We say it all the time, and we refer to it in sermons and in writings. The phrase “Great Commission” is nowhere written in the text of the Bible, but its impact is on every page. It is essentially Jesus saying, “You have been given My whole story. Now tell the world about Me.”
The Great Commission is so great that God created man knowing they would need its message. In the creation account, we read “male and female He created them” (Gen. 1:27). Ephesians 1:4-5 tells us that, “before the foundation of the world” we were chosen for “adoption…by Jesus Christ.” In that moment when Father, Son and Holy Spirit stood together and said, “Let Us make man in Our image,” they knew the cost. They knew all that would have to happen in the Old Testament in preparation for the Messiah. The Son knew the crucifixion would happen. “And behold God saw everything that He had made and behold it was very good” (Gen. 1:31). That included you.
The Great Commission is so great that God spared not His own Son in making it happen. As we look past the old covenant and into the new, we know that a covenant must be sealed in blood. “For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins” (Matt. 26:28). “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). John would later write, “Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the children of God…” (1 John 3:1) The Great Commission was sealed with the most precious of blood and the most holy of sacrifices so that you could be His child.
The Great Commission is so great that God prepared a holy nation, a royal priesthood, to be its ambassadors. “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Pet. 2:9). “Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God” (2 Cor. 5:20). The message that we have been given in the Great Commission is one of reconciliation. God cries out through us, “Come to Me!”
The Great Commission is so great that somebody shared it with you and me. We are commissioned to carry the “great salvation” (Heb. 2:3) to the lost world. We are so blessed that someone did that for us. Will you do it for another?