TODAY’S SCRIPTURE Matthew 28:18

If someone were to ask you to describe Jesus, what would you say? I think some of us would think of Jesus’ love for sinners and His challenging words to hypocrites and the self-righteous. Some of us would focus on His compassion for those who are sick, outcast, or hurting. I hope that many of us would mention of His death on the cross to save us from our sins and His glorious resurrection that defeats death and gives us hope of life beyond the grave. However, how many of us would speak of Jesus’ power and authority? All of the characteristics mentioned above are good and true (and we should share what we know about these things with others often!), but let us not forget that throughout Jesus’ ministry He displays sovereign authority like God the Creator or God Most High in our Old Testament texts.

As we continue looking at the word sovereign, Jesus shows us that He too is sovereign over earth with His final commission at the end of the Gospel of Matthew. It begins with this reminder from Jesus, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me” (Matthew 28:18). The beginning of that commission is a reminder of the sovereign authority that now resides in Jesus, and it serves as both a source of strength and a motivation to “go therefore and make disciples of all nations” (28:19). Matthew 28:18 states what we have seen throughout Jesus’ ministry: He has the same authority that God the Father has.

In Matthew 11:27, Jesus states, “All things have been handed over to Me by My Father.” Authority is a word that Matthew loves to use to describe Jesus. Jesus teaches with authority, not like the scribes (7:29). He has the authority to forgive sins (9:6), and He gives the disciples authority over unclean spirits (10:1). With Matthew 28:18, these texts show that Jesus most certainly has authority on earth as well as in Heaven, and He claims all executive power both in Heaven and on earth, and He is in control of the world.

So if someone asks you to describe Jesus to them, of all the things we could say about Him––and there are a lot––let us not forget that He is the One who is sovereign over the world, the one possessing all authority.

Today, I will…remember that Jesus does have the authority to tell us what to do, and He is sovereign over the world.