Luke 10:15-17 - The demons submit

10:15,16

We do read quite a bit about Capernaum in the gospels, it is even called “His own town” in Matt 9:1. Yet even Capernaum did not repent and believe. Capernaum had a high opinion of herself, but far from being exalted she would be brought down to the depths. The Greek actually has Hades where NIV puts depths, contrasting this with heaven.

Jesus explains the stark nature of their mission. If people listened to them they would listen to Jesus, if people rejected them they rejected Jesus, and in doing so rejected the Father, the One who sent Him. We are Jesus’ representatives on earth, we are to live and act as His representatives. Note that Jesus puts the disciples first in the listening and rejecting phrases, ie He does not say whoever listens to me will listen to you, but whoever listens to you listens to me. We are to speak the words of Jesus or else we are nothing.

10:17

As we have been reading, the disciples went out with very serious instructions and warnings from Jesus, yet they returned with great joy. We need to appreciate the seriousness and the solemn nature of the task that we have been given, and the atmosphere in which it will be fulfilled. But we also need to appreciate the authority given to us by the Lord, the power and presence of the Holy Spirit, and the joy of working together with the Lord. The thing that struck the disciples most was that the demons submitted to them. There are two things to note here. One is the reality of demons, and secondly that they will submit to us when we act in Jesus name. It is essential that in the church we have a proper view of demons. Note also that it is the seventy two that these things happened to, not just the twelve.

Luke 10:10-14 - Woe to you

10:10-12

The eating and the healing were what was to happen when they were welcomed, but what if they were not welcomed? We should note that throughout the Bible there is a recognition that sometimes the word of God is welcomed and sometimes it is rejected. We sometimes seem to have the rather strange notion that it should always be welcomed, and if it isn’t welcomed then it is always our fault. If we faithfully present the word of God then sometimes it will be rejected. An equally strange notion is that the word of God will always be rejected. In all circumstances there will be some who welcome the Lord. If a town did reject them they were to wipe the dust of their feet as a sign of judgement. Again, note how this goes against the notions common in the church today. “If the message is not being accepted we need to make it more acceptable”, and we should not mention hell or judgement. Well these sort of ideas are directly against what Jesus taught. Believing in the gospel is a command not an option, and there are the most severe consequences for rejecting the gospel. Rejecting the gospel is like a sick and dying man rejecting the medicine that can heal him. Of course he is free to reject the medicine, but if he does he will die a horrible death. It is much the same with the gospel.

10:13,14

Remember that Jesus is giving the disciples a “pep-talk” before they go out on mission and all the talk seems to be about people rejecting them! These warnings are a severe judgement upon the pride of Israel. In John’s gospel he says that no book would be large enough to contain all the miracles that Jesus did, and here we have a hint of that. There is no information in the gospels of what Jesus did in Chorazin, and very little on Bethsaida, yet apparently He did great miracles in these places. Tyre and Sidon had been part of the Phoenician empire and had been singled out for judgement in Isaiah 23 and Ezekiel 26-28. Yet Jesus says that if she had seen the miracles that He did she would have repented. Israel did not repent. This is a severe warning against pride, and all of us need to take it to heart.

Luke 10:5-9 - Peace to this house

10:5-7

These verse expand on the earlier instructions to the twelve (Luke 9:4). “When you enter a house, first say ‘Peace to this house’”. We start with an attitude of peace and goodwill, expecting the best. Now if that house (and we can apply this to a group of people) accepts the blessing then the blessing of God will remain on that house. If they reject it then God’s peace will not rest on that house. We go as God’s emissaries. In 2 Cor 2:16 Paul says we to some we are the fragrance of life, to others the odour of death.

We are also to accept what is given to us. If people choose to bless us then we are to gratefully accept it, for it is God providing for us. Now, of course, there are those who exploit people. There were in the early church, and there are such people today, and the New Testament letters contain many warning against such behaviour. But we must not go to the other extreme. It is perfectly right and proper for a church to provide a reasonable living for its workers.

They were also to be settled, not going around from one place to another. We could extend this to say that we should not flit around from church to church, never settling. No church is perfect, you and I are not perfect, but we will only fulfil God’s will for our lives as imperfect members of an imperfect church.

10:8,9

There is a repeat of the instruction to eat what was set before them. Some of the areas they were going to would have a significant number of Gentiles living there, so possibly this instruction is about not being too fastidious about whether or not food met the strict Jewish dietary laws. They were to heal the sick and tell them that the kingdom of God is among them. So we see that miraculous healings were a normal part of mission. We also see that they are not just an end in themselves, they are a sign that the kingdom is among them.

Luke 10:3,4 - The workers are few

10:3,4

Immediately after telling the disciples to ask for the Father to send out workers Jesus commands the seventy two to go. Being servants of the Lord in the world is not a choice, it is obedience to the command of God. Yet so often in our Western mindset we see it as a “choice”, just as we see believing the gospel as a “choice” in the sense of it is “my choice”. No it isn’t! We need a change of mind, a renewal of our thinking (Rom 12:2). Now with our western thinking we might react against this, but actually it is liberating. For when we live with a “my choice” mindset we effectively make everything dependent upon ourselves and we are back in the fall in Eden. When we view life as being part of God’s plan, ultimately dependent upon Him and not on ourselves we become truly free.

And part of the reason why this is so important is that we sent out “as lambs among wolves”. For a long time we have been so fortunate in the West in that we have had a Christian culture which has been broadly favourable to Christianity. Now things are changing and our societies increasingly view Christianity with suspicion and consider many Christian views to be wrong or even criminal. This is the situation that is perfectly normal for many of our Christian brothers and sisters throughout the world, and has been so throughout history. But we have not chosen to go out as sheep among wolves, we have been sent out by the Lord as sheep among wolves. There is a crucial difference, we have absolute security in the Lord.

As before (Luke 9:3) they were to travel light, they were also not to greet anyone on the road. Ie their mission was urgent, and they had to be focused.

Luke 10:1,2 - The Seventy Two

10:1

Earlier we had the sending out of the twelve (9:1,2), now we have the sending out of the seventy two (some manuscripts have seventy). These were in addition to the twelve, showing that there were many others apart from the twelve who followed Jesus, and whom He interacted with. There have been various suggestions as to the significance of the number seventy two (or seventy). Some see it as representing the nations of the earth in Genesis 10, so Jesus is sending the gospel out, symbolically at this stage, into the whole world. Others see it as paralleling the elders appointed by Moses (Num 11:16), and yet others as paralleling the Sanhedrin. Luke, of course, draws no such parallel, so perhaps the number has no great significance at all!

What is significant is that Jesus sent them out to every town He was going to go to. So they were in some ways like mini John the Baptists, preparing the way for Jesus.

10:2

Perhaps this verse gives us more insight into the significance of the event, rather than speculation about the number seventy two (or seventy). “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few, therefore ask the Lord of the Harvest to send out workers into the harvest field.” This is addressed to the seventy two. A similar instruction was issued in Matt 9:37 and John 4:35. Israel as a nation rejected the Messiah, yet there were still many who did believe. So even in today’s secular West we should ask God to send out workers, for there are many to be saved. The harvest belongs to the Lord, it is not a manmade enterprise.

Habakkuk 3:16-19 - The Lord is my strength

3:16-19

This prayer is set firmly in real circumstance, Babylon is invading the land. Habakkuk is reminded of all the things he has spoken about in the earlier verses of this chapter, and of God’s answers to his two complaints. The word had a severe effect on him. Maybe it is God’s earlier pronouncement that Babylon would be used to inflict punishment upon Judah that is most troubling him. But now he knows that a day of calamity would come upon Babylon as well one day. The punishment was not for ever.

Fig trees, the vine, olive crops and wheat fields were essential to the economy and food of the nation. So although the outward signs are dire, with no obvious prospect of help, Habakkuk would rejoice in the Lord and be joyful in Him. Note that he is not saying these things do not matter, nor is he resigned to good never happening. Rather he now knows that God will act, God has not forgotten, in due time, at the right time, the Lord would act.

Habakkuk’s strength is not in the circumstances, but in the Lord, the Sovereign Lord. The Lord does not just enable Habakkuk to endure, but “makes his feet like the feet of a deer”, and enables him to tread on the heights. We should aim to become a people not governed by circumstances, but a people whose strength is in the Lord. This manifestly does not mean that the circumstances do not matter. But it does mean that we live by the Spirit, not by the flesh. Then, instead of being governed by the circumstances, we reign in the midst of the circumstances.

Habakkuk 3:8-15 - God's wrath

3:8-15

It is difficult for us to appreciate these next few verses. There may be allusions to pagan myths held by other nations such as the Canaanites, or the allusions may be to the rescue of the Israelites at the Red Sea. God does have power over all creation, and this has been demonstrated at various times in the Bible. There was Moses and the Red Sea, and Joshua and the Jordan. Then Jesus stilled the storm. However, it was not the sea or the mountains that God’s wrath was aimed at, though the pagan nations tended to deify nature, with gods of rivers and mountains. In verse 12 it says “in wrath you strode through the earth and in anger you threshed the nations”. Man without God makes images of nature, or deifies nature in some respect. Now we might think well they did that then, but we are much more sophisticated now and don’t do such things. Yes we do. The whole scientism approach to life that says matter is all there is is a deification of nature. But the real “battle”, the real issue, is between God and man. God acted, and God will act, to save His people. People may think economic or political forces work against them, and God may use such forces, but the real issue is God judging nations. God is active in defending His people.