Happy and blessed Friday to you, my brother! Let us praise our amazing God for His goodness towards us during this past week!
Read Luke 10:1 – 20.
This passage contains the account of Jesus sending out “the seventy”, which conceivably could be considered the second documented evangelical work (with the first work occurring when Our Lord sent out the twelve as recorded in Luke 9). So, why seventy? Since I am convinced that God does not do coincidences, I believe the number seventy does have significance – and because this passage is all about the beginning of the spreading of the Gospel, it may be possible that the seventy is related to the number of “the house of Jacob” that settled in Egypt during the time of Joseph. Because Our Lord is looking for a harvest, an increase, by sending out the seventy, He may well have been remembering the multiplication recorded in Deuteronomy 10: “Your fathers went down to Egypt with seventy persons, and now the LORD your God has made you as the stars of heaven in multitude.”.
And while we are considering numbers, notice that Jesus sends them out “two by two”. Why, I wonder? Certainly, a portion of the answer is found in Ecclesiastes 4: “Two are better than one, Because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, For he has no one to help him up. Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm; But how can one be warm alone? Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him. And a threefold cord is not quickly broken.”.
Continuing on in this morning’s reading, pay close attention to Our Lord’s initial charge to His disciples as they are sent out (vvs 2-3): “The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest. Go your way; behold, I send you out as lambs among wolves.”. My brother, these words of Our Lord are just as applicable to each of us today as they were when they were originally voiced. Today’s Kingdom harvest is indeed great; you and I are His laborers. And we have been given an assignment by Jesus – to pray and to work in His harvest. Finally, notice that the Lord sends us out as “lambs among wolves”, clearly a parallel to the way He Himself, the Lord of Glory, entered the world He created! He came into the world humbly as “the Lamb of God”; and we are His lambs (sheep).
So, my brother, in these days when the word “sheep” carries such disparaging connotations; when people call others sheep to dismiss them, know that you can wear the title “sheep” with both assurance and honor. As it is written, “Know that the LORD, He is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.” (Psalm 100) and “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.” (John 10).
We will take up the remainder of our reading on Monday. Until then, my brother, embrace this benediction from I Thessalonians 5: “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”. Amen!