Jesus Commissions the Twelve

GOLDEN TEXT: “He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for My sake shall find it.” —Matthew 10:39

MATTHEW 10:1, 5-7, 24-27, 34-39

ATTENTION has often been called to the importance of co-operating with God in connection with his answering our prayers. We have an example of this when Jesus sent his disciples into the ministry. He had just said to them that “the harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few; pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers into his harvest.” These are the closing words of Matthew 9, and then in the opening verse of the next chapter we read, “And when he [Jesus] had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.”

Thus, having asked them to pray for more laborers, Jesus commissioned his twelve apostles to be some of those additional workers in the vineyard. Their prayers would certainly have helped to prepare their minds and hearts to appreciate the importance of the mission upon which they were being sent, and would also encourage them to put their trust in the “Lord of the harvest.” One of the important results of prayer always is to prepare the heart to appreciate God’s blessings.

In the divine providence, the nature of the disciples’ ministry was to be much the same as that being conducted by Jesus. They were given the ability to cast out devils, and to heal the sick. This would be a demonstration to the people that God was with them. Under the circumstances of that time this was quite essential. Besides, even as the miracles performed by Jesus, those wrought by his apostles also “manifested forth” the glory of the coming messianic kingdom.

Only in the light of the divine plan of the ages is it possible to understand why Jesus restricted the scope of the disciples’ ministry to the Israelites, when he said to them, “Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not.” If those going into “Christless graves” at that time were doomed to eternal torture, what a tragedy it was that Jesus should prevent the message of his redeeming blood from reaching all except those of that one little nation of Israel! Had this been true, how contrary it would have been to what we have learned concerning Jesus’ sympathy and compassion for the people of the whole world.

But to come back to reality, how thankful we are that this temporary restriction in the scope of the disciples’ ministry did not result in the loss of a single soul. It was not then the time for the conversion of the world, but only for the selection of those from the world who were to be associated with Jesus in the future work of enlightening and blessing mankind; and, for the time being, the selection of these was to be exclusively from among the Israelites.

The reason for this temporary limitation was that God had entered into a special covenant with Israel, a covenant in which he had promised that if they were faithful to him he would make of them a “kingdom of priests, and an holy nation.” (Exod. 19:5,6) In Amos 3:2 God declares concerning the people of this nation, “You only have I known of all the families of the earth.”

During the time of Jesus’ ministry, the Israelites were still being tested as to their worthiness of inheriting this exclusive privilege of being God’s “teacher nation” through which all other people would come to God and be taught concerning him. Hence the restriction of the kingdom message to them. The Israelites proved unworthy of this exclusive favor; and beginning with Pentecost, the disciples were commissioned to “go ye therefore and teach all nations.”—Matt. 28:19

When Jesus sent them out they were to preach, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand.” It was not then “at hand” in the sense that it was already established and functioning. But the King had come and was present. He had begun the selection of those who were to reign with him. In other words, the kingdom promises of the Old Testament were beginning to have fulfillment. The promised “Son” was born, and the promised “child” had been given, the One, that is, upon whose “shoulder” would rest the responsibility of fulfilling all the wonderful promises of blessing which God had made.—Isa. 9:6,7

Jesus made it plain to his disciples that they would suffer persecution, possibly even to the extent of being put to death. Satan, the archenemy of God and of righteousness, was still the “prince of this world,” and he is a prince of darkness. Jesus knew that the darkness would hate the light, and that those in darkness would oppose the truth and hate and persecute its messengers. Doubtless the disciples were well aware of how certain elements in Jewish society hated Jesus, and sought occasion against him, and he reminded them that they could not expect any different treatment themselves.

Jesus referred to himself as the “Master of the house.” This was the new house of sons, the ruling house of God which was then beginning to be prepared. All of these sons were to prove their worthiness of such a high position in the divine plan by being willing to suffer and die for the messianic cause. Paul wrote, “If children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ, if so be that we suffer with him.”—Rom. 8:17

Nor does this suffering necessarily and always come from the “world,” or from outsiders. Our lesson indicates that we might well find ourselves in conflict with our own families. Jesus said, “Think not that I am come to send peace on earth.” This does not deny the fact that the ultimate objective of his coming is that there might be “peace on earth.” Nor does it mean that Jesus is not “The Prince of Peace.” He is merely explaining that during this Gospel age, and before the prince of darkness is bound, those who espouse his cause of righteousness, and preach the Gospel of his kingdom, will be hated and opposed by the world, and that many times the persecutors will be the members of the Christian’s own family.

In the divine economy, this serves to test the worthiness of those whom the Lord is calling to joint-heirship with the Master. If we have heard that call, and are striving to walk in Jesus’ footsteps, our love for him and for the divine cause will have to be greater than our love for family, otherwise we will not hear his “well done.”

The last verse of our lesson—and it is also our Golden Text—presents the very real implications of faithfulness or unfaithfulness. As Christians we are following in the footsteps of Jesus. His steps led him into death, and it is our privilege to suffer and to die with him. To agree to this, and upon this basis to start out in the narrow way and then hold back and try thus to save the life which we have covenanted to sacrifice, would mean the loss of that glorious divine life and the “prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”—Phil. 3:14

On the other hand, if we are faithful in laying down, or “losing,” our present earthly life, sacrificing all in our loyalty to Christ and to God, then we will receive the promised reward of heavenly life. However, we are not to think of it from the standpoint of making a bargain with the Lord. The principal lesson the Lord wants us to learn is that the only proper viewpoint is that of unselfishness, that those who give everything are the richest of all. It is the principle of divine love in action, and it is this principle which ultimately will rule in the hearts and lives of all who will be found worthy of everlasting life.

QUESTIONS

What is one of the important functions of prayer?

Why were the disciples given power to perform miracles?

Why did Jesus tell the disciples not to go to the Gentiles?

Why has it been necessary for the true followers of Jesus to suffer persecution?

What did Jesus mean when he said that he had not come to bring peace on the earth?

How can a Christian save his life by losing it?

| Home Page | Table of Contents |