Click here for the Luke 12:54-59 PODCAST
54 He said to the crowd: “When you see a cloud rising in the west, immediately you say, ‘It’s going to rain,’ and it does. 55 And when the south wind blows, you say, ‘It’s going to be hot,’ and it is. 56 Hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky. How is it that you don’t know how to interpret this present time? 57 “Why don’t you judge for yourselves what is right? 58 As you are going with your adversary to the magistrate, try hard to be reconciled on the way, or your adversary may drag you off to the judge, and the judge turn you over to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison. 59 I tell you, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.” ~ Luke 12:54-59
Could you imagine living in Israel when the Lord Jesus lived there? I would hope that I would have not rejected Him and His message, especially with all the miracles He performed. The sad part of the story is most of the people rejected both Him and His message.
In Luke 12:54 we read, "He said to the crowd: “When you see a cloud rising in the west, immediately you say, ‘It’s going to rain,’ and it does."
This discourse of the Lord Jesus runs all the way through Luke 13:9. It started in Luke 12:1 where we are informed He was speaking to His disciples and then in v.22, the massive crowd had made up its mind by this time to reject Christ. They were following the lead of the religious leaders, who have spread the word that the Lord Jesus was satanic.
Even though He ministered in Galilee for over a year, when He goes back to Galilee after His resurrection to meet with believers there, there are only 500 who gather with Him, and in Judea when they meet in the Upper Room, there are only 120. So it was a small group of people when Christ was here that really responded positively. Most rejected Him, and so here in v.54, He directs His words to those who rejected Him and His message.
Up to this point, the Lord Jesus has been inviting the people to believe. Here, He begins condemning those who were rejecting His message of salvation. So, in v.54, He uses a simple illustration to make His point. He was saying, "We look out at the Mediterranean and we see a cloud and we say it's going to rain because we all know how rain works. Water evaporates off the sea. It collects in a cloud. It comes over the land and it drops. With only a minimal amount of evidence, we can conclude it is going to rain."
Then, in v.55 we read, "And when the south wind blows, you say, ‘It’s going to be hot,’ and it is." In like manner, we note the direction of the wind has changed. We feel a hot wind coming from the south, therefore, we conclude it is going to be hot today.
In v.56 the Lord Jesus gives the application, which reads, "Hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky. How is it that you don’t know how to interpret this present time?" This was the Lord Jesus' favorite term to describe those who rejected the truth. He called them hypocrites more than He called them anything else and not only the leaders but the people as well. A hypocrite lies about his identity. To be a hypocrite means to deceive somebody about the truth. Hypocrites are fake and they have a phony righteousness. Their religion is external and their hearts are unchanged.
The religious knew how to analyze the appearance of the earth and the sky, but they lacked the ability to see the signs of the times. Minimal evidence was required to determine whether it would rain or whether it would be a hot day. Their hypocrisy was in pretending not to have enough evidence about the identity of the Lord Jesus. They forever said to the Lord Jesus, "Show us a sign." And, He was finished with giving them more signs.
We all know how to draw conclusions from evidence, we do it every day. We have been given massive amounts of evidence including the testimony of the angels to Zechariah and Elizabeth the parents of John the Baptist. Then we have the angelic announcement to Mary of the birth of the Lord Jesus and the fact that He was born of a virgin. Then we have the prophesy of Zechariah the priest that the Christ was coming to bring salvation and forgiveness of sins to people through the mercies of God and that He would bring salvation light into this sinful darkness and life to those living in the shadow of death and peace to the alienated and the troubled.
Then, there is the testimony of the angels to the shepherds that the Messiah had been born, and the shepherds then going to give testimony of what they had heard of the Christ child whom they came to see. Then we have the testimony of Simeon and Anna when Jesus came to the temple to be dedicated and they had been convinced that this indeed was the Messiah, the one who had come for the consolation or the comfort of Israel and the salvation of the Gentiles.
And then, John the Baptist said, "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world," and the Father speaks out of heaven, "This is My beloved Son," and the Spirit comes and descends upon Him. And then, the Lord Jesus led by the Spirit into the wilderness, encounters Satan and conquers him and his temptations, is then filled with the Spirit. Then, He goes out and teaches truth, heals the sick, casts out demons, controls nature, and raises the dead. Evidence? How much more evidence is needed? The evidence is rather large and unmistakable.
This is why the Lord Jesus says in v.58-59, "58 As you are going with your adversary to the magistrate, try hard to be reconciled on the way, or your adversary may drag you off to the judge, and the judge turn you over to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison. 59 I tell you, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny."
When somebody commits an offense or a crime against somebody and the person offended wants to get it settled, the Lord Jesus is saying, "make it right before he arranges an appearance before the magistrate." The magistrate is the person of power. You'd go and the guy would lay out his case and the magistrate would then remand the thing to the judge and put him to court.
To get to the judge means your guilt is going to have you assigned to jail. And, since the debt cannot be paid, you languish in jail and you die there. The Lord Jesus is saying, "If you've got any sense, you will settle your issues of guilt before you arrive at the judge."
We had better discern the time or we will arrive at the Great White Throne Judgment. We must settle before we arrive. We do not want to show up in heaven and say, "Well, here I am, God. I hope the good stuff outweighs the bad." We will never be good enough to pay the penalty of our sin. If we have settled before we get there, we will not go to the Great White Throne of Judgment, because the Lord Jesus took our penalty while He hung on the cross. Some say, "It is too easy." It is for us, but not for Him. This is why at the Great White Throne Judgment of God, there are only unbelievers.
God has settled our case by sending the Lord Jesus to the cross to take our punishment. We must trust Him, now. If you don't, you'll get to court and you will pay in full down to the last cent. You do not even have to go there. Settle your account. Put your trust in Christ right now.
