Just before Jesus left the disciples to return to the right
hand of the Father, He gave them a number of commands related to their
subsequent ministry. One of them, recorded for us by Matthew in the 28
th
chapter of his gospel, was to go into the world and, as they were going, to “make
disciples of all nations, teaching them all that I have commanded you.” Thus,
the disciples were to basically reproduce themselves by forming new disciples,
we could say they were to do so in their own spiritual image. This they did with great zeal for,
as we read in the book of Acts, their passion for spreading the good news of Christ
was unmatched in the annals of history.
