The Lord Jesus Christ gave his apostles an audacious mandate: to make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19). One can only imagine how these daring words might have first fallen on the ears of his 11 chagrined disciples, who, as devotees of an executed rabbi, would soon find themselves personae non grata in their own homeland. Yet whatever they made of the Lord’s marching orders, they could not have claimed that their Master’s words were unclear. The task was simple, albeit seemingly impossible: to disciple the nations.
This command should not have surprised them, since it goes with the grain of the rest of Scripture’s statements concerning the world’s peoples:
- “[I]n you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Genesis 12:3b)
- “All the nations you have made shall come and worship before you, O LORD, and shall glorify your name.” (Psalm 86:9)
- “[F]or the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.” (Isaiah 11:9b)
But for the disciples to now discharge this task, they needed to understand both what a nation is and what a disciple is. The same need persists today.
In today’s context, to even think of saturating any place or people group with the gospel of Jesus Christ is to run aground on half-baked allegations of cultural imperialism, colonialism, or Christian nationalism. Yet we cannot allow the unbelieving world to determine the bounds of acceptable discourse. Jesus is Lord, and the nations have been given to him (Psalm 2:8, Daniel 7:14, Revelation 11:15). We must believe it, live like it, and tell others.
So what does it look like when a nation is discipled? Let us consider the testimony of our national brothers in the Lord abroad. Recently, an Indian pastor described to me the carnage faced by Kuki-Zo Christians in the hills of Manipur, India, as they experience persecution at the hands of the Hindu-majority Meitei tribes of the valleys.
Explaining the protest that began the wave of violence, this pastor recounted that “the situation spread like wildfire with the burning of over 300 churches, hundreds of villages, 150 deaths, 60,000 displaced, with ongoing kidnappings and arsons.”
He contended that “the only solution to end this ongoing conflict is to grant total separate administration to the hill tribals who are under the governance of valley state government”—in essence, for Christians to be granted freedom from such things as religiously motivated violence, anti-conversion laws that hamper ministry, and even restrictive Hindu dietary laws.
In short, this pastor wants what every pastor, missionary, and believer should yearn for: that their nation and its rulers kiss the Son (Psalm 2:12). He wants his people to bend the knee to King Jesus—from their government officials to their unbelieving tribal neighbors.
How do we interpret Christ’s commission? Do we, like this Indian pastor, recognize the sheer authority it provides us to boldly proclaim Christ’s lordship among all the nations (including our own)? Or do we make excuses for our cowardice, supposing that, since Jesus’ kingdom is not of this world (John 18:36), we should simply keep our heads down, avoid trouble, and avoid being too vocal about his reign?
One day, the world will be Christian. Until our mission is complete, this guaranteed outcome should animate us with persevering, death-defying joy. Let us thus unapologetically embrace the audacity of the Great Commission.
