6: Jesus's Civil Mandate

This is Jesus’s civil mandate (Matt. 28:18-20:

“Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

This Scripture is often referred to as Jesus’s Great Commission. These verses are usually quoted for going to share the gospel to the world. There are verses that tell us to do that, but these verses do NOT say that. The “gospel” is nowhere mentioned in these verses.

Jesus’s Great Commission is actually Jesus’s Civil Mandate for us today!

Look closely at Jesus’s Great Commission:

* “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me.”

It’s interesting to note that when most Christians quote Jesus’s Great Commission they usually never quote the first sentence that Jesus says! But this is the premise for Jesus’s whole Great Commission.

Christians assume Jesus has all authority in heaven. But how many assume that Jesus has the same all authority here on earth right now? Therefore, this means - Jesus has all civil authority on earth - “of all nations.”

This means there is no legitimate civil authority on earth unless Jesus has delegated that authority to be legitimate based on what He Himself declares is legitimate (Rom. 13:3-4):

“For the [legitimate] authorities do not strike fear in people who are doing right, but in those who are doing wrong… Do what is right, and they will honor you. The authorities are God’s servants, sent for your good… They are God’s servants, sent for the very purpose of punishing those who do what is wrong.”

Moreover, Jesus’s civil authority is NOT just for the purpose of some future millennial reign. Jesus said, “it has been given to Me,” since that time. So Jesus has all civil authority now. Jesus is to be honored NOW having all civil authority. He is to be honored today in our nation as “KING of kings.”

Jesus told us to pray specifically for this as well when He told His disciples what to pray (Matt. 6:9-10):