I’ll spare you my reasons for dipping into Luke 10. I have them. I assure you they are good.
SENDING THE 70 – Lk. 10:1-24
After the Transfiguration and Jesus’ return to Galilee, (with the 12), He sends out 70. Some manuscripts have 72. Here’s why:
Interestingly, this same 70/72 issue shows up in the biblical “Table of Nations” in Genesis 10. The Masoretic Text (c.700-800’s AD) lists 70 nations. The Greek Septuagint Translation of Genesis 10 (c.250-282 BC) lists 72. Either way, the Table of Nations is a list of ALL the nations on earth post-Babel.
The Tower of Babel event is clearly the moment when the LORD created national groups based on their new divided languages. Let’s revisit what Moses said about it.
“Remember the days of old; consider the years of many generations; ask your father, and he will show you, your elders, and they will tell you. When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when he divided mankind, he fixed the borders of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God. But the Lord’s portion is his people, Jacob his allotted heritage.”
Deuteronomy 32:7-9 ESV
This “sons of God” is the same bene Elohim as in Genesis 6. This is the reading of the Septuagint. Translations from the Masoretic Text read “the sons of Israel.” But, why would God divide the nations at Babel according the number of the sons of Israel before Abraham was even called?
This view – that the Most High God divided up the nations and assigned them fixed geographic areas under the viceroyship of lesser heavenly beings – was not limited to Deuteronomy 32. The ancient Greeks were very aware that this was how the world worked. They just didn’t know Who the Most High God was Who set it up this way. Here’s what Plato wrote about it:
PLATO: CRITIAS, 109b (a dialogue, c.360BC)
“Once upon a time, the gods, without any strife, allotted the entire earth. For it would not be right to suggest that gods are ignorant of what is proper to each of them, nor indeed that, having recognised what most belongs to other gods, they attempt to acquire this for themselves through strife. So, by lots, each was justly allotted his own, and they settled regions. And having settled them, they reared us, their possessions and livestock, except that they did not use physical force as shepherds do when driving their flocks to pasture with a staff. Instead, they led and steered the entire mortal creature in the way that is easiest to manage any living creature, guiding it from the stern, after their own mind, by the rudder of persuasion.”
The early Christian writer Tertullian famously asked, “What has Athens to do with Jerusalem?” Philo of Alexandria was in a unique position to respond. He was a Greek-speaking Jewish philosopher from Alexandria Egypt who lived at the same time as Jesus. In rebuttal to the pagan idea of worshiping “the host of heaven,” as if they were “independent gods” Philo wrote:
“Some persons have conceived that the sun, and the moon, and the other stars are independent gods, to whom they have attributed the causes of all things that exist. But Moses was well aware that the world was created, and was like a very large city, having rulers and subjects in it; the rulers being all the bodies which are in heaven, such as planets and fixed stars; and the subjects being all the natures beneath the moon, hovering in the air and adjacent to the earth. But that the rulers aforesaid are not independent and absolute, but are the viceroys of one supreme Being, the Father of all, in imitation of whom they administer with propriety and success the charge committed to their care, as he also presides over all created things in strict accordance with justice and with law.” Special Laws 1:3
Philo wasn’t just commenting on Genesis 1. He may have had this warning from Moses in mind:
“And beware lest you raise your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, you be drawn away and bow down to them and serve them, things that the Lord your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven. But the Lord has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be a people of his own inheritance, as you are this day.”
Deuteronomy 4:19-20 ESV
Are we getting all of the “allotment” and “inheritance” language? The big picture is Yahweh allotting all 70 (or 72) nations a specific territory and assigning members of His heavenly host to oversee them. They rebelled. God said, “Fine. Have it your way.” And God went and made a whole new nation from an elderly childless couple to be HIS portion.
When the Bible speaks of “the Host of Heaven” it’s not talking about burning balls of gas. Remember how Job (38:7) referred to the sons of God as the “morning stars?”
The Host of Heaven was “allotted” to the nations, but something went wrong with this arrangement; or at least for some nations. And Asaph wrote a song about it.
“God has taken his place in the divine council; in the midst of the gods he holds judgment: “How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked? Selah. Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.” They have neither knowledge nor understanding, they walk about in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken. I said, “You are gods, sons of the Most High, all of you; nevertheless, like men you shall die, and fall like any prince.” Arise, O God, judge the earth; for you shall inherit all the nations!”
Psalm 82:1-8 ESV
If you’re about to tell the screen, “But those are just human judges, not literal gods,” you can save your breath. I’ve read all the counterarguments and I don’t find them remotely convincing.
Psalm 82 is a declaration about the sons of God, who were given positions of authority over the nations (just as Plato understood). And instead of using their heavenly influence and delegated authority to HELP humans, some of them at least had begun to “judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked” while also ignoring the plight of the weak, fatherless, afflicted and destitute. In other words, they went rogue.
And the sentence upon them – which God is announcing through an humble HUMAN – is that they will lose their immortality and succumb to death just like the humans they have failed to represent well. BUT, the lost sheep of the nations will soon have the Good News preached to them; that the Most High has made a way for them to return to Him. They will soon have messengers who will bring light to the darkness where they have been groping around for truth.
Paul knew that the Greeks knew Plato and how the world was arranged. And Paul knew the philosophers had been trying to “feel their way” back into the light. Look what he said to the Athenians about their “altar to the Unknown God”
“And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us,”
Acts 17:26-27 ESV
Paul is suggesting that the whole point of assigning the rebel nations to allotted times to rise and fall in their allotted places was so that we would seek God and perhaps even find Him.
Jesus could’ve sent 43 disciples. Or 59. Or 64. He sent (in a way) both 70 and 72, so no matter which version of Genesis you translate, there is one apostle SENT for each nation created at Babel.
The Gospel was sent to the Jew first – the 12.
And also to the Gentiles – the 70 (72).
With ALL this in mind, the response of the 70/72 and Jesus when they return just hits different.
“The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” And he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.””
Luke 10:17-20 ESV
In Christ, humans have moved up the pecking order. The rogue heavenly politicians and their demonic minions are no longer in charge. There’s a new governing body in town carrying the LORD’s delegated authority. In Matthew 18, Jesus is going to teach a lesson in how to use it.
MATTHEW 18 – FORGIVENESS
This chapter has something for everyone; the offended and the offenders.
Jesus begins with warnings about offenses – both offending others and our own body getting us into trouble.
There are a lot of people who love Jesus who have left the Church because of offenses. I’ve even been one for a while.
Sometimes an “offended person” is just a touchy Karen whose Fault-Finder is perpetually set to “overdrive” and whose panties are constantly in a wad over something or other. Jesus teaches the fault-finders the proper way to address offenses.
The deeply hurt people won’t be at church. We have to go find them; like the Good Shepherd goes in search of the sheep.
If you want the perfect picture book to explain the parable of the lost sheep to children, get The Good Shepherd and Stubborn Sheep. And here is a beautiful, stop-motion animated short film someone made that expresses the story well. It’s well worth 7min of your time.
😐 That depends on how much longer this blog post is going to be.
Says the guy who has just been sitting and watching me from the margin for… [checks clock]…3 hours now. Not a word out of you.
🤐 hhghm hmgm
What was that?
😐 I said, “touchy touchy”
THE MATTHEW 18 PRINCIPLE
Most organizations have a complaint protocol. If you have a problem with a coworker, you take it to your supervisor. If the supervisor’s suggestions aren’t working, the conflict is brought to the attention of the next person up the chain.
In the new called-out community Jesus is forming, there will be offenses. And we need a way to deal with them. Nowhere in this teaching does Jesus include gossipy griping to others or social media posts rants. Here’s the Kingdom protocol for when YOU are offended by another person in the Church.
- Go talk to the person who offended you face to face. Tell him or her the specific fault (word or deed) that has hurt you.
- Lacy’s commentary: Barring actual abuse, if you do not have the guts to have this conversation, then you have no business talking about the offense to others. But seriously, make yourself be a grown up. If you absolutely can’t meet in person, a video chat or phone call will do, but writing is a last resort and NEVER EVER EVER by text message.
- Go in humility and not with the plan to give the offender a piece of your mind. Also, “sweeping it under the rug” is not an option. If you handle offenses that way you’ll end up with a stinking mound under the rug. And you’ll wonder why life stinks all the time and the person will go on in ignorance, offending people all day long until someone addresses him.
- If step one is not received, you will need to set up another meeting with the person who offended you. This time you will bring 1-2 others with you as witnesses.
- Lacy’s commentary: these 1 or 2 should be mature Christians who do not have a dog in the fight and can be wise and impartial judges of the matter. Don’t grab your bestie who will always take your side. You need someone who will have the wisdom and courage to correct YOU if you are approaching it the wrong way; someone who is level headed and won’t escalate a conflict.
- If the offender refuses to acknowledge the offense and admit he was in the wrong, then the situation is brought before the “jury” of the entire congregation. The Church will collectively give their judgement and next steps for the offender to make things right.
- Lacy’s commentary: when it says “tell it to the church” that doesn’t mean standing about in little groups gossiping after service. This is bringing a formal charge.
- The final step, if the offender will not humble himself even to the wisdom and collective Spirit-led judgment of the entire congregation, then the Church is to publicly regard the offender as an unbeliever.
- Lacy’s commentary: a “Christian” who will not submit to genuine, Spirit—led guidance and reproof has been found out. He or she is not a child of God. All who are led by the Spirit are the sons of God (Rom. 8:14). Those who refuse to be led by the Word and the Spirit? Well, we cannot go along with their deception and pretend they are born again.
- This is not talking about a case of spiritual abuse in a cult group. There are instances in that type of situation where the whole group will tell someone to conform or that they are “out from under the covering” of their leader. That’s a different situation with a 1-step protocol: RUN.
The Matthew 18 principle is how I have led every worship team I have ever served. I will not tolerate gossip or talking bad about a team member behind their back. If we have an issue, we work it out in person.
🤓 Isn’t that uncomfortable?
Very.
But if Jesus said to do it that way, then that’s what we’ll do. Being a Christian is a lot of things. Comfortable is not one of them. Not if you’re doing it right.
It’s in this context of settling disputes and holding each other accountable that we get some of the most ripped-out-of-context verses in the Bible:
- Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven. Whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.
- If two or three agree on anything they ask, it will be done…
- Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there in the midst of them.
🤔 What’s all THAT mean?
I’m still working on it. Here’s 20 years of me trying to figure it out:
😐 Would you care to summarize all of your wild sentence diagraming for us?
Ok. Here goes…
- There is more spiritual power and authority in agreement than one person alone. Jesus sent out His disciples in pairs. Unresolved conflict immediately moves to 2-3 people.
- The idea of 2-3 witnesses goes all the way back to Deut. 19:15. It has to do with establishing facts.
- The Church is not just an earthly organization. It is a heavenly governing assembly. It lives in and affects two spheres simultaneously. Two or three constitutes a quorum for conducting the business of the King who is present when His people gather in His name.
Peter is wondering how many times does a person go through Step 1 with an offender. Seven times seems pretty magnanimous.
Nope. 490 Times. For the same offense.
Jesus wraps up the lesson with an illustration, sometimes called The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant. It’s all about having compassion and mercy on those who owe you something which they cannot pay.
The unmerciful servant ends up in prison. And that’s what unforgiveness does. It imprisons the one who will not release the debt.
Offenses happen.
You offend. I offend. We all offend and we all get offended.
How about we take a moment and ask the Lord to show us any unforgiveness we are harboring toward another. And make a plan to go to that person and follow the steps of Matthew 18. We should also take a moment to completely cancel the debt of anyone who has offended us – whether or not they have asked. If they do come and ask for forgiveness, use the words “I FORGIVE YOU.” They are extremely powerful. I also like what the statement “I release you,” does for a person. When dealing with a hurt or offense in prayer, I find it VERY helpful to say out loud before the Lord, “I release them. I cancel the debt. They owe me nothing.”
Full disclosure: I was once so hurt and bruised by a situation that it took me HOURS to name all the offenses and forgive people. And I was outside on the porch. In the sun. Without sunscreen. I got a jolly sunburn.
So if you have a lot of forgiving to do, and you’re gonna be outside, might want to find some shade.
☀️
🌳🌳🌳
To The Reader 