Bible reading
1 Now after this the Lord appointed seventy others, and sent them in pairs ahead of Him to every city and place where He Himself was going to come. 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. 3 Go; behold, I send you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. 4 Carry no money belt, no bag, no shoes; and greet no one on the way. 5 Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house.’ 6 If a man of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; but if not, it will return to you. 7 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. 8 Whatever city you enter and they receive you, eat what is set before you; 9 and heal those in it who are sick, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ 10 But whatever city you enter and they do not receive you, go out into its streets and say, 11 ‘Even the dust of your city which clings to our feet we wipe off in protest against you; yet be sure of this, that the kingdom of God has come near.’ 12 I say to you, it will be more tolerable in that day for Sodom than for that city.
13 “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. 14 But it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the judgment than for you. 15 And you, Capernaum, will not be exalted to heaven, will you? You will be brought down to Hades!
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.”
17 The seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name.” 18 And He said to them, “I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning. 19 Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will injure you. 20 Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven.”
21 At that very time He rejoiced greatly in the Holy Spirit, and said, “I praise You, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, for this way was well-pleasing in Your sight. 22 All things have been handed over to Me by My Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.”
23 Turning to the disciples, He said privately, “Blessed are the eyes which see the things you see, 24 for I say to you, that many prophets and kings wished to see the things which you see, and did not see them, and to hear the things which you hear, and did not hear them.”
Source: Luke 10:1-24 (New American Standard Bible)
Bible Study summary
This is the second time Jesus sends out his disciples in this chapter after sending out the twelve in Chapter 10. It’s truly a testament of God’s work through the labour of the twelve disciples that led to more followers of Jesus who are ready to preach the gospel. In verses 1 – 16 we see what are the instructions that Jesus gives to the seventy disciples on what to do on their journey to preach the gospel. There are many different spiritual principles we can learn from these instructions Jesus gave his disciples before sending out:
1. The power of God can transform people’s lives.
In verse 3, we see that Jesus is calling his disciple to preach the gospel like a lamb sent out in the midst of wolves. Logically speaking, the lamb would be eaten up by the wolves simply because they are weaker. In the same way, it is quite impossible to influence anyone by exhibiting qualities like a lamb in the world of wolves that we live in.
In a world of the wolves (verse 3) where everyone is fighting to succeed and differentiate themselves from one another in order to be noticed by others, these qualities do not seem to help the disciples accomplish this goal. In fact, these qualities do not come naturally in a person even for the disciples. They too were once prideful and selfish but they allowed the power of God to transform them in order to be more like a sheep – gentle and self giving. However, Jesus is not calling his disciples to follow the way of the world but to follow God’s way when doing the work of God. The disciples will be able to transform the wolves in the world to be more like lambs only by depending on the power of God. The same power that transformed the disciples will be able to transform others to be more like lambs.
2. Completely depend on God to provide for them.
In verse 4, Jesus is asking his disciples to not bring any essential items like money, a bag and even shoes. This would require the disciples to act on their faith that God will provide these things to them through the people they encounter. This is definitely not easy to do but by doing so, the disciples will be able to testify that it is truly by God’s power that they were able to survive. By trusting God for essential needs, the disciples will be able to focus on doing God’s work instead of worrying about these things.
3. Be a living example to those whom the disciples preach to.
In verse 7, Jesus instructed his disciples to stay in the house of the one who accepted them and not to move about from house to house. By doing so, others will be able to observe how the disciples would live their life led by God. As the disciples follow Jesus’ teaching, their lives will be transformed to exhibit the character of God which will then be shown through their life example.
4. Rejecting the disciple also means rejecting the kingdom of God which is not to be taken lightly.
Jesus instructs his disciples to wipe off the dust off their feet in protest against those who reject them in verses 10-11. To shake the dust off your feet means renounce a person and to move on similar to the meaning of the modern phrase “I wash my hands of it”. In verse 16, Jesus explains that by rejecting those whom Jesus had sent to preach the gospel, he/she is also rejecting God. Rejecting God is pretty serious and this act of shaking of the dust in protest against those who reject them is meant to show the serious consequence of rejecting God.
After the disciples return, we can see in verses 17-24 how God’s power and authority was working in the disciples. We see that the disciples were rejoicing because they were able to overcome demons through the authority given to them. From these verses we see that the disciples were fighting a spiritual battle and they could accomplish these miracles through the authority given to them by God.
Bible study by Lewis
Summary by Xingmin