What is the significance of Jesus saying, "I am with you always even to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:20)?

But we hasten to a close. We have seen the meaning of the words so far — "Lo, I am with you alway"; I am with you to succour in temptation, to strengthen in duty, to guide in perplexity, to comfort in sorrow. From the instant you become a disciple I am with you all along. I am with you every day. All your life I am with you — and at death? — at death you are with Me. That's the difference. At present I am always with you, but you are not always with Me. At present Jesus is constantly near His own, but His own do not constantly desire to be near Him. Here it is only by faith that believers enjoy His presence. There they shall see Him as He is. Now the Lord Jesus follows His own whithersoever they go, but they do not always follow Him. Then it will be different, for they will follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth. And all that is wanting to complete the promise is what death's twinkling may introduce, what the Saviour's coming for His own shall fully supply. Now it is, "Lo, I am with you alway," — and then it is, "And so shall we be ever with the Lord."

The closing word is, "I am with you all the days, until the completion of the age," so that in this closing word we have "all" no less than four times. Our exalted Lord wields all power in both spheres, so that nothing is beyond His reach. If anything adverse happens to His servants it must be by His permission. All nations are to be the scope of their service, and not in the midst of Israel only as heretofore. Those baptized from the nations are to be taught to observe all the Lord's commands and instructions, for the servants are to be marked by obedience, and to bring those that they reach into obedience also. Then all the days to the finish they can count on the support and spiritual presence of their Master.

Such is the commission with which the Gospel ends. As we travel on into the Acts and pass through the Epistles we find coming to light developments which furnish us with the full gospel commission of today yet we do not lose the light and benefit of what the Lord says here. We still go to all nations, baptizing in the Name. We still have to teach all the Lord's word. All power is still His. His presence will be with us all the days till the end of the age, no matter what may betide.

The King is, as we know, to be away; and just on this account He gives to those who represent Him here the assurance of His being ever present with them. Faith may reckon upon Him as securely all the way as if He were still bodily and visibly in company with His disciples; "all the days" ― every single day ― cloudy or bright ― until the consummation of the age is reached, and the opened heavens yield Him once more to earth.

To make disciples then involves baptizing and teaching them to observe all things that the Lord has commanded. Now the Lord Jesus finally accompanies this authorization with the assurance of His presence with His disciples always, to the end of the age. This implies His authoritative power among His people in the present form of the kingdom of heaven, and it remains a precious encouragement for ourselves, in spite of the degenerated state of the kingdom today. In bodily form of course the King is absent, yet faith is to recognize the reality of His wisely directing authority just as though He were visibly present. By the power of the Spirit of God who indwells the saints of God since Pentecost, it is a very real sense in which the Lord Jesus is present with us always; but only faith realizes and responds to this.

What is the conclusion which one should draw from all this? It is, that there will be an accomplishment of this mission before the end of the age, and that the message of the gospel, here entrusted to the remnant, to the disciples, will be carried from Christ, of whom it remains always true (whatever be the state of things) that all power is given unto Him in heaven and on earth. From Christ, I say, acting in this character, the message of this same gospel will be carried to all the nations, and Christ will be with the messengers even to the end of the age.

In Galilee, the great commission is given. It stands, we may say, between the assurance of our Lord's omnipotence and of His special omnipresence. We say "special" because it is not merely His presence as God everywhere, but "Lo, I am with you alway, even to the end of the age" — a special presence, to defend, sustain, uphold, empower His disciples. Therefore they are to go and teach all nations; that is, make disciples of all nations, of course through the preaching of the gospel, but a discipleship which seems, in the very terms in which it is described, to be along the lines of that kingdom of heaven whose mysteries our Lord had previously unfolded. It is this which explains why baptism has so prominent a place here. The two keys of the kingdom, baptizing — the external or physical, and teaching, the internal or mental key. Disciples are thus made by the preaching and the teaching of the truth, and baptized into the kingdom in the name of the triune God who has been fully revealed in the person of His Son.

And now, of the ascension, mentioned elsewhere only by Luke, Mark briefly states that the Lord Jesus "was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God." To this he adds, what comes in as a complement to Matthew's Gospel, that the disciples "went forth and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following" (ver. 20). Thus the promise of the Lord's presence with His servants, recorded only in Matthew 28:20, is declared to have been verified by his co-evangelist Mark. "I am with you always, even to the end of the age," is the promise in Matthew. "They went forth preaching everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following," is the fulfilment noted by Mark.

Accordingly He closes with these words, "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world [age]." How the form of the truth would have been weakened, if not destroyed, had we then heard of His going up to heaven! It is evident that the moral force of it is infinitely more preserved as it is. He is charging His disciples, sending them on their world-wide mission with these words, "Lo, I am with you always, all the days," etc. The force is immensely increased, and for this very reason that we hear and see no more. He promised His presence with them to the end of the age; and thereon the curtain drops. He is thus heard, if not seen, for ever with His own on earth, as they go forth upon that errand so precious, but perilous. May we gather real profit from all He has given us.

All power is His; all power in heaven and on earth. Soon the day will come when indeed He will have all things put under His feet. And the last word, "And behold, I am with you all the days until the completion of the age." Precious promise to faith! He will never leave nor forsake, and He who is with us is the "I am," the mighty Jehovah, the Immanuel, having all power in heaven and on earth.

Apostolic days have gone, but the Lord still vouchsafes His presence to His servants, for His words were, "Lo, I am with you alway, unto the end of the age." The promise remains for us today, and it remains for the faithful servants of the Lord who will be raised up after the church has gone to heaven. When the church is raptured home to heaven, the Gospel of the kingdom will go forth by chosen servants of the Lord, and He will be with them, to sustain them in their trials, and to provide for them in their needs (Matt. 25:44-45).