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Alex McFarland Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here. He is risen, as he said. Come see the place where the Lord lay. Well, that's Matthew 28, 5 and 6. And those are grand, glorious, wonderful words. Jesus has risen. And today, if you're listening to Exploring the Word, join with us. Get a Bible if you can. And Dillon Burroughs and I are going to Conclude Matthew chapter 28 and the gospel of Matthew. Bert and Dillon and I have been reading, through Matthew 20, or the Gospel of Matthew Matthew for several weeks. And Dillon, yesterday we were, getting into this, which, is really the first Easter morning. The women went to the tomb and they find that the tomb is empty. And we're going to pick it up here at verses 5, 6, 7 and following. But, this is the great news, the only news that no other belief system has. Our Messiah conquered death. Our Jesus is risen. The grave could not hold him. up from the grave he arose. That is good news, isn't it?
Dillon Yes. And it's not Easter Sunday, but we celebrate the resurrection every day. And for Christians around the world, this is the reason we worship together on Sundays. Because on the first day of the week, Sunday morning, the women went to the tomb to see where the body was. And the tomb was empty. Jesus was alive and is alive. We celebrate this. We proclaim it. Today we're going to talk about some of the details about the empty tomb, what the women experienced, what the disciples saw in the 40 days following the resurrection, and the commission given to us still today. So a lot of exciting information to talk about. Join us. Matthew 28 and let's dive right in. Alex, I'll let you take the lead here.
Alex McFarland Indeed, indeed. I, I love verse seven. the angel at the empty tomb says, and go quickly and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead. And indeed he is going before you into Galilee. There you will see him. Behold, I have told you, there's a lot in verse seven, but notice the knowledge of the risen Jesus. immediately after that realization comes the admonition, go. we who have found Christ, we represent Christ, and, come and, come and see. Go and tell, Dillon, that directive that commission it's with the church to this day. Come and see, go and tell, and he's with us as we do that. That I would argue Matthew 28:7 is a great commission verse.
Dillon It really is. It's a little more dramatic in the way it's told because it says they ran from the tomb with fear and great joy, ran to bring his disciples word of this announcement, this message they had received. So it's a little more animated perhaps than what we experienced when we came to faith in Jesus. But the message is the same regardless that when we experience Jesus when believe in his resurrection, we are filled with great joy. And our expectation is to not just eventually tell those around us, but to urgently tell those around us next to us, our family members, our friends, our neighbors, our co workers, our classmates, that Jesus is alive and that the Jesus who has changed you can change them as well.
Alex McFarland You know, I, I got to tell you, Dillon, when I was a young believer and I was 21 years old, and the Lord got ahold of my life and songs by Bill Gaither. I know everybody probably knows the Gaither songs, but I didn't know any of these songs back then. And I was watching a Christian television show and a guy got up to sing a song. And now it's just very familiar, but it's a song called Because He Lives. And there's this line, it says, God sent his son they call him Jesus he came to serve, heal and forgive he lived and died to buy my pardon an empty grave is there to prove My Savior lives Because he lives I can face tomorrow because he lives all fear is gone Because I know he holds the future and life is worth the living Just because he lives. Bill Gaither. All right, that was the first time I had ever heard it, Dillon. And I'm there at my parents house by the tv, just weeping. And it just blew me away. I was like, that is the greatest song I've ever heard in my life. because he lives. But it's really true. I mean, whether you're hearing that song or reading First Corinthians 15 where Paul says, if in this life only we have hope, we of all men are most miserable. But Christ is. Is risen. Present tense, verb. And folks, I want to say right this minute, the risen Jesus matters. And let me explain why. And we'll get Back to Matthew 28. Here's the deal. If God has the power to conquer the grave, then he's got the power to help you with anything you're facing and you think, well, what, about this diagnosis? What about this family problem? What about getting the bills paid? Can God help me? Yes. Jesus hung the solar system, paid for sin, rose from the dead. He can help you with anything you've got. And Dillon, I say this, but it's no cliche. The tomb was left empty, that your life could be made full. And that's true to this day. And it says in verse eight, they went out quickly. By the way, before we forget verse seven. Anyway, go. He's going before you, the angel. Dillon, I want to know, all that this means, and I think I do. Behold, I have told you. It's almost like the angel is saying, now listen, I'm an angel from God. Angelos means messenger. the tomb is empty and you've got it on good authority. So they went out quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy and ran to, to bring his disciples word. Hey, when you find the Lord, you run to tell others, don't you?
Dillon You do. And they responded just like the angel commanded them. And I love the fact that the women hear first. They respond quickly. And as they go. Verse 9 introduces us to their response when they see Jesus and Jesus appears to them. It's not this scary ghost figure. Look at what it says in verse 9. Jesus met them saying rejoice. So they came and held him by the feet and worshiped him. That stands out for a couple of reasons. One, Jesus doesn't come and give them a scare where they think, oh no, who is this? He comes and gives them joy. He proclaims, rejoice. But also this idea that they held him by the feet, in Jewish culture, this idea that spirits had feet were, not consistent. You know, ghosts did not have feet. They were floating types of immaterial feet figures and their cultural mindset. So for them to come and to touch him at his feet, to bow down before him, this is another indicator that this was a literal resurrection. Not some ghostly figure or some vision that they saw this was real. And Jesus builds on that and says, do not be afraid. Go and tell my brethren to go to Galilee and there they will see me. So you see this combination of fear, joy and then go a, boldness to proclaim the message that they've received from both Jesus and the angel.
Alex McFarland Dillon, that is so great that you point that out. They came and held him by the feet and worshiped him. I never thought about that. You know I want to mention a verse here that we've had folks ask about periodically in Jon 20, verse 17, the, King James renders that. And that's one of the resurrection accounts. So Jesus is there and he says, touch me not, for I have not yet ascended to my Father. This is to Mary. Mary sees the risen Jesus and cries out in Aramaic, teacher, or Rabboni. And the way the King James renders Jon 17, touch me not, for I have not yet ascended to my Father. But go to my brethren, say to them that Jesus is risen and is going to ascend. People have asked the question, Dillon, why couldn't she touch him? Was he like a ghost or something? no, literally, what it means is, you can't keep hanging on to me. Now, Luke 24, the risen Jesus said, touch me. You'll see that a spirit hath not flesh and bones as you see me have. And Dillon, I think it's worth pointing out, I suppose the technical word is corporeal. Jesus had physically risen from the dead. It wasn't just, a vapor or a spirit. No, in a corporeal, tangible, physical, resurrection body. it is very real, folks. If you're a believer, you will have a resurrection body in heaven. And somebody asked C.S. lewis, the great C.S. lewis, is heaven going to be tangible? And he, C.S. lewis said, oh, heaven is going to be more real than anything down here. In fact, this physical world now is going to seem unreal compared to the, the concrete, tangible, corporeal reality of heaven. So Jesus was most certainly risen. And, that's why, you know, Dillon, I guess it's just one of the occupational hazards being in the ministry. I've officiated a whole lot of funerals. I'm sure you have too. And I know it's sad, but for the Christian, I mean, and I'm not being trite or superficial, but, death and a funeral, it's never goodbye. It's just, I'll see you later. Because there is, yes, a very, very tangible resurrection. And the risen physical Jesus shows us that, now I love it in verse nine, that first word, rejoice. I mean, hey, we have to praise God. Sin has paid. Sin has been paid for. The death has been. Death has been defeated. The grave has been buried. yeah, rejoice. It's almost like Christ is saying, hey, be happy. Look, look what's been accomplished. I'm alive. I've risen. Salvation is real. rejoice. And, indeed, we've got a lot to rejoice about. Now, verse 10. Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brethren to go to Galilee, and there they will see me. So, that first Easter morning, those women, they had a lot going on, didn't they, Dillon?
Dillon They did. And I like that mention you made from Jon 20 about, do not cling to me. Jesus says, the point there is that he wasn't done yet. He wasn't leaving. Leaving where they wouldn't see him again. He specifically told them to go and tell the disciples and he would meet with them later. That's a little bit different than what he responds with in the case of Thomas in the Gospel of Luke, where Thomas says, I won't believe until I see, the nail scars in his hands and, and, you know, touch his side. And so, you know, Jesus appeals to him in a different way. But here we see this combination of the fear that Mary had and the joy that they had at seeing him alive, and it's just an amazing combination, led to her with a bold and quick response to get to the disciples to tell them the news, to be the first to proclaim the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Alex McFarland Amen. Amen. Well, in verse 11, the Roman soldiers really are bribed to not talk about this. While they were going, behold, some of the guard came to the city and reported to the chief priests all the things that had happened. You know, hey, the stone is rolled away, the body is gone. The women have seen the empty tomb. When they had assembled with the elders and consulted together, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers. These are the Pharisees, Sanhedrin, the Jewish hierarchy. And verse 13 of Matthew 28 saying, Tell them his disciples came at night and stole him away while we slept. Dillon, verse 13. This is what in the naturalistic theories that are the attempted naturalistic denials of the physical resurrection. This is the stolen body theory. But we see here, look, the disciples have scattered, in fear. they, you know, they didn't come and overthrow a cadre. That's C A D, R, E. It was at least a dozen Roman soldiers were guarding this tomb, and if they failed at their post, they could have been executed. All right, we're going to come back and we're going to talk about what goes on in verse 14. That is going to refute even further the stolen body theory. this is Exploring The Word with Dr. Dillon Burroughs. Alex McFarland here. Matthew 28, plus your questions, your calls on this edition. Stay tuned. We've got a break and then we're back.
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Caroline Out.
Alex McFarland A great homecoming.
Dillon Woke up this morning saying this could be the day.
Alex McFarland Amen. This could be the day. I hope you're ready. I hope you've put your faith in Christ. And whether by death or the return of Christ, we are secure, ready to meet God. And in fact, the Bible calls Christ's resurrection and his return our security in him, the blessed hope. Well, welcome back to Exploring the Word. Dillon Burroughs and I, we're wrapping up Matthew and Dillon, I gotta tell you, I've loved the Gospel of Matthew, and it's rich. You know, the Gospel of Mark is the shortest gospel, if I recall. I think mark is 16 chapters. And, you know, I've often encouraged people in evangelism. You know, I would say, like, read the Gospel of Jon. You know, say, God, if you are real, please show me. And, you know, you can read Mark. You could probably read the Gospel of Mark in 45 minutes. the Gospel of Jon is 21 chapters. Matthew and Luke are longer, and they're really, really in depth. But, I love them all. And let me encourage people, if you're, witnessing, give people, you know, the gospel challenge to say, God, if you are real, please show me. And then, then encourage them to read one of the four biographies of Jesus. That's what these gospels are. But here's the thing. I always challenge people. I'll say, listen, however, have you said, God, if you are real, please show me. But be careful, because you need to be able to respond. Because to find Jesus and then walk away, that's just. That's like judgment on your head to reject known truth. But, in these gospels, Matthew especially, we see a vivid, undeniably clear portrayal of who Christ is, the Savior. Dillon, I've never asked you, but I know you love these gospels too. Do you have one of the four canonical gospels that you especially enjoy reading? Dillon?
Dillon Well, for me, personally, the Gospel of Mark is my favorite. I tend to be the guy who likes watching the sports highlights instead of the full game. And the Gospel of Mark is kind of similar. You get the highlights without as much detail. And from the church tradition, it's believed to be the Apostle Peter's teachings that the, that Mark wrote down. So we get it straight from Peter through, Mark's Gospel, which gives me this insight directly to Jesus. And there are many places where Aramaic words are used, which would have been the everyday language Jesus used. So it gets even closer to what originally happened. So I like it for those reasons and others. But still, all the Gospels are amazing, and I love how they tell different aspects of the story of Jesus, including his resurrection. We left off before the break talking about what the Jewish leaders did in response to the news of the empty tomb. And, you know, they talked to the guards and said, we will make sure to appease the governor's ears. You take this money and tell everybody that the disciples came and stole the body during the night. And it says that in verse 15 that this is commonly reported among the Jews until this day. So in the first century, this was the main Jewish viewpoint, is that the disciples stole the body. And yet we, have evidence of multiple resurrection accounts. We have no discovery of his body at any point later on, whether during this period or during the day of Pentecost, where we have a gathering in Jerusalem of all the people who could have done something to stop this Christian movement. and overwhelmingly, the evidence points to an empty tomb nobody found. What is the conclusion? It's that Jesus really did resurrect from the dead. And that's what the Great Commission is all about as we get to these final verses. And I'll let you take it from there.
Alex McFarland Wow.
Caroline Well.
Alex McFarland Well, thank you very much. So, you know, the stolen body, that was one of the earliest contrived, naturalistic theories. But verse 16, then the 11 disciples went away into Galilee to the mountain which. Which Jesus had appointed for them. And when they saw him, they worshiped him. But some doubted. before I go beyond verse 17, you know, here's the thing. The Bible is very clear. you know, if this were. And this is one of the conversations that go on kind of in academic circles, is the Bible really God's word as given, or was it, a hagiography? Now, hagios, you know, means holy. A hagiography is not just a biography. Biographies contain facts, positive and negative. A hagiography is like a glossed over. Oh, everything's perfect, a just so story. Now, one of the things. And we've had a lot of friends like Lee Strobel, who has a law degree from Yale, J. Warner Wallace, who was a detective. You know, a lot of people with legal and law enforcement backgrounds, they've said, oh, one of the reasons that I know the Bible is really authentic is because it contains truth. Warts and all. You know, we've got Peter, who denied the Lord three times. We got Peter, who's, you know, Jesus at one point said, get behind me, Satan. we've got King David, who committed adultery with Bathsheba and was complicit with the death of Uriah. We've got Saul of Tarsus. True, he became Paul, but he was, complicit with the execution, of, the first martyr, Steven. All right, now, in verse 17, they saw him. They worshiped the risen Jesus. But some doubted. Dillon, if I were just making a myth that was going to be hagiographical and just perfect, perfect, everything's glossed over. I don't think I would have put in there that some doubted. You know, I mean, the, the, this is God's perfect word, no doubt. And, and let me just also say, if you're coming to faith, you know, if your heart is like, lord, I believe, help thou my unbelief. I think God's being patient with you, if you're willing, you know, some doubted. And let me just encourage you, if you're listening. And we get a lot of correspondence from those with questions and skepticisms. Look, as long as you're seeking Jesus, it's okay to have questions. And we'll do our best to give you a good answer to those questions, whether it be Dillon or Bert or myself, or Dr. Bowler. We've been on the journey ourself. Now, there's that moment where you need to come and say, lord, I accept you. I do believe. But, I don't automatically think God is mad at you if you have some questions and doubts. In fact, God says, like in Isaiah 118, come now, let us reason together, saith the Lord. Jesus said to Thomas, you know, see my hands and my feet? You want proof? Here's the proof. And so, it's a beautiful thing because the revelation of God, if we're willing to take a look and receive God's revelation, helps people overcome those doubts and stand on the solid ground of belief.
Dillon Yes, that's well said. And a couple of things I would mention there on verse 17, is that doubt should always lead to deeper belief. there's some people who doubt, but they don't do anything to disprove their doubt or to prove it. Right. And perhaps, our doubts should lead us to investigate the faith to do what's called worldview study or apologetics to find out more about it. But the second thing that I really enjoy about verse 17. It says when they saw him, they worshiped him. But some doubted. Those two aren't in complete contradiction to each other. Sometimes we have doubts about what God is doing in our lives, but we still worship Him. And I want to encourage people with that. Maybe you're going through a difficult struggle right now. It doesn't mean we stop worshiping the Lord. We continue to worship him, to serve him, despite our doubts. So that's a couple of good applications from there. But then we get into this last little section called the Great Commission. And I. I love these verses because this is really the, foundation for all of our missionary work, all of our evangelism today. Where verse 18 says, Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, 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. I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen. Such powerful words. Tell us a little bit about your thoughts on this, Alex.
Caroline Well.
Alex McFarland Well, I love. I love these Great Commission passages, like Mark 16:15, that we're to preach the gospel to every creature. the word. Their authority is the word exousia. And I don't know if I'm pronouncing it correctly, but here's the beautiful thing. All of this world, is under the authority of Jesus. The authority of Jesus. He says, all authority has been given to me in heaven and in earth. Go ye, therefore. So we have this mandate, we have this assignment, this commission, to go and make disciples of all nations. And, let me say that when we're. When we're giving, I like this part too. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I've commanded you, whether it be the simple gospel message, or what God says about creation, or what God says about morals and marriage, the nature of humanity, the nature of God, who God is. the nature of Israel and the Abrahamic covenant and the new covenant of salvation. The Bible speaks. Dillon, you mentioned worldview, biblical worldview. the word of God tells us about all of these things that we could not know except by God's revelation. And when we go under the exousia, the authority of Jesus, literally the jurisdiction, we most certainly have the right to say this. Now, let me just, You know, people say, well, what right do you have to judge? Well, in and of ourselves, granted, you know, Alex McFarland's opinion is no better than anybody else's opinion. However, by God's word, the revelation, the Bible. The Bible most certainly does have the authority to pass spiritual assessment on the condition of all of us. The risen Jesus most certainly does. So we absolutely have the right to judge. In fact, 13 times the new Testament tells us to judge, discern, evaluate, call out sin. Now we do it in love. But Dillon, I think the church of the 21st century needs to really, think about the fact that Christ has delegated the authority to us. And I love, and I've talked about it many times, but in like Luke 10:19, where Jesus said to the church, you have the authority to tread over serpents and over all the power of the enemy. Now, here's the thing, and we've talked about this. I won't belabor the point. There's exusia and there's dunamis. We have authority, power, and we have ability power. Satan only has dunamis. He has no exusia. Satan has no legal authority in this world. Now, Satan is busy. But this world belongs to King Jesus. The church belongs to Jesus. And we are his ambassadors. We're the delegated emissaries, representatives, ambassadors of Christ. Now, we don't do it with arrogance or, presumption because we humbly, we represent Jesus. Dillon. We can't say more than what Christ said, but we shouldn't say less than what he said either, should we?
Dillon That's so true. And these verses at the end, there's one key word that is an imperative or a command. And it's the word that we translate, make disciples. That is the key here in the great commission is making disciples. And there are three parts to that that we see in these verses. There's the first part, which is the going, first we must go if we're going to tell someone about Jesus. Second, there's baptizing, which that's identifying as a believer. So we are called to go to baptize. And what is the third one there? Well, if you look at the verses themselves, they say to teach or to observe. And those are the three aspects. Go, baptize and teach. And as we make disciples, we might think, what are we supposed to do? Well, first go to the person who needs to know Christ. Share your testimony. Share how they can come to know Christ. And when they do come to know Jesus as their Savior, they come to faith in him. We are called to baptize believers, and then the third part is to teach them. So there's a point in time aspect to it that where we believe and experience salvation. But there's also that growth process. That part is a daily part that we still continue even if we've been believers for years, as in my case. You know, I've known Christ for many years now. Doesn't mean I stop becoming a disciple or stop making disciples. I'm called to grow in him and to teach him to others every way I can, every day that I can. And the best part of that is not just the authority that you talked about at the beginning of the Great Commission, but at the end of the Great Commission, Jesus promises he will be with us always, even to the end of the age. I don't know about you, Alex, but there have been many low points in my life where I keep going back to this verse, that his presence is with me always, no matter where I'm going. Psalm 23 talks about that as well. You know, even though you walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I am with you. that is a comforting thought. And it's also the power behind us going and making disciples of all nations.
Alex McFarland Amen. Amen. Yeah, I was thinking about something in the spirit of, teaching them to observe all things. in the Bible, you know, we have got this comprehensive, fully orbed revelation of God. now, I was. Dillon, you can add to this if you want to. Here are some things that every culture throughout history, they've had questions about what about God. Who is God? What is God like creation? You know, where did we come from and what, what happened prior to creation? Then there are angels and spirits. You know, there are animistic cultures, very superstitious. Maybe there's spirits in trees. People are very fearful. Then death. Why do we die? And what happens in eternity? Well, this is, you know, many cultures, they want to look behind the curtain and find the answers, and they've got superstitions. Or maybe there's been some human that gave some answers, but they died. So how do we have a definitive, you know, it's what 2 Peter 1, 1921 says, the sure word of prophecy. How could we possibly know who God is? Where did we come from? where are we going? What about angels or spirits or Satan? What, about eternity? Well, you see, Jesus has given us the clear, definitive, dependable word from inside the black box that was unknown to us. We have the word of God and in this commission, the risen Jesus, he says, all authority. Go make disciples. Teach them my complete revelation. That's why we do know who God is. We do know where we came from. While we're here where we're going, the security we have in Jesus, victory over the devil and death itself. Because we have the risen Jesus and his infallible word. Oh, it's great to be a believer. Here's the number for questions 888. That's 888-589-8840. Call us with your questions.
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Alex McFarland You do. You'll come through. You are. Jesus. You're for Jesus is always able. Hey, welcome back to Exploring the Word. I want to give that telephone number again. If you've got a Bible question, it's 888-589-8840. We're going to queue up the telephone calls here in a minute. Triple eight, five. 888-589-8840. by the way, this Sunday the 25th, I'll be in the Greensboro, North Carolina area at Mount Pleasant Church. It's on Alamance Church Road. Mount Pleasant Church. Sunday school is at 10 and preaching is at 11. I've got the privilege of bringing the message this Sunday if you happen to be in that area. And by the way, next summer Dillon Burroughs and I are going to be at the Cove you enjoying, Dillon's teaching? And also joining us will be Lauren Greene of Fox News. She's a best selling author, great Christian thinker, deep, deep Christian thinker. And we're going to be doing Biblical Worldview. And I'll be there also teaching the book of Romans in another visit. But check out thecove.org T H E C O V e and also on my own website, alexmcfarland.com we have summer camps next summer for youth, middle school, high school, Biblical Worldview, every summer, oh my goodness, the Lord blesses so much. And hundreds of youth come into camp accepting Christ. And Dillon, we do our utmost. Just like, people invested in me when I was a teen and then a young believer in my 20s. And I know, you probably had people that role modeled the gospel and imparted biblical truth that has borne such fruit in your life too. So I, know it's the fall, but pray about these things next year. Well, Dillon, are you ready to go to the telephones?
Dillon Let's do it.
Caroline Okay.
Alex McFarland We're going to go to Mississippi. Jacqueline in Mississippi, welcome to Exploring the word.
Caroline Well, praise ye the Lord. This is Jacqueline that always call him. But today I had to call to let you. You all know I participated in the, Sheriff on that we had. And to go to my mailbox, this weekend and to see a booklet, Our Call to Faithfulness, the Voice and Legacy of Don Wyman. I broke into tears. I wasn't expecting it. I just said, Lord, and I don't watch television. I'm not a media person, but I read a lot. And this is just. I just want to thank you all because every time I've called in with different things, you all have helped me minister to so many. And I wanted to call to thank you and Bert as you and Allen and Bert and I know the nice gentleman that's there now. But I just wanted to say thank you all for going that extra mile to send me this booklet.
Alex McFarland God bless you, Jacqueline. Thank you for being a listener, and thank you for participating in the shareathon. Dillon. We rejoice in that. By the way, that book, the, late Dr. Don Wildmon, the founder of the American Family association, he was just really one of the 20th century's great Christian leaders. And, this is one of his books that was sent out just as a thank you to folks, and a, lot of rich wisdom in there. But, Jacqueline, you bless our heart, and we're glad that, this has been a blessing to you. Thank you for calling. Let's go to Louisiana. Wayne in Louisiana. Welcome.
Caroline Hey, how y' all doing?
Alex McFarland Good. Yeah?
Caroline Yeah.
Caroline I just have a question about, Matthew 28, about the baptism being a command. And, I noticed it's a command in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost. But we see the apostles, baptizing people in the name of Jesus Christ, on the name of the Lord. Even Cornelius's house. Also the apostle Paul. I was wondering if y' all had some revelation on that or some, or some understanding on that. What's your take on it?
Alex McFarland God bless you, Dillon. Let's talk about that. not only the ways the NewSong Testament uses the word baptism, but in the name of Jesus or in the Father, Son, Holy Spirit. What, do you say, Dillon?
Dillon Yeah, There are a couple things we can point out. First of all, Matthew 28 talks about baptizing in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. I think it's significant, says the name and not names. We were talking about the triune God, one God, Father, Son, Holy Spirit. That's what we call the Trinity. So that's very important to mention. But it talks about in the Great Commission to go and make disciples. And part of that is baptizing believers. for me, I come from a Baptist tradition. So the tradition we have is a person professes faith in Jesus and then they are baptized by immersion, meaning in water. And that's what we do to publicly signify that a person has believed. Baptism is not what saves you. Baptism is not what gets you into heaven, but it is your public profession of faith. And that's what the NewSong Testament taught and what we saw in the early church. Of course, now we see different methods of baptism that have been used throughout church history, including sprinkling, including pouring. We see some traditions that baptize children as a way to, you know, signify that they're going to raise them as a godly child in a Christian home. But the original NewSong Testament church you specifically see make disciples. A person believes and then they are baptized. So that's the order that at least my tradition of churches and many other churches continue to do so today.
Alex McFarland Amen. Amen. And I think it's important that like Galatians 3, 26 and 27 says you are all sons of God through faith in Jesus Christ, verse 27 of Galatians 3. For as many as you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. So how are we, how do we put on Christ? By faith? So the NewSong Testament uses the word in a couple of senses upon our faith in Jesus. We have been baptized, immersed into Jesus. Now, as Dillon said, and I believe this is how I was baptized as a 21 year old brand new believer. It wasn't the water baptism that saved me. I got saved by. I was born again when I put my faith in Jesus. And then, the water baptism was my public way to show that I was identifying with Christ and the church. So, the NewSong Testament uses baptism in those two senses. Not only salvation, but then the public proclamation of it later through, baptism by immersion. Thank you, Wayne. Let's go to Louisiana again. Jon in Louisiana. Jon, are you there? Hey, turn, turn your radio down if you don't mind, brother. It won't echo like that. Jon, are you there now?
Caroline Yes.
Alex McFarland Okay. Yes.
Caroline Welcome.
Alex McFarland First Jon 5. Hey, brother, you need to turn your radio, turn the speaker off on Your radio and it doesn't, feedback like that. Okay. You there, Jon? Okay. Oh, we lost Jon. Okay, we're going to go to Texas. Sandy in Texas. By the way, the number, if you've got a Bible question, triple 858-98-8840. Cindy, in Texas. Welcome.
Caroline Well, thank you so much. I had a question for a while about, the millennium. And I know that the rapture is specific for the bride of Christ, if I'm not mistaken. And when we are united with Christ, then after the tribulation, we will come back to the earth. And it says to rule and reign with him. But I've been confused about when the Old Testament saints will be resurrected and will they rule and reign as well as we with him? I know David, I think is supposed to sit on the throne. And also is he the prince talked about in the end of Ezekiel, or is that Jesus? But isn't Jesus the king on the throne? So I'm, I'm confused.
Alex McFarland let me start. And Dillon, I want you to chime in by the. This is a great question. And Bert and I, along with Dillon in the book 100 Bible questions on Prophecy in the End Times, we write and speak to all these issues. And I believe Brent Austin, you correct me if I'm wrong. I think that book is available in the AFR Resource center and bookstores everywhere. 100 Bible questions on Prophecy in the End Times. But it's interesting that, second Timothy 2, 1112, which is quoting an Old Testament passage, if we endure, we shall also reign with him. and it talks about the fact that the believers, verse 10 of 2 Timothy 2, enduring all things the elect, obtaining salvation in Christ Jesus with eternal glory, will rule and reign with him. And Revelation 24:6 says that, in the resurrection, we are priests of God and of Christ, reigning with him for a thousand years during the millennium. Now, Dillon, Brent says that yes, those prophecy books are available, that 100 questions on this and others. But, Dillon and I've got a thought, but I'm going to ask you the resurrection of the Old Testament saints, when will that be? Dillon?
Dillon Yeah, that's a good question. And the way that I understand it, where the rapture takes place before, before the tribulation period, and then Jesus returns at the end of the tribulation period in what's known as the Second Coming. the way I understand the old or the prophecies about the Old Testament saints is that they will physically resurrect when Jesus returns to earth. After the tribulation. This is a connection also with Daniel 12, 2, what we see in Ezekiel 37. This is also when the tribulation martyrs will return. So we have some significant things that happen. The second coming as well. all three groups are going to be involved with physical glorified bodies during the millennial kingdom. So we have that part that's united. I do want to encourage you, in addition to Alex's book that he mentioned, you know, gotquestions.org is a great Bible question and answer website and that's where some of the, the information I'm reading right now comes from because I've used them many times for prophecy related questions. They do a great job there. but just so much, confusion about the end times. You have to really read it for yourself. But also look at how it compares with other parts of Scripture like we're talking about here. And I think the best picture is what we see, with the second coming being the time when the Old Testament saints are resurrected.
Alex McFarland Yeah. And I'll tell you maybe on Fire Away Friday because tomorrow we're going to have all questions all the time. Maybe we'll go into a little more depth on that. I want to try to get all these calls and while we have a full board. great. A lot of listeners here, Danny, in Louisiana. Danny, welcome.
Caroline How you doing today?
Alex McFarland Blessed. How about yourself?
Caroline blessed. Myself. And listen, and I listen to you every chance I can when I'm in the in the car. And I love your program and m. I just, I just have something that I, don't know. People may use this and I want to see what y' all think about it. But when you reach a Jewish person that doesn't believe that Jesus is the Messiah, there's two questions I would ask him. First of all, why was his burial garments left in the tomb? They took him away naked. And another question is, if the, the gods were sleeping, how did they know that it was his, disciples?
Alex McFarland Wow. Well, good. By the way, thank you for caring about the evangelization of Jewish people. By the way, along that front I, want to recommend, ah, Dr. Micah Brown. He is a born again Jewish man, PhD, and a longtime friend and colleague. He wrote, actually it's a series of books. Volume one is really good, but there are several volumes answering Jewish objections to Jesus. Fantastic. And by the way, Dillon, I think one thing that's very exciting, there are so many Jewish people coming to faith in Messiah right now. There are lots and lots of born again Jewish people right now and that's very exciting. But I think all of us need to be prepared and very eager to share Messiah Jesus with the Jewish folk all around us. Joe in Arkansas. Joe, are you there?
Caroline Yes, Hi there. thanks for taking my call. so just going back to authority, I think this is a big issue and I think a lot of Christians today, you know, wonder about this because there's this kind of a presupposition, like earlier, which I totally understand, you know, this idea, but I think it's, it's very modern that I'd like your take on it, that the individual believer is the one that needs to take, you know, scripture and determine the issues. But just like the caller route baptism before there was even a consolidated and official list of books, that most historians would say points to an authoritative church that could, you know, put those together. People all agreed. It seemed like in the Christian world of the early church that baptism was necessary for salvation. But, if I could just be real brief to not take too long. But like in addition to just baptism, you know, you have like first Timothy 3:15 and then Matthew, which is pretty clear. But then Matthew 18:17, Jesus instructs his followers on how to handle conflict. So if there's a one pastor said baptism is not necessary, the other one says it is, Jesus specifically instruct, you know, if you're, you know, take, take, with you, you know, one or more or two. But then eventually he said if they will not hear them, tell them, tell it to the church. And so if the Bible wasn't compiled yet, what did the like first, you know, hundreds of years of Christians, wouldn't they have needed a visible, unified, authoritative church and not just their own interpretation to go to, you know, to make, to the. Settle disputes. That's what I want. How would you settle disputes if it's an isolated church?
Alex McFarland by the way, let me just say I think the Matthew 18 beginning at verse 15, these were not really doctrinal disputes. if your brother sins against you, Dillon, you feel free to correct me. There were councils, as you know, the apostles, those that were with the risen Jesus, they codified and they were like, here's how I understand Scripture and the core of the gospel Deity, death, resurrection, faith in Jesus for salvation eminently preached by the first hundred years of the cross. The Matthew 18:15 following there, Joe, is I really think about personal, you know, disagreements between believers. But Dillon, how about we come back on Fireway Friday and we'll do this again tomorrow. All questions, all the hour tomorrow. Won't that be great?
Dillon Yes, these are great questions. And we'll do this the entire show tomorrow. So join us again next time here on Exploring the Word.
Alex McFarland The views and opinions expressed in this broadcast may not necessarily reflect those of the American Family Association or American Family Radio.
Jeff Chamblee The Bible. It's the word of God. Sharper than any two edged sword. This sacred book is living and active and contains all that's needed for life and godliness. Stay with American Family Radio for the next hour as we study God's word and take your Bible questions. Welcome to Exploring the Word.
Alex McFarland Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here. He is risen, as he said. Come see the place where the Lord lay. Well, that's Matthew 28, 5 and 6. And those are grand, glorious, wonderful words. Jesus has risen. And today, if you're listening to Exploring the Word, join with us. Get a Bible if you can. And Dillon Burroughs and I are going to Conclude Matthew chapter 28 and the gospel of Matthew. Bert and Dillon and I have been reading, through Matthew 20, or the Gospel of Matthew Matthew for several weeks. And Dillon, yesterday we were, getting into this, which, is really the first Easter morning. The women went to the tomb and they find that the tomb is empty. And we're going to pick it up here at verses 5, 6, 7 and following. But, this is the great news, the only news that no other belief system has. Our Messiah conquered death. Our Jesus is risen. The grave could not hold him. up from the grave he arose. That is good news, isn't it?
Dillon Yes. And it's not Easter Sunday, but we celebrate the resurrection every day. And for Christians around the world, this is the reason we worship together on Sundays. Because on the first day of the week, Sunday morning, the women went to the tomb to see where the body was. And the tomb was empty. Jesus was alive and is alive. We celebrate this. We proclaim it. Today we're going to talk about some of the details about the empty tomb, what the women experienced, what the disciples saw in the 40 days following the resurrection, and the commission given to us still today. So a lot of exciting information to talk about. Join us. Matthew 28 and let's dive right in. Alex, I'll let you take the lead here.
Alex McFarland Indeed, indeed. I, I love verse seven. the angel at the empty tomb says, and go quickly and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead. And indeed he is going before you into Galilee. There you will see him. Behold, I have told you, there's a lot in verse seven, but notice the knowledge of the risen Jesus. immediately after that realization comes the admonition, go. we who have found Christ, we represent Christ, and, come and, come and see. Go and tell, Dillon, that directive that commission it's with the church to this day. Come and see, go and tell, and he's with us as we do that. That I would argue Matthew 28:7 is a great commission verse.
Dillon It really is. It's a little more dramatic in the way it's told because it says they ran from the tomb with fear and great joy, ran to bring his disciples word of this announcement, this message they had received. So it's a little more animated perhaps than what we experienced when we came to faith in Jesus. But the message is the same regardless that when we experience Jesus when believe in his resurrection, we are filled with great joy. And our expectation is to not just eventually tell those around us, but to urgently tell those around us next to us, our family members, our friends, our neighbors, our co workers, our classmates, that Jesus is alive and that the Jesus who has changed you can change them as well.
Alex McFarland You know, I, I got to tell you, Dillon, when I was a young believer and I was 21 years old, and the Lord got ahold of my life and songs by Bill Gaither. I know everybody probably knows the Gaither songs, but I didn't know any of these songs back then. And I was watching a Christian television show and a guy got up to sing a song. And now it's just very familiar, but it's a song called Because He Lives. And there's this line, it says, God sent his son they call him Jesus he came to serve, heal and forgive he lived and died to buy my pardon an empty grave is there to prove My Savior lives Because he lives I can face tomorrow because he lives all fear is gone Because I know he holds the future and life is worth the living Just because he lives. Bill Gaither. All right, that was the first time I had ever heard it, Dillon. And I'm there at my parents house by the tv, just weeping. And it just blew me away. I was like, that is the greatest song I've ever heard in my life. because he lives. But it's really true. I mean, whether you're hearing that song or reading First Corinthians 15 where Paul says, if in this life only we have hope, we of all men are most miserable. But Christ is. Is risen. Present tense, verb. And folks, I want to say right this minute, the risen Jesus matters. And let me explain why. And we'll get Back to Matthew 28. Here's the deal. If God has the power to conquer the grave, then he's got the power to help you with anything you're facing and you think, well, what, about this diagnosis? What about this family problem? What about getting the bills paid? Can God help me? Yes. Jesus hung the solar system, paid for sin, rose from the dead. He can help you with anything you've got. And Dillon, I say this, but it's no cliche. The tomb was left empty, that your life could be made full. And that's true to this day. And it says in verse eight, they went out quickly. By the way, before we forget verse seven. Anyway, go. He's going before you, the angel. Dillon, I want to know, all that this means, and I think I do. Behold, I have told you. It's almost like the angel is saying, now listen, I'm an angel from God. Angelos means messenger. the tomb is empty and you've got it on good authority. So they went out quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy and ran to, to bring his disciples word. Hey, when you find the Lord, you run to tell others, don't you?
Dillon You do. And they responded just like the angel commanded them. And I love the fact that the women hear first. They respond quickly. And as they go. Verse 9 introduces us to their response when they see Jesus and Jesus appears to them. It's not this scary ghost figure. Look at what it says in verse 9. Jesus met them saying rejoice. So they came and held him by the feet and worshiped him. That stands out for a couple of reasons. One, Jesus doesn't come and give them a scare where they think, oh no, who is this? He comes and gives them joy. He proclaims, rejoice. But also this idea that they held him by the feet, in Jewish culture, this idea that spirits had feet were, not consistent. You know, ghosts did not have feet. They were floating types of immaterial feet figures and their cultural mindset. So for them to come and to touch him at his feet, to bow down before him, this is another indicator that this was a literal resurrection. Not some ghostly figure or some vision that they saw this was real. And Jesus builds on that and says, do not be afraid. Go and tell my brethren to go to Galilee and there they will see me. So you see this combination of fear, joy and then go a, boldness to proclaim the message that they've received from both Jesus and the angel.
Alex McFarland Dillon, that is so great that you point that out. They came and held him by the feet and worshiped him. I never thought about that. You know I want to mention a verse here that we've had folks ask about periodically in Jon 20, verse 17, the, King James renders that. And that's one of the resurrection accounts. So Jesus is there and he says, touch me not, for I have not yet ascended to my Father. This is to Mary. Mary sees the risen Jesus and cries out in Aramaic, teacher, or Rabboni. And the way the King James renders Jon 17, touch me not, for I have not yet ascended to my Father. But go to my brethren, say to them that Jesus is risen and is going to ascend. People have asked the question, Dillon, why couldn't she touch him? Was he like a ghost or something? no, literally, what it means is, you can't keep hanging on to me. Now, Luke 24, the risen Jesus said, touch me. You'll see that a spirit hath not flesh and bones as you see me have. And Dillon, I think it's worth pointing out, I suppose the technical word is corporeal. Jesus had physically risen from the dead. It wasn't just, a vapor or a spirit. No, in a corporeal, tangible, physical, resurrection body. it is very real, folks. If you're a believer, you will have a resurrection body in heaven. And somebody asked C.S. lewis, the great C.S. lewis, is heaven going to be tangible? And he, C.S. lewis said, oh, heaven is going to be more real than anything down here. In fact, this physical world now is going to seem unreal compared to the, the concrete, tangible, corporeal reality of heaven. So Jesus was most certainly risen. And, that's why, you know, Dillon, I guess it's just one of the occupational hazards being in the ministry. I've officiated a whole lot of funerals. I'm sure you have too. And I know it's sad, but for the Christian, I mean, and I'm not being trite or superficial, but, death and a funeral, it's never goodbye. It's just, I'll see you later. Because there is, yes, a very, very tangible resurrection. And the risen physical Jesus shows us that, now I love it in verse nine, that first word, rejoice. I mean, hey, we have to praise God. Sin has paid. Sin has been paid for. The death has been. Death has been defeated. The grave has been buried. yeah, rejoice. It's almost like Christ is saying, hey, be happy. Look, look what's been accomplished. I'm alive. I've risen. Salvation is real. rejoice. And, indeed, we've got a lot to rejoice about. Now, verse 10. Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brethren to go to Galilee, and there they will see me. So, that first Easter morning, those women, they had a lot going on, didn't they, Dillon?
Dillon They did. And I like that mention you made from Jon 20 about, do not cling to me. Jesus says, the point there is that he wasn't done yet. He wasn't leaving. Leaving where they wouldn't see him again. He specifically told them to go and tell the disciples and he would meet with them later. That's a little bit different than what he responds with in the case of Thomas in the Gospel of Luke, where Thomas says, I won't believe until I see, the nail scars in his hands and, and, you know, touch his side. And so, you know, Jesus appeals to him in a different way. But here we see this combination of the fear that Mary had and the joy that they had at seeing him alive, and it's just an amazing combination, led to her with a bold and quick response to get to the disciples to tell them the news, to be the first to proclaim the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Alex McFarland Amen. Amen. Well, in verse 11, the Roman soldiers really are bribed to not talk about this. While they were going, behold, some of the guard came to the city and reported to the chief priests all the things that had happened. You know, hey, the stone is rolled away, the body is gone. The women have seen the empty tomb. When they had assembled with the elders and consulted together, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers. These are the Pharisees, Sanhedrin, the Jewish hierarchy. And verse 13 of Matthew 28 saying, Tell them his disciples came at night and stole him away while we slept. Dillon, verse 13. This is what in the naturalistic theories that are the attempted naturalistic denials of the physical resurrection. This is the stolen body theory. But we see here, look, the disciples have scattered, in fear. they, you know, they didn't come and overthrow a cadre. That's C A D, R, E. It was at least a dozen Roman soldiers were guarding this tomb, and if they failed at their post, they could have been executed. All right, we're going to come back and we're going to talk about what goes on in verse 14. That is going to refute even further the stolen body theory. this is Exploring The Word with Dr. Dillon Burroughs. Alex McFarland here. Matthew 28, plus your questions, your calls on this edition. Stay tuned. We've got a break and then we're back.
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Caroline Out.
Alex McFarland A great homecoming.
Dillon Woke up this morning saying this could be the day.
Alex McFarland Amen. This could be the day. I hope you're ready. I hope you've put your faith in Christ. And whether by death or the return of Christ, we are secure, ready to meet God. And in fact, the Bible calls Christ's resurrection and his return our security in him, the blessed hope. Well, welcome back to Exploring the Word. Dillon Burroughs and I, we're wrapping up Matthew and Dillon, I gotta tell you, I've loved the Gospel of Matthew, and it's rich. You know, the Gospel of Mark is the shortest gospel, if I recall. I think mark is 16 chapters. And, you know, I've often encouraged people in evangelism. You know, I would say, like, read the Gospel of Jon. You know, say, God, if you are real, please show me. And, you know, you can read Mark. You could probably read the Gospel of Mark in 45 minutes. the Gospel of Jon is 21 chapters. Matthew and Luke are longer, and they're really, really in depth. But, I love them all. And let me encourage people, if you're, witnessing, give people, you know, the gospel challenge to say, God, if you are real, please show me. And then, then encourage them to read one of the four biographies of Jesus. That's what these gospels are. But here's the thing. I always challenge people. I'll say, listen, however, have you said, God, if you are real, please show me. But be careful, because you need to be able to respond. Because to find Jesus and then walk away, that's just. That's like judgment on your head to reject known truth. But, in these gospels, Matthew especially, we see a vivid, undeniably clear portrayal of who Christ is, the Savior. Dillon, I've never asked you, but I know you love these gospels too. Do you have one of the four canonical gospels that you especially enjoy reading? Dillon?
Dillon Well, for me, personally, the Gospel of Mark is my favorite. I tend to be the guy who likes watching the sports highlights instead of the full game. And the Gospel of Mark is kind of similar. You get the highlights without as much detail. And from the church tradition, it's believed to be the Apostle Peter's teachings that the, that Mark wrote down. So we get it straight from Peter through, Mark's Gospel, which gives me this insight directly to Jesus. And there are many places where Aramaic words are used, which would have been the everyday language Jesus used. So it gets even closer to what originally happened. So I like it for those reasons and others. But still, all the Gospels are amazing, and I love how they tell different aspects of the story of Jesus, including his resurrection. We left off before the break talking about what the Jewish leaders did in response to the news of the empty tomb. And, you know, they talked to the guards and said, we will make sure to appease the governor's ears. You take this money and tell everybody that the disciples came and stole the body during the night. And it says that in verse 15 that this is commonly reported among the Jews until this day. So in the first century, this was the main Jewish viewpoint, is that the disciples stole the body. And yet we, have evidence of multiple resurrection accounts. We have no discovery of his body at any point later on, whether during this period or during the day of Pentecost, where we have a gathering in Jerusalem of all the people who could have done something to stop this Christian movement. and overwhelmingly, the evidence points to an empty tomb nobody found. What is the conclusion? It's that Jesus really did resurrect from the dead. And that's what the Great Commission is all about as we get to these final verses. And I'll let you take it from there.
Alex McFarland Wow.
Caroline Well.
Alex McFarland Well, thank you very much. So, you know, the stolen body, that was one of the earliest contrived, naturalistic theories. But verse 16, then the 11 disciples went away into Galilee to the mountain which. Which Jesus had appointed for them. And when they saw him, they worshiped him. But some doubted. before I go beyond verse 17, you know, here's the thing. The Bible is very clear. you know, if this were. And this is one of the conversations that go on kind of in academic circles, is the Bible really God's word as given, or was it, a hagiography? Now, hagios, you know, means holy. A hagiography is not just a biography. Biographies contain facts, positive and negative. A hagiography is like a glossed over. Oh, everything's perfect, a just so story. Now, one of the things. And we've had a lot of friends like Lee Strobel, who has a law degree from Yale, J. Warner Wallace, who was a detective. You know, a lot of people with legal and law enforcement backgrounds, they've said, oh, one of the reasons that I know the Bible is really authentic is because it contains truth. Warts and all. You know, we've got Peter, who denied the Lord three times. We got Peter, who's, you know, Jesus at one point said, get behind me, Satan. we've got King David, who committed adultery with Bathsheba and was complicit with the death of Uriah. We've got Saul of Tarsus. True, he became Paul, but he was, complicit with the execution, of, the first martyr, Steven. All right, now, in verse 17, they saw him. They worshiped the risen Jesus. But some doubted. Dillon, if I were just making a myth that was going to be hagiographical and just perfect, perfect, everything's glossed over. I don't think I would have put in there that some doubted. You know, I mean, the, the, this is God's perfect word, no doubt. And, and let me just also say, if you're coming to faith, you know, if your heart is like, lord, I believe, help thou my unbelief. I think God's being patient with you, if you're willing, you know, some doubted. And let me just encourage you, if you're listening. And we get a lot of correspondence from those with questions and skepticisms. Look, as long as you're seeking Jesus, it's okay to have questions. And we'll do our best to give you a good answer to those questions, whether it be Dillon or Bert or myself, or Dr. Bowler. We've been on the journey ourself. Now, there's that moment where you need to come and say, lord, I accept you. I do believe. But, I don't automatically think God is mad at you if you have some questions and doubts. In fact, God says, like in Isaiah 118, come now, let us reason together, saith the Lord. Jesus said to Thomas, you know, see my hands and my feet? You want proof? Here's the proof. And so, it's a beautiful thing because the revelation of God, if we're willing to take a look and receive God's revelation, helps people overcome those doubts and stand on the solid ground of belief.
Dillon Yes, that's well said. And a couple of things I would mention there on verse 17, is that doubt should always lead to deeper belief. there's some people who doubt, but they don't do anything to disprove their doubt or to prove it. Right. And perhaps, our doubts should lead us to investigate the faith to do what's called worldview study or apologetics to find out more about it. But the second thing that I really enjoy about verse 17. It says when they saw him, they worshiped him. But some doubted. Those two aren't in complete contradiction to each other. Sometimes we have doubts about what God is doing in our lives, but we still worship Him. And I want to encourage people with that. Maybe you're going through a difficult struggle right now. It doesn't mean we stop worshiping the Lord. We continue to worship him, to serve him, despite our doubts. So that's a couple of good applications from there. But then we get into this last little section called the Great Commission. And I. I love these verses because this is really the, foundation for all of our missionary work, all of our evangelism today. Where verse 18 says, Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, 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. I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen. Such powerful words. Tell us a little bit about your thoughts on this, Alex.
Caroline Well.
Alex McFarland Well, I love. I love these Great Commission passages, like Mark 16:15, that we're to preach the gospel to every creature. the word. Their authority is the word exousia. And I don't know if I'm pronouncing it correctly, but here's the beautiful thing. All of this world, is under the authority of Jesus. The authority of Jesus. He says, all authority has been given to me in heaven and in earth. Go ye, therefore. So we have this mandate, we have this assignment, this commission, to go and make disciples of all nations. And, let me say that when we're. When we're giving, I like this part too. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I've commanded you, whether it be the simple gospel message, or what God says about creation, or what God says about morals and marriage, the nature of humanity, the nature of God, who God is. the nature of Israel and the Abrahamic covenant and the new covenant of salvation. The Bible speaks. Dillon, you mentioned worldview, biblical worldview. the word of God tells us about all of these things that we could not know except by God's revelation. And when we go under the exousia, the authority of Jesus, literally the jurisdiction, we most certainly have the right to say this. Now, let me just, You know, people say, well, what right do you have to judge? Well, in and of ourselves, granted, you know, Alex McFarland's opinion is no better than anybody else's opinion. However, by God's word, the revelation, the Bible. The Bible most certainly does have the authority to pass spiritual assessment on the condition of all of us. The risen Jesus most certainly does. So we absolutely have the right to judge. In fact, 13 times the new Testament tells us to judge, discern, evaluate, call out sin. Now we do it in love. But Dillon, I think the church of the 21st century needs to really, think about the fact that Christ has delegated the authority to us. And I love, and I've talked about it many times, but in like Luke 10:19, where Jesus said to the church, you have the authority to tread over serpents and over all the power of the enemy. Now, here's the thing, and we've talked about this. I won't belabor the point. There's exusia and there's dunamis. We have authority, power, and we have ability power. Satan only has dunamis. He has no exusia. Satan has no legal authority in this world. Now, Satan is busy. But this world belongs to King Jesus. The church belongs to Jesus. And we are his ambassadors. We're the delegated emissaries, representatives, ambassadors of Christ. Now, we don't do it with arrogance or, presumption because we humbly, we represent Jesus. Dillon. We can't say more than what Christ said, but we shouldn't say less than what he said either, should we?
Dillon That's so true. And these verses at the end, there's one key word that is an imperative or a command. And it's the word that we translate, make disciples. That is the key here in the great commission is making disciples. And there are three parts to that that we see in these verses. There's the first part, which is the going, first we must go if we're going to tell someone about Jesus. Second, there's baptizing, which that's identifying as a believer. So we are called to go to baptize. And what is the third one there? Well, if you look at the verses themselves, they say to teach or to observe. And those are the three aspects. Go, baptize and teach. And as we make disciples, we might think, what are we supposed to do? Well, first go to the person who needs to know Christ. Share your testimony. Share how they can come to know Christ. And when they do come to know Jesus as their Savior, they come to faith in him. We are called to baptize believers, and then the third part is to teach them. So there's a point in time aspect to it that where we believe and experience salvation. But there's also that growth process. That part is a daily part that we still continue even if we've been believers for years, as in my case. You know, I've known Christ for many years now. Doesn't mean I stop becoming a disciple or stop making disciples. I'm called to grow in him and to teach him to others every way I can, every day that I can. And the best part of that is not just the authority that you talked about at the beginning of the Great Commission, but at the end of the Great Commission, Jesus promises he will be with us always, even to the end of the age. I don't know about you, Alex, but there have been many low points in my life where I keep going back to this verse, that his presence is with me always, no matter where I'm going. Psalm 23 talks about that as well. You know, even though you walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I am with you. that is a comforting thought. And it's also the power behind us going and making disciples of all nations.
Alex McFarland Amen. Amen. Yeah, I was thinking about something in the spirit of, teaching them to observe all things. in the Bible, you know, we have got this comprehensive, fully orbed revelation of God. now, I was. Dillon, you can add to this if you want to. Here are some things that every culture throughout history, they've had questions about what about God. Who is God? What is God like creation? You know, where did we come from and what, what happened prior to creation? Then there are angels and spirits. You know, there are animistic cultures, very superstitious. Maybe there's spirits in trees. People are very fearful. Then death. Why do we die? And what happens in eternity? Well, this is, you know, many cultures, they want to look behind the curtain and find the answers, and they've got superstitions. Or maybe there's been some human that gave some answers, but they died. So how do we have a definitive, you know, it's what 2 Peter 1, 1921 says, the sure word of prophecy. How could we possibly know who God is? Where did we come from? where are we going? What about angels or spirits or Satan? What, about eternity? Well, you see, Jesus has given us the clear, definitive, dependable word from inside the black box that was unknown to us. We have the word of God and in this commission, the risen Jesus, he says, all authority. Go make disciples. Teach them my complete revelation. That's why we do know who God is. We do know where we came from. While we're here where we're going, the security we have in Jesus, victory over the devil and death itself. Because we have the risen Jesus and his infallible word. Oh, it's great to be a believer. Here's the number for questions 888. That's 888-589-8840. Call us with your questions.
Bert Harper We would like to take a moment to thank our sponsor, preborn. When a mother meets her baby on ultrasound and hears their heartbeat, it's a divine connection. And the majority of the time she will choose life. But they can't do it without our help. Preborn needs us, the pro life community come alongside them. One ultrasound is just $28. To donate, dial pound 250 and say the keyword baby or visit preborn.com afr
Alex McFarland You do. You'll come through. You are. Jesus. You're for Jesus is always able. Hey, welcome back to Exploring the Word. I want to give that telephone number again. If you've got a Bible question, it's 888-589-8840. We're going to queue up the telephone calls here in a minute. Triple eight, five. 888-589-8840. by the way, this Sunday the 25th, I'll be in the Greensboro, North Carolina area at Mount Pleasant Church. It's on Alamance Church Road. Mount Pleasant Church. Sunday school is at 10 and preaching is at 11. I've got the privilege of bringing the message this Sunday if you happen to be in that area. And by the way, next summer Dillon Burroughs and I are going to be at the Cove you enjoying, Dillon's teaching? And also joining us will be Lauren Greene of Fox News. She's a best selling author, great Christian thinker, deep, deep Christian thinker. And we're going to be doing Biblical Worldview. And I'll be there also teaching the book of Romans in another visit. But check out thecove.org T H E C O V e and also on my own website, alexmcfarland.com we have summer camps next summer for youth, middle school, high school, Biblical Worldview, every summer, oh my goodness, the Lord blesses so much. And hundreds of youth come into camp accepting Christ. And Dillon, we do our utmost. Just like, people invested in me when I was a teen and then a young believer in my 20s. And I know, you probably had people that role modeled the gospel and imparted biblical truth that has borne such fruit in your life too. So I, know it's the fall, but pray about these things next year. Well, Dillon, are you ready to go to the telephones?
Dillon Let's do it.
Caroline Okay.
Alex McFarland We're going to go to Mississippi. Jacqueline in Mississippi, welcome to Exploring the word.
Caroline Well, praise ye the Lord. This is Jacqueline that always call him. But today I had to call to let you. You all know I participated in the, Sheriff on that we had. And to go to my mailbox, this weekend and to see a booklet, Our Call to Faithfulness, the Voice and Legacy of Don Wyman. I broke into tears. I wasn't expecting it. I just said, Lord, and I don't watch television. I'm not a media person, but I read a lot. And this is just. I just want to thank you all because every time I've called in with different things, you all have helped me minister to so many. And I wanted to call to thank you and Bert as you and Allen and Bert and I know the nice gentleman that's there now. But I just wanted to say thank you all for going that extra mile to send me this booklet.
Alex McFarland God bless you, Jacqueline. Thank you for being a listener, and thank you for participating in the shareathon. Dillon. We rejoice in that. By the way, that book, the, late Dr. Don Wildmon, the founder of the American Family association, he was just really one of the 20th century's great Christian leaders. And, this is one of his books that was sent out just as a thank you to folks, and a, lot of rich wisdom in there. But, Jacqueline, you bless our heart, and we're glad that, this has been a blessing to you. Thank you for calling. Let's go to Louisiana. Wayne in Louisiana. Welcome.
Caroline Hey, how y' all doing?
Alex McFarland Good. Yeah?
Caroline Yeah.
Caroline I just have a question about, Matthew 28, about the baptism being a command. And, I noticed it's a command in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost. But we see the apostles, baptizing people in the name of Jesus Christ, on the name of the Lord. Even Cornelius's house. Also the apostle Paul. I was wondering if y' all had some revelation on that or some, or some understanding on that. What's your take on it?
Alex McFarland God bless you, Dillon. Let's talk about that. not only the ways the NewSong Testament uses the word baptism, but in the name of Jesus or in the Father, Son, Holy Spirit. What, do you say, Dillon?
Dillon Yeah, There are a couple things we can point out. First of all, Matthew 28 talks about baptizing in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. I think it's significant, says the name and not names. We were talking about the triune God, one God, Father, Son, Holy Spirit. That's what we call the Trinity. So that's very important to mention. But it talks about in the Great Commission to go and make disciples. And part of that is baptizing believers. for me, I come from a Baptist tradition. So the tradition we have is a person professes faith in Jesus and then they are baptized by immersion, meaning in water. And that's what we do to publicly signify that a person has believed. Baptism is not what saves you. Baptism is not what gets you into heaven, but it is your public profession of faith. And that's what the NewSong Testament taught and what we saw in the early church. Of course, now we see different methods of baptism that have been used throughout church history, including sprinkling, including pouring. We see some traditions that baptize children as a way to, you know, signify that they're going to raise them as a godly child in a Christian home. But the original NewSong Testament church you specifically see make disciples. A person believes and then they are baptized. So that's the order that at least my tradition of churches and many other churches continue to do so today.
Alex McFarland Amen. Amen. And I think it's important that like Galatians 3, 26 and 27 says you are all sons of God through faith in Jesus Christ, verse 27 of Galatians 3. For as many as you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. So how are we, how do we put on Christ? By faith? So the NewSong Testament uses the word in a couple of senses upon our faith in Jesus. We have been baptized, immersed into Jesus. Now, as Dillon said, and I believe this is how I was baptized as a 21 year old brand new believer. It wasn't the water baptism that saved me. I got saved by. I was born again when I put my faith in Jesus. And then, the water baptism was my public way to show that I was identifying with Christ and the church. So, the NewSong Testament uses baptism in those two senses. Not only salvation, but then the public proclamation of it later through, baptism by immersion. Thank you, Wayne. Let's go to Louisiana again. Jon in Louisiana. Jon, are you there? Hey, turn, turn your radio down if you don't mind, brother. It won't echo like that. Jon, are you there now?
Caroline Yes.
Alex McFarland Okay. Yes.
Caroline Welcome.
Alex McFarland First Jon 5. Hey, brother, you need to turn your radio, turn the speaker off on Your radio and it doesn't, feedback like that. Okay. You there, Jon? Okay. Oh, we lost Jon. Okay, we're going to go to Texas. Sandy in Texas. By the way, the number, if you've got a Bible question, triple 858-98-8840. Cindy, in Texas. Welcome.
Caroline Well, thank you so much. I had a question for a while about, the millennium. And I know that the rapture is specific for the bride of Christ, if I'm not mistaken. And when we are united with Christ, then after the tribulation, we will come back to the earth. And it says to rule and reign with him. But I've been confused about when the Old Testament saints will be resurrected and will they rule and reign as well as we with him? I know David, I think is supposed to sit on the throne. And also is he the prince talked about in the end of Ezekiel, or is that Jesus? But isn't Jesus the king on the throne? So I'm, I'm confused.
Alex McFarland let me start. And Dillon, I want you to chime in by the. This is a great question. And Bert and I, along with Dillon in the book 100 Bible questions on Prophecy in the End Times, we write and speak to all these issues. And I believe Brent Austin, you correct me if I'm wrong. I think that book is available in the AFR Resource center and bookstores everywhere. 100 Bible questions on Prophecy in the End Times. But it's interesting that, second Timothy 2, 1112, which is quoting an Old Testament passage, if we endure, we shall also reign with him. and it talks about the fact that the believers, verse 10 of 2 Timothy 2, enduring all things the elect, obtaining salvation in Christ Jesus with eternal glory, will rule and reign with him. And Revelation 24:6 says that, in the resurrection, we are priests of God and of Christ, reigning with him for a thousand years during the millennium. Now, Dillon, Brent says that yes, those prophecy books are available, that 100 questions on this and others. But, Dillon and I've got a thought, but I'm going to ask you the resurrection of the Old Testament saints, when will that be? Dillon?
Dillon Yeah, that's a good question. And the way that I understand it, where the rapture takes place before, before the tribulation period, and then Jesus returns at the end of the tribulation period in what's known as the Second Coming. the way I understand the old or the prophecies about the Old Testament saints is that they will physically resurrect when Jesus returns to earth. After the tribulation. This is a connection also with Daniel 12, 2, what we see in Ezekiel 37. This is also when the tribulation martyrs will return. So we have some significant things that happen. The second coming as well. all three groups are going to be involved with physical glorified bodies during the millennial kingdom. So we have that part that's united. I do want to encourage you, in addition to Alex's book that he mentioned, you know, gotquestions.org is a great Bible question and answer website and that's where some of the, the information I'm reading right now comes from because I've used them many times for prophecy related questions. They do a great job there. but just so much, confusion about the end times. You have to really read it for yourself. But also look at how it compares with other parts of Scripture like we're talking about here. And I think the best picture is what we see, with the second coming being the time when the Old Testament saints are resurrected.
Alex McFarland Yeah. And I'll tell you maybe on Fire Away Friday because tomorrow we're going to have all questions all the time. Maybe we'll go into a little more depth on that. I want to try to get all these calls and while we have a full board. great. A lot of listeners here, Danny, in Louisiana. Danny, welcome.
Caroline How you doing today?
Alex McFarland Blessed. How about yourself?
Caroline blessed. Myself. And listen, and I listen to you every chance I can when I'm in the in the car. And I love your program and m. I just, I just have something that I, don't know. People may use this and I want to see what y' all think about it. But when you reach a Jewish person that doesn't believe that Jesus is the Messiah, there's two questions I would ask him. First of all, why was his burial garments left in the tomb? They took him away naked. And another question is, if the, the gods were sleeping, how did they know that it was his, disciples?
Alex McFarland Wow. Well, good. By the way, thank you for caring about the evangelization of Jewish people. By the way, along that front I, want to recommend, ah, Dr. Micah Brown. He is a born again Jewish man, PhD, and a longtime friend and colleague. He wrote, actually it's a series of books. Volume one is really good, but there are several volumes answering Jewish objections to Jesus. Fantastic. And by the way, Dillon, I think one thing that's very exciting, there are so many Jewish people coming to faith in Messiah right now. There are lots and lots of born again Jewish people right now and that's very exciting. But I think all of us need to be prepared and very eager to share Messiah Jesus with the Jewish folk all around us. Joe in Arkansas. Joe, are you there?
Caroline Yes, Hi there. thanks for taking my call. so just going back to authority, I think this is a big issue and I think a lot of Christians today, you know, wonder about this because there's this kind of a presupposition, like earlier, which I totally understand, you know, this idea, but I think it's, it's very modern that I'd like your take on it, that the individual believer is the one that needs to take, you know, scripture and determine the issues. But just like the caller route baptism before there was even a consolidated and official list of books, that most historians would say points to an authoritative church that could, you know, put those together. People all agreed. It seemed like in the Christian world of the early church that baptism was necessary for salvation. But, if I could just be real brief to not take too long. But like in addition to just baptism, you know, you have like first Timothy 3:15 and then Matthew, which is pretty clear. But then Matthew 18:17, Jesus instructs his followers on how to handle conflict. So if there's a one pastor said baptism is not necessary, the other one says it is, Jesus specifically instruct, you know, if you're, you know, take, take, with you, you know, one or more or two. But then eventually he said if they will not hear them, tell them, tell it to the church. And so if the Bible wasn't compiled yet, what did the like first, you know, hundreds of years of Christians, wouldn't they have needed a visible, unified, authoritative church and not just their own interpretation to go to, you know, to make, to the. Settle disputes. That's what I want. How would you settle disputes if it's an isolated church?
Alex McFarland by the way, let me just say I think the Matthew 18 beginning at verse 15, these were not really doctrinal disputes. if your brother sins against you, Dillon, you feel free to correct me. There were councils, as you know, the apostles, those that were with the risen Jesus, they codified and they were like, here's how I understand Scripture and the core of the gospel Deity, death, resurrection, faith in Jesus for salvation eminently preached by the first hundred years of the cross. The Matthew 18:15 following there, Joe, is I really think about personal, you know, disagreements between believers. But Dillon, how about we come back on Fireway Friday and we'll do this again tomorrow. All questions, all the hour tomorrow. Won't that be great?
Dillon Yes, these are great questions. And we'll do this the entire show tomorrow. So join us again next time here on Exploring the Word.
Alex McFarland The views and opinions expressed in this broadcast may not necessarily reflect those of the American Family Association or American Family Radio.
Join Alex McFarland and Dillon Burroughs on Exploring the Word as they conclude their study of the Gospel of Matthew with Matthew 28. Discover the undeniable historical evidence of the empty tomb, the reality of Christ's physical resurrection, and the enduring power of the Great Commission. Plus, listen to live listener calls answering questions about biblical prophecy, baptism, and Christian apologetics. Brought to you by American Family Radio.
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