So I have made a great deal out of the Great Commission, where Jesus tells His apostles to disciple the nations. I have noted that the direct object of that verb is the ethne, the people, the tribe, the whole unit.
This means the question has arisen whether I am overlooking the explanatory participles following — baptizing and teaching. Since we don’t literally immerse a nation, or pour water on it, doesn’t this mean that the common reading, that of fetching disciples out of all the nations, is permissible? No, but if this were a one-off passage on the subject, it certainly would be a reasonable take. Here is why I am not persuaded.
First, I accept the fact that preaching to, baptizing, and teaching individuals is foundational. No getting away from it, no getting around it. But it is basic to the New Testament approach to this that there are no excepted individuals. We are told to preach the gospel to every creature (Mark 16:15). We are told that the gospel ignores basic social distinctions of rank (Gal. 3:28). The early converts did not contain a large majority of the world’s nobility (1 Cor. 1:26), but it did contain a goodly number of them (Acts 13:1; Acts 13:12). In other words, the gospel is to be preached to all men without distinction. We are to pray for kings and all those in authority (1 Tim. 2:2), and among other reasons this is because God wants all kinds of men to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth (1 Tim. 2:4). When a high official with Queen Candace’s court was riding along with Philip, they were talking about the great sacrifice of the Suffering Servant in Isaiah 53. Suddenly, the eunuch requests baptism. Why would he do that? Just one verse before the passage they were discussing, we find this: “So shall he sprinkle many nations; the kings shall shut their mouths at him: for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider” (Is. 52:15). Now I don’t want to start the bloodhounds of baptismal mode baying off in another direction. It is enough for me here that the kings shut their mouths. And this is why we see the evangelistic instinct in Paul come right to the surface when he is talking to a king (Acts 26:28-29). In short, kings are included among the individuals that we must preach to.
Now, what happens when they listen? What happens when the king is converted, and submits to baptism? What’s next in the commission? We teach him obedience to every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. We teach obedience to all things that Christ commanded. When we lead a stable hand to Christ, we baptize him and then teach him obedience. Among other things, we teach him not to lean on his shovel so much (Eph. 6:6). If he is a magistrate, his lessons after baptism should include how to establish his throne in righteousness (Prov. 16:12), how to banish scamps and rascals from the court (Prov. 25:5), and how to stop debasing the currency (Is. 1:22). So my first point is that kings are people too.
The second argument for this concerns the foundation for Christ’s claim of authority in the Great Commission. He doesn’t tell his disciples to go, He tells them to therefore go. That therefore is critical, because it links our mission to the universal authority of Christ over every other authority that can be named, which obviously includes the authorities in the nations you are preaching to. Now Jesus was not just winging it when He said this. He was fulfilling all that the prophets had spoken in everything that He said and did. There are many places in the Old Testament that confirm this, but let me pick one of the more obvious — when it comes to the subject of kings. Remember we are talking about sin, death, and resurrection, authority, and conversion — with regard to kings.
Let’s walk through it, and I will keep my comments brief.
“Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us” (Ps. 2:1-3).
This passage is quoted in Acts 4:25-28, and is applied to the crucifixion of Jesus. So we know we are talking about the death of the Messiah, and this also helps define what sort of authorities we are talking about in this psalm.
“He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure. Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion” (Ps. 2:4-6).
God laughs that them, and the reason is that He has established His king in Zion, and so their plans will all come to nothing.
“I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee” (Ps. 2:7).
So this is the decree. God declares that Jesus is His Son. Anticipated in the baptism of Jesus, He does this ultimately in the resurrection (Rom. 1:4). Also in the resurrection, God has shown that Jesus will judge the nations (Acts 17:31 ). And clinching this point, Paul says that this verse is a prophecy of the resurrection (Acts 13:33).
Now, what happens in Psalm 2, right after the resurrection?
“Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession” (Ps. 2:8).
What happens is that Jesus is given all authority — the authority He wielded when He told His apostles to go and disciple the nations, baptizing them and teaching them to obey everything He said.
“Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel” (Ps. 2:9).
Never forget that the New Testament teaches us what the Old Testament means. This verse is quoted three times in the book of Revelation. Twice it is applied to the complete authority of Jesus over the nations (Rev. 12:5; 19:15). In the other place, it refers to the fact of our shared authority with Him over the nations (Rev. 2:27). And why? Because we are kings and priests on the earth (Rev. 5:10).
And so what is the conclusion of this matter?
“Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him” (Ps. 2:10-12).
Because Jesus died and rose, and because He has all authority now, the kings of the earth (the same kind that crucified Him) are commanded to be wise, to be instructed, to serve Him with fear, to rejoice with trembling, and to kiss the Son. They are commanded to put their trust in Him. In short, the kings of the earth are to receive Christian baptism, and they are to bring their honor and glory into the Christian Church (Rev. 21:24-26).
To the extent that the kings of the earth are separated from the people of God, to that same extent they are being disobedient. These are not two separated kingdoms. These are spheres that can be distinguished, but they have their point of unity in the one true king over all, even Jesus. If there are two distinct houses among men, they are the house of healing (and the leaves from the tree of life are for the healing of the nations), and the house of sin and pestilence.
What do we do in the gospel proclamation? We summon all the people, and we do not exclude the king. We approach the king, shut up like Uzziah in his lazar house, and invite him to come out, to come worship in the sanctuary. A true poultice from the leaves of healing and life has already been prepared.