Luke 10:1-12 The Harvest is Plentiful
Format for Your Devotions
Instructions: Do not read my example devotion until you have completed your own devotional time in the scriptures. Reading my thoughts first may limit your own understanding. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you alone before looking to see what anyone else has to say, whether it is me, a Bible commentary, or a friend. Let God speak to you before you let another person speak to you. I have provided a format, but modify it to fit your needs. For example, I usually combine my application and prayer together talking to God about the application to my own life. You can go through this devotion process mentally, speaking out loud, or in writing as you wish. Don’t worry if you are not following this process exactly. Sometimes, I add extra information and sometimes I emphasize one part more than others. However, you should always think about what you learn about God from this passage.
Step 1: Pray–Ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance first of all and that God may reveal the lessons that He wants you to have that day. Request that God protect you from Satan’s distractions (and the devil will try to distract you whether it is pinching the baby or putting you to sleep). Ask to see God more clearly as you read and think about the passage.
Step 2: Read the passage–Read to get an overview of the information first. Then start looking at specific parts after the first reading. You may read a larger or smaller section than I have here because you do not have to follow my organization at all.
Step 3: Understand the passage–You can summarize, ask and answer your own questions about the passage, visualize the story, analyze the characters, and relate this passage to other scriptures and personal experiences.
Step 4: What does this reveal about God?–What do you learn about the Father, Son, and/or Holy Spirit from this passage?
Step 5: Apply this to your own life.
Step 6: Prayer
My Example Devotion: August 22, 2018 Luke 10:1-12
Note: In the devotion examples, I leave my questions and thought processes in the text because I am trying to demonstrate that a devotional time is a dialogue with God about what you are reading from His word. As such, any questions or ideas that you have should be explored by talking it out with God. These example devotions are not my attempts to teach you what the meaning of a particular scripture is. They are an attempt to teach you the process of devotions, which is a combination of prayer and Bible study where you explore ideas with God as you read His word.
After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them on ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to go. And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. Go your way; behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. Carry no moneybag, no knapsack, no sandals, and greet no one on the road. Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house!’ And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him. But if not, it will return to you. And remain in the same house, eating and drinking what they provide, for the laborer deserves his wages. Do not go from house to house. Whenever you enter a town and they receive you, eat what is set before you. Heal the sick in it and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ But whenever you enter a town and they do not receive you, go into its streets and say, ‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this, that the kingdom of God has come near.’ I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town.
(Understanding the Text) I always think of the number 70 instead of 72. 72 makes sense because it means 6 groups of 12 men. Jesus was doing His groups of disciples in 12. They were sent out in groups of two to different towns, so there were 36 towns that Jesus was about to visit on His way to Jerusalem. Jesus was making sure that everyone received the news of the kingdom of heaven, and He had a limited time. He needed workers to go and tell people that the Messiah was coming. He needed to focus people’s attention on Him. A lot of what happened in this time period was done to wake the Jews up and make them focus their attention on what God was doing. It seems that many times we miss God’s great works because we are distracted.
This was not just a training mission. This was a mission with a purpose. This was a missionary journey where the disciples were to bring in Jesus’ harvest. They were to travel light and hurry to their destinations not being distracted by anything or anyone along the way. Each pair had a specific assignment to accomplish and had to be focused on that assignment. Jesus was beginning to give the responsibility for spreading the gospel to men. 72 + 12 = 84, so there were 84 people that Jesus started with here. That’s a total of 7 groups of 12. I’m not sure why God works in groups of 2, 3, 7 and 12, but there must be some significance in Jesus choosing 7 groups of 12.
These were Jesus’ heralds. They were to enter a village, find a place to stay, begin telling people that Jesus was the Messiah, and to heal people in the village. This means that the 72 also had the power of healing before the coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. Jesus had at least 80 people who could heal before He died. I can see where two objectives were accomplished by sending these men out. First, they were to make sure that every Jew knew that Jesus was the Messiah. There would be no excuse for ignorance. They were ambassadors of goodwill who were spreading good news and healing ahead of Jesus. This would make the villagers ready. In a way, they were all John the Baptists. Second, by healing everyone they could ahead of time, Jesus would not be slowed down by doing that job Himself. He could not easily resist a person in physical need, but there were just too many people needing healing. By delegating this task to the 72 + 12, Jesus freed Himself to be able to teach and travel quickly. I’ve always thought of these men staying for an indefinite and long period of time in each village, but if they were heralding Jesus’ arrival, their stays would only have been from a week to a couple of months at the most. They returned to Jesus together, so He must have set a specified time and place for them to return to Him.
When Jesus said that He was sending them out like sheep among wolves, he was referring to the fact that they were to go without preparing for bad things: no money, no backpacks, no extra shoes. They were defenseless by worldly standards. They had to totally depend upon God and their fellow humans for their sustenance. They were to travel quickly without burdens. There was an urgency to their mission. Everything had to be ready for when Jesus passed through.
The reason that Jesus said that it would be more tolerable for Sodom than for the towns that rejected Jesus’ representatives was because this was the moment of decision for the Jewish nation. The day that they had waited for. Indeed, the day that the whole nation existed for had arrived. The whole purpose of the Jewish nation was to prepare the way for Messiah. Their mission was to keep the light shining to show the world that God had entered into it. Now their bridegroom was coming, and Jesus wanted to make sure they knew that their time had come. If they rejected that message, they were rejecting God after being given every opportunity to accept Him. They had received great light and ignored it. Now God was sending His messengers directly to them.
This was an acting out of the parable of the unfaithful tenants. First, God had sent prophets of old. Now, He was sending His servants to bring in the harvest of faith. Finally, Jesus would arrive. This was also the parable of the ten virgins. Israel was sleeping, but Jesus sent His servants ahead to wake them up so that they would be ready when the bridegroom came.
(Revelation of God / Application) This is also an example of how God will interact with us in the last days. The SDA church was given charge of keeping God’s light before the world. It is the only reason for us to exist. A time will come when Jesus will wake us up and send us out as His heralds to wake the world up to His coming. God never does these major events without giving early and later warnings. He is not willing that any should be lost. The latter rain will mark the last great warning to the world that Jesus is coming. We will be His heralds to prepare the way. When He calls us, will we delay or will we immediately move to do His bidding? He warns us that it will not be easy or secure, but it is necessary. Like the 72, we have to focus totally on the task He sets us without looking back and by totally trusting Him to sustain us.
(Application / Prayer) I want to be up to the task, but I know that I am not. I pray that in the day that You call me to service that I will not delay and make excuses but that I will simply obey in trust that You will take care of me. I fear that I will listen to my own weakness instead of trusting in Your strength. I don’t know how to be a herald, and I fear that I will make a poor one, but I give myself to You and Your service. Give me the ability to do the job that You ask of me and the trust in You to accomplish the task well.