Luke 10:16, commentary and pictures

To hear those Christ sends is to hear Christ Himself, and to receive them is to receive Him, while to despise or reject them is to despise and reject Christ and the Father who sent Him. Christ gives His authority to His chosen messengers and speaks and works through them by His Spirit, so His voice is to be heard in His representative and their heaven-sent message recognized as His own. Those who hear become accountable for the light and warning brought to them, and to refuse clear evidence brings condemnation and judgment after repeated mercy, as in the woe pronounced on Chorazin and Capernaum. To have no respect for God's messengers, to regard their warning no more than one's own judgment, and to esteem one's own opinions above their testimony is to despise Christ, to insult Him who sent the message, to shut the soul away from spiritual blessing, and to oppose God Himself. What held when Christ charged the seventy whom He appointed and sent two and two before His face holds just as fully now, even though His servants are not infallible and may err in judgment, so no one can ignore or mistreat the ministry without ignoring Christ.

Setting and Commission

The saying belongs to the final journey from Galilee, standing together with the sending and return of the seventy in Luke 10:1-24 and with Luke 9:51-56. It states the principle governing those Christ sends, that to hear them is to hear Christ and to despise them is to despise Christ and to despise the Father who sent Him, just as to receive them is to receive Christ. He acted on that principle in His charge to the seventy when He appointed them and sent them two and two into every city and place where He Himself would come. Their directions were similar to those He had given to the twelve, but the field was widened. The twelve had been commanded to go not into the way of the Gentiles or into any city of the Samaritans but rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, while the seventy were sent into Samaria and into regions where He had formerly forbidden the disciples to go.

The sending reveals His plan for carrying the work by placing men in responsibility and sending them ahead of Him. After sending out the twelve, He sent out seventy men to go everywhere preaching the kingdom of God and the gospel of truth, and He Himself followed after in every place where these men were sent. Leaders are to follow the same example by bringing in new men, placing them in responsibilities, and educating them to take care of the work under direction. Jesus sent the seventy into fields already white to harvest. That same sent harvest work was taken up and carried forward when Peter's Pentecost preaching added three thousand souls.

Christ Present in Messengers

To hear those Christ sends is to hear Christ himself, and to receive them is to receive Christ, while to despise or reject them is to despise or reject Christ and to despise or reject the Father who sent Him. The authority of the disciples rested wholly in Christ, whose charge to the seventy appointed them and sent them two and two into every city and place where He Himself would come. Their directions were similar to those given to the twelve, yet the twelve had been commanded to go not into the way of the Gentiles or any city of the Samaritans but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, while the seventy were sent into Samaria and into regions where He had formerly forbidden the disciples to go. Rejecting the warnings God gives through such messengers brings accountability for how the light brought is treated, and refusing clear light and evidence brings judgment and the woe pronounced on Chorazin and Capernaum.

Christ identifies Himself with the messengers He sends and works through human agents who carry His messages of mercy to those needing salvation. Ministers of the word are therefore not mere public speakers and orators but ambassadors who receive wisdom and power from Christ as Head of the church and speak in His stead, so that the voice of the Saviour is to be heard in His representative. Their heaven-sent message is to be recognized as Christ speaking through them, and when they speak for Him their words can be recognized as Christ speaking through them by His Spirit and by the Spirit of Jesus Christ. They proclaim grace and offer pardon to those who turn from sin to God even when they once opposed Him, and Christ speaks through those He sends.

What held when the instruction was first given to chosen messengers holds just as fully in this age of the world as when it was first spoken. When sent messengers go forth to teach the truth and are rejected so their words find no place in the heart, Christ Himself is rejected and His word is despised in them. To despise in this sense is to have no respect or reverence for God's messengers, to regard their warning no more than one's own judgment, and to esteem one's own opinions above the testimony of God's chosen servants. Those who do this cannot be benefited by the labors of God's servants, and time should not be lost degrading the work of God to meet such minds.

The identification remains even though servants are not infallible and may at times err in judgment. Rejecting God's truth because of a messenger's imperfections or because the message challenges one's ideas repeats the Jews' rejection of Christ and risks resisting the Holy Spirit. Even if some ministers are unworthy, no one can ignore the ministry without ignoring Christ. The church should welcome ministers as it would welcome the Master and humbly benefit from the truths they teach, without idolizing any minister or forming favorites, and without placing too great confidence in those newly come to the faith or whose past life and labors are unknown.

Accountability and Judgment

Those who hear are made accountable by the hearing itself, for when light, warning, and evidence are brought directly to them through Christ's messengers, responsibility attaches to how they respond. To receive that warning is to receive Christ and the Father who sent Him, while to reject it and turn from the messenger is to reject Christ and the Father who sent Him. Such messages must not be slighted, and those who refuse the light brought to them face judgment.

Refusal of clear light and evidence is grave rejection that brings condemnation, even the woe Christ pronounced upon Chorazin and Capernaum. After repeated mercy has been offered and appeal upon appeal has been rejected, judgment follows. To reject or make light of a message Christ gives through His messenger is to reject and insult Christ who sent the message, and therefore to insult God who sent Christ. That refusal shuts people away from the spiritual blessings the message carries and deprives Christ of the glory due Him.

The messenger does only duty in speaking what he is compelled by God to speak to the erring, and he cannot compel others to hear. Those commanded by God to testify must speak His words whether people listen or refuse, and then leave the burden with those who should bear it. Yet rage and persecution against one so sent repeats the enraged rejection shown toward Christ Himself by those who had the benefit of His labors, repeating the world's rejection of Christ. Those who refused to hear Christ's words will refuse His messengers' words as well.

To reject the plain message Christ sends is to reject Christ Himself. His death would expose the fallacy of Satan's position and of false religious theories, and as Jesus anticipated that victory He saw the time when Satan's power would be broken. Refusing the truth delivered by God's humble messengers, who carry truth they have received from God and whose authority comes from God's work through them, is to be in controversy with God and to oppose God who sent Him. Resistance or murmuring against the servants God sends is resistance against God, and blocking God's message from reaching people is opposing the Saviour.

Honor Due to Ministry

Ministers of the word are not mere public speakers and orators but ambassadors speaking in Christ's stead, receiving wisdom and power from Christ as Head of the church to open the Scriptures and communicate God's messages, so the Saviour's voice is to be heard in His representative. To oppose, ignore, or despise them is to oppose, ignore, and despise Christ Himself, and thus God who sent Him. Belittling the ministry of the word is therefore no lesser matter, and disparaging ministers in the work given them to do acts against Jesus Christ. The church is to respect and support the ministry as God's appointed means of communicating His messages.

God has invested His church with special authority and power, especially through brethren in the offices He appointed for the saving and leadership of His people. Respecting their counsel and highly esteeming their judgment is hearing Christ and God, while disregarding and despising that authority despises the voice of God. No one is justified in doing so through independence of spirit, self-confidence, and trusting one's own judgment. Despising the authority of the church when it acts according to Christ's directions is despising Christ Himself, so decisions about offenders are to be made prayerfully with Christ present as counselor, and when made in faith and according to God's wisdom they are ratified by Heaven.

Opposing ministers, hindering them, making false charges against them, murmuring, repining, fault-finding and cruel speeches against them despise His counsel, reject His reproof, set aside His words and authority, and displease the Lord. Treating the message brought by God's servants with contempt or careless criticism dishonors God, for it is to be received as a message from God Himself and spoken of with reverence and proper language. Accusing and criticizing those God sends, disparaging ministers because they disagree with physicians' views, and dishonoring them by voicing foolish preferences about which ministers are liked all act against Jesus Christ, confuse people, and can lead them away from truth. Words spoken against God's chosen ministers are spoken against Christ, so words of encouragement must take the place of complaint, with care not to make of none effect the words God bids His servant utter.

How sent ministers are received is how Christ is received, for Jesus speaks and works through those He sends. To hear them, respect their experience, be willing to be led and instructed by them, be humble and teachable, and heartily cooperate with them is to hear the voice of Jesus in His servants. To meet them with distrust, doubt, jealousy, withdrawal of sympathy, refusal to cooperate, holding to peculiar ideas, conceit, self-righteousness, and limited views makes their work harder, hedges up the advancement of present truth, grieves the Saviour, and slights Jesus in the person of His saints even when done ignorantly.

Receiving a conscientious servant sent to labor means receiving Christ, and neglecting him means neglecting the Master who sent him, as shown by the neglect of Elder Andrews in Switzerland. This requires receiving and caring for the sent worker as a stranger in a foreign country with sympathy, love, cooperation, self-denial, teachableness and self-sacrifice, easing his change of habits and customs. It requires being willing to be taught by one of more mature experience and following counsel and advice given in love. Disregarding that counsel, failing in duty to him, creating suspicion and jealousy toward him, misrepresenting his teachings, leaving him to make his way alone, and standing by to question and cast doubts on his suggestions and plans while refusing to move the work forward is despising Christ and brings loss to those who do it.

Despising the counsel and advice of God's ambassadors is despising Christ Himself, brings God's wrath, reproaches His sacred cause, makes truth disgusting to unbelievers, and causes unbelievers to look upon Sabbathkeepers with suspicion. To despise is to have no respect or reverence for God's messengers, to regard their warning no more than one's own judgment, and to esteem one's own opinions above the testimony of God's chosen servants, and those who do this cannot be benefited by the servants' labors. Instruction given by His representatives at a meeting is not merely human teaching but a message from God through whom Christ speaks, so treating it with indifference or missing it can leave a person without needed warnings and vulnerable to temptation.

The messenger does only duty in speaking what he is compelled by God to speak to the erring and cannot compel others to hear. He must faithfully speak the words God gives whether people listen or refuse, then leave the burden with those who should bear it, and need not retract or regret faithful messages given under Christ's commission. Rejecting those words and warnings rejects Him who sent the messenger and gave him his work, and making light of a message Christ gives through His messenger insults Christ who sent the message and therefore God who sent Christ. Mistreating or misrepresenting someone chosen to do Christ's work is an offense against Christ Himself, who calls the offender to repent and come to Him and is willing to forgive.

Feelings indulged against God's servants are against Christ as well. God in providence places workers in charge of His work as guardians who have His cause at heart. Others are to be perfectly united with them and refuse influences leading to questioning their course, evil surmisings, and unjust conclusions against them.

Message Carried to Others

Luke 10:16 calls for serious work requiring the whole being, heart, mind, soul, and strength in service. That labor is not to be confined to believers but is to become acquainted with unbelievers and place truth before those living up to all the light they have. God has precious souls in the cities who must be reached, and loving God with all the heart requires loving those for whom He gave His only begotten Son. Christ died to redeem human beings from sin and sets before His workers an open door through which others can be brought into fellowship with the saints.

His messengers proclaim grace and offer pardon to those who turn from sin to God, even when they once opposed Him. To hear them and accept their heaven-sent message is to hear Christ, while rejecting them and their message is to reject Him and the Father who sent Him, and rejection and persecution of them for His name's sake repeats the world's rejection of Christ. Words of encouragement must take the place of complaint, with care not to speak in a way that makes of none effect the words God bids His servant utter. His servants are not infallible and may at times err in judgment, yet one whose life and interest is wrapped up in the cause of God and who will do the known will of God though it cost his life is to have his hands faithfully upheld, while too great confidence is not to be placed in those newly come to the faith or whose past life and labors are unknown.

Christ's delegated representatives are accountable for the souls in their care, and hearing them is hearing Christ while rejecting them is rejecting Christ and the One who sent Him. That responsibility includes giving plain warnings and teaching people how to care for their bodies, rather than neglecting harmful habits and the principles of health and life. Rejecting a messenger who teaches principles given by God is ultimately rejecting God who gave those principles, which have been sent repeatedly and whose rejection is not merely rejection of the teacher. The verse covers the precious light that fed God's people through upheld messengers such as Jones and Waggoner, so that despising them and the message God gave them meant despising Christ who gave the message. The present message is to look to Jesus and believe in His imputed righteousness to gain eternal life, given by God opening His word to those who search and pray for light and giving truth with power through humble messengers, so that caviling over how this can be truth and refusing to see it repeats unbelief like that of the Israelites who did not realize their quarrel is with God.

The warning against refusing the seventy's message is not meant to express resentment or wounded pride but shows how serious it is to refuse the Lord's message or His messengers, since rejecting the messengers Jesus sends is rejecting Jesus Himself and rejecting Jesus is rejecting the One who sent Him.