The gospel according to Mathew ends thus. Jesus gives a command to make disciples. Notice, He doesn’t say to make converts. He doesn’t say to make believers. He doesn’t say to win souls. His command is simply to make disciples. A disciple is one who follows with the intent to learn. The command is to make Christ-followers.
Try to follow me here...
A believer may or may not be following Christ. Just like the nobleman in John chapter 4, a believer may not be a follower. Three times we are told that the nobleman believed, but, he returned home and, as best I can tell, never became a follower of Jesus. Believers today may be non-Christ-followers. The reasons for this could be because they may not know that they are supposed to, they may not letting Jesus lead, or they may be following some earthly charismatic leader instead of the One that set aside His rights to royalty to come and die on their behalf. If you point a non-following believer to Christ and they begin to follow, you have then fulfilled the command to make a disciple, even though they were a believer to start with.
Are you following?
Non-believers are not generally followers of Christ, but they may be. The Biblical example being Judas. Judas was a disciple, but Jesus called him the ‘son of perdition’. Judas was a Christ-follower, yet was heavily influenced by the devil. Since he held the money bag, Judas must have been trusted by the other disciples, yet for 30 pieces of silver, he betrayed Jesus with a kiss. Judas was named among the disciples, a trusted Christ-follower, but not a believer. So, if you point a non-believer towards Christ, and they begin to follow to learn, even if they do not convert or believe right away, you have fulfilled the command to make a disciple.
Ah, I see you are still following (you may not be agreeing with me, but you are still following).
Judas was a disciple, but did not follow to the end. During the Passover feast, he stopped following, he left the group of true believers. Did you ever consider the timing of his departure? He left the feast after the foot washing, but before the institution of the Lord’s supper. This is a turning point in John’s gospel. After Judas departs, Jesus is left with His followers who also believe.
Follow me on a walk through the John’s gospel and I will try to show how it is like a walk through the tabernacle:
- First time we see Jesus in John’s gospel, He is declared the Lamb of God that takes away sin.
- The first piece of furniture we see when we enter the court of the tabernacle, is the altar of burnt offering, where lambs were continually slaughtered to atone for the sins of the people.
- Between the first sighting up to chapter 13, Jesus interacts with four different groups of people: believers that follow Christ (the 11), believers that do not follow Christ (the ‘nobleman’ in John 4), non-believers that follow Christ (Judas), and non-believers that did not follow Him.
- The high priest in the court of the tabernacle interacted with his sons, the priests, and the offerers. According to the book of Hebrews, Jesus is now our high priest. According to Revelation 1:6, we believers are all priest. In John chapter 13 Jesus enters the upper room with his disciples only, leaving all others outside.
- The feast begins and there is a foot washing.
- In the tabernacle the laver, in the court, was the place where the priest washed their feet.
- Judas leaves leaving the 11 true believing followers in the upper room.
- At first Aaron had four sons but two never made it to serve as priests. Nadab and Abiyu (Aaron’s eldest) apparently washed at the laver, but were killed by God for offering strange fire on the last day of their of their consecration as priests. After the laver, there is the the Holy place, a room in the tabernacle only for the priest (a type of true believers).
- In the upper room Jesus says to His true believing followers that He is the way...no one comes to the Father but through Him.
- The veil separated the Holy Place from the Holiest of Holiest, where God, the Father dwelt. In Hebrews 12 we are told that the veil was Jesus’s flesh. The only way to the Father on the other side of the veil was through the veil.
- Jesus broke bread with His true-believer followers.
- In the tabernacle, the high priest breaks bread with the priests, on each Sabbath.
- Jesus had fellowship with His true-believing followers and talks to them for three chapters (the end of John 13 to the end of 16).
- The high priest had fellowship only with the priests in the Holy Place.
- In the beginning of John 17, Jesus turns His back, as it were, on His disciples and turns to His Father in prayer. He prays as if His followers aren’t even there -- even refers to them in the third person.
- In the tabernacle, on the Day of Atonement, the high priest leaves the Holy Place to enter the Holiest of Holiest where he is one on one with the Father.
(Wow, that was longer than I thought it would be, and I didn’t even cover the great “I am” statements in John!)
Are you following? Are you a Christ-follower? Great! Then go teach the gospel and point others to Christ. Keep your eyes focused on Christ and others will follow. Heck, I will follow! Take me to your leader!
Who will follow Jesus,
In His work of love,
Leading others to Him,
Lifting prayers above?
Courage, faithful servant!
In His Word we see,
On our side forever
Will this Savior be. -- Eliza E. Hewitt
