Luke 10:9 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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Luke 10:9

Comments

Character really counts. We are not healing the sick today. Divine healing goes on, but it's simply in answer to prayer. In those days the seventy disciples and the twelve were authenticated, as those who were truly announcing Christ, by their capacity to heal the sick. They were representing his compassion and announcing his coming. In the Book of Acts we read repeatedly that it was through the hands of the apostles that healing was done. They were the ones who were given that special gift. The apostle Paul, when he pleads with some people to accept his apostleship, says, ‘Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, in signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds’ (2 Corinthians 12:12). Only the apostles could do those things. We do not do those things today. We pray, but we do not wave our arms about and make pronouncements, and assert or claim the power to heal. However the principle in the verse continues that our character counts. We have got to be those who are seen as people who pursue godliness and righteousness. ‘Heal the sick that are therein’; be kind and compassionate, ‘and say them, The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.’ That should be the strongest encouragement for them to take hold of your message and engage with it for all they are worth. The disciples are given permission to say this, because God is with them and his love to lost men and women is on display, and there is every reason to believe the gracious words that his messengers are speaking. Who would not be stirred to make the extra effort needed to grasp hold of help when it is not far from them? and who would not be stirred to throw off every sin and come in true repentance to Christ, when his willingness to receive them and pardon them is presented to them so powerfully?The words ‘come nigh’ have to do with space, not with time. It's not, ‘The kingdom of God has now arrived at this moment of time. Don't you know the kingdom of God is come?’ Christ has sent his representatives to preach in this or that town, and the kingdom of God is near to you in terms of space, in terms of opportunity.

Application

We too must preach or evangelise with this sense of imminency and urgency. People need waking up to respond to such a message in case the opportunity passes them by. God will not indefinitely go on holding out his hands to a rebellious and indifferent people, or to ‘a disobedient and gainsaying people’ (Romans 10:21). We cannot preach the gospel in a cold and impassionate manner. Our communication needs to match the urgency of the message we preach, otherwise we do not come across as believing it ourselves, and the message does not seem genuine. Christ gives his servants permission to speak in this way, and he would not do that unless he was ready to bless those who hear the gospel. It is an indication of his readiness to bless. God, we often say, is far more willing to bless, than unbelievers are ready to ask for his blessing. Who would not feel terrible regret at not responding to an offer of help that was in such easy reach? Let the world not wake up to the possibility of salvation when the opportunity is passed.

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Luke 10:9 Commentary and Bible Study