Author: Bill Hall

Luke 9:56 “For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them.” And they went to another village.”

   So if Christ did not go to that village, and moved on to the next, was that not the same as destroying those lives? Would not the lack of light from God above be just as bad as death? No, because there was not a lack. You see not only were people expected to accept Christ by virtue of His ministers; but also, people are expected to accept the truth of God without this direct contact. Thus, the people in the village still had a chance for life, though they would never again have a chance to be physically visited by the Lord of life.

   We must understand that every experience, every fact, every eternal truth and law, are all expected to be sufficient grounds from which to build a faith that brings one to Almighty God. God wants humans to see all that He has done and conclude that He has made all things good, in spite of the fall and the subsequent bad result of it in nature.

Heavenly Father, You alone are God above. We can look around us and come up with any number of ways to explain ourselves, but we also know there must be some particular way to explain it all. Only a knowledge of You can make us complete. Thank You for Your love and goodness in revealing Yourself to us in the Person of Your Son. In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.

Luke 9:55 “But He turned and rebuked them, and said, “You do not know what manner of spirit you are of.”

   Jesus uses wording here that might seem strange to us. But, basically, He is telling His disciples that they are going in the wrong direction with this. This is the beginning of the age of Grace. God would be doing a work of mercy among the nations. James and John thought that the works of Elijah were normative for all time. This is not the case. God does things differently at different times depending on the stage of His plan and program for this world.

Heavenly Father, we so often are off-base with our thinking. Forgive us! You are the One Who brings us mercy, love, truth, help, and grace. We cannot even understand these concepts properly without Christ. We need You to guide us by Your Spirit. Thank You for protecting us from ourselves. In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.

Luke 9:54 “And when His disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, just as Elijah did?”

Luke 9:53 “But they did not receive Him, because His face was set for the journey to Jerusalem.”

   This Samaritan city did not accept the person of Christ for a couple of reasons. First, they did not accept this Jewish Messiah. They shared the ethnic bigotry that was pervasive in the relationship of the Jews and Samaritans. The focus of Christ on His target of Jerusalem was offensive to them.

   But, secondly, just as many who encountered Christ, they were skittish. They were unsure of the origin and purposes of this Messiah and likely thought He was just another revolutionary, which were in that time a dime a dozen.

   To fail to accept the person of Christ is a a serious failure indeed. Nothing so dangerous can ever be done. To miss Him, is to miss everything.

Heavenly Father, thank You for Your revelation of Your Son. You are truly merciful and gracious and loving to us. You have always understood our needs and made the truth available for acceptance. Your plan is glorious and wonderous! I will praise You for it forever! In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.

Luke 9:52 “and sent messengers before His face. And as they went, they entered a village of the Samaritans, to prepare for Him.”

   Not every Samaritan was friendly to Christ. Though they did receive Him in spite of how the Jews felt about it, there were those among them that also rejected the truth.

   The disciples had been trained a lot at this point and they knew how to get a town ready for Jesus to come. But this is significant for us to notice. Even during the ministry of Christ, while He was physically on earth, He expected people to accept Him through His followers. In other words, there was no second chance given to those who would reject the human representatives of Christ.

   Oh how many there are in this day who claim Christ and yet will not come to church! They see hypocrisy, or they have been hurt, or they were not treated as they expected, or they were mocked in some way. They expected to come to church and find people so much better than those they rub shoulders with in the world.

   But the church, my friends, is the battleground. It is where the fight is the strongest. It is where the enemy will aim all his guns. And why? If the church falls apart, all is done. And though the church as a whole will remain until God removes it, it may be removed from one locale or another prematurely. You will find many there who need help, and many who are not very good. But, you will also have thrown your lot in with those who are indeed being the hands and feet of Christ. Do not claim to do this, and yet stay out of fellowship with the body of Christ.

Heavenly Father, help Your church! You have given us a task that is beyond all that we can do, and yet You have given us the means to do it. Thank You for making Your truth available in the way You have seen fit to do so. We will always praise You for the means that You have chosen, for You do all things well. Thank You! In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.

Luke 9:51 “Now it came to pass, when the time had come for Him to be received up, that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem,”

   Being a part of the Divine Essence Jesus knew the timing that the Godhead had determined beforehand for everything. Jerusalem was His target. And, thus we see this shift to go there and to begin the process that would lead to His sacrifice.

   This comes fairly early in the gospel of Luke, though also it is prominent in the other gospels as well. So as we study these we should keep in mind that much of what is related is from the end of the ministry of Christ rather than the beginning.

Heavenly Father, thank You for Jesus! We are every day reminded of all that we can be because of Who He is. We are so blessed to live in Your world Father! We find reasons to complain because of the horrible consequences of sin. But, even with all that we see glimpses of the glory that is to come. In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.

Luke 9:50 “But Jesus said to him, “Do not forbid him, for he who is not against us is on our side.”

   Jesus doesn’t have to fight everybody. We do need to contend for the faith. There is a hill to stand on. But, often we tend to fight those who are fighting on our side. We must be careful to look for friends, rather than looking for enemies.

Heavenly Father, may we always look to You for truth! You alone can keep us on track. You are the One Who we are to seek. We need not seek our own glory, or promote ourselves. Thank You for Your leading and guidance, for without it we are blind. I will praise You forever! In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.

Luke 9:49 “Now John answered and said, “Master, we saw someone casting out demons in Your name, and we forbade him because he does not follow with us.”

   In context they had just been talking about who was great. So, this conversation followed naturally. The disciples may have thought that at the very least they would be considered greater than others who did not follow Christ as they did. However, not all who followed Him were selected to be one of the twelve.

Heavenly Father, thank You for using people from all over the world to minister for You. Thank You for reaching to the least of us! In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.

Luke 9:48 “and said to them, “Whoever receives this little child in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me receives Him who sent Me. For he who is least among you all will be great.”

   Jesus just went form the least of the least to the greatest of the greatest in two hops. Children occupied the lowest social standing in Jewish life. And yet, Jesus lets them know that He cares for these little ones. And, to get to the Father, Who is Above All, one need only receive Christ. And in receiving the child in Christ’s Name, one has received Christ. So, the implication is that to be receptive to the God of All is to be receptive to the least of His children.

   And, Jesus states the lesson clearly. The least will be the greatest. What can He mean by this? He means that in the kingdom of God, measure is done by God, and not by man. He looks through everything and knows the inner heart. He sees in secret. And, He will use those who the world deems to be weak and low. He will glorify Himself, and not humanity. Nobody is to be left out of His care. And, nobody is so low that they escape His notice.

Heavenly Father, thank You for caring for the least ones! Without that surely we who stand so many centuries apart from the beginning of Your church would be cast away. But, we are not. We are drawn to You because nothing in us is everything in You. Thank You! We praise You! We magnify Your Name! In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.

Luke 9:47 “And Jesus, perceiving the thought of their heart, took a little child and set him by Him,”

   Jesus is always teaching. Always. His disciples gave Him lots of opportunities for it, and so do we even today. And, He is always patient. And, He is always very effective.

   Jesus knew what was in their hearts. This isn’t the only time that we are told Jesus perceived the thoughts of others. The wording here makes it plain that he knew what they were thinking. And, it was by this knowledge that He formulated the best teaching example.

   By the way, there is only one person that can read the thoughts of others. That person is The Person. Though the devil, demons, and humans can be very good guessers of the thoughts and intents of people’s heart, God alone can actually read minds. Jesus knows EVERYTHING we have ever thought, and ever will think. To Him we are an ‘open book’ as we say.

Heavenly Father, thank You for knowing us so well, and yet still being the Good and Gracious One that You are towards us. We marvel when we think of Your great wisdom and knowledge. And we shall never understand the full extent of Your great mind. You are so far above us! In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.