Matthew 28

Matthew 28:1-10 The Risen Christ, and the women at the Tomb.  A second earthquake rolls away the stone. (28:2, 27:51) Apparently the act of the angel rolling the stone away was synonymous with the earthquake. His appearance understandably terrified the guards. The divine power emanating from the holiness and love that appeared as snow-white clothing and  lightning understandably terrified mere mortals. An earthly revelation of God’s nature and character - showing them the reality of eternity’s relationship to earthly things - is overwhelming to us in the flesh. (Isaiah 6:5, Ezekiel 1:28, Daniel 8:17, 10:8-9, Revelation 1:17)

Both the angels and Jesus tell the women to tell the disciples to meet Him in Galilee. This is followed. (28:16) Other gospel accounts tell of His appearing to the disciples in Jerusalem the same day, and one wonders why He didn’t just tell them Himself to go to Galilee. I don’t know.

Matthew 28:11-15 The Guards Report. The priests bribed the guards to lie about what happened. If these were Roman guards, it is hard to see how they could escape punishment or discipline for falling asleep on the job, if that was their story. But it is also hard to see how the Roman authorities would accept the story of what really happened. So we don’t know what became of them, only that the story of the disciples stealing Jesus’ body was evidently spread widely, as the priests wanted.

Matthew 28:16-20 The Great Commission. At the mountain in Galilee, Jesus authorizes and empowers His disciples and us, and is with us, to take the gospel to all nations. His specific instructions are to make disciples, baptize, and teach them to obey His commands. Jesus explicitly calls out the Trinity in His instructions on baptism, YHWH AB, Yeshua HaMaschiach, and Ruach HaKodesh. This commission is substantially different from the one He gave the disciples in Matthew 10:1. In the rest of Matthew 10, Jesus expounds at length on what proclaiming the good news of the kingdom consists of and what to expect. Perhaps He gave similar instructions here that are not recorded. Also, possibly, by His resurrection He had demonstrated His power to the disciples, and since the Holy Spirit would be indwelling them soon, they did not need detailed instructions because the Spirit would guide them. That would seem to be meaning of His promise that He will be with us to the end of the age. The teaching of His commands was evidently completely verbal for a few decades after this, until the gospels were written. At least we now have the Sermon on the Mount, the parables, and the discourse at the Last Supper to learn His commands from. This commission concludes Matthew’s written record.