“The Just Shall Live By Faith”

New King James Version                          Written by: David Hicks

 

Romans 1:17 “ For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "The just shall live by faith."

Galatians 3:11 “But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for "the just shall live by faith."

Hebrews 10:38 “Now the just shall live by faith; But if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him."

“Articles of Faith"

An Orderly Account Of The Greatest Story Ever Told

(A Study in Luke)

Chapter 10:17-24:

In our last lesson we studied the sending out of the seventy disciples of the Lord. They were sent out in preparing this region for His coming, the message He would bring, and the miracles that would confirm Him.

Text #1:

Luke 10:17-20 “Then the seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name.”
18 And He said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. 19 Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. 20 Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven.”

First: The return of the seventy is given more notice by Luke than that of the return of the twelve (9:7-10). This is not due to their return and work being more significant than that of the twelve sent first; it was because the return of the twelve was overshadowed by the death of John and Herod the Tetrarch seeking Jesus.

With Joy: The seventy were obviously overwhelmed by the success they had achieved in the name of the Lord. Jesus is going to relish in their success; however, He is also going to caution them!

Success: The Lord is going to reveal that He also is joyous for their success in the victories over Satan's servants. The language the Lord uses in not literal (serpents and scorpions), but symbolic of their victory in defeating Satan's servants. The Lord would teach that the overthrow of Satan and his hold on the world was in progress:

John 12:30-32 “Jesus answered and said, “This voice did not come because of Me, but for your sake. 31 Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. 32 And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.”

John 16:8-11 “And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 9 of sin, because they do not believe in Me; 10 of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; 11 of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.”

Serpents and scorpions are emblematic of the powers of evil and the enemies of truth and righteousness, in much the same way as John the Baptist called the Pharisees and Sadducees a brood of vipers:

Matthew 3:7 “But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?”

The Lord would recognize that their victory over the demons of the evil one was complete in showing the power of God to be superior and to testify of Him as the One sent by God.

Caution: “Nevertheless”, they were at this point cautioned that even though they had been victorious in this moment, they were not to rejoice until their victory was more than a temporal one. They were not to rejoice until their victories over the evil one was complete and they received their true goal! What a great lesson for us all!!!

What is one day of faithful service if we fail to achieve our complete goal?

Hebrews 4:1 “Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it.”

Text #2:

Luke 10:21-24 “In that hour Jesus rejoiced in the Spirit and said, “I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them to babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight. 22 All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.”
23 Then He turned to His disciples and said privately, “Blessed are the eyes which see the things you see; 24 for I tell you that many prophets and kings have desired to see what you see, and have not seen it, and to hear what you hear, and have not heard it.”

Also see: Matthew 11:25-27.

21: The Pharisees and the rest of the leadership of the people professed to have superior wisdom, yet their hearts had become hardened with selfishness so that the important principles of responsibility had been hid from their perception.

John 9:39-41 “And Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind.”
40 Then some of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these words, and said to Him, “Are we blind also?”
41 Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, ‘We see.' Therefore your sin remains.”

The term, “babes” is figurative and describes the honest and humble in nature, which made them ready to hear the lessons of truth from the Lord.

This entire verse is very reminiscent of the reason the Lord gave His disciples for teaching in parables:

Luke 8:10 “And He said, “To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God , but to the rest it is given in parables, that
‘Seeing they may not see, And hearing they may not understand.”

Jesus would conclude this verse by stating that this process of the revelation of His word being accepted by those who were humble in heart was good in the sight of God; not wanting the proud or self elevated!

James 4:6 “But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: “God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.”

22:The “all things” He mentions here are all the things necessary to the full execution of the mission Jesus was sent to accomplish while here on earth:

John 3:35 “The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand.”

Just prior to His arrest and consequent death, Jesus would pray to His Father:

John 17:4 “I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do.”

In addition to being given all things by the Father, Jesus expresses Holy unity, acquiescence, and adoring satisfaction in the doings of Him who sent Him.

Some additional points to learn from the statements of Jesus in this verse:

1)  While we may know Jesus the Christ by the teachings of the scriptures, we cannot know Him completely. His nature is inscrutable (unfathomable)! The Apostle Paul would even state that a complete understanding of just the love of Christ was beyond knowledge ( Ephesians 3:17 -19 – yet, even not being able to understand completely, we can know enough to determine the real value!). Yet, man has worked without exhaustion, attempting to define the nature of Christ, being unsatisfied with what has been revealed!

2)  We cannot have a correct knowledge of God or Christ without what has been revealed in scripture!

John 6:46 “Not that anyone has seen the Father, except He who is from God; He has seen the Father.”

John 10:30 “I and My Father are one.”

John 14:9-11 “Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father'? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. 11 Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves.”

3)  By His exclusive claim as to His intimate knowledge of the Father, Jesus asserts His own divinity. So, Christ's exalted power comes by reason of His exalted being!

23: Here, Jesus professed a blessing on all who understand the same things the disciples of Christ see:

1)  They were given to see the dominion of Christ.

2)  The powerful heavenly nature He possessed.

3)  The knowledge He possessed, by which He could impart in inviting men to come to Him and learn from Him (Matthew 11:28 -30).

4)  The meekness, lowliness, and compassion of Jesus for serving His Father and the desire for the souls of man.

5)  We could add to this list indefinitely; however, the Lord wants all men to know what His disciples know in order to make the same confession as Peter:

Luke 9:20 “He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered and said, “The Christ of God.”

24: Here the Lord puts a value on the things being learned and witnessed by the disciples of Christ as something that prophets and kings only wished that they could see, having been given prophetic glimpses. This would be a subject revisited upon the establishment of the kingdom and the Gospel coming to all men:

Hebrews 11:13 “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.”

1 Peter 1:10-12 “Of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you, 11 searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when He testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. 12 To them it was revealed that, not to themselves, but to us they were ministering the things which now have been reported to you through those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven—things which angels desire to look into.”

NEXT: “THE GOOD SAMARITAN”