When Mary Magdelene and the other Mary were on their way from the tomb, planning to tell others of what they saw and heard, Jesus appeared to them.

"And they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy and ran to report it to His disciples. And behold, Jesus met them and greeted them. And they came up and took hold of His feet and worshiped Him."

"Then Jesus said to them, ‘Do not be afraid; go and take word to My brethren to leave for Galilee, and there they shall see Me’ (Matt. 28:8-10)."

In some way, Jesus also must have told the 11 eyewitnesses to wait at a specific mountain in Galilee. Matthew writes: "But the eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had designated (Matt. 28:16)."

At this special mountain, the disciples would be told to begin a great, far reaching, lasting work. They would begin to fulfill their work as apostles.

At a mountain in Galilee, Jesus appeared and the disciples worshiped Him. But some were doubtful (Matt. 28:16, 17).

Then Jesus said to them, "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 (Matt. 28:18-20)."

Jesus said that He had been given, by His Father, not just some, not just a lot, but all authority over both heaven and earth. There is no one more powerful than He, except His Father who gave Him that authority.

After referring to His complete authority, thus establishing His right to give commands, Jesus tells his eyewitnesses to go make disciples [learners] of all nations (Matt. 28:18, 19). They were to make people learners of the crucified risen Savior, Jesus Christ.

Since these apostles were eyewitnesses of the resurrected Messiah, they would be the best qualified for all time, to help people learn the accurate message of how all men can find forgiveness through Jesus.

Not only were they qualified eyewitnesses of Jesus’ earthly life, they would receive a Helper, the Holy Spirit, that would come to them from the Father to teach them all things, and to remind them of what Jesus taught them while He was with them on the earth (John 14:25, 26). In this way God made certain that the true message would be told by these apostles. Their message would eventually be written down in the Bible for us to read.

Their task was not only to make disciples of the Jews, but to make disciples of all nations; the Gentiles (Matt. 28:19).

The One who has all authority also told them to baptize these learners that they were going to make. As they were baptizing them, they were to publicly call upon the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (Matt. 28:19).

Mark’s Gospel also records Jesus as saying, "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 (Mark 16:15, 16).

"Go therefore and make disciples...teaching them to observe all that I commanded you (Matt. 28:19-20)." The One with all authority directed the apostles not to shrink back from teaching disciples to put each of His commands into practice.

Luke records other details about the last earthly commands that the risen Jesus gave to His apostles: "Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and rise again from the dead the third day; and that repentance for forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I [Jesus] am sending forth the promise of My Father upon you; but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high (Luke 24:46-49)."

They were to preach in Jesus’ name that people must repent in order to receive forgiveness for their sins. Now the apostles were to wait in Jerusalem to receive power from God for their work as apostles.

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