Matthew 10:23, commentary and pictures

When persecuted in one place, move on to another rather than stay to resist, retaliate, or needlessly risk life, continuing the work elsewhere instead of abandoning it. Jesus Himself did this, quietly leaving cities, regions, and angry crowds when hatred and plots threatened His life before His work was finished. The cities will not have been gone through before the Son of man comes, for until the work is declared finished there will still be places to labor and hearts ready to receive the message. Such flight does not stop the work but spreads the light, as persecution scatters workers more widely to proclaim truth wherever a hearing can be obtained. The counsel is to be applied with care, discretion, and prayer, preserving life to keep laboring for souls, standing firm for God without provoking violence, and quietly withdrawing to speak words of life elsewhere.

Flight Command's Meaning

When persecuted in one city, Christ's followers are to flee to another rather than remain there, resist unjust penalties, retaliate, or needlessly put themselves in the persecutors' power and risk life. When persecution drives them out or makes it unsafe to remain, they are to leave that city, for their lives are not to be carelessly sacrificed. The Lord is not pleased to have workers imperil their lives when there are ways and means of saving themselves, and prudent withdrawal from danger so the message can keep being shared does not require them to remain where opposition or prosecution would obstruct their mission. Jesus Himself went from place to place to avoid persecutors, and those doing medical missionary work should expect similar opposition.

Flight means continuing labor elsewhere, not abandoning work or faith; determined opposition may require moving on, but a closed place does not close the whole field or halt the work. Workers facing persecution or dangerous opposition in one place are to move to another field rather than stop their work or remain there, for persecution scatters God's people and gives opportunities to proclaim truth in many places where a hearing can be obtained. Their work of reaching people will continue until Christ comes, with places to labor and hearts ready to receive the message still remaining. Work that appears unsuccessful can still bear fruit later, as hardship brings sown truth back to mind and another messenger's success makes people more willing to receive it.

Preserving life by flight when ways of saving life exist is obedience, not unfaithfulness, so the message can continue where God can use efforts for souls. When opposition endangers the lives of God's messengers, they may follow Christ's example and go to another place rather than remain in danger, observing this caution so the work of sharing truth is not needlessly endangered and the mission field is not closed. Flight may continue from city to city, and their witness and task will not be complete before the Son of man comes.

That flight may require forsaking homes, lands, and relatives and moving to another city or country, quietly withdrawing when necessary. In some circumstances those facing bitter opposition may have to leave their homes, lands, and even relatives, for fleeing does not mean abandoning faith.

The same counsel applies when the message is not received, the work cannot prosper, or pride, idolatry, and harmful surroundings hinder influence and doing God's will and raising children in Christian character; then they may move to a town, village, or city with less objectionable surroundings. When disciples are not received in one city they should go to another, and when God's people cannot influence a city devoted to pride and idolatry or fully do God's will there, they may flee to another town, village, or city with less harmful surroundings. Rochester is presented as such a city where believers' influence was hindered and where the surroundings made it difficult to live the truth and raise children in Christian character, so that moving to a less harmful community would protect them and their children.

The command is part of Christ's commission to His disciples to go forth in His name and work as He worked in healing the sick, with warning that disciples would face persecution in its fullest sense, and the disciple is not above his master nor the servant above his lord. Christ's servants may face persecution for preaching truth through bans on preaching, church councils, public reproach, false accusations, and imprisonment, and more severe persecution is still to come. The command applies to workers living in the time of the end, who must have their life hid with Christ in God and when lacking wisdom take the matter to the Lord in prayer for direction.

Christ and Apostles' Example

Jesus Himself obeyed the direction He gave, often having to leave the city where He was working and go to some place where He would not be recognized, moving on whenever opposition made it unsafe to remain. His own going from place to place to avoid persecutors shows that the instruction is prudent withdrawal from danger so the message can keep being shared elsewhere, not a requirement to remain where opposition or prosecution would obstruct the mission and endanger the lives of the messengers.

He left Judea because He knew the hatred of the priests and rulers would otherwise end His life before His work was finished, and He left the region where the authorities plotted against Him to continue His work elsewhere. He once left Jerusalem to save His life, teaching that lives are to be protected for Christ's sake in order to live to teach and help others, and not to be put in danger without being called to it, with such danger accepted only when loyalty to Him requires it. Again and again, when proclaiming the greatest truths ever spoken, He quietly removed Himself from the midst of angry people when His life was endangered, withdrawing when persecuted while still persevering to enter every place that could be entered.

Though without fault and all-powerful, when assailed by slanderous tongues and watched and hedged by men making high pretensions to godliness, He did not visit His adversaries as their sins deserved or launch vengeance against them. He gave scathing rebukes for hypocrisy and corruption, then moved on, continuing to speak the words of life elsewhere when driven out rather than retaliating and without depending on human applause. Shamefully treated by the people He came to bless, He had to go from city to city to ensure His safety, and this persecution followed Him from city to city until His work on earth was accomplished.

Paul and Barnabas obeyed the direction the day after Paul was stoned by departing for Derbe, where their labor led many souls to embrace the truth. Obeying the instruction in this way still allowed them afterward to return to Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra to strengthen and encourage the believing brethren exposed to reproach and bitter opposition and to securely bind off the work done there.

Later teachers of the truth followed the same pattern, finding hospitable doors opened to them and abiding there to preach Christ wherever a hearing could be obtained, sometimes in the church, or if denied that privilege in private houses or in the open air, making wherever people would hear a consecrated temple so that truth proclaimed with energy and assurance spread with irresistible power instead of ending its work. Farel obeyed it by going from village to village and city to city on foot amid hunger, cold, weariness, and constant peril of life, preaching in marketplaces, churches, and cathedral pulpits. Though interrupted, mocked, dragged from the pulpit, and beaten almost to death, he persisted until popish strongholds opened to the gospel.

Work Unfinished Until Coming

The promise that the cities would not all be gone over before the Son of man comes means the carrying of the message through Israel, with flight and witness from city to city, continues until He comes. When followers are persecuted in one city they are to flee to another rather than resist unjust penalties or carelessly sacrifice their lives, and that flight may continue from city to city. Their mission among the cities remains unfinished until the Son of man comes, and this may require leaving homes, lands, and even relatives because of bitter opposition. Christ's warning both prepares workers for opposition and tells them how to respond, and Christ Himself followed this course when opposition prevented safe remaining in one place.

The cities of Israel represent the continuing field of labor, so until heaven declares the work finished with It is finished there will still be places to labor and hearts ready to receive the message. Workers facing severe persecution are to move to another place rather than abandon or stop their work, for persecution scatters God's people and opens opportunities to proclaim truth in many places where religious freedom remains. The Son of man's coming marks the limit of this work, and evangelism continues with places to labor and receptive hearts until Christ comes.

When workers are refused a hearing or persecuted in one place they are to go to the next, and when persecuted there to go to the next after that. The closing of one place does not close a whole field, so opposition in one part of a field, such as the Southern field, does not close that field. This going from city to city continues until Christ comes, so another place to work always remains and an army for Christ is still to be raised up even in hard places. Departure under opposition is not failure, for work that appears unsuccessful can still bear fruit later. When opposition makes work dangerous, unsafe, or ineffective, messengers may move to another field to continue where there is better opportunity, following Christ's own practice of moving on amid persecution, while hardship and changing circumstances bring sown truth back to mind and another messenger's success makes people more willing to receive it.

Opposition to medical missionary work does not mean the work is finished, for its messengers likewise will not have gone through all the cities before the Son of man comes. When persecution makes it unsafe to remain, those doing medical missionary work are to leave one city for another to continue their work, expecting the same opposition Christ faced.

Persecution Spreads the Truth

Obedience to the command to flee from one city to another when persecuted does not stop the work but spreads light everywhere. Persecution scatters God's people more widely and gives them opportunities to proclaim the truth in many places, opening doors where religious freedom remains. Rather than abandoning their labor, workers driven from one place are to move to another and continue preaching, so that being refused or opposed in one place leads to witness in the next. The carrying of the message through the cities continues until the Son of man comes, with places still to labor and hearts still ready to receive it until heaven declares, It is finished.

Fugitives find hospitable doors opened to them and abide where they are received, preaching Christ with energy and assurance. Wherever a hearing can be obtained becomes a consecrated temple, whether in the church, or when denied that privilege in private houses, or in the open air. Truth thus proclaimed spreads with irresistible power as teachers of truth move from place to place instead of ending their work.

Workers are not to confine their efforts to a few places but to follow Christ's plan in this fleeing and continuing. That plan calls for men who will work and study and agonize in prayer as Christ did, ever watching for opportunities for personal labor, ever ready to interest and draw men to study of the Scriptures, and laboring patiently for those without intelligent knowledge of what is truth. No time is to be lost in planning how to reach perishing souls while Satan is busy devising and blocking the way. In a conflict with hostile religious opponents over doing the Lord's work, this counsel to flee persecution in one place and continue elsewhere is relevant to the question whether to stay and meet it or leave, though no definite instruction to leave in every case is given.

Prudent Faithful Application

When persecution comes over keeping the seventh-day Sabbath, flight to another place is permitted rather than needlessly putting oneself in the persecutors' power, but disobeying God to escape is never permitted and firm standing in obedience is required. Everything possible is to be done to keep those willing to suffer for truth from being forced to work on the Sabbath and from oppression and cruelty. This includes paying a fine to deliver Sabbathkeepers from oppressors when payment will free them. When determined opposition makes it impossible to continue safely in one city, moving to another continues the work rather than abandoning it, and the reaching of people remains unfinished until the Son of man comes.

Service to God does not require insisting on rights when persecuted in one city and leaving for another rather than resisting unjust penalties. Rights may be surrendered unless surrendering them would bring conflict with God, because the service at stake belongs to God. The mission among Israel continues until the Son of man comes.

Relocating may be duty for Sabbathkeepers facing persecution in the Southern States. Action is to be with care to avoid provoking violence that could close the region to missionary work. Withdrawal is to be prudent and quiet when necessary, leaving a city when persecution threatens and continuing in another place rather than remaining where opposition or prosecution would obstruct the mission and needlessly endanger the sharing of truth. Work among the colored people and in dangerous places is to be carried on discreetly so it is not destroyed. When the message is rejected and life is threatened, there is to be no retaliation but a quiet going to another place to speak words of life, giving rebukes for hypocrisy and corruption where needed and then moving on, expecting opposition, reproach, and persecution without depending on human applause.

The command belongs to workers living in the time of the end, who must have life hid with Christ in God and, when lacking wisdom, take the matter to the Lord in prayer for direction. It calls for men who will work and study and agonize in prayer as Christ did, ever watching for opportunities for personal labor, ever ready to interest and draw men to study of the Scriptures, and laboring patiently for those without intelligent knowledge of truth without losing time while Satan devises hindrances. Lives are not to be needlessly risked, for danger is to be accepted only when loyalty to Christ requires it. Life is to be protected for Christ's sake in order to live to teach and help others, and danger is not to be entered without being called to it, as shown when Christ left Jerusalem to save His life. Jesus Himself followed this course, often leaving the city where He was working for a place where He would not be recognized, and leaving the region where authorities plotted against Him to continue His work elsewhere.

The direction to leave a place when persecution becomes severe and continue elsewhere applies to medical missionary workers who should expect the same opposition Christ faced when it became unsafe to remain. Their opposition does not mean the work is finished, for they will not have gone through all the cities of Israel before the Son of man comes, and until heaven declares the work finished there will still be places to reach and hearts ready to receive the message. The same applies to colporteur workers under severe opposition. Great difficulties and persecution are not to be met with surprise, especially in the time of trouble when riots, accidents, murders, and robberies make life unsafe except under God's protection, following Christ's pattern of going from city to city for safety when shamefully treated until His earthly work was accomplished. There is to be persevering labor, entering every place that can be entered without confusion or hindrance, yet withdrawing when persecuted and not acting foolhardily, in view of the near end when hands will be laid on believers and they will be delivered to synagogues and prisons and brought before kings and rulers for Christ's name.