"Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." Matthew 28:19


He had already told His disciples while they were still gathered in the upper room: "As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you." Then the sense of His instruction on the mountain was: "As you go into the world, you are to make disciples in every nation."

 

What an amazing thing to ask of such a small, unpromising group of followers. Yet, soon afterward, on the Mount of Olives, He made this command an actual prophecy: "Ye shall be witnesses unto me unto the uttermost part of the earth." This absurdly impossible prophecy seemingly could never be carried out by such a motley group, but somehow it has! There are today millions of followers of Christ, some in practically every nation on earth. The prophecy seemed humanly impossible, but the Holy Spirit of God came upon them in great power, and He has been with Christ's witnesses in every age since.

 

Not only the Spirit of God, but also the Father and the Son. New disciples were, in fact, to be identified as such by baptism in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. One name, yet three names!