Hey everybody! Thank you for joining me in daily Bible reading as we seek to glorify Jesus, know Him more, and interpret the truth of His Word.
If this is your first time going through the Bible, I am incredibly excited to have you here. If this is your 5000th time, I am humbled that you are here and hope you grow in your relationship with Jesus along with me. May we all seek to know Him more and apply what we learn to further our mission of spreading the gospel. If you missed a day and want to catch up, visit the archives page HERE! But there is no shame if you start today! Day 105, Matthew 10:7-8 — The Sending of the Twelve Matthew 10:7-8 (NASB1995) “And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. Freely you received, freely give.’” Historical Context Jesus is sending His twelve disciples out for ministry. He specifically chose these twelve men to represent Him as ambassadors to the remaining Jews and gave them divine power and authority to cast out demons and heal the sick. These representative men are also to present the good news of Jesus’ coming and the truth that there was freedom from the burdens of the law. Discussion Yesterday, we read about Jesus’ first command to the twelve as He sends them out for ministry. The LORD commands the twelve to avoid reaching the Gentiles and Samaritans and to only gather the lost sheep of Israel. We learned that this passage is a perfect example of a descriptive text, as it is clearly a command only for the twelve and not the modern church. If we were to interpret and apply this passage to the modern Church, then we would need to obey the LORD and only preach the gospel to the Jews. Clearly, this passage is directed at only the twelve, not all believers throughout history. Following Jesus’ death and resurrection, He commands all Christians to reach the entire world, not just the Jews. This is why we must read the Bible in context. We must be people who genuinely take time to study and seek the truth of God’s Word in context, or we will completely miss the revealed truth and misapply it. The people of Israel are God’s chosen people, and the LORD wants His disciples to reach and gather them to Himself first. Today, we continue reading Jesus’ instructions to the twelve. He says, “And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’” This is the preeminent instruction of Jesus’ ministry, as John the Baptist (Matt. 3:2) and the LORD Jesus (Matt. 4:17) also preached this message. It is important to reference those two passages because they include an important part that Matthew omits here: “repent.” While ‘repent’ means a change of mind, the message of repentance denotes a meaning regarding a sense of sin that leads the sinner to flee from the wrath to come, to look for relief only from above, and eagerly accept the provided remedy—changing their sinful way of life to a Godly one instead.[1] There is no preaching of God’s kingdom without preaching the necessity for repentance. Both John and Jesus began their message with “repent,” so it must be implied in Jesus’ command to the twelve. While this message echoes John and Jesus’ ministry, one scholar says the omission of ‘repent’ moves the focus of Jesus’ command to the twelve on the blessings of the coming kingdom.[2] Even so, repentance is a vital part of the kingdom message. It is important to remember that many Jews believed the Messiah would come as a militant warrior to free them from the oppression of Rome and its other enemies. But the kingdom of heaven does not begin with the overthrow of the Roman Empire but with Jesus’ death on the cross, which provides a greater victory: a victory over sin and death. This is the kingdom message—the message that the Messiah had come to bring freedom from the burdens of the law and salvation to the repentant and faithful. There is no greater miracle than the miracle of a sinner repentantly accepting salvation in Christ. Jesus continues His instructions to the twelve, saying, “Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons.” This command fulfills what Jesus had already been doing, as He went throughout Galilee preaching the message of repentance, preaching the kingdom, and healing the sick, ailing, and oppressed. “The disciples are to preach the same message that Jesus preaches, and to perform the same mighty works of compassion.”[3] The LORD has chosen these twelve men to be His ambassadors to the unreached Jews, so He gives them the authority to demonstrate miracles as He did. But they will not be performing these signs and wonders through their own faith or merit but through the power and authority of the name of Jesus. Jesus then tells the twelve, “Freely you received, freely give.” This statement provides insight into the love and compassion the twelve will demonstrate, as the LORD demonstrated to them. It is also a command to avoid the plight of the religious leaders who focused on material possessions, wealth, and man-centered praise. Jesus commands the twelve to not accept payment of any kind. They are to freely preach and heal as the LORD did. Any connection of the message of the kingdom to material prosperity or the attempt to sell it is a despicable sin the LORD condemns. It would be improper to make the good news of salvation and healing of the kingdom the basis of commercial transactions.[4] We will continue reading about Jesus’ instruction to the twelve tomorrow. Application The preaching of the kingdom is a mandate for the twelve and for the modern church, as we will read later in Matthew. But I believe the most important part of this command is Jesus’ statement about it being a gift. The modern church tends to focus solely on signs and wonders but misses the message of repentance and how this power was a gift to the twelve. The LORD freely provided them with this authority to help the lost sheep of Israel find deliverance and healing. It was not to be used for financial gain or prosperity, but for lost souls to find faith in Jesus Christ. Many religious leaders oppressed and abused the Jews, especially financially. The modern-day prosperity gospel is very similar as we see many people giving all they have for a ‘blessing’ from some televangelist or self-proclaimed prophet. This is not the way of the kingdom. Jesus commands His disciples to avoid compensation entirely, as we will read about in the coming days. The LORD cares deeply for His flock and wants to see them made whole. While the twelve’s initial mission was solely to the Jews, our mission is to reach the world. We will discuss our mission in further detail near the end of Matthew, but for today we should focus on what Jesus’ command to the twelve was: to preach the gospel of the kingdom and demonstrate the power and authority of Christ to the lost flock of Israel—for free. May we praise, worship, honor, and glorify Jesus every day in all that we do while continually pursuing righteousness, holiness, and forgiveness as He forgave us. Looking Ahead Thank you for joining today’s daily Bible reading! Next, we read Matthew 10:9-10. I hope you join me! I have made commenting available, so please feel free to discuss the reading and ask questions. If you do not want to discuss publicly, you can reach out to me privately. We are on this journey together. References [1] Jamieson, Fausset, & Brown, “Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown Commentary.” [2] John Nolland, “New International Greek Testament Commentary.” [3] Ibid. [4] Ibid.
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