Then the eleven disciples - Judas was dead, leaving but eleven of the original number of the apostles.

Into a mountain where Jesus lead appointed them - This "appointment" is recorded in Matthew 26:32. On what particular mountain this was is not known. It is probable that Jesus, when he made the appointment, specified the place, which has been omitted by the evangelists. Matthew has omitted many appearances which Jesus made to his disciples which have been recorded by Luke, John, and Paul. See the harmony of the resurrection at the end of the chapter.

Then the eleven disciples went - When the women went and told them that they had seen the Lord, and that he had promised to meet them in Galilee. From the eleventh to the fifteenth verse inclusive, should be read in a parenthesis, as the sixteenth verse is the continuation of the subject mentioned in the tenth.

Then the eleven disciples,.... For Judas was not only gone from them, but was dead; so that there were now but eleven of them: went

away into Galilee: not directly, as soon as the women had delivered their message; for Christ appeared to them the same day at Jerusalem; and so he did at the same place that week; see John 20:19, but some time, after this they went together into Galilee, according to Christ's direction both before and after his resurrection, Matthew 26:32,

into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them; either before his death, or since he was risen; and very likely at one of the above interviews he had with them. This is generally thought to be Mount Tabor; but of this there is no proof, nor certainty: it might be the mountain near Capernaum, on which he taught, Matthew 5:1, or that, if not the same with the other, near the sea of Galilee, where Christ fed four thousand with seven loaves, and a few fishes, Matthew 15:29. A mountain was appointed for this meeting, both for solitariness and for sight; for here it was he was seen by above five hundred brethren at once, 1 Corinthians 15:6.

{4} Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them.

(4) Christ appears also to his disciples, whom he makes apostles.

28:16 The eleven disciples went away into Galilee. The time when they went to Galilee is not stated, though we learn from Joh 20:26 that they remained in Judea for over a week after the resurrection. Of the appearances in Galilee we have three accounts: the brief one here, which describes the official meeting of the Lord with the entire body of disciples: the one by the sea, described in Joh 21:1, and the reference by Paul in 1Co 15:6. The eleven went into Galilee because the Lord had commanded them to do so.

Into a mountain where Jesus had appointed. The Revised Version says, the mountain, which is correct. The Lord had named the mountain where he should meet them, and had probably also appointed the time. The object of the appointment was probably to secure a general meeting of his disciples.

28:16 To the mountain where Jesus had appointed them - This was probably Mount Tabor, where, (it is commonly supposed,) he had been before transfigured. It seems to have been here also, that he appeared to above five hundred brethren at once.

Mt 28:16-20. Jesus Meets with the Disciples on a Mountain in Galilee and Gives Forth the Great Commission.

16. Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee-but certainly not before the second week after the resurrection, and probably somewhat later.

into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them-It should have been rendered "the mountain," meaning some certain mountain which He had named to them-probably the night before He suffered, when He said, "After I am risen, I will go before you into Galilee" (Mt 26:32; Mr 14:28). What it was can only be conjectured; but of the two between which opinions are divided-the Mount of the Beatitudes or Mount Tabor-the former is much the more probable, from its nearness to the Sea of Tiberias, where last before this the Narrative tells us that He met and dined with seven of them. (Joh 21:1, &c.). That the interview here recorded was the same as that referred to in one place only-1Co 15:6-when "He was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remained unto that day, though some were fallen asleep," is now the opinion of the ablest students of the evangelical history. Nothing can account for such a number as five hundred assembling at one spot but the expectation of some promised manifestation of their risen Lord: and the promise before His resurrection, twice repeated after it, best explains this immense gathering.

28:16-20 This evangelist passes over other appearances of Christ, recorded by Luke and John, and hastens to the most solemn; one appointed before his death, and after his resurrection. All that see the Lord Jesus with an eye of faith, will worship him. Yet the faith of the sincere may be very weak and wavering. But Christ gave such convincing proofs of his resurrection, as made their faith to triumph over doubts. He now solemnly commissioned the apostles and his ministers to go forth among all nations. The salvation they were to preach, is a common salvation; whoever will, let him come, and take the benefit; all are welcome to Christ Jesus. Christianity is the religion of a sinner who applies for salvation from deserved wrath and from sin; he applies to the mercy of the Father, through the atonement of the incarnate Son, and by the sanctification of the Holy Spirit, and gives up himself to be the worshipper and servant of God, as the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, three Persons but one God, in all his ordinances and commandments. Baptism is an outward sign of that inward washing, or sanctification of the Spirit, which seals and evidences the believer's justification. Let us examine ourselves, whether we really possess the inward and spiritual grace of a death unto sin, and a new birth unto righteousness, by which those who were the children of wrath become the children of God. Believers shall have the constant presence of their Lord always; all days, every day. There is no day, no hour of the day, in which our Lord Jesus is not present with his churches and with his ministers; if there were, in that day, that hour, they would be undone. The God of Israel, the Saviour, is sometimes a God that hideth himself, but never a God at a distance. To these precious words Amen is added. Even so, Lord Jesus, be thou with us and all thy people; cause thy face to shine upon us, that thy way may be known upon earth, thy saving health among all nations.