and sang the song of Gods servant Moses and of the Lamb: Great and marvelous are your deeds, Lord God Almighty. Just and true are your ways, King of the nations. Who will not fear you, Lord, and bring glory to your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous acts have been revealed." (Revelation 15:3-4 NIV)
Matthew 28:18-20 is Christ's Great Commission to us, His disciples (His church). This commission is called mission. God wants us as His church to be increasingly refined to carry out our ministry within the Body of Christ and also in our missionary work in this world. Responsibility in ministry is our responsibility in our service to believers (Colossians 1:25; 1 Corinthians 12:5), but responsibility in our missionary work is our responsibility in our service to unbelievers. We are refined so that we can carry out our shared responsibility before the Lord Jesus returns for the second time (Matthew 24:14). As refined Christians, we need to take responsibility in carrying out Christ's Great Commission. We are assured of receiving the promise of His presence until the end of time (Matthew 28:20). The word mission comes from the word Latin for to send. We are purified so that we can carry out the same mission and evangelism tasks that the Lord Jesus once did. Jesus said, "As the Father has sent me, even so I send you" (John 20:21). In His mission during His life as the Son of Man while living on this earth, Jesus always emphasized the completion of His Father's Kingdom mission with a pure heart. At the age of 12, He said, "I must be about My Father's business" (Luke 2:49), which in the King James Version is translated, "I must be about My Father's business." And 21 years later, while dying on the cross, He said, "It is finished" (John 19:30). These two statements show the framework of the responsibility of carrying out a pure mission that is carried out well and has a predetermined purpose and target. Jesus, with His purity of heart, has completed His mission that the Father gave Him. After Jesus ascended to heaven, the mission that Jesus carried out while on earth has now become the mission of our church because we are an extension of Christ's hands, which are part of His Body. What He did purely with His physical body must be continued by us as His spiritual body. If we want to be increasingly purified, then we can carry out our missionary duties responsibly. One day, when God's wrath is revealed on this corrupt world, there will be a song from those who have overcome the beast, his image, and the number of his name. And they will sing the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb, which says, "Great and marvelous are Your works, O Lord God Almighty! Just and true are Your ways, O King of the nations! Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy; "For all nations will come and worship You, for the righteousness of Your judgments has been revealed" (Revelation 15:3-4). We are grateful that in 2025 we can explore how we can become "a Church purified and filled with the glory of God" (Revelation 3:18; Ezekiel 43:5). Let us continue to be purified so that we can carry out our mission and evangelism responsibly in these end times, and let us remain united in the mission of His Kingdom. Amen!
By Pastor Silwanus Obadja M.Th.