Bible Study V
In
our last study we highlighted the emphases of Biblical evangelism as given to
the twelve disciples. A further seventy disciples were commissioned and sent
into the ‘harvest field’ (Lk. 10). Notice that Christ’s programme of evangelism
doesn’t change, - whether it’s for twelve or seventy (or seventy-two)!
They returned to the Master with great delight, - such was their overwhelming
joy as they returned to Jesus (Lk. 10:17). He made a very interesting statement
in light of their experiences, compare Lk. 10:18 with Is. 14:15 and Rev. 12:9.
Notice too that Paul’s experience in Acts 28:3ff. Was somewhat similar to what
is mentioned in Lk. 10:19, as well as Mk. 16:18.
During this time John the Baptist had been taken prisoner. On hearing of
Christ’s work he despatched two of his own disciples to verify the validity or
otherwise of Jesus’ ministry (Mt. 11:2ff.). he wanted to find out if the Messiah
had come (Lk. 7:20). Being suitably satisfied they returned to John to report
their findings. On their departure Jesus commended John’s witness to the people
who had come to Him for healing and compared John to the ‘Elijah’ of Malachi
4:5. Consequently, many of the ‘ordinary’ people were baptised with John’s
baptism, - but not the Pharisees! (Lk. 7:29-30)
Then, as Jesus surveyed the crowd and the kind of people that were coming to
Him, we almost feel a note of despair from the lips of the Saviour. The people
from towns such as Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum were blind to the fact of
Who He really was (Mt. 11:16-24; Lk. 10:13-16). How dark a picture and how
hopeless would His mission have been were it not for the Sovereignty of God and
the Divine electing love of His Father from before the foundation of the world.
(See Mt. 11:25-30 and Lk. 10:21f.). in particular, note the words found in Mt.
11:27 and Lk. 10:22, “All things are delivered to me of my Father: and no man
knoweth who the Son is, but the Father; and who the Father is, but the Son, and
he to whom the Son will reveal him.”)
Meanwhile, a violent and bloody uprising in the Galilee region had been quelled
by Pontius Pilate (Lk. 13:1). (The Galileans had a reputation for rebellion and
a disregard for some of the Jewish law, see Acts 5:37). There was also an
horrible accident at a tower in Siloam (in southern Jerusalem) when it fell and
killed eighteen people (Lk. 13:4). Was it because these people were sinners?
“No!” said Jesus, and He went on to warn His inquisitors, “except ye repent, ye
shall all likewise perish” (Lk. 8:5). As He continued to teach in the synagogue
a woman, severely paralysed, asked for His healing. He subsequently granted her
request. However, the ruler of the synagogue and other notabalia
chastised Him for contravening the Sabbath. He duly rounded on their hypocrisy
and left them to soak in their own embarrassment (Lk. 13:10-17).
To
make matters worse, - n the eyes of the Pharisees, -the hungry disciples, as
they walked through the fields picked the ears of corn and ate them. According
to their law, this was work! (Dt. 23:25). Jesus put them right, as He quoted the
Old Testament (I Sam. 21:6ff.; Num. 28:9).
On
another Sabbath, again in a synagogue, the rulers tried to catch Him out (Mt.
12:9-13; Mk. 3:1-5; Lk. 6:6-10). A man had a withered hand, was it lawful to
heal him on the Sabbath? Again Christ reiterated the fact that they would pull
an animal out of a ditch, - that was considered work. How then could these
rulers satisfactorily chide Christ for healing this man with the withered hand?
They couldn’t answer Him, but they weren’t pleased! They held a meeting in
the secrecy of their ‘backrooms’ to see how they could orchestrate His
destruction (Mt. 12:14; Mk. 3:6; Lk. 6:11). Old enemies, - the Pharisees and the
Herodians, - were united in a common cause against Christ!
Rather than become embroiled in their evilness Jesus left the oecumenical
amalgam to their ‘skulduggery’ and He went down to the Sea of Galilee to
continue His ministry, … and the crowds followed Him (Mk. 3:7-12).
