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Key Bible Verse: "I have been given complete authority … Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations" (Matthew 28:19-20). Bonus Reading: Philippians 2:9-11

In the Old Testament, Johannes Blauw pointed out in his book The Missionary Nature of the Church, the prophets' vision of the last days was of a pilgrimage of the nations to Jerusalem. Mount Zion would be exalted above all moun-tains, and all nations would flow into it like a river. In the New Testament, however, the direction is reversed. The prophets' "centripetal missionary consciousness" is now replaced by a "centrifugal missionary activity." Instead of the nations flowing into the church, the church now goes out to the nations.

And what was the turning point? It was the resurrection. Only after Jesus had risen could he claim universal authority, and only then could he exercise that authority by sending his disciples into the world. "Mission," Blauw concludes, "is the summons of the lordship of Christ."

In [today's Bonus Reading], we're told that God has super-exalted Jesus and given him a rank above every other rank so that every knee should bow to him and every tongue confess him Lord. If God wants universal homage to be given to the risen Lord, we must want it too. So the Great Commission stems from the resurrection.

—John Stott in Through the Bible Through the Year

My Response: To seriously acknowledge the authority of the resurrected Son, I need to …

Thought to Apply: Who God means to invite to the feast isn't ours to define. We're not put in charge of the guest list. —Don Skinner (author)

Adapted from Through the Bible Through the Year (Baker, 2006) by permission.

Copyright © 2009 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity magazine.
Click here for reprint information on Men of Integrity.

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Prayer for the Week

Thank you, Jesus, for glimpses of your divinity, with markers of your humanity retained, that preview life eternal for us.

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