The Gospel of Luke 10:1-16 Sending the 70 disciples

Good morning. We're going to be proceeding here in the gospel of Luke 10, verses 1 through 16, as we continue investigating Jesus. And so Luke 10.1 reads like this.

Now after this, the Lord appointed 70 others and sent them in pairs ahead of him in every city and place where he himself was going to come. Now he had sent out 12, now 70 others. One thing I might point out here is that there are some good texts that say 72 and some good texts that say 70. We're just going to go with the 70.

While there is a variation there, it doesn't make any doctrinal difference. And I think that's one thing is we have thousands of handwritten copies of the New Testament. There are variations from one to the next, but there's no obvious variation that makes a doctrinal difference, and that's a key point here.

So in Luke 9, 1 through 6, that is one chapter earlier, Jesus had sent out his twelve disciples to go into the cities in Israel, preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing. So in Matthew chapter 10, we see that Jesus had much more instructions than what are included here in Luke. Luke's writing of that is relatively brief, even though it appears to be the same event. But Jesus sending out these 70 disciples is unique to the Gospel of Luke.

You don't find this in other places. There are other unique things that we have encountered and will encounter in the Gospel of Luke. We're going to soon, for example, come across the account of the Good Samaritan. And so I'm looking forward to that. That's another unique item in the Gospel of Luke. The account is longer than the sending of the twelve disciples, which is interesting, by a little bit.

Now, he sent them in pairs ahead of him. Not this kind of pairs. Alright, so we see the pattern in this passage. Jesus sent the 70 disciples in pairs ahead of him. So the idea is that they were going to go into the cities first and then Jesus would follow in those places where their message was well received. Jesus would go later into those same villages. As was done with the 12, these 70 were also sent in pairs. Being in pairs would offer several things. One would be companionship along the way.

Next, mutual support, especially if you've got some opposition that chimes in. And also for protection. And then the final thing is under the law, Deuteronomy 17 and 19, two or three witnesses. So you'd have your two witnesses for every event, including two witnesses that the gospel had been offered, the gospel of the kingdom had been offered to witnesses as to refusal if that was the case. The 70 would reveal who was receptive.

That was the idea. In other words, they would go in and say who's receptive and then Jesus would follow in those places where there was receptivity. We find there's already some resistance in the cities as we go through this passage here. In a few cases the cities are being written off before even heading out. And so Jesus will address some of those. To the extent that some cities are, however, receptive, then Jesus can go to those cities after the 70 disciples have gone there to find out who is open and receptive.

So here's Luke 10.2.

And he was saying to them, the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore, beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. Now, 70 is, of course, much more than 12. But Jesus told them to pray to the Lord of the Harvest for even more labors. Seventy is great. We need even more.

Notice, where the need is great, the great need is to pray. Where the need is great, the great need is to pray and to bring it to the Lord. We bring it to the Lord through prayer because He has the power, not the prayer. You'll hear Christians from time to time talk about the power of prayer. That's not quite correct. It's the power of God to whom we pray. It's not the power of the prayer. It's not what we do.

It's what God's going to do with our prayers. And by the way, He values our prayers greatly. One of the things in going through the book of Revelation, you see prayers are held in golden bowls in heaven. They're highly valued. Don't think that you've got just some empty senseless prayer that God's not responding to. He highly values them. The other thing to notice out of this passage is His harvest. It's His harvest.

The 70 disciples were sent out to harvest and to pray for more harvesters, but the harvest is His. If those doing the harvesting are to pray for more harvesters, it's God's job to bring them. It's God's job to bring those to His harvest. We're not Jews in the land of Israel, living under the law, so there are differences between what's said to these 70 and ourselves. And yet there are still things to be gained from it. Look how much is God's in this. It's God's harvest. You pray to the Lord for Him to bring the harvesters. It's what God is doing that matters more so than what we are doing.

The other perspective on this is praying something else to do. Is it on the to-do list? There might be a tendency to think, I've got to do this, and this, and this, and this, and this, like we have on the to-do list here. Go to the grocery store, get the oil changed, buy a new lawnmower, put gas in the car, make an optometrist appointment, etc., and go down the list, and finally at the last part, pray. Praying is not something to add to our to-do list. Rather than something else to do, prayer is an aspect of my ongoing fellowship with God, bringing everything before the Father. Let me give an example. I hope this will help illustrate it.

Nancy would not like it if my relationship with her were according to a to-do list. Give Nancy six hugs today. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Count them. Check. All right. Give Nancy 12 kisses. 1, 2, 3. Is that going to be satisfactory? Not so much, right? It's a relationship. That's what the Lord wants, okay? Not something added to our to-do list. Oh, I've got to pray for this much and, you know. No. It's a relationship. Not a to-do list. Not a checklist. Not a formula. Prayer is an aspect of my ongoing fellowship. Bringing everything before the Father.

Luke 10.3, Go, behold, I send you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. Jesus shifts to a different agricultural analogy here in order to get the point across. And he doesn't expect that these disciples are going to be eaten. That is, he's not putting this out there literally. He's telling them what to expect. As you go out, don't expect that everybody's going to be receptive.

You will find that that's not the case. He's telling them, while there will be those who are receptive and supportive, you should also expect there will be those who will bring fierce and intense opposition to your message as well. They will not like it at all. Jesus, when he went some places, was not only badly received, like in Nazareth, they tried to kill him. We saw that earlier. So, I'm sending you out, you must expect that there will be opposition. Furthermore, even your healing could be opposed. They're going to go in and do healing, and you would think that everybody would welcome that. Not necessarily.

These disciples, as the twelve of them had been given authority to heal, that would be a validation given to them by Jesus, validating their message. But Jesus had delivered people from demon possession and had healed all sorts of maladies, but he did so regularly on the Sabbath and they didn't like it. These too would go out and heal on the Sabbath and there would be people who would not like it. The Jews had 39 considerations as to what was work. They also had a list of exceptions. And because the 39 considerations and the exceptions didn't allow for healing on the Sabbath, then they thought, well, it's work to heal on the Sabbath, and you must not do that.

And so these too would experience that. Not only that, but Jesus' ability to cast out demons was attributed to Beelzebub, or Beelzebul in some of your Bibles, the ruler of the demons. So here Jesus goes and delivers people from demons, and they say, well, you do it by the power of demons. They still don't accept it. And so they should expect to be opposed in those kind of ways for their message and also for their healing. For both.

So Luke 10.4, carry no money belt, no bag, no shoes, and greet no one on the way. Does that sound unfriendly or what? Let's take a look at that.

Travel light, expect support, but don't get delayed. This was to be time efficient travel for these 70, and they would expect others to support them in each city. Which is why they were not to carry a money bag or belt or anything of that sort. They were to expect that people would support them. Greet no one along the way wasn't an instruction to be unfriendly.

In those days, the customs of greeting and hospitality could have a person stalled for days. We give a reference there, Judges 19, 4-9. A person got stalled by a greeting for almost a week. Oh, you must stay tonight. Oh, you must stay tonight again. You must stay here again. The customs of greeting and hospitality and things of that sort, you could get held back and stuck in some place.

Now, these instructions are similar to the Twelve. The expectation of support and travel, here traveling light, was similar to the instructions given to the Twelve that we saw earlier in the beginning of chapter 9. The offer of lodging and food by a household in the city was a major sign that there was going to be receptivity. If they were not receptive, they would refuse hospitality. Now, the customs of hospitality were so strong that if someone refused hospitality, that was intense rejection. So if the receptivity in the city was there for the two of them, then there would likely be the same kind of receptivity when Jesus followed along and came later.

So Luke 2, 5 and 6, whatever house you enter, first say, Peace be to this house. If a man of peace is there, your peace will rest on him, but if not, it will return to you. Now let's take a look at that. That may seem a little puzzling. It's a Jewish custom. If a Jew came up to a Jewish house and said, peace be to this house, peace to this house, peace to you, some statement like that, then it was a request to stay at that house for food and or lodging. Jewish code, if you will.

People greeted one another with peace in other situations and it didn't have the same connotation in those circumstances. So typically, hospitality was an established cultural tradition. And the refusal of hospitality then conveyed rejection. Outright rejection. So, hospitality or no tended to be either really strong support of hospitality or really intense rejection, one way or the other. Saying peace, by the way, also had a connection to the kingdom. Because Jesus, when he comes again, will be the Prince of Peace.

Now, it says, if it will return to you. So if a pair of Jewish men were to come up to a Jewish house and say peace to you or peace to this house, and the one inside did not respond or did not respond favorably, then the pair was to just move on. They could say that peace to this house, greeting to the next place. And then they could see what the response would be there and either stay or move along.

Now, stay at that house eating, stay in that house, eating and drinking what they give you, for the laborer is worthy of his wages. Do not keep moving from house to house." So that's Luke 10, 7. And the stay and eat and don't move along instruction there is something that's apparent and clear.

For the house that wished them peace and return, indicating that food and lodging would be provided, the disciples were to remain there for the rest of their stay in that city. They were not to move on from one place to the next. They were told not to keep moving from house to house within the city once they had been welcomed to one place, but to remain there at the same time. Why not move along from one house to the next?

Two main reasons. One, you didn't want to appear to be working the houses to try to find the best deal. You know, this guy's got really good food or the beds are more... They didn't want that. Secondly, because the hospitality customs were so strong in that culture, if you went moving from house to house, it would be looked upon as an insult to the person that you didn't stay at the second night. So it was a strong cultural reason for Jesus to say don't keep moving from house to house. The laborer is worthy of his wages.

The same principles presented in the law of Moses in Leviticus 19.13 and Deuteronomy 24.15. Out of the law it actually even goes back to creation where Adam was told to take of the fruit and eat. When Jesus sent out the twelve, he said, the worker is worthy of support.

So this is a similar statement there, Matthew 10.10.

In 1 Timothy 5.18, the Apostle Paul wrote, the laborer is worthy of his wages as well, concerning the compensation for elders who teach. So here's Luke 10, 8 and 9.

Whatever city you enter and they receive you, eat what is set before you and heal those in it who are sick and say to them, the kingdom of God has come near to you. So let's talk about that. Once the pair of disciples had entered a city, verse 8 addresses the 70 disciples' reception and support during that time. So verse 9 addresses the disciples' ministry in those cities where they've been received.

Healing and proclaiming the kingdom were the two things that they were to do. So the kingdom of God has come near to you is not a prophecy about the time the kingdom would come. It's not saying the kingdom of God is going to happen real soon, like a year from now or something like that. But it's the offering and it's the opportunity. The kingdom of God has come near to you. We're offering it. The opportunity is right here.

So let's take a look at what does that mean in more depth. The kingdom of God, that is the kingdom or the kingdom of heaven. It's sometimes called the millennial kingdom because Revelation 20 says it'll last a thousand years. It refers to the reign of Christ on the earth as the King of Israel and the King of Kings and Lord of Lords over the Gentile nations. And by the way, that King of Kings and Lord of Lords is specifically over the Gentile nations.

The kingdom was near to them because they were, first of all, in the land of Israel. That's where the kingdom is going to be centered. The opportunity to embrace Christ as Israel's king was right then. with the King to follow in those very same cities where there was receptivity. So that is the sense in which it is near, geographically, and now is the time of opportunity.

Now is the time for you to embrace Christ as the King, the Messiah, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords over the Gentile nations. They are proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom. We make the distinction here, there's the gospel of the kingdom, which was presented primarily to the Jews.

There's the gospel of substitution, that Christ died for your sins, was buried and rose again. That second gospel is a different one and they didn't understand it yet. The 70 disciples were to proclaim the gospel of the kingdom to the cities where they went and were well received, offering the kingdom to those in Israel who would listen. the gospel of substitution that Christ would die for their sins be buried and rise again was not preached during this mission and it wasn't even understood yet by the 12 or the 70 none of Jesus disciples so far as we have any indication understood the gospel of substitution that Christ would die for your sins be buried and rose again yet at this point and by the way this particular event probably summer of 32 AD. It would be the following spring when Jesus would die on the cross and be buried and rise again.

So less than a year away. If the Jews had all welcomed Christ as their king, because this is hypothetical, If they had welcomed Christ as their king, Christ would still have to die, be buried, and rise again in order to save Israel and all the other people of all the nations on earth.

The end times events would still have to come about. And Christ would come again, but there would be no need to have the church, the body of Christ, come into existence as it has since Acts chapter 2. Isn't that interesting? So it's hypothetical, It's hypothetical because they in fact did, by and large, reject Christ as the Messiah.

When we refer to the Kingdom, the Millennial Kingdom, Kingdom of God, Kingdom of Heaven, it is now a yet future time, a time ahead of us, that hasn't come about yet. If the Jews had embraced this message that these 70 were preaching, This church age and the rapture would all be taken out of this and the kingdom would have come much sooner.

Now, so the gospel of the kingdom was proclaimed, continued to be preached in Israel even into the time recorded in the book of Acts. This is really kind of astounding. Even to the Jews and the Gentile lands, all the way to the last verses of Acts, the gospel of the kingdom continued to be presented. right along with the gospel of substitution, Christ died for your sins, was buried, and rose again. Here are the places in Acts, you can investigate that if you like, starting in chapter 1, continuing on throughout the book of Acts, to chapter 28 in the very last verses of the book of Acts. The Apostle Paul is talking about the kingdom, to the Jews there in Rome, and also talking about Christ as the substitute, as the Savior. So both of those Gospels continue to be presented throughout the book of Acts.

So here's Luke 10, 10 and 11, but whatever city you enter, and they do not receive you, go out into its streets. So don't leave quietly, right? Go out into the streets and say, even the dust of your city which clings to your feet, we wipe off and protest against you. Yet be sure of this, that the kingdom of God has come near.

It's been offered. You've refused it. The opportunity was given. You've turned it away. So in verses 10 and 11, Jesus tells the 70 disciples how to deal with those cities that refuse to show hospitality and reject their healing and their message about the kingdom. Here's how you deal with them. Don't go away quietly. And the cities in which they were rejected, the disciples were to announce that they were wiping off the dust from their feet.

Wiping or shaking it off is Jewish custom. And say, the kingdom was offered. You had the opportunity. You've refused it. In Acts 13, 14, Paul and Barnabas shook the dust from their feet at the Jews in the city of Antioch. So this is a well-understood Jewish custom. Probably in our culture, people would say, what's that guy doing? But in that culture, that was a significant message that we don't even want to have your dust on our feet. We're leaving.

In Luke 10, 12, I say to you it would be more tolerable on that day for Sodom than for that city. Okay, the day he is talking about is future judgment. So we think of Sodom and we think of this fire raining down on Sodom and Gomorrah, those cities, but the judgment he's talking about is yet future one. So for people who are in Sodom, there are two judgments. One is the one on earth and the other is the one that they're still facing. yet future. So Sodom and Gomorrah were written about in Genesis 13 and then 18 and 19 describes the judgment.

What contrasts with the present observations is that it was well watered everywhere and of course Courtney and Ingrid and Nancy and I went there to the Dead Sea and it wasn't well watered except for the very very salty water that was sitting in the Dead Sea. So, anyway, real different. Dr. Bryant G. Wood, who over a decade ago spoke in this room, has identified Sodom and Gomorrah and Zoar on the plain here at the east side of the Dead Sea. There is some other debate as to other locations, but I think this is well-founded.

Here, for example, is at Gomorrah and what you see is skeletons and burn material. The buildings burned so fast and there was such intense heat coming down on top of the buildings that the people didn't even get out. The roof collapsed from the weight and the heat and the flame burning the support material on the roof. And what you find is this kind of thing extensively in what Dr. Woods has identified as Gomorrah. Here is the building layout and some of the drawings there.

The archaeology is consistent with what the Bible says, Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven. And it was not something that came down lightly and that they could run away from. It came down so heavy and so hot and so fast that the roof collapsed almost instantly from the mass of fire that came upon them. And he overthrew those cities and all the valley and all the inhabitants of the cities and what grew on the ground.

Growing at that time now, everything having been burned up, it is not well watered and green and growing. The geology also reveals that there's a fault along that east side and that that is very likely the source of the burning material that came out.

It said it would be more tolerable in the coming day of judgment there would be different degrees of judgment and therefore punishment for those who do not believe in Christ. The book of life will be looked at to show them at the white throne judgment that their names are not written in the book of life. Therefore, that's why they're there. The book of works will be looked at to determine what judgment each will have. The book of works, he's saying, will not be great for some of these places.

There will be judgment of each unbeliever's works, as well as their unresponsiveness to the truth given them in whatever degree. So the refusal that these people have of the offer of the kingdom will be something for which they will be punished. Sometimes judgment and justice come in this life. In God's eternal perspective, all justice and judgment will ultimately be carried out.

You know, people get really cranked about four things. What didn't happen to me, what did happen to me, what I did and what I didn't do. Those are the four things that really get people cranked. And people get wrapped around the axle emotionally and every other way with those four things.

But in the end, God will deal with everything. He will deal with things sometimes in judgment here, but it's not done. Just like Sodom and Gomorrah, their judgment was not done. They still will have a future judgment as well. I'm thankful that my sins were judged on the cross. My sins were judged on the cross and I can look to God being just and putting the judgment there. Here's Luke 10, 13-15. Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida!

For if the miracles had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, which occurred in you, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. But it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the judgment than for you. And you, Capernaum, will not be exalted to heaven, will you? You will be brought down to Hades. You have as the map here the locations of Chorazin and Bethsaida and Capernaum. They're all at the north end of the Sea of Galilee. And Tyre, which we'll see shortly here, is up to the north, and Sidon is even north of that.

Now the common characteristic of Sodom, which was mentioned earlier, and these Palestinian cities was failure to repent when given a warning by God. The fate of the people of Sodom had become proverbial. The Sodomites had the witness of Lot, but these cities had the witness and forerunners and eyewitnesses of the Messiah. The Sodomites could have saved their city by repenting, but these cities could have entered into the messianic kingdom, and they turned it down. Therefore, their guilt was greater than that of the people of Sodom.

What they rejected. That's what Jesus is saying woe to. See, some cities, as Jesus sent these 70 out, some cities were already written off. And these are examples. These cities at the north end of the Sea of Galilee. Chorazin, been there. Bethsaida, been there.

Capernaum, seem at this point to already have been written off. These cities were cities in which Jesus and the 12 disciples had already done many miracles. and where the gospel of the kingdom had already been presented. Jesus moved from Nazareth to Capernaum. Luke recorded earlier in Capernaum that he cast out a demon from a man in the synagogue, walked out, and right nearby went to Peter's house and healed Peter's mother-in-law. right there. This is an example of the many miracles that were done there. Jesus lived there. Peter lived there. Andrew lived there. Philip lived there.

They had great witness to them by miracles and by the message that was given, but they rejected it. These cities had already rejected the gospel of the kingdom and were written off. He's basically telling them, you guys go to the various cities, but not these. These are already written off. Don't go there. Don't go there. The cities of Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum were all three denounced by Jesus at this time. Already judged.

None of these three places are mentioned again in Luke, nor in any parallel passage in the other Gospels. Mentioned earlier numerous times, no more. The last time they're mentioned is this, in which judgment is called for. All three of these cities are today archaeological sites, but they are not actively occupied cities or even villages. Interesting places to visit.

But you won't find anybody there other than the visitors. Christ will be the one who judges. Revelation 20, 11-15 describes a white throne judgment in which Christ will judge the unsaved dead of almost all time, all except for those who take the mark of the beast during the tribulation period, and the beast and the false prophet. Those who appear at that judgment, at the White Throne Judgment at the end of time, will be there because they have not believed and their names are not in the Book of Life. The judgments of various ones will not be the same for each because some will incur greater judgment than others. As believers, however, we will not be there. I understand that there's some reference in the Masons, you know, see you at the White Throne. Oh no, you do not want to be there.

All those who believe from Acts 2 to the Rapture will be taken up to be with Christ, will not be judged. We will be judged, rather, not for condemnation, but for evaluation for crowns and rewards. We who believe have our names written in the book of life. We have a heavenly citizenship. We're seated with Christ in the heavenlies even right now. So we're not going to be at the white throne judgment. We're not going to be at this judgment that Jesus talks about. Biblical crowns and rewards. There are five crowns given in scripture, sometimes more than once.

And there are three rewards that are referenced. It is even possible that there are other crowns and rewards that are not given in scripture. But definitely these are given and listed. And what is talked about, there's a victor's crown in an athletic competition.

They would look often like this. And they would be worn, even though they're not a diadem crown, they would be worn in some context. This, for example, is a statue of Julius Caesar that shows this Stephanos crown. And so sometimes the royalty or the higher-ups, the rulers, would be shown with this. But generally speaking, it was thought of as a victor's crown, which is why they would wear this.

Now, he talks about Hades. Hades. So where's that? Hades is simply the place of the souls of the dead. In its New Testament usage, it generally refers to the place of the unsaved dead until after the White Throne Judgment. Until after the White Throne Judgment and then the Lake of Fire. After the White Throne Judgment, those who appear before Christ on that day, that is, on the day of the White Throne Judgment, will go to the Lake of Fire.

When we get to Luke 16, this is the rich man and Lazarus, we'll take a closer look at the structure of the spiritual realm. It's interesting, the spiritual realm in the Bible, as we see, it actually has a structure. Some of that structure was changed on the day Christ was crucified. And so we'll talk about that too. So anyway, there's some very interesting things revealed uniquely in Luke 16 and nowhere else that we'll be taking a look at when we get there.

Christ is telling them all these things about the judgment because He wants them to know the importance of what they're proclaiming. This isn't just some sort of little news flash, you know, and it's all going to go away. This has eternal import and He's wanting to get that across to them. That's why talking about judgment and woe to this city and talking about Sodom and Gomorrah and it sounds catastrophic and it is. But he wants them to get the idea that this is a pivotal message and the response that you get is eternally important.

That's what he's doing here to tell them this. It's also why Jesus told them to leave those cities that reject the healings and the messages of the kingdom without shaking off the dust, you know, and letting them know they had lost the opportunity. Or wiping off the dust, rather. In the cities in which they were rejected, the disciples were to announce that they are shaking or wiping off the dust from their feet, Jewish custom, and say the kingdom was offered.

Now here's Luke 10.16, the one who listens to you listens to me, and the one who rejects you rejects me, and he who rejects me rejects the one who sent me.

Now this is the last verse here in his instructions. And he's also here trying to get them to understand, look, you're not just going out and having some sort of human relationship here. This is an exceedingly important message that you're giving them, and their response and responsiveness to your message is going to have vast and eternal consequences. So consider and understand the importance of what you're delivering here to these people. People who have little or no spiritual awareness are often of the mindset that they're just rejecting a human being of the same standing as themselves. But Jesus gives this assignment its full spiritual import. Full set of consequences. Here's how this matters. You're going to go into a place, and if they don't receive you, and they might not, because I'm sending you as lambs among wolves, right? If they don't receive you, it will have eternal consequences for them.

If they listen to these disciples, they are listening also to Him. If they reject these disciples, they reject Jesus. Now, I'm not saying we should go out and be obnoxious, but if people reject what we present about Christ. Remember, they're rejecting Christ, not us.

It's really directed at the Lord. When the Apostle Paul was made blind on the road to Damascus, Jesus didn't come and say, why are you persecuting my disciples? He said, Paul, why are you persecuting me? Christ takes it personally. Christ takes it personally. He says, don't you take it personally, you disciples, you 70 that I'm sending out. Understand who they're actually rejecting. It's me. And I'll take it personally. But not you. Not you.

Let's pray. Lord, as we look at this passage, there are certainly some things we look at and say, well, that was for that time and that culture and certainly the case. But we also look at it and say, well, there are many things that still apply to us. And we thank you for that. There are some serious messages in this passage. And we thank you that in this, you've been teaching us all the way along as well. And we just thank you also for the reminder of the importance of the message that we bring. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.