THE GIVING OF THE LORD'S PRAYER FOR WORLDWIDE EVANGELISATION (11:1-4). Learning to pray follows aptly on from Mary sitting at His feet, so this follows on the previous passage very satisfactorily. It was quite normal for disciples to seek a guide to prayer from their teachers, and here we find Jesu... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And it came about, as he was praying in a certain place, that when he ceased, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, even as John also taught his disciples.” The disciples constantly saw Jesus at prayer. Possibly it would be a little unfair to judge their own prayer lives on the... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And he said to them, “When you pray, say, Father, Hallowed be your name. Your Kingly Rule come. Give us today Tomorrow's bread. And forgive us our sins, For we ourselves also forgive every one who is indebted to us. And bring us not into testing.” This prayer is a little different from the one in... [ Continue Reading ]
THE MAN WHO WOULD NOT TAKE NO FOR AN ANSWER (11:5-8). ‘And he said to them, “Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go to him at midnight, and say to him, “Friend, lend me three loaves, for a friend of mine is come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him.” ' The story begins... [ Continue Reading ]
A MAN SEEKING HIS DAILY BREAD IS PROVIDED FOR. HOW MUCH MORE SHOULD WE SEEK THE HOLY SPIRIT (11:5-13). In the chiasmus of the whole Section the first part of this passage parallels Martha's provision of daily bread to Jesus (Luke 10:38), the second part parallels the free unrestricted giving of the... [ Continue Reading ]
“And he from within shall answer and say, Do not disturb me. The door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot rise and give you what you want.” The neighbour is very unwilling. He tells him that he and his family have all settled down on their sleeping mat and are huddled together... [ Continue Reading ]
“I say to you, Though he will not rise and give him because he is his friend, yet because of his unwillingness to take no for an answer he will arise and give him as many as he needs.” The man is, however, persistent. He will not take no for an answer and keeps on banging on the door. This is not r... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And I say to you, “Ask, and it shall be given you, seek, and you shall find, knock, and it shall be opened to you.” They must be like the persistent householder. They must ask, yes, they must seek, yes, they must knock. Note the growth in urgency. The man in the parable had asked, then he had plea... [ Continue Reading ]
THE CERTAINTY OF PROVISION TO THOSE WHO SEEK TOMORROW'S BREAD, THE HOLY SPIRIT (11:9-13). The lesson here is that those who want to enjoy God's full provision must be urgent and persistent. There must be no half-heartedness. (It is not God's awkwardness that has to be overcome, it is our indifferen... [ Continue Reading ]
“For every one who asks does receive, and he who seeks does find, and to him who knocks it will be opened.” And the assurance is given to them that if they do ask it will be given to them, if they do seek they will find, if they do knock the door will be opened to them. God will supply His Holy Spi... [ Continue Reading ]
“And of which of you who is a father will his son ask a fish, and he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will he give him a scorpion?” And the certainty that we will receive lies in the nature of fatherhood. When a son asks for a fish will his father give him a serpent, if he... [ Continue Reading ]
“If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?” And all this is sure, because if we, who are evil give good gifts to our children, how much more certain can we be that our Father, God, will g... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And he was casting out a demon that was dumb. And it came about that, when the demon was gone out, the dumb man spoke, and the multitudes marvelled.' The scene here opens with Jesus faced up with a dumb man, rendered dumb by an evil spirit within him. Perhaps the hope of the evil spirit was that by... [ Continue Reading ]
JESUS HAS COME AS THE STRONGER THAN HE AND HAS DEFEATED SATAN (11:14-23). In the chiasmus of the whole section this passage is in parallel with Jesus' description of Satan like lightning falling from Heaven, and of the deliverance of His people from the power of the Enemy (Luke 10:17). Here the ide... [ Continue Reading ]
‘But some of them said, “It is by Beelzeboul the prince of the demons that he casts out demons.' His opponents were perplexed, but rather than admit that God was working though Him they accused of being in league with ‘Beelzeboul, the prince of the demons', in other words Satan. ‘It is by Beelzebou... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And others, trying him, sought of him a sign from heaven.' Others challenged Him to prove His authenticity by performing some great sign. While one party were accusing Him of consorting with the Evil One, the others were doing the work of the Evil One by being used to renew his tempting of Jesus an... [ Continue Reading ]
‘But he, knowing their thoughts, said to them, “Every kingship divided against itself is brought to desolation, and a house divided against a house falls (literally ‘house falls on house').” ' But Jesus knew what the majority of them were thinking and pointed out that if what they said was true it... [ Continue Reading ]
“And if Satan also is divided against himself, how shall his kingship stand? Because you say that I cast out demons by Beelzeboul.” It would indeed mean that Satan was divided against himself, faction warring with faction. How then could his kingship hope to survive? And this was because they said... [ Continue Reading ]
“And if I by Beelzebub cast out demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore shall they be your judges.” And there was a further question. There were also Jewish exorcisers who cast out demons (‘your sons' may signify disciples or younger Rabbis). If He did it by Beelzeboul, what about the... [ Continue Reading ]
“But if I by the finger of God cast out demons, then is the Kingly Rule of God come upon you.” On the other hand they should consider the fact that if He cast out evil spirits by the finger of God, then it proved that the Kingly Rule of God was present in Him. That it had come on them unexpectedly.... [ Continue Reading ]
“When the strong man fully armed guards his own court, his goods are in peace, but when a stronger than he shall come on him, and overcome him, he takes from him his whole armour in which he trusted, and divides his spoils.” Jesus then likened Satan to a strong man fully armed who guarded his own po... [ Continue Reading ]
“He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me, scatters.” He then summarises the situation that this produces. There are those who are with Him, and who with Him gather in the harvest of God's chosen ones (Luke 3:17), and there are those who are against Him and who simply... [ Continue Reading ]
‘The unclean spirit when he is gone out of the man, passes through waterless places, seeking rest, and finding none, he says,' In view of the context above in Luke 11:14 this wandering spirit must be seen as having been cast out. It would not disembody itself, and now it searches for someone else t... [ Continue Reading ]
“I will turn back to my house from where I came out.” And when he is come, he finds it swept and put in order.' So it decides it will go back ‘home'. It looks on the body of the once possessed man as its own, although there is a note of uncertainty in the text. It is not sure what it will find. But... [ Continue Reading ]
UNCLEAN SPIRITS ARE OUT SEEKING MEN TO POSSESS (11:24-26). This passage now comes as a warning to men of the danger of being outside the Kingly Rule of God, and especially of seeking to idols and the occult. And it compares such things with what it is like to be in the Kingly Rule of God where men... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Then he goes, and takes to him seven other spirits more evil than himself. And they enter in and dwell there, and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first.' So it seeks out some companions (then if anyone tries to exorcise it again it will be able to put up a better fight) and finds... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And it came about that, as he said these things, a certain woman out of the crowd lifted up her voice, and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that bare you, and the breasts which you sucked.” ' ‘While he was saying these things'. When Luke puts in a connection like this it has a purpose. What follo... [ Continue Reading ]
‘But he said, “Yes rather, blessed are those who hear the word of God, and keep it.” ' This all now leads on to the crunch saying. Those who are truly blessed are those who have responded to the word of God as He has proclaimed it, and who are now keeping it, meditating on it, holding it in their h... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And when the crowds were gathering together to him, he began to say, “This generation is an evil generation. It seeks after a sign. And there shall no sign be given to it but the sign of Jonah.” ' We are not told what initially prompted these words before the gathering crowds, probably a further re... [ Continue Reading ]
JESUS CONDEMNATION OF THOSE WHO SEEK SIGNS (11:29-32). The passage now takes up the reference to those who sought a sign in Luke 11:16, and within the chiastic analysis of the whole Section parallels the woes on the evangelised cities that have rejected Jesus' message in Luke 10:12. The basic lesso... [ Continue Reading ]
“For even as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will also the Son of man be to this generation.” The crowds knew that Jonah had arrived in Nineveh having spent three days in the innards of a large fish like creature. He had been dead and had come alive. (He also probably looked inhumanly pale... [ Continue Reading ]
“The queen of the south will rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation, and will condemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, a greater thing than Solomon is here. The men of Nineveh will stand up in the judgment with this generation,... [ Continue Reading ]
“No man, when he has lighted a lamp, puts it in a hiding place, nor under the corn measure, but on the stand, so that those who enter in may see the light.” The first principle that has to be established is that every man must light his lamp by following Jesus Christ (John 8:12) and looking to His w... [ Continue Reading ]
“The lamp of your body is your eye. When your eye is single, your whole body also is full of light, but when it is evil, your body also is full of darkness.” And how do we light that lamp? The light comes to us from God and from the Lord. And it comes through the window of the eye, which is itself t... [ Continue Reading ]
“Look therefore whether the light that is in you is not darkness.” Thus all must consider themselves carefully, for sadly some may still think that their darkness is light (they have never known any other). The world is full of people who think that they have light when all they have is darkness. Th... [ Continue Reading ]
“If therefore your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, it will be wholly full of light,” But if the eye is singly on Jesus and His word, then the whole body will be full of light and there will be no part dark. It will be wholly full of light. And it will shine out to others. And day... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Now when he had spoken a Pharisee asks him to dine with him, and he went in, and sat down to meat, and when the Pharisee saw it, he marvelled that he had not first drenched (baptizo) himself before dinner.' It may well be that Jesus had deliberately refrained from ceremonially washing his hands her... [ Continue Reading ]
THE WOEFUL STATE OF THOSE WHOSE LIGHT IS DARKNESS, AND WHO THEREFORE COME UNDER HIS WOES (11:37-52). But sadly there are those whose eyes turn away from the light. Instead of their eyes being fixed on His words they are turned to other words. And those words keep them in darkness, as the next incide... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And the Lord said to him, “Now you the Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the platter, but your inward part is full of extortion (‘greed') and wickedness.” ' Jesus is aware of what the Pharisee is thinking/saying and draws attention to their inconsistency. They cleanse the externals,... [ Continue Reading ]
“You foolish ones, did not he who made the outside make the inside also?” Then He gives a gentle rebuke. Such an attitude is foolish for God created all things. To be concerned about the outside and not the inside is to neglect half of creation, and God is equally concerned about both. Indeed He is... [ Continue Reading ]
“But give for alms those things which are within, and behold, all things are clean to you.” For the important lesson that they need to learn is that if they are clean on the inside everything will be clean to them. If they allow the light to shine within, all will be right. The outward giving of ch... [ Continue Reading ]
“But woe to you Pharisees! for you tithe mint and rue and every herb, and pass over justice and the love of God, but these ought you to have done, and not to leave the other undone.” His first ‘woe', but second criticism (His first was concerning ritual washing of both person and dishes), is that th... [ Continue Reading ]
“Woe to you Pharisees! for you love the chief seats in the synagogues, and the salutations in the marketplaces.” His next criticism is their attitude towards life. There too they reveal their superior attitude, and their contempt for the people of the land. They who are supposed to be exalting God a... [ Continue Reading ]
“Woe to you! for you are as the tombs which are not visible, and the men who walk over them are not aware of it.” The third woe is that they cause others to stumble. To touch a tomb or grave rendered a person ‘unclean' and meant a seven day period of cleansing. It was therefore important that tombs... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And one of the lawyers answering says to him, “Teacher, in saying this you insult us also.” ' The Rabbis who were sitting there were quite happy to listen to His criticism of the Pharisees. They would feel that it was certainly something that they needed, for they saw them as coming far too short... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And he said, “Woe to you lawyers also! for you load men with burdens grievous to be borne, and you yourselves touch not the burdens with one of your fingers.” ' Jesus now turned His criticism on the Doctors of the Law. They were no better than the Pharisees, for by their wide list of requirements t... [ Continue Reading ]
“Woe to you! for you build the tombs of the prophets, and your fathers killed them. So are you witnesses and consent to the works of your fathers, for they killed them, and you build their tombs.” Furthermore they associated themselves with the slaughter of the prophets by building them great tombs... [ Continue Reading ]
“Therefore also said the wisdom of God, ‘I will send to them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill and persecute', that the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zecharia... [ Continue Reading ]
“Woe to you lawyers! for you took away the key of knowledge. You did not enter in yourselves, and those who were entering in you hindered.” The final charge against the Doctors of the Law is that they kept from the people the knowledge of how they could enter the Kingly Rule of God, or the knowledg... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And when he was come out from there, the Scribes and the Pharisees began to press on him vehemently, and to provoke him to speak of many things, laying wait for him, to catch something out of his mouth.' When He came out from where He was the Scribes and Pharisees were not happy with what He had s... [ Continue Reading ]