Settle it therefore in your hearts, not to meditate before what ye shall answer:
When His followers are seized for His name and brought before councils, rulers and courts, they are to have settled it in their hearts beforehand not to anxiously premeditate or plan their defense. In that hour God Himself through the Holy Spirit will instruct them and give them a mouth and wisdom, with words and truth brought to mind that no adversary can gainsay or resist. This forbidding of premeditation does not remove preparation, for only those who day by day treasure truth, gain intelligent knowledge of the Word by careful study, strengthen faith by prayer, and experience Christ's grace will have His words to recall. The command belongs to a prophecy spoken on the Mount of Olives that mingles the destruction of Jerusalem with the final destruction at His coming, warning of persecution, betrayal and death that will turn to them for a testimony. In the last closing conflict the commandment-keeping people will stand firm as a rock to principle, and their God-given testimony will speak with converting power to win souls, even among rulers, lawyers and jurors, with loyalty to all God's commandments and especially the Sabbath as the test.
Setting and Prophecy
Jesus spoke these words privately on the Mount of Olives to Peter, James, John and Andrew, after the disciples admired the temple and He foretold that not one stone would be left upon another, in answer to their question when these things would be and what would be the sign of His coming and of the end of the world. The command belongs to a prophecy that mingles two great crises, the destruction of Jerusalem and the final destruction at His coming, so that words spoken of Jerusalem reach beyond to the day when the Lord rises out of His place to punish the world for iniquity and the earth discloses her blood. Carrying the mind forward, it embraces wars and commotions, nation rising against nation, earthquakes, famines, pestilences, and fearful sights and great signs from heaven at the close of this earth's history, when not merely nations but the whole world is destroyed.
The two events were mingled in mercy because the disciples could not have endured a full sight of future events, leaving them to study out the meaning for themselves. The discourse was given not for the disciples only but for those who live in the last scenes of this earth's history. It represents what believers may expect in the last days, and carries lessons especially applicable to those upon whom the ends of the world are come.
The verse stands within His warning that for His name's sake followers will be laid hold of and persecuted, delivered to synagogues and prisons and brought before kings and rulers, and that this persecution will turn to them for a testimony. They will be betrayed by parents and brethren and kinsfolk and friends, with some put to death, and will have tribulation in the world. This shows that the peace of Christ is internal rather than external, not peace through conformity with the world, and does not banish division but remains amid strife and division from avowed enemies and false friends. The warning has been fulfilled in a marked manner in every indignity, reproach and cruelty visited upon followers of Jesus, by the same hatred that cried Crucify Him and persecuted the disciples and that worked in the Dark Ages through prison, exile, stake, Inquisition, St. Bartholomew and Smithfield. It will be fulfilled in a yet more marked manner because the carnal mind is still at enmity with the law of God and the world is no more in harmony with the principles of Christ than in ages past.
Promise of Divine Aid
When seized and brought to trial for faith and witness, followers are commanded to settle it in their hearts beforehand not to premeditate, plan, anxiously prepare, or worry about a set speech or defense. This applies when they are laid hold of and persecuted for His name, delivered to synagogues and prisons and brought before kings and rulers, with that persecution turning to them for a testimony. They need not prepare their own answers when brought before opponents.
Christ Himself, through God and the Holy Spirit, will in that hour instruct and guide them and give them a mouth and wisdom, words and truth brought to mind. Those words and wisdom cannot be gainsaid, refuted, withstood, overcome or resisted by any adversary. The Holy Spirit will bring to mind truths treasured beforehand so they can reach the hearts of the hearers.
The promise was fulfilled in Stephen's defense before learned opponents, when the Holy Spirit gave him wisdom and words his adversaries could not overcome. It was shown likewise in Stephen's trial and in Paul's reasoning before Felix, where Christ gave words and wisdom to vindicate the truth. Those taught of God will distinguish the heavenly words and wisdom thus brought to their minds from their own thoughts, recognize them as God's words, and see in them wisdom, life and power. When the principles of essential education are understood and taught, Christ stands by to help in this way, Himself instructing and guiding those who stand before councils and judges to take no thought beforehand what they shall speak.
The words so given will vindicate the truth and reach the hearts of the hearers. They will confound enemies and expose hidden evil.
Preparation and Bold Witness
Not meditating beforehand what to answer does not mean no preparation, but calls for intense preparation made beforehand. Believers are to prepare day by day by treasuring up God's truths, learning Christ's teaching, and strengthening faith through prayer. That readiness includes gaining an intelligent knowledge of the Word through careful study and not merely agreeing with it, with an intensity of zeal, piety, and devotion gained beforehand for the coming trial when brought before councils where every position of truth held will be severely criticized and opposed.
Those who neglect the Scriptures and have not experienced Christ's grace in trial cannot expect the Spirit to recall His words for them when trial comes, for the Holy Spirit will then bring to mind only the truths so treasured that they can reach the hearts of the hearers. The preparation now made for that crisis decides personal salvation as well as the destiny of other souls, so time now allowed to go to waste must be devoted to getting ready.
Before the last closing conflict God's commandment-keeping people will stand so distinct and separate from the opposing army that many convinced of the truth will join them. Many will be imprisoned, many will flee from cities and towns for their lives, and many will be martyrs for Christ's sake in standing in defense of truth. They will be brought before kings and rulers and councils to meet false, absurd, and lying accusations.
In those strait places faithful servants must stand firm as a rock to principle in obedience to God's express command and not confer with flesh and blood. God will give strength as the day requires and will not permit temptation above what can be borne, as Jesus bore all this and far more. An intelligent knowledge of His Word is given to prepare men and women to contend zealously for the law of Jehovah and to restore the broken law to its ancient exalted honorable place.
The verse belongs to the solemn message for the present time calling God's people to prepare their hearts for the work and testimony they are to give. When brought before rulers they will speak without premeditated answers and witness boldly for Christ with sacred truth many have never heard before. That witness will carry converting power to win souls from darkness to light, so that even some of the men on the judgment seat, lawyers and jurors, will embrace the truth. They in turn will confess Christ before kings and rulers by loyalty to all the commandments of God, especially the Sabbath command, which will be made the test question.
When His followers are seized for His name and brought before councils, rulers and courts, they are to have settled it in their hearts beforehand not to anxiously premeditate or plan their defense. In that hour God Himself through the Holy Spirit will instruct them and give them a mouth and wisdom, with words and truth brought to mind that no adversary can gainsay or resist. This forbidding of premeditation does not remove preparation, for only those who day by day treasure truth, gain intelligent knowledge of the Word by careful study, strengthen faith by prayer, and experience Christ's grace will have His words to recall. The command belongs to a prophecy spoken on the Mount of Olives that mingles the destruction of Jerusalem with the final destruction at His coming, warning of persecution, betrayal and death that will turn to them for a testimony. In the last closing conflict the commandment-keeping people will stand firm as a rock to principle, and their God-given testimony will speak with converting power to win souls, even among rulers, lawyers and jurors, with loyalty to all God's commandments and especially the Sabbath as the test.
Setting and Prophecy
Jesus spoke these words privately on the Mount of Olives to Peter, James, John and Andrew, after the disciples admired the temple and He foretold that not one stone would be left upon another, in answer to their question when these things would be and what would be the sign of His coming and of the end of the world. The command belongs to a prophecy that mingles two great crises, the destruction of Jerusalem and the final destruction at His coming, so that words spoken of Jerusalem reach beyond to the day when the Lord rises out of His place to punish the world for iniquity and the earth discloses her blood. Carrying the mind forward, it embraces wars and commotions, nation rising against nation, earthquakes, famines, pestilences, and fearful sights and great signs from heaven at the close of this earth's history, when not merely nations but the whole world is destroyed.
The two events were mingled in mercy because the disciples could not have endured a full sight of future events, leaving them to study out the meaning for themselves. The discourse was given not for the disciples only but for those who live in the last scenes of this earth's history. It represents what believers may expect in the last days, and carries lessons especially applicable to those upon whom the ends of the world are come.
The verse stands within His warning that for His name's sake followers will be laid hold of and persecuted, delivered to synagogues and prisons and brought before kings and rulers, and that this persecution will turn to them for a testimony. They will be betrayed by parents and brethren and kinsfolk and friends, with some put to death, and will have tribulation in the world. This shows that the peace of Christ is internal rather than external, not peace through conformity with the world, and does not banish division but remains amid strife and division from avowed enemies and false friends. The warning has been fulfilled in a marked manner in every indignity, reproach and cruelty visited upon followers of Jesus, by the same hatred that cried Crucify Him and persecuted the disciples and that worked in the Dark Ages through prison, exile, stake, Inquisition, St. Bartholomew and Smithfield. It will be fulfilled in a yet more marked manner because the carnal mind is still at enmity with the law of God and the world is no more in harmony with the principles of Christ than in ages past.
Promise of Divine Aid
When seized and brought to trial for faith and witness, followers are commanded to settle it in their hearts beforehand not to premeditate, plan, anxiously prepare, or worry about a set speech or defense. This applies when they are laid hold of and persecuted for His name, delivered to synagogues and prisons and brought before kings and rulers, with that persecution turning to them for a testimony. They need not prepare their own answers when brought before opponents.
Christ Himself, through God and the Holy Spirit, will in that hour instruct and guide them and give them a mouth and wisdom, words and truth brought to mind. Those words and wisdom cannot be gainsaid, refuted, withstood, overcome or resisted by any adversary. The Holy Spirit will bring to mind truths treasured beforehand so they can reach the hearts of the hearers.
The promise was fulfilled in Stephen's defense before learned opponents, when the Holy Spirit gave him wisdom and words his adversaries could not overcome. It was shown likewise in Stephen's trial and in Paul's reasoning before Felix, where Christ gave words and wisdom to vindicate the truth. Those taught of God will distinguish the heavenly words and wisdom thus brought to their minds from their own thoughts, recognize them as God's words, and see in them wisdom, life and power. When the principles of essential education are understood and taught, Christ stands by to help in this way, Himself instructing and guiding those who stand before councils and judges to take no thought beforehand what they shall speak.
The words so given will vindicate the truth and reach the hearts of the hearers. They will confound enemies and expose hidden evil.
Preparation and Bold Witness
Not meditating beforehand what to answer does not mean no preparation, but calls for intense preparation made beforehand. Believers are to prepare day by day by treasuring up God's truths, learning Christ's teaching, and strengthening faith through prayer. That readiness includes gaining an intelligent knowledge of the Word through careful study and not merely agreeing with it, with an intensity of zeal, piety, and devotion gained beforehand for the coming trial when brought before councils where every position of truth held will be severely criticized and opposed.
Those who neglect the Scriptures and have not experienced Christ's grace in trial cannot expect the Spirit to recall His words for them when trial comes, for the Holy Spirit will then bring to mind only the truths so treasured that they can reach the hearts of the hearers. The preparation now made for that crisis decides personal salvation as well as the destiny of other souls, so time now allowed to go to waste must be devoted to getting ready.
Before the last closing conflict God's commandment-keeping people will stand so distinct and separate from the opposing army that many convinced of the truth will join them. Many will be imprisoned, many will flee from cities and towns for their lives, and many will be martyrs for Christ's sake in standing in defense of truth. They will be brought before kings and rulers and councils to meet false, absurd, and lying accusations.
In those strait places faithful servants must stand firm as a rock to principle in obedience to God's express command and not confer with flesh and blood. God will give strength as the day requires and will not permit temptation above what can be borne, as Jesus bore all this and far more. An intelligent knowledge of His Word is given to prepare men and women to contend zealously for the law of Jehovah and to restore the broken law to its ancient exalted honorable place.
The verse belongs to the solemn message for the present time calling God's people to prepare their hearts for the work and testimony they are to give. When brought before rulers they will speak without premeditated answers and witness boldly for Christ with sacred truth many have never heard before. That witness will carry converting power to win souls from darkness to light, so that even some of the men on the judgment seat, lawyers and jurors, will embrace the truth. They in turn will confess Christ before kings and rulers by loyalty to all the commandments of God, especially the Sabbath command, which will be made the test question.