The Lord is not hiding who he is. He has not hidden his character and nature that in Romans 1:20 “from the creation of the world, his invisible attributes, both his eternal power and deity, are discerned clearly, being understood in the things created”. But his plan of salvation has not been seen, the delegation of authority over spirits through Jesus Christ was not known. Now, Jesus celebrates that in in Luke 11:20 “the kingdom of God has come upon you!”. Now, for us, in Christ, we know that in Luke 11:10 “For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened”. The kingdom of heaven is open to us.
You Have Hidden These Things From the Wise and Intelligent
Luke 10:21-24
God has been revealing himself to men since the foundation of the world. And we know that in
Romans 1:20 “For from the creation of the world, his invisible attributes, both his eternal power and deity, are discerned clearly, being understood in the things created, so that they are without excuse”.
So it isn’t that God couldn’t be known. Jesus rejoicing in Luke 10:21 is to the revelation of authority to his disciples as they are sent in Luke 10:1-3. This is something new, “their passionate, devoted, activity springs from abilities which he has given, not which they have evolved, and from understanding which he has revealed, not which they have attained. Indeed, the thing which above all else makes Christ’s people what they are, is the fact that every one of them can say, (Galatians 2:20) ‘It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.’14 Thus the account of the return of the seventy reaches forward in time, and captures the essence of the new age of the Spirit which is to begin at Pentecost: the supernatural indwelling power of Christ among and within his people”.1
This power in the Holy Ghost is what had been hidden, “that the spirits are subject to you … that your names are inscribed in heaven” in Luke 10 20, these things were hidden from the wise of the world.
Do This and You Will Live
Luke 10:25-37
Mary Has Chosen the Better Part
Luke 10:38-42
Teach Us To Pray
Everyone Who Asks Receives
Luke 11:5-13
Jesus is teaching his disciples about the kingdom. In Luke 11:1-4 he gives them the well known Lords prayer which is all most people ever hear. But Jesus went on to also give them this message of persisting in asking. People often misunderstand the kinds of prayer that Jesus is presenting here.
In the Lord’s prayer, there is a recognition of who the Father is, Holy, and a call for his kingdom to come and be established on the earth, but the main focus is on our daily life, that we have the food we need, that we recognize our own sin as it happens and forgive others and that we walk in the path of holiness as we go forward.
There are also times when we pray, that we are asking the lord to do something that he has already said he would do. For example, in
James 5:15–16 “And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins he will be forgiven. 16 Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous person accomplishes much”.
So we can trust the Lord to forgive and to heal, and in James he follows with the example of Elijah in James 5:17 “he prayed fervently” in 1 Kings 17:1 he spoke out the words and it did not rain. In these cases, where the will of God is known , where the Lord has given us a covenant promise, we pray and believe, and receive.
Jesus though, goes on to this other area where we are unsure, where we have come to an unmet need, where we need an answer from the Lord. In these times, Jesus says, keep on asking, keep on knocking, and in
Luke 11:9 “ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and it will be opened for you”
and we can confidently know the answer will come. We will receive, we will find, the way will be opened in
Luke 11:10 “For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened”.
A House Divided
Luke 11:14-26
Jesus is doing what no one else could in Luke 11:14 “he was expelling a mute demon” and “when the demon came out, the man who had been mute spoke and the crowds were astonished”. It is in our nature to try to explain what we can’t understand so in Luke 11:15 “some of them said, “By Beelzebul the ruler of demons he expels demons!” and in Luke 11:16 “others, in order to test him, were demanding from him a sign from heaven”.
Their responses reveal something about what they believe and the first group believed that the devil has power over men so Jesus must in Luke 11:18 “expel demons by Beelzebul” but they aren’t thinking right because there were among them, those that “practiced incantations intended to ward off or remove evil spirits; for example, among the Dead Sea Scrolls (ca. 250 BC–AD 50), an incantation text commonly called Aramaic Exorcism was discovered”.2
The second group doesn’t know how he expelled the demon so they want some other demonstration of his power to confirm Jesus authority. Jesus doesn’t indulge them he simply says in Luke 11:20 “But if I expel demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you!”
And since the demon was expelled, Jesus has already confirmed that “the kingdom of God has come” and Jesus admonishes them to choose saying in Luke 11:23 “The one who is not with me is against me, and the one who does not gather with me scatters”.
Hear the Word of God and Follow It
Luke 11:27-28
Study Verses
- Luke 10:21-24 You Have Hidden These Things From the Wise and Intelligent
- Luke 11:5-13 Everyone Who Asks Receives
- Luke 11:14-26 A House Divided
Today’s Reading
- Luke 10:21-42
- Luke 11:1-28
References
- 1. Wilcock, M. (1979). The Savior of the world: the message of Luke’s gospel (p. 122). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
- 2. Barry, J. D., Mangum, D., Brown, D. R., Heiser, M. S., Custis, M., Ritzema, E., … Bomar, D. (2012, 2016). Faithlife Study Bible (Lk 11:19). Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
