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35 Then Jesus asked them, “When I sent you without purse, bag or sandals, did you lack anything?” “Nothing,” they answered. 36 He said to them, “But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one. 37 It is written: ‘And he was numbered with the transgressors’; and I tell you that this must be fulfilled in me. Yes, what is written about me is reaching its fulfillment.” 38 The disciples said, “See, Lord, here are two swords.” “That’s enough!” he replied. ~ Luke 22:35-38
It is still Thursday night, the last night the Lord Jesus spent with His disciples. This was the night in which they celebrated the last Passover and the Lord Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper. This was an extremely long day for the Lord and His disciples.
In v.35 we read, "Then Jesus asked them, “When I sent you without purse, bag or sandals, did you lack anything?” “Nothing,” they answered." The Lord Jesus reminds the disciples how they had previously trusted Him and how the people responded positively to them and the Gospel during their ministry trips. Before addressing anything else, the Lord Jesus zeroes in on the subject of trusting Him. We are at our best when we are completely trusting Him.
God didn't tell Abraham where he was going, because if He had, Abraham would have kept his eyes on the destination instead of God. If God is the only one who knows where we are going, then we’re going to have to keep our eyes on Him. This is why God doesn’t always lay out everything for us. We have to trust Him if we are to know meaningful life.
Here, in today's text, the Lord Jesus tells the disciples that they are now moving into a whole new experience with Him. The response of their hearers will not be as positive as it was before. The disciples had expected that the Lord Jesus would lead them right into the establishment of His kingdom here on earth, and they had never experienced any persecution. Now, He is telling them that this is about to change, dramatically.
In v.36-37 we read, "He said to them, “But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one. 37 It is written: ‘And he was numbered with the transgressors’; and I tell you that this must be fulfilled in me. Yes, what is written about me is reaching its fulfillment."
The hatred that the world has toward Christ and the Gospel has nothing to do with Christ or the Gospel; it is characteristic of the fallen condition of mankind. It doesn’t need a cause other than natural wickedness. And so, the Lord Jesus tells the disciples to expect to be hated as He has been hated.
When we do not give our hearts to the Father who in heaven, the default influence takes over. This is why the Lord Jesus often referred to the Jewish religious leaders as being of their father the Devil. Whatever is in the human heart will express itself. If the Love of God is in there, well, we will have a measure of love for the things and people of God. If His love is not in us, well, we will hate the things and people of God.
As indicated in v.37, all the hatred of the world is connected to fulfillment of Scripture. God told us in advance what would happen, and therefore we must learn to rest in His sovereignty. Isaiah 53 is referenced six times in the New Testament.
Here in v.37, the Lord Jesus reveals that chapter refers to Him. He died with a criminal on each side, thus He was crucified between two thieves. The Lord Jesus was placed in the category of a transgressor by God, and then God punished our sin in His body while He hung on that tree.
In v.38 we read, "The disciples said, “See, Lord, here are two swords.” “That’s enough!” he replied." During the whole time the disciples were with the Lord Jesus, they didn’t need any weapons. They would use them for purposes other than aggression.
According to John 14:16, the Lord Jesus promised the disciples a supernatural Helper who would be with them forever. The Helper is the Spirit of truth who will provide them with greater power than all the enemies of the Gospel. This is how the Lord will abide with all believers throughout time and eternity. It is through the abiding Holy Spirit that Believers have at our disposal the resources of heaven.
The fight the believer in Christ is engaged in is not a physical battle. This battle, this war is spiritual. The apostle Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 10:3-4, "For though we live in the world we are not carrying on a worldly war, for the weapons of our warfare are not worldly but have divine power to destroy strongholds."
The weapons of our warfare are fourfold: First, there is truth, the revelation of reality, the exposure of things as they really are. In Romans 13:12 the apostle Paul calls it "the weapon of light." Turning on the light is a marvelous weapon for helping to dispel the darkness. Truth is the first of the weapons.
The second is love which is always linked with truth. Everywhere in Scripture we find these two great forces linked together, truth and love. Paul writes to the Ephesians 4:15, "speak the truth in love." In 2 John 1:3 we read, "Grace, mercy and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Father's Son, in truth and love."
Our third weapon is righteousness. In 2 Corinthians 6:7 we read, "In truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left." This means the weapons of righteousness are visible from the outside and in our inside life, as well.
The Lord Jesus reminds us in Matthew 6:33 to "Seek first His righteousness and all these thing shall be added unto us."The fact that it comes from Him is what makes it righteous. We do not produce righteousness, He does.
Then the fourth of these weapons is a life of faith. In Ephesians 6:16 we read, "Take up the shield of faith with which you can quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one." Everyone has faith. The difference is the object of our faith. Our faith in the Lord Jesus can quench or put out the fiery darts of the wicked one.
Our primary weapons are truth, love, righteousness and faith We end where we began in today's text. We end with faith which is found some 243 times in the New Testament. While faith involves believing and acting on things that are not fully known or seen, it is not blind. Biblical faith involves reason and evidence which gives eyes to our hearts for the God of the Bible. And, an interactive and personal relationship with God requires a faith that is willing to bow our will to this God who is known as the lover of our souls.
