Matthew 10:19 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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Matthew 10:19

Comments

We have to be careful with this? There is a primary promise to the apostles, inspired men, but secondarily there is a promise to us also to a lesser extent. In the case of the apostles, they would literally be given the words to speak. But we have the promise of the assistance of the Holy Spirit in that situation. Though friends and family desert us, the Spirit will not forsake us. To us God will give, not inspired words, but God will give the words which the English martyrs nearly all perished with on their lips – the Scripture. Any martyr has wonderful help of God in the way he conducts himself or herself. The Spirit of God will have a witness to governors and kings, and he will leave them without excuse. This testimony will, in their case, be given in preparation for the Day of Judgment, so that they cannot argue that they were not warned by God. They will not be able to claim that they did not know the will of God. Though we may like to think that our ministry is totally positive, it also has this judgment aspect as well. That occasion has been brought about by God, and though it is far from their minds, it is his intention that they should hear the witness of his humble servants. Though they look down on them from a lofty height, the truth is that in heaven their positions will be reversed.But there is another point here. There are to be no subtle defences. They are not to defend themselves with elaborate explanations. They are to keep their defence spiritual. In days in which a trial was almost a showpiece, and the defence was very elaborate, and every possibility examined, Christ in effect says, ‘Don’t go along with that. You are accused not because you have done anything against the civil authority. It is all trumped up. This is a spiritual matter.’

Application

We have a modern equivalent to that of the apostles in being told to keep their defence spiritual. There is a wrong response, a response which is too intellectual. Some resort to complex apologetics. Outside of the context of persecution, the strategy they adopt to secularism is to go and penetrate and enter the world of cynics, and play them at their own game. But Christ’s principle is: stay with the spiritual. Focus on the truth. Don’t be drawn aside. Don’t follow the normal line of defence.

The lesson is that God will not desert his people in their hour of need. He will not desert them just when they are doing their most important work for him. We must not be anxious in such a situation. That might seem natural when speaking before such elevated ones in this world, but their elevation is only for a short time. God is content to speak to them through us! What a high privilege we have, especially when we are called to suffer persecution for his sake.

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Matthew 10:19 Commentary and Bible Study