according to the old way. The age has changed. His resurrection was not discovered by men, but by women. Spiritually speaking, this is not the age of men but the age of women. According to religion everything must be revealed to men, but here is something discovered by women. This is entirely contrary to religion.
The angels then told the women, “Go quickly and tell His disciples that He has been raised from the dead, and behold, He goes before you into Galilee. There you will see Him” (v. 7). At that time all the disciples were at Jerusalem. Apparently, it would be more convenient for them to meet the Lord right there. Why would the Lord go before His disciples into Galilee? Physically and logically we can find no reason. But I believe the Lord Jesus did this deliberately and intentionally to impress His disciples that this was a new start, that this new age has nothing to do with the old religion. The Lord Jesus was saying in effect to His disciples, “You must get out of that whole realm.” Eventually, we will see how the poor disciples brought things back to Jerusalem and to the temple (Acts 21:20-26). Undoubtedly the Lord intended to impress His disciples that everything related to Him is separate from the old religion. He, the resurrected Christ, had nothing to do with that religion, and neither should they, His disciples.
We must remember that the New Testament began from Galilee. Jesus was conceived by His mother Mary, not in Jerusalem but in Galilee (Luke 1:26-38). It began in Galilee, and it must be continued in Galilee. The angels told the women, “He goes before you into Galilee.” Then as they ran from the tomb with fear and great joy, Jesus Himself met with them and said, “Go and report to My brothers that they should go into Galilee, and there they will see Me” (Matt. 28:10).
Later in the chapter (v. 16) we see that it was not a synagogue to which they were directed in Galilee but a mountain in the open air. It was absolutely contradictory to the religious concept. At that time all the religious people either gathered in the temple at Jerusalem or in the synagogues in the various other cities. But now Jesus instructed His disciples to depart from Jerusalem and thus from the temple. Then, when they went to Galilee, He did not lead them into a synagogue or even into a house, but to a mountain. Do not imagine that He did these things without a purpose. We must believe that this is full of significance. He did it to impress His disciples that henceforth in the new age with the resurrected Christ and His Body, the church, everything must be different from religion. If religion goes to the north, then the church must go to the south. If religion meets in the daytime, then the church must meet at night. Christ and the church are always versus religion. At the present time we meet together on the Lord’s Day simply because people are free from their jobs on that day. If they could be free at some other time, I would say that it would be much better to meet on Friday or any other weekday and forget about meeting on the Lord’s Day. This matter of Sunday worship is too much of religion. When religious people meet on Sundays, if possible, we would go to work. When they work, we would stop working and meet. I tell you, this was the principle adopted by the Lord Jesus. He said in effect, “You priests, you religious people, all go up to Jerusalem. You meet there, but I tell My disciples to go away to Galilee. You meet in the synagogue, but I tell My disciples to meet on the mountaintop.” Oh, Christ is really versus religion!
Jesus said to the women, “Go and report to My brothers” (v. 10). This is a new term — My brothers. Religious people always consider that we are at most the servants of the Lord, or to use a more intimate term, the children of the Lord. But the Lord Jesus Himself referred to us as His brothers. This is a feature of the new age. Jesus is our Brother, and we are His brothers. That day they were going to meet their Brother. They were not going, in a sense, to meet their Lord and Master but their very Brother. Have you ever praised the Lord in this way? Have you ever said, “Lord, how we praise You that You are our Brother”? I fear that if you go into any kind of Christian service today and praise the Lord Jesus in this way, you will be promptly quenched and charged with irreverence. Hallelujah, Jesus called us His brothers! He has the life of the Father, and we too have the life of the Father. We are no more just His disciples, no more merely His servants, but His very brothers. What He is, we are; and what we are, He is. He is the Son of God, and we are the sons of God. He is our Brother, and we are His brothers. We are going to the brothers’ meetings. It is really good.
Immediately after the discovery of the resurrected Christ, those religious people exercised their power. “Behold, some from the guard came into the city and reported to the chief priests all that had happened. And after the chief priests had gathered with the elders and had taken counsel, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers, saying, Say this, His disciples came by night and stole Him away while we slept. And if this comes to the governor’s ears, we will persuade him and make sure that you have nothing to worry about. And they took the money and did as they were instructed” (vv. 11-15). By money and with money you can do everything. They exercised their power to bribe the people. Money is the power of today’s religion. But notice what the Lord Jesus said to His disciples. He did not say, “All gold and silver have been given into My hand. Go therefore.” He did not say, “Those religious people have a lot of money, but I have more.” No! He said, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore” (vv. 18-19). He said in effect, “Go with this. Don’t go with money. Go with My authority.” What a shame that in today’s Christianity so many talk continually of money. Day by day on the radio, at the close of every religious broadcast, there is a plea for money. Christ is versus religion. Christ is versus money. Christ does not care for money, and neither should His church.
Naturally and religiously speaking, we would think that if the Lord Jesus would have a meeting on the mountain in Galilee following His resurrection, that meeting would be a considerably long meeting with a message covering several chapters in the Bible. After His resurrection, we know, He was going to ascend to the heavens, and we would think that He must pass on many instructions and regulations for His disciples to follow in His absence. We might think that He should dictate to them the charters, creeds, doctrinal statements, conditions for appointing elders and selecting deacons, how to set up the local churches, and on and on. I would think the Lord Jesus would need to schedule a three-week conference with His disciples. But to our amazement, instead of a three-week conference, there is a three-verse conference, and it is recorded in Matthew 28:18-20. “Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and disciple all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you all the days until the consummation of the age.” This was the first conference following the resurrection of Christ. This was the first church conference.
The Lord Jesus was so simple. Concerning the work of the Lord, He said simply, “Go therefore and disciple all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” That is all. Our work must be like this. We must simplify our work as much as possible. We must focus in our work upon this one point — putting people into the Triune God. This is the meaning of the word baptize. It means to put people into something. To baptize them with water means to put them into the water. Likewise, what we must do today is simply to put people into the Triune God. Our work today should be so simple. Regardless of what teaching or message we use, as long as people are put into the Triune God, that is quite sufficient. Christianity performs a multitude of activities, but they keep people outside of God. They speak about the Triune God, but the end product is that people never get into Him. Our job today is just to bring people into God, to put people into God.
This conference was so short because the Lord’s presence was with them. He said, “Behold, I am with you all the days.” There was no need for Him to tell them so many things. Whatever they needed the next day, He would let them know. Whatever they needed the day after that, He would also let them know. Whatever they needed in the first century, He was with them to tell them, and whatever they needed in the second century, He was also with them to tell them. There was no need for Him to dictate many things in detail. His presence is everything. He said to them in effect, “My authority is better than money, and My presence is better than all kinds of creeds and regulations.”
Many people in the past have asked us concerning two things. One is the matter of money. “In what way do you raise funds? Please tell us the secret. Do you have someone backing you in your work? Are there some millionaires supporting you?” I have replied, “We have many backing us — many poor people. We have very few who are rich.” When they insist on knowing where the money comes from, I can only answer, “You don’t know, and I don’t know either. I never learned how to raise money. We never even talk about it.” Then they speak about the second matter: “We know that you don’t have any organization, but you must have some kind of regulations and rules. What are they?” But the fact is we do not have any regulations and rules. These two things are in the religious mind all the time — how to raise money, and how to formulate a creed in writing. But here the Lord Jesus also mentions two things: (1) All authority has been given to Him. We must go forth with His authority. (2) He is with us all the days until the consummation of this age. That is sufficient. What we have today are: (1) the authority of Jesus, and (2) the presence of Jesus. Hallelujah! We do not have financial resources, and we do not have creeds, but we have something much better — the Lord’s authority and the Lord’s very presence.
I want to tell you today that I appreciate the presence of the Lord Jesus much more than the Bible. In the early years after I was saved, I cannot tell you how much I loved my Bible. I loved that book dearly, but I must honestly say that at that time I had little appreciation of the Lord’s presence. I appreciated His Word, the Bible, but I did not so greatly appreciate His presence. I must tell you that today I still appreciate the Bible. In fact, I must say that I appreciate it even more than I did in those first seven years. But I appreciate much more the living presence of the living Lord. He said, “Behold, I am with you all the days.” That is good enough. That is wonderfully sufficient. What else could we want? What else do we need but the authority of the Lord and the presence of the living Christ?
In the new move of the Lord in this new age, there is no regulation, organization, or creed. Forget about that. The Lord never even said that we must keep all the commandments of the Old Testament. He only said that we must teach the people what He has commanded us in a living way. We must say again that in this new age with the Lord’s new move, there is no need of any kind of organization, system, or regulation. What we need is altogether dependent upon the Lord’s presence. “Behold, I am with you all the days.”
We must be practical in applying this to our present situation. When the young people have their special meetings, they like to consider the way and format of their meeting. Many times they will come to the leading brothers asking for directions and fellowship as to how they must meet. In a sense this is good, but in another sense it is not. They must realize that the Lord is with them. They need only proceed to meet with the present Christ, the living Lord. He will show them how to meet. When they come into His presence, He will lead them and reveal to them moment by moment how to go on. It is really difficult for people to believe that there has ever been such a group of believers meeting in this way on this earth. You see, we are still rather religious even when we come together to meet. We always have the concept that we must know beforehand how we are going to meet. When we come to the meeting, we are not so open to the living Jesus, the present Christ. We still retain certain religious concepts concerning how to meet.
When we read the record in this chapter of what the Lord said and did, we cannot find even a hint of anything religious. If we compare the record of this chapter with all the records of the Old Testament, there is a great contrast and difference. Not one matter resembles that which was spoken and performed in the Old Testament. Everything is changed; everything is new. We must realize and admit that in our concepts we still preserve the tenets of religion. If we were there, we would say to the Lord Jesus, “Please stay with us for another four weeks. We have so many questions; we have so many matters which require a solution. We do not know how to go on. You have told us to go and disciple the nations, but you have not told us: where, when, who, how, or what. O Lord Jesus, please stay with us. Make everything clear.” Be honest. Would we not speak in such a way?
In the past eight years many have come to me with these same questions: What? Where? When? Who? How? My answer all the time was, “I don’t know. Look to the Lord. The Lord knows.” Has the Lord not told us that He will be with us all the days? What else do we want? Why should anyone say to the Lord, “Don’t go, Lord.” He never has gone, and He never will — He is with us all the days.
Christians today believe that the Lord Jesus was resurrected, and they also believe that He ascended to heaven. But there are some who tell Him, “Lord, You stay there in the third heaven. Don’t come down to interfere. You be the exalted Lord there, and let us do a good job for You here.” So many behave in this way, leaving the Lord in heaven. When they encounter any problems, they fast and pray, asking the Lord to do something for them. But this is not the right way to go on. We must enjoy the Lord’s presence continually. Whenever we face a difficulty, we need only turn to Him, saying, “O Lord Jesus, this is not our problem; this is Your problem. You are here. If You can go to sleep, then we can do the same.”
In this book of Matthew, a book concerning Christ versus religion, it is indeed impressive and meaningful that the ascension of Jesus is never mentioned. There is not one verse or word in this book telling us that He ascended to the heavens. This book is a book of Emmanuel, God with us (1:23). How could He ascend to the heavens? He is with us. It is this book which also says, “Where there are two or three gathered into My name, there am I in their midst” (18:20). “Behold, I am with you all the days until the consummation of the age.” The church needs a present Christ. We believe that the Lord is undoubtedly in the heavens — Hallelujah! But today He as the resurrected and living Christ is continually in the church with us. He is so wonderfully and really present. When we come together, we do have the sense that while we are meeting, He is here. We need this realization in all our meetings. We do not look to Him only as the ascended One, but as the present One. Hallelujah! Jesus is here!
Whenever I hear people speaking about Easter and saying that they will have a sunrise service, I always remark that every day to me is Easter, and all our meetings are sunrise meetings. Every meeting is a celebration of the resurrected Christ. What day is it today? If it is Tuesday, then it must be Easter Tuesday. Every day should be Easter to us. Every meeting, whether it is in the morning or in the evening, must be a sunrise meeting. We should never have anything as a sunset, for we have the presence of the resurrected Christ!
Christians, especially in this country, are always asking where our headquarters are located. I would tell them now that if we have any headquarters, they are on the mountaintop of Galilee. Our headquarters are with the resurrected Christ on the mountaintop. We have nothing religious. All we have is the resurrected Christ. How much we all need to be delivered from the concept of religion! How much we have been poisoned with religious concepts, and how many religious concepts there are still in our blood! If you will pray-read all these verses, bring all these points to the Lord, and put them into practical application, you will see how much you still need the deliverance of the Lord.
In conclusion, what we have today is just the resurrected Christ. His authority is our power, and His presence is everything to us. His presence is our regulation, His presence is our creed, and His presence is our teaching and our preaching. As long as we have His presence, we need nothing more, and we want nothing more. Praise the Lord we have it. Hallelujah!
