There are two passages of scripture that have given immense comfort to believers in every age since the resurrection of Christ, and in all circumstances, especially in times of trial, trouble, and sorrow. (We shall deal with the second passage in another paper). There is no greater comfort for the believer in Christ, than to know His blessed presence with and near them. The passage that I refer to is (Matthew 28:20), Let us now look at this passage in detail. There are doubtless other passages that we could refer to, such as (Psalm 23:4) precious words indeed, but we will restrict ourselves to the verse referred to for the purpose of this paper,

The words in the passage in Matthew’s Gospel (according to the writer); were the last words that Jesus spoke to His disciples. But we know from Luke’s Gospel, and what is written in the Acts, that they were not. However it emphasises the fact that they made a very deep impression on Matthew’s soul, and this blessed assurance was to sustain him, in all that lay before him, as he entered into the service of his Master. They had received a commission from the lips of their Master to go and to make disciples of all Nations, they were to baptise them, and to teach them to observe all that He had commanded them. It would do us all good to take these words to our own hearts, and as the Apostles are no longer here, to accept this commission ourselves, as the call of our Master. Let us remember that nowhere does the Lord Jesus tell us to get converts, but to make disciples.

Christ draws our attention to the fact that having used His personal power to defeat Satan, and to break the power and victory of death and the grave. Now that He was risen from the dead not only was All Divine power reposed in Him; but He had been given the right to sovereignly exercise that power, to depute it to others. This is an assurance that when we respond to His call, and obey His commission, then all the power that we could ever need is freely available to us in the Person of Christ, by the Holy Spirit.

It is important to notice that the Lord Jesus never gives a call to serve Him, or any responsibility whatever, but that He gives all the power that is needed to fulfil that service, or responsibility. Before He sent His disciples forth, He first breathed into them. But not only power is needed in that service, but also companionship. This is promised to us in the lovely assurance that the Lord Jesus gives in verse twenty of our passage.

This lovely promise assures us that not only is the mighty power that is in the hands of the Lord Jesus available to us, to enable us to accomplish whatever task He may allot to us, but also His wonderful presence is with us, to comfort, counsel, and to guide us in whatever is committed to our hands. Let the blessedness of this soak into our minds and our hearts. It is He, Himself who is with us. There is not another to compare with Him, He is absolutely unique, and yet it is He who is with us. He told His gathered disciples when they were in the Upper Room, "It is I Myself". O wonderful truth! He is nearer to us than we often care to realise. What more could we wish for than this? Elisha in the Old Testament was aware of the presence of angels with him, (and they are sent forth to serve us also). But we have a greater privilege than this; we have the presence of the One who created the angels, with us. All glory to His holy name!

Darby and others translate the verse this way, and this makes it doubly sweet. He is surely with us on the good days, but He is with us on the bad days also. And He is with us every day, three hundred and sixty five days of every year. Please note that this is a definite promise, there is no ‘maybe’ or ‘perhaps’ about it, and it does not depend on either our faith or our feelings. He is with us whether we feel it or not. How much richer our lives would be if only we were able to learn to practice His presence. All loneliness would be gone forever, if we were only aware of His presence in every situation, and if we could learn to talk to Him about everything. This is what God intends for you and me, let us then refuse all unbelief, and learn to practice His wonderful presence.