Luke 22:36 Commentary and Bible Study

But now that lesson was complete there was a change of instructions. What the Lord Jesus had said before was not intended to be his directions for all missionary work through the gospel age, and so those instruction were withdrawn while he was still with them; they were only temporary. Nevertheless the principle of carrying out the work by faith was not temporary, and certainly applies to all we do for the Lord, so that even when we take resources with us, we must rely on God and, by faith, see his provision in the providences that surround us. This is not some exaggerated piety, - ‘the Lord did this for me; the Lord did that for me’ – but it is our realistic assessment of what has happened, and our duty to interpret events in this way.So why in particular are these new instructions given? Because events are about to take place in Jerusalem which must fulfil prophecy to the letter; these instructions are given to ensure the accurate fulfilment of prophecy. Prophecy is about to embrace the disciples specifically, as those who accompany the Lord Jesus at the time of his arrest, and so Christ, as the incarnate Son of God, takes steps to fulfil his own word even while he is among them. He understands his word fully, and he knows every Scripture that is about to be fulfilled during his last days on earth. He who said, ‘Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled’ (Matthew 5:18), could no leave one phrase of Scripture unfulfilled, and the next verse will show, not even one letter. He knows that he is going to be arrested, and that the Scripture describes those about him as transgressors. He therefore gives these very unexpected commands. Whereas he previously sent them out without purses, now they are to get hold of a purse, and a scrip or leather bag in which a traveller carried his belongings. And he tells the disciples to buy a sword if they do not possess one, with money obtained through selling their garments if necessary – the disciples were not wealthy men who carried much spare cash.‘For I say unto you, that this that is written must yet be accomplished in me.’ At times then, the Lord took steps to fulfil his own word, the Scriptures given by him through the prophets. How could this be done without a very clear counter-instruction, changing what had been said before? The disciples would be involved in the coming events, and they must be aware of why his instructions have changed, and therefore he explains exactly why he is saying this to them. The prophecy he is about to quote focuses on himself and his redeeming work, and he understands that perfectly. It is his confirmation that Isaiah 53 is about himself, and his coming death on Calvary: ‘And he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors’ (Isaiah 53:12).Now we understand these words from Isaiah to teach the substitutionary atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ. He who was without sin took the place of transgressors before the law of God, those who were guilty of breaking every law that God has made, and he took their punishment for them so that they can be forgiven by a righteous God, who cannot forgive without punishing our sins in the person of his Son. The transgressors were those who Christ died for, and he was numbered among them because of the close association he had with them in order to represent them before the justice of God. But here there is a more literal interpretation of these words, for Christ explains his requirement that they go and buy physical swords by quoting these words, and insisting that this is necessary for the fulfilment of this prophecy: ‘For I say unto you, that this that is written must yet be accomplished in me.’ Their carrying swords was a fitting token of their being transgressors, but Christ, the sinless one, naturally had no sword.But the disciples cannot at this time take all this in. There is so much teaching in short compass here, and it is, as Hendriksen says, too much for them, and their minds remain still fixed on the first thing he has said to them: that they are to go and buy swords, and this is what they come back to.