Read: Matthew 28
Now the eleven disciples went . . . to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. (v. 16)
The last scene in the last chapter of Matthew carries us from the mountaintop cross and the torn veil at the temple mount, to the foot of the last mountain where Jesus stands before his disciples.
Here Jesus begins by following God’s established pattern from the Old Testament. He summons his disciples to a mountain (v. 16), speaks to them, and gives them a glimpse of his true glory. Luke picks up the narrative in his account: “While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven” (Luke 24:51). And this is where the pattern is flipped on its head. For the first time, God does not descend to the mountain, he instead ascends away from it.
Christ himself explains this shift. “And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matt. 28:20). These are the last words of Jesus and they form the deep, fundamental hope of Christianity. No longer must God thin the space between heaven and earth and descend to the mountains to meet his children. Through Christ’s death, God now dwells in us. In that sense, we are the mountains of meeting upon which the Lord descends. Whether we doubt or worship with utter confidence (v. 17), our call is the same: to “go . . . and make disciples of all nations” (v. 19) because the God of burning bushes and low whispers now lives within us.
As you pray, thank God for the glorious truth that he is always with us.
Justin Kuiper is a student from Holland, MI, studying English literature at Hope College. His own writing explores the many intersections of faith, storytelling, and the created order. Justin is a life-long soccer fan and plays on the Hope College soccer team.
