The Triumph of Truth to Complete and Eternal Sovereignty
David W Palmer
(Matthew 28:18–19 MKJV) And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority is given to Me in Heaven and in earth. {19} Therefore go and teach all nations …”
After Jesus rose from the dead, he commissioned his apprentices to teach his truth to, and to make disciples of, all nations. This is Matthew’s account of their (our) commission in fulfilling his mandate to restore all of created reality to right relationship with God.
During the 3½ years of his pre-cross ministry, Jesus had focused only on the small region around geographical Israel. But Father’s mission for him—through his trainees and delegates—is to reach the whole world, and to subdue it to God’s kingdom reign:
(1 Corinthians 15:25, 28 NLT) For Christ must reign until he humbles all his enemies beneath his feet. ... {28} Then, when all things are under his authority, the Son will put himself under God’s authority, so that God, who gave his Son authority over all things, will be utterly supreme over everything everywhere.
Jesus’s ministry revolutionized the area in which he walked. But after his resurrection, he wanted the sphere of his influence to go worldwide until everything is subdued to his rule. What is his rule like?
(John 18:33, 36 NKJV) Then Pilate entered the Praetorium again, called Jesus, and said to Him, “Are You the King of the Jews?” ... {36} Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here.”
In this exchange, Jesus clearly confessed that he was a king; he used the phrase, “My kingdom.” However, he also revealed that he wasn’t the normal earthly kind of king that Pilate was familiar with: “If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would fight.” Jesus’s kingdom is not of this world or its weapons. He went on to explain the nature of his kingdom and its warfare:
(John 18:37 NKJV) Pilate therefore said to Him, “Are You a king then?” Jesus answered, “You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.”
Jesus’s kingdom rules over those people who are submitted to the truth. After all, he said earlier that he is “the truth” along with “the life” and “the way” (John 14:6). Kings of Bible times were primarily the leaders of a military who could protect their subjects, defend their realm, and procure provision. Jesus’s emphasis on “the truth” implied that he could do all of this through his “voice.”
Without doubt, he demonstrated this adequately in the 3½ years of his pre-cross ministry: by using his voice to release God’s living word he fed the multitudes; he rescued them from enemy invasion by expelling demons and healing sicknesses; and he trained and equipped them to defend themselves through his preaching and teaching of the truth, etc.
This implies that all of the warfare surrounding Jesus’s kingdom is a war centered on the truth. His enemies try to subvert his kingdom rule with the weapons of propaganda, deception, and false accusation. Through the apostle Paul, the Holy Spirit spoke of this war:
(2 Corinthians 10:3–5 NKJV) For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. {4} For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, {5} casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.
This is why teaching the truth in the authority of the resurrected living Word is so crucial. All authority is in the truth (spoken in love). When we teach and make disciples with the truth, no weapon formed against us can prevail:
(Isaiah 54:17 NKJV)
