Chapter 3: The Great Commission

Chapter 3: The Great Commission

After the death of Christ the disciples were well-nigh overcome
by discouragement. Their Master had been rejected, condemned,
and crucified. The priests and rulers had declared scornfully, "He
saved others; Himself He cannot save. If He be the King of Israel,
let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe Him."
Matthew 27:42. 

*The sun of the disciples' hope had set, and night settled down upon their hearts.
Crushed by despondency, grief, and despair, the disciples met

together in the upper chamber, and closed and fastened the doors, fearing that the fate of their beloved Teacher might be theirs. 

*It was here that the Savior, after His resurrection, appeared to them.
For forty days Christ remained on the earth, preparing the disciples for the work before them and explaining that which heretofore they had been unable to comprehend. They reached the place where they could say, "I know whom I have believed." 

2 Timothy 1:12.
--The events of Christ's life, His death and resurrection, the prophecies pointing to these events, the mysteries of the plan of salvation, the power of Jesus for the remission of sins--to all these things they had been witnesses, and they were to make them known to the world.

Before ascending to heaven, 

Christ gave His disciples their commission.

The gospel commission is the great missionary charter of Christ's kingdom.

The disciples were to work earnestly for souls, 

giving to all the invitation of mercy.

*Christ did not tell His disciples that their work would be easy. 

*He showed them the vast confederacy of evil arrayed against them. They would have to fight "against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." Ephesians 6:12.
*The Savior knew that no argument, however logical, would melt hard hearts or break through the crust of worldliness and selfishness. He knew that His disciples must receive the heavenly endowment; that the gospel would be effective only as it was proclaimed by hearts made warm and lips made eloquent by a living knowledge of Him who is the way, the truth, and the life.
*He gave His disciples their commission, "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end." Matthew 28:19, 20.
*The promise of Christ's second coming was ever to be kept fresh in the minds of His disciples. The same Jesus whom they had seen ascending into heaven, would come again, to take to Himself those who here below give themselves to His service. The same voice that had said to them, "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end," would bid them welcome to His presence in the heavenly kingdom.

Chapter 2: The Training of the Twelve

Chapter 2: The Training of the Twelve 

Passing by the self-righteous Jewish teachers, the Master Worker chose humble, unlearned men to proclaim the truths that were to move the world. These men He purposed to train and educate as the leaders of His church.

*By personal contact and association, Christ trained them for His service.
*Wherever hearts were open to receive the divine message, He unfolded the truths of the way of salvation. He did not command the disciples to do this or that, but said, "Follow Me."
*It was at the ordination of the Twelve that the first step was taken in the organization of the church that after Christ's departure was to carry on His work on the earth. 

--Of this ordination the record says, "He goeth up into a mountain, and calleth unto Him whom He would: and they came unto Him. And He ordained twelve, that they should be with Him, and that He might send them forth to preach." Mark 3:13, 14. 

During His earthly ministry Christ began to break down the partition wall between Jew and Gentile, and to preach salvation to all mankind.
*Behold the Majesty of heaven surrounded by the Twelve whom He has chosen. He is about to set them apart for their work.

*As in the Old Testament the twelve patriarchs stood as representatives of Israel, so the twelve apostles stand as representatives of the gospel church.
*In these first disciples was presented marked diversity. They were to be the world's teachers, and they represented widely varied types of character. In order successfully to carry forward the work to which they had been called, these men, differing in natural characteristics and in habits of life, needed to come into unity of feeling, thought, and action. This unity it was Christ's object to secure. To this end He sought to bring them into unity with Himself.
"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto My Father." John 14:12.
*After the descent of the Holy Spirit, the disciples were so

--filled with love for Him 

--and for those for whom He died, 

that hearts were melted by the words they spoke and the prayers they offered.

*Christ had finished the work that was given Him to do. 

He had gathered out those who were to continue His work among men. He said: "I am glorified in them. And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to Thee. Holy Father, keep through Thine own name those whom Thou hast given Me, that they may be one, as We are." John 17:10, 11.

Chapter 1: God's Purpose for His Church

Chapter 1: God's Purpose for His Church

*The church is God's appointed agency for the salvation of men.
*The members of the church, 

those whom He has called out of darkness 

into His marvelous light, 

are to show forth His glory. 

*The church is the repository of the riches of the grace of Christ; and through the church will eventually be made manifest, even to "the principalities and powers in heavenly places," the final and full display of the love of God. Ephesians 3:10.

"Mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people." Isaiah 56:7.
*The church is God's fortress, His city of refuge, which He holds in a revolted world.
Through centuries of persecution, conflict, and darkness, God has sustained His church.
*During ages of spiritual darkness the church of God has been as a city set on a hill. 

*From age to age, through successive generations, the pure doctrines of heaven have been unfolding within its borders. 

*Enfeebled and defective as it may appear, the church is the one object upon which God bestows in a special sense His supreme regard.
--The Jewish leaders thought themselves too wise to need instruction, too righteous to need salvation... The Savior turned from them to entrust to others the privileges they had abused and the work they had slighted. 

God's glory must be revealed, 

His word established. 

*The salvation of God must be made known .... and the disciples were called to do the work that the Jewish leaders had failed to do.