Go your ways: behold, I send you forth as lambs among wolves.
He sends the seventy ahead two by two to the places He Himself would visit, to prepare people to receive Him by announcing that the kingdom of God has come near and all who receive it may enter its blessings. They are sent as defenseless lambs among wolves into danger and opposition in a hostile world, including professed religious opposers who with a wolfish spirit tear the flock by falsehood and misrepresentation. They are given power to preach the word and to heal the sick and cast out devils in His name, for teaching and healing are never to be separated in His work. As lambs they are to depend on Him and the Holy Spirit for protection, never meeting hostility with hostility or carnal weapons, but remaining calm under abuse and representing Him with truth, love, tact and gentleness while being wise as serpents and harmless as doves. This sending is a present commission that still directs every church member and companies of gospel medical missionaries to go at once to all people, by personal effort and publications, laboring even among bitter opponents and those in error to win them to fellowship with Him.
Christ Sends the Seventy
Go your ways sends the seventy disciples ahead to the places He Himself would visit, to prepare people to receive Him and the truths He would teach. They went as vulnerable lambs among wolves under His direction, working as He worked. Their message was to announce that the kingdom of God had come near. This was the people's day of visitation, and all who received its message and Messenger could enter it and receive its blessings.
They were sent to preach the word, and power was given them to heal the sick and cast out devils and evil spirits in His name as they went forth preaching the kingdom of God. Teaching and healing are never to be separated in God's work. His commandment-keeping people are to be one with no separation in the work, though Satan will invent every device to separate those whom God is seeking to make one. They were sent two by two rather than alone, on the same pattern and with the same first directions as the earlier sending of the twelve. One worker carries his part of the work as far as he can and then another worker is sent to do another essential part that the first did not feel the necessity of doing, so no one should try to begin and carry forward a work entirely himself but should gladly cooperate with other gifts in other laborers for the conversion of souls.
They were sent as vulnerable lambs and sheep among wolves into danger and opposition in a hostile world, facing hostility from people and Satan's agents as they carried out their work. Their mission was to represent God's divinity, mercy, and compassion, and to be wise and harmless while depending humbly on God. They were to remember the sacredness of their mission and follow His directions. The warning did not mean they should be powerless or give up, but that they were to use every proper means consistent with their commission and devote themselves to winning people to His kingdom. They were to depend on God rather than meet hostility with hostility, remaining calm under abuse and representing Him with truth, love, tact, and gentleness, since anger and accusing reflect Satan's spirit while the Holy Spirit helps keep words gentle and bear effective witness.
The wolves include those who claim to be religious but are not, having a wolfish disposition to tear and devour the flock of God by false statements, falsehood, misrepresentation and revenge. Those who devour other sheep are not to be counted as the lambs and sheep of His pasture. The same prideful anger was seen when priests and Pharisees were warned and determined to kill rather than be convicted. This calls for faithful dealing one with another and plain statement of facts so evil workers are not left to deceive. Yet even these wolves, if they see their wrong and humble themselves before God and put on Christ's righteousness, will have their repentance accepted and their characters transformed, and forgiveness must spring into life whenever the rebuked erring brother repents.
He even sends those who had opposed Him, redeeming them and giving them divine favor and power to proclaim grace and offer full pardon to those who turn from sin to God. As His messengers are one with Him, refusing them and their heaven-sent message is a rejection of Him. They should expect hatred and persecution because the world hated Him first. They were sent into fields already white to harvest, and Peter's preaching that added three thousand souls took up and carried forward that same sent harvesting work.
Working as Lambs
The warning of danger did not leave the sent ones powerless nor give them leave to give up the work. Remembering the sacredness of the mission and following the directions given, they were to use every proper means consistent with their commission and devote themselves to winning people. As lambs they were to depend on the Lord for protection and on the Holy Spirit to govern heart and speech, rather than answer hostility with hostility. They were not to take up carnal weapons, speak unkindly, or revile in return for reviling, but to remain calm under abuse and scoffing and represent the Sender with truth, love, tact and gentleness. Anger and accusing manifest the spirit of the adversary, while gentle words kept by the Spirit bear effective witness.
They must not become like wolves by hurting or destroying others. No self-will and desire to be supreme was to create divisions that obstruct the work, but each disposition was to be brought under His control. They were to be wise as serpents and harmless as doves while depending humbly on God. In that dependence they were to represent His divinity, mercy and compassion, even though opposition might include delivery to councils and scourging in synagogues.
Where prejudice will soon become bitter opposition, prosecution and persecution, this wisdom means refraining even from lawful things when doing them creates prejudice, hinders the work, blocks presentation of truth and closes minds. They must give no unnecessary offense over Sunday laws, avoid arrest and collision, spend Sunday in missionary visiting and Bible reading, and when in danger of prosecution leave that place and work in another community. They must not imperil the work or bring on the final Sabbath crisis before the time, but keep the door open to save the world. Though sent vulnerable among hostile opponents, the tender Shepherd looks and watches over them. Meeting temptation with prayer and implicit trust, they go forward from strength to strength as living channels of light, earnest, humble, distrustful of self, circumspect, nourishing no hard feelings, maintaining fellowship with God and watching unto prayer, and He will place upon them the crown of life.
The Sending Continues Today
The sending of the disciples is a present commission, and to claim to be His disciples requires working as they worked and fulfilling that sending now. Fulfilling it means awakening, manifesting concern for the welfare of fallen man, realizing that time is passing while whole communities remain unwarned, and doing the work both by personal effort and by publications to reach those whom personal effort cannot reach. Every church member is sent as a lamb among wolves to proclaim the third angel's message. That work requires true godliness and knowledge of the Word, dignity and confidence yet humble dependence on God, active earnestness that improves every opportunity for usefulness, wisdom in all ways as wise as serpents and harmless as doves, sustained by unfeigned faith.
The sending directs small companies of gospel medical missionaries to go forth at once without spending years in preparation. Doors now open to the truth will soon be forever closed, and waiting allows the enemy to take possession of open fields. Going forth means laboring as evangelists who scatter publications, talk of the truth to those they meet, pray for the sick, minister to need with nature's remedies and not with drugs, and teach how to regain health and avoid disease. The mission requires heart, mind, soul, and strength in His service and reaches beyond the Jews to all people. Labor must not be confined to believers but become acquainted with unbelievers, place truth before those living up to all the light they have, and reach precious souls in cities, treating even bitter opponents with respect. Loving God with all the heart means loving those for whom He gave His only begotten Son to redeem from sin, entering the open door He has set to bring others into fellowship with the saints.
Because He sends His laborers vulnerable among hostile powers, the wisdom of God is needed for efficient house-to-house work when popular ministers block progress by silence and will not let the work go forward. His instruction is the recipe for meeting the present necessity when convicted souls ask what they must do to inherit eternal life, showing ministers how to labor for souls with exercised faith, intensity of desire, and perseverance that takes hold and accomplishes results instead of preaching long discourses that put truth out of reach. Supplying workers follows His principle of bringing in new men and placing them in responsibility, for after sending the twelve He sent seventy men to go everywhere preaching the kingdom of God with Himself to follow after in every place where they were sent. Leaders are therefore to select new men who can come up and obtain an education, learning how to work under direction, rather than passing them by and bringing back only the same old men. The instructions He gave when He sent His disciples still direct work in the great centers, where strong men are to be appointed to labor in the cities with many young men and women associated with them to work in a humble manner in harmony with that sending, a way of labor necessary in His time and even more necessary now. It requires great ingenuity in presenting the words of eternal life so souls are reached and converted, and it requires the workers themselves to be thoroughly converted so they present the Word of truth in a spirit of tenderness that will win hearts.
The sending applies to Christian women working among temperance workers in error, such as the Women's Christian Temperance Union, to remain among its members rather than separating from them, bringing them the light of Scripture and teaching the truth in Jesus while trusting Him to work through them. Those sent are not to learn from those around them but to learn from Christ, agreeing with them on the pure, elevating principles of temperance and flashing all possible light into their pathway. Because He sends them, He will work through them to open the Scriptures to those in error as they cherish the fragrance of His love for fallen humanity and teach the truth as it is in Jesus by precept and example, without giving up easily when they meet widespread corruption and selfishness that cause sadness.
He sends the seventy ahead two by two to the places He Himself would visit, to prepare people to receive Him by announcing that the kingdom of God has come near and all who receive it may enter its blessings. They are sent as defenseless lambs among wolves into danger and opposition in a hostile world, including professed religious opposers who with a wolfish spirit tear the flock by falsehood and misrepresentation. They are given power to preach the word and to heal the sick and cast out devils in His name, for teaching and healing are never to be separated in His work. As lambs they are to depend on Him and the Holy Spirit for protection, never meeting hostility with hostility or carnal weapons, but remaining calm under abuse and representing Him with truth, love, tact and gentleness while being wise as serpents and harmless as doves. This sending is a present commission that still directs every church member and companies of gospel medical missionaries to go at once to all people, by personal effort and publications, laboring even among bitter opponents and those in error to win them to fellowship with Him.
Christ Sends the Seventy
Go your ways sends the seventy disciples ahead to the places He Himself would visit, to prepare people to receive Him and the truths He would teach. They went as vulnerable lambs among wolves under His direction, working as He worked. Their message was to announce that the kingdom of God had come near. This was the people's day of visitation, and all who received its message and Messenger could enter it and receive its blessings.
They were sent to preach the word, and power was given them to heal the sick and cast out devils and evil spirits in His name as they went forth preaching the kingdom of God. Teaching and healing are never to be separated in God's work. His commandment-keeping people are to be one with no separation in the work, though Satan will invent every device to separate those whom God is seeking to make one. They were sent two by two rather than alone, on the same pattern and with the same first directions as the earlier sending of the twelve. One worker carries his part of the work as far as he can and then another worker is sent to do another essential part that the first did not feel the necessity of doing, so no one should try to begin and carry forward a work entirely himself but should gladly cooperate with other gifts in other laborers for the conversion of souls.
They were sent as vulnerable lambs and sheep among wolves into danger and opposition in a hostile world, facing hostility from people and Satan's agents as they carried out their work. Their mission was to represent God's divinity, mercy, and compassion, and to be wise and harmless while depending humbly on God. They were to remember the sacredness of their mission and follow His directions. The warning did not mean they should be powerless or give up, but that they were to use every proper means consistent with their commission and devote themselves to winning people to His kingdom. They were to depend on God rather than meet hostility with hostility, remaining calm under abuse and representing Him with truth, love, tact, and gentleness, since anger and accusing reflect Satan's spirit while the Holy Spirit helps keep words gentle and bear effective witness.
The wolves include those who claim to be religious but are not, having a wolfish disposition to tear and devour the flock of God by false statements, falsehood, misrepresentation and revenge. Those who devour other sheep are not to be counted as the lambs and sheep of His pasture. The same prideful anger was seen when priests and Pharisees were warned and determined to kill rather than be convicted. This calls for faithful dealing one with another and plain statement of facts so evil workers are not left to deceive. Yet even these wolves, if they see their wrong and humble themselves before God and put on Christ's righteousness, will have their repentance accepted and their characters transformed, and forgiveness must spring into life whenever the rebuked erring brother repents.
He even sends those who had opposed Him, redeeming them and giving them divine favor and power to proclaim grace and offer full pardon to those who turn from sin to God. As His messengers are one with Him, refusing them and their heaven-sent message is a rejection of Him. They should expect hatred and persecution because the world hated Him first. They were sent into fields already white to harvest, and Peter's preaching that added three thousand souls took up and carried forward that same sent harvesting work.
Working as Lambs
The warning of danger did not leave the sent ones powerless nor give them leave to give up the work. Remembering the sacredness of the mission and following the directions given, they were to use every proper means consistent with their commission and devote themselves to winning people. As lambs they were to depend on the Lord for protection and on the Holy Spirit to govern heart and speech, rather than answer hostility with hostility. They were not to take up carnal weapons, speak unkindly, or revile in return for reviling, but to remain calm under abuse and scoffing and represent the Sender with truth, love, tact and gentleness. Anger and accusing manifest the spirit of the adversary, while gentle words kept by the Spirit bear effective witness.
They must not become like wolves by hurting or destroying others. No self-will and desire to be supreme was to create divisions that obstruct the work, but each disposition was to be brought under His control. They were to be wise as serpents and harmless as doves while depending humbly on God. In that dependence they were to represent His divinity, mercy and compassion, even though opposition might include delivery to councils and scourging in synagogues.
Where prejudice will soon become bitter opposition, prosecution and persecution, this wisdom means refraining even from lawful things when doing them creates prejudice, hinders the work, blocks presentation of truth and closes minds. They must give no unnecessary offense over Sunday laws, avoid arrest and collision, spend Sunday in missionary visiting and Bible reading, and when in danger of prosecution leave that place and work in another community. They must not imperil the work or bring on the final Sabbath crisis before the time, but keep the door open to save the world. Though sent vulnerable among hostile opponents, the tender Shepherd looks and watches over them. Meeting temptation with prayer and implicit trust, they go forward from strength to strength as living channels of light, earnest, humble, distrustful of self, circumspect, nourishing no hard feelings, maintaining fellowship with God and watching unto prayer, and He will place upon them the crown of life.
The Sending Continues Today
The sending of the disciples is a present commission, and to claim to be His disciples requires working as they worked and fulfilling that sending now. Fulfilling it means awakening, manifesting concern for the welfare of fallen man, realizing that time is passing while whole communities remain unwarned, and doing the work both by personal effort and by publications to reach those whom personal effort cannot reach. Every church member is sent as a lamb among wolves to proclaim the third angel's message. That work requires true godliness and knowledge of the Word, dignity and confidence yet humble dependence on God, active earnestness that improves every opportunity for usefulness, wisdom in all ways as wise as serpents and harmless as doves, sustained by unfeigned faith.
The sending directs small companies of gospel medical missionaries to go forth at once without spending years in preparation. Doors now open to the truth will soon be forever closed, and waiting allows the enemy to take possession of open fields. Going forth means laboring as evangelists who scatter publications, talk of the truth to those they meet, pray for the sick, minister to need with nature's remedies and not with drugs, and teach how to regain health and avoid disease. The mission requires heart, mind, soul, and strength in His service and reaches beyond the Jews to all people. Labor must not be confined to believers but become acquainted with unbelievers, place truth before those living up to all the light they have, and reach precious souls in cities, treating even bitter opponents with respect. Loving God with all the heart means loving those for whom He gave His only begotten Son to redeem from sin, entering the open door He has set to bring others into fellowship with the saints.
Because He sends His laborers vulnerable among hostile powers, the wisdom of God is needed for efficient house-to-house work when popular ministers block progress by silence and will not let the work go forward. His instruction is the recipe for meeting the present necessity when convicted souls ask what they must do to inherit eternal life, showing ministers how to labor for souls with exercised faith, intensity of desire, and perseverance that takes hold and accomplishes results instead of preaching long discourses that put truth out of reach. Supplying workers follows His principle of bringing in new men and placing them in responsibility, for after sending the twelve He sent seventy men to go everywhere preaching the kingdom of God with Himself to follow after in every place where they were sent. Leaders are therefore to select new men who can come up and obtain an education, learning how to work under direction, rather than passing them by and bringing back only the same old men. The instructions He gave when He sent His disciples still direct work in the great centers, where strong men are to be appointed to labor in the cities with many young men and women associated with them to work in a humble manner in harmony with that sending, a way of labor necessary in His time and even more necessary now. It requires great ingenuity in presenting the words of eternal life so souls are reached and converted, and it requires the workers themselves to be thoroughly converted so they present the Word of truth in a spirit of tenderness that will win hearts.
The sending applies to Christian women working among temperance workers in error, such as the Women's Christian Temperance Union, to remain among its members rather than separating from them, bringing them the light of Scripture and teaching the truth in Jesus while trusting Him to work through them. Those sent are not to learn from those around them but to learn from Christ, agreeing with them on the pure, elevating principles of temperance and flashing all possible light into their pathway. Because He sends them, He will work through them to open the Scriptures to those in error as they cherish the fragrance of His love for fallen humanity and teach the truth as it is in Jesus by precept and example, without giving up easily when they meet widespread corruption and selfishness that cause sadness.