The Great Commission

The Great Commission

Power From On High To Set The Captives Free

Mark 16:15-18

     And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned. These signs will accompany those who have believed: in My name they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues; they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

    -So then, when the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God.


Luke 4:18-19

     “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, And recovery of sight to the blind, To set free those who are oppressed, To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.” -Jesus

Matthew 28:18-20

     And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

I would like to take a minute or two and give a description of what it is like for us as Christians being given the Great Commission. The Great Commission is like a badge that allows us to go into the prisons the devil has built and to set the captives free.  The badge says, “The Great Commission - Power From On High To Set The Captives Free”

Imagine that you are the servant of a great king. You know him well. You have been with him a long time and often you have dined with him. Many times you have sat through sessions in the court where he has dealt justly with every case that has been brought before him. You know what he loves and how fair he is. And you know his heart, for you have often talked with him late into the night.

  One day he calls you in and says, “I have heard that there is trouble in one of my cities and I want to send you to take care of it. I have known you for a long time and I trust that you will do what I would do if I were there. To facilitate this I am also giving you full authority over everyone no matter how high their position. No matter how high up you find corruption and injustice, you have the power to remove that person and place another in his position. I have many matters of importance to attend to so I am entrusting this job to you whom I love and trust. When you speak, you speak for me and when you act you act for me.”

Now when you arrive at the city you find an immediate warm welcome by the high official in charge and he does all things to make you feel like you have made it to the height of honor and that the two of you will soon become best friends, both of you work hard for the king after all. However, after only a short time of investigating you find that there are indeed many people who have been unfairly judged and thrown into prison. You bring these things to the high official and he pretends to need to look into it, as though he has no idea about these matters. At the same time, he gives an order to give the prisoners more freedom, moved to bigger jail cells, given more time out in the courtyard, and even some improvements to the courtyard to make it more pleasant while he finds out the truth about their circumstances of arrest.

However, after more investigating on your part you discover that the corruption is deep at the top level and you now have two choices. You can either go back to the king and tell him about the “good” changes to the prisoner’s circumstances, with hopes of more changes soon to follow, or you can begin a hard fight with this official that will end with his removal and the prisoners actually set free, not just, “made more comfortable” but still prisoners.

Here it takes courage because the high official likes his kingdom that he has built for himself and he knows that the king has been to busy to come out and deal with him. He also knows that if he puts up a fight he can probably intimidate you from doing him any harm. So first he tries to buy you out with flattery and other subtle means of bribery, but when he finds that you are immovable and that you intend to remove him from office and bring him to justice for his crimes he becomes violent and his true nature comes out. Now here, you are tested in full as to whether or not the authority you have been given from the king is real or not. You were given the commission from the king to do what he would do! This now is requiring you to act  immediately on behalf of the prisoners and carrying out justice for them and their release. If you are bold and courageous, not intimidated by your opponent, you will have the victory and will return to the king with confidence, knowing you did all that he asked and have a good report of justice for the captives having been carried out.

This is our authority in Christ and if we are undaunted by all that the devil throws at us, we will indeed set his captives free and return to the king with glad tidings of great joy! We will receive the reward of being good and faithful servants! So do not be intimidated by every fear or seeming impossibility, Gideon went forward with God and three hundred men and defeated a very daunting foe. The devil will use i.e. fear of losing your job or doubts that your efforts will really matter. He is a very intimidating jailer and will use every fear he knows you have, to make you get discouraged and thus leave his prisoner in prison. But if you persist you will be victorious for the authority you carry is from God. He gave it to you when He gave you the great commission. You did not give yourself this authority, God gave it to you, but it is only good if you obey His call to love your neighbor and desire to see them set free. If you love your own life you will easily be overcome by the devil's flattery and will leave with a report that sounds good but actually no one was set free like the first option in this story.

     God bless you all! And may we be found diligently still setting captives free when Jesus returns!