INAUGURAL

                                                                            Inaugural

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Jesus began His inaugural speech by saying, what has become known as the Great Commission, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen.’ (Matt. 28:18b-20).

To help Him with the lengthy process of turning all the nations into His disciples, the Father promised Him, ‘Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool’ (Psa. 110:1). Paul refers to this, ‘For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet’ (1 Cor. 15:25), as does the writer to the Hebrews, ‘But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool’ (Heb. 10:12-13).

Christians tend to focus on Christ’s humiliation more than His equally important ascension where His inauguration took place. This Jesus, who was ‘Humbled for a season, to receive a name’, ‘God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father’ (Phil. 2:9-11).

After the victorious Jesus’ inaugural speech, the songs change from being ‘Humbled for a season’ to ‘Crown Him with many crowns, the Lamb upon His throne…’ where He awaits the Holy Spirit, through His Church on earth, fulfilling the Great Commission. Binding him with, ‘the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes’, Christians plunder the strongman’s house. Jesus promised, ‘I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it’ (Matt. 16:18).

His Church on earth at times gets distracted in her mission of nation discipling. ‘By schisms rent asunder, by heresies distressed.’ Pessimism with its attendant apathy sometimes set in. E.g., one may wonder how Christ’s kingdom was expanding during WWI and WWII. However, the LORD has promised every success among all the nations, ‘He will teach us His ways, and we shall walk in His paths. For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations, and rebuke many people; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore’ (Isa. 2:3b-4). ‘They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea’ (Isa. 11:9, cf. Hab. 2:14).

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            What power can stop the successful discipling of all the nations? Didn’t Jesus say in His inaugural speech, ‘I am with you always, even to the end of the age’? What He said to Joshua entering the Promised Land, ‘I will not leave you nor forsake you’ (Josh. 1:5), is repeated to us, ‘He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”’ (Heb. 13:5b).

Here’s what happened at Jesus’ inauguration after He ascended, ‘Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom the one which shall not be destroyed’ (Dan. 7:14). Bow the knee to Him, now!