Luke 10
Besides the twelve apostles, Jesus sent out seventy more messengers, by two and two, to go before His face to the cities and places where He was about to visit. They were to pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out some to labor in the harvest, because the harvest was great and there were few laborers in the field.
The messengers were sent out as lambs among wolves. They were not to carry extra things and, in view of the importance of their mission, were not to stop and greet anyone by the way. At the first house that they entered they were to say "peace" to it. Providing the son of peace was there, their spirit of peace would rest there. In the first house that received them, they were to partake of food and drink; they were not to go from house to house.
In each city they were to heal the sick and say to the people, "The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you." Should a city refuse to receive them, they were to say in the streets that the kingdom of God had come to them, and they were to wipe off the dust from their feet as a testimony against the city. Sodom's sin was not as bad or fatal as the sin of rejecting the testimony of the kingdom of God.
Woes on Favored Cities
In the province of Galilee the three cities of Bethsaida, Chorazin and Capernaum received more attention than others in the ministry of Jesus. They had a clear testimony of the kingdom of God, accompanied with healings and the casting out of demons, but they rejected Christ's ministry, both His words and His works that proved who He was.
Capernaum was His home town and it received a larger share of His ministry. Without a doubt, they in Capernaum had seen proofs of who Jesus was, and they had been exposed to the kingdom of God. Their judgment was the greatest because the testimony was great.
Have you accepted the invitation into the kingdom of God to follow a rejected Christ to where there is no rejection? or do you continue with a mere profession without Christ, waiting to be judged with Christendom that will receive the greatest of all judgments ever to be measured out? If you hear the messenger, you hear Christ. If you despise the messenger, you despise Christ. Anyone who despises Christ despises the Father who has sent Him.
On their return from the mission, the seventy messengers relate with joy how the demons were subject to them through the name of the Lord Jesus. Jesus said to them, "I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions... and nothing shall by any means hurt you." Your power will be complete over Satan. "Rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven."
What a valuable lesson for us all. The power is of God; the messengers only make the message known and heal in Christ's name. They have no personal credit to rejoice about. They are to rejoice now and through eternity that their names, based on pure grace, are written in heaven. The testimony and healing will be forgotten.
The Introduction of the New Order of Heavenly Thing
Jesus rejoiced in spirit, thanking the Father for hiding these heavenly things from those who in themselves were wise, and revealing them to babes, the children of wisdom, because it pleased the Father for Him to do so. To us, the babes, Jesus reveals the Father, whom He knows.
The Father delivers all things to Christ, because He will be the Head of the vast moral kingdom of God in heaven and on the new earth. It will be called the kingdom of the Son of man (Matt. 13:4141The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; (Matthew 13:41)). His glory as man is so great that only the Father can know Him.
Privately, to the disciples, He says, "Blessed are the eyes which see the things that ye see: for I tell you, that many prophets and kings have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them."
Life and incorruptibility have been brought to light in the gospel (2 Tim. 1:1010But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel: (2 Timothy 1:10)). What is it that they see? What do they hear? Never before had such deep truth been revealed to man. They were not merely to know, but they were to be part of the heavenly family, to be part of the bundle of life bound up with the Lord our God, to be in the bosom of the Father as babes, to be a part of the bride of Christ, to have part in the ruling of the universe, being the mother of all living. This is the epitome of God's counsels in the exaltation of Christ, who has been so rejected here. It is His glory that is in view, but He must have us, for whom He died, with Him. The Spirit brings out these truths after Pentecost.
The Good Samaritan
The following account is, in part, a picture of the things of which we have just spoken. A lawyer stood up to tempt Jesus. He said: master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? He was not referring to eternal life as we know it. Such was not known in the Old Testament or before Pentecost. They only knew what is spoken of in the law: 'The man which doeth those things shall live by them." Rom. 10:55For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, That the man which doeth those things shall live by them. (Romans 10:5).
Jesus answered the lawyer, What is in the law? How do you read it? He responded, 'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself." Jesus said, You have answered right. Do this and you shall live. Then the lawyer, by asking, "Who is my neighbor," sought to justify himself. He did not know that Jesus was his neighbor.
Jesus said that there was a certain man traveling from Jerusalem (the place to meet God in His temple) down to Jericho (the city of the curse) who fell among thieves. What would you expect of one who leaves God out of his life and traffics in the city of the curse, the world without God? Stripping him of his raiment (character), the thieves wounded him, leaving him half dead. The world and Satan have no time for one who is down. It is sad to have to say that such is the religious world too. In this story we have a picture of Adam and his children, sinners by nature and by practice.
By chance, a priest came by and, seeing him, went to the other side of the road. Also, a Levite looked on him and passed by on the other side. "But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was; and when he saw him, he had compassion on him, and went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him: and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee. Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbor unto him that fell among the thieves? And he said, He that showed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise."
Jesus was neighbor to the man who was beaten by thieves. The priest and the Levite, having position religiously but without heart or compassion, leave the man in his wounds and pass by. Jesus had compassion and went to him, binding up his wounds (this was done at the cross), pouring in oil (comfort and joy) and wine (the medicine for healing, repentance towards God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ).
Disregarding His own comfort, Jesus put the man on his own beast-"who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree." Jesus brought the man to an inn (the assembly) and took care of him (leaving the believer with hope, the rapture and the coming rewards). When Jesus left this world He left two pence: a Great High Priest and an Advocate. What more could be done for us? Such is our Neighbor.
These blessed things that the disciples see and hear introduce life and incorruptibility to us.
Mary and Martha
Following this, Jesus entered Bethany where Martha and Mary lived with Lazarus their brother. "Martha received Him into her house." Mary sat at the feet of Jesus listening to His words. This is a picture to us of those who see and hear the things of Jesus that the believer is taught by the Holy Spirit during the two thousand years of the Church's history on the earth.
Martha, in preparing food for Jesus and the family, was distracted by the cares of this life and missed the things that were important, things that she, like her sister Mary, should hear and see.
Having come up, perhaps from the lower floor, she spoke to the Lord, "Dost Thou not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Speak to her therefore that she may help me. But Jesus answering said to her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things; but there is need of one, and Mary has chosen the good part, the which shall not be taken from her" (JND).
We do not know why Martha was not in the state of soul for this, but she was distracted and was thinking of practical things, which were proper in their place. Do you think that Jesus would have minded if they had no supper, providing Martha would sit at His feet listening to His words of grace?
Martha was distracted, troubled about much serving. Are we not often troubled like this? Serving is right in its place, but it should not take the place of sitting at Jesus' feet to listen, and we should not be troubled in serving. The kind rebuke given to Martha by Jesus must have had its effect, because later she served in the Spirit (John 12).
Mary drank in the Word as she listened to her holy Friend, Jesus, the Son of God. What a privilege! Is it not a little bit of heaven? We have the same privilege.
Christ had taken over in Mary's life. Mary, here, learned His Person, His kindness and grace. She learned that He would die. She understood, when Martha did not understand, what Jesus said about their brother Lazarus in John 11. These things are learned, not merely by hearing a sermon, but by sitting in His presence, alone, listening spiritually to Him. Many, who came to Mary and saw what Jesus did by raising Lazarus, believed on Him. How full Mary's life was because she had sat at Jesus' feet.