We call Matthew 28:18–20 the “great commission.” But Jesus commissioned us several ways to show how, where and what He wanted us to do on earth. Remember these?

• The Model – John 20:21 “As the Father has sent me....”
• The Magnitude – Mark 16:15 “...go into all the world...”
• The Methodology – Matthew 28:18–20 “...make disciples of all nations.”
• The Message – Luke 24:44–49 “repentance and forgiveness of sins.”
• The Means – Acts 1:8 “...you will receive power when the Holy Spirit...”

In case we think this was a New Testament development rather than God’s original design, let’s look at Scripture from the beginning. God commissioned Adam in Genesis 1:28 and Noah in Genesis 9:1. Abraham received his great commission in Genesis 12:1–3 and Genesis 22:18.

God has always intended to bless all nations by making the earth His dwelling. He was with Adam and Eve in Genesis 3:8 and in the tabernacle and temple with Israel. He was there in the incarnation of Christ (John 1:17) and now dwells in His people by coming at Pentecost in fire and the Spirit. God’s people are sent to build His kingdom on earth, empowered by Him. He wants all people to be His people—including us.

This year June 8 is Pentecost. The Nicene creed calls the Holy Spirit, “the Lord, the giver of life.” Rightly so, because the Spirit of God has always been crucial to creation from the very beginning and will be to the very end.

The Spirit brooded over the waters at creation (Genesis 1:2) and was breathed into Adam to make him a “living being” (Genesis 2:7). This breath, or Spirit of God, was the same Spirit involved in man’s re-creation at Pentecost. The Spirit didn’t just fill or come upon people for a time as He did in the Old Testament. He breathed life into us as new creations.

As He did in Genesis 2:7, the Spirit breathed life into the “body” of the second Adam, Christ’s church, so it would live. Jesus baptized with His Holy Spirit (Matthew 11:3) so Christ’s disciples became a temple or dwelling of the Spirit. In a sense, they are a new holy of holies, housing the glory of God in a new kind of human, one reborn of heaven, to grow into the image of Christ. God’s Spirit re-creates a Spirit-indwelled people on earth to live out God’s kingdom rule and bridge the gap between heaven and earth (Ephesians 2:22). He wants all peoples to be citizens of God’s kingdom, without cultural or linguistic barriers. We are the new “man” of Ephesians 2:15–21. When the disciples spoke in tongues at Pentecost it showed us Babel had been reversed. The kingdom of Christ for all has come and is coming.

When we were “born again,” was it merely as a better version of the same old us? Or were we born again as new creations—reborn to make the earth a place where God can dwell?

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Chris Jones is the Global Outreach Director at New Hope Church. He longs for the unreached people of the world to experience the life-changing love of God and for people at New Hope Church to find fullness of joy by obeying the Great Commission.