Parallel accounts are found in Mark 3:13-19; 6:7-11 and Luke 9:1-6, but the one in Matthew is the fullest. Connect this lesson with the last verses of chapter nine, where we are told that Jesus had compassion on the multitude, because: "They fainted, and were scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd." (Matthew 9:36)
Jesus bade His disciples pray that the Lord of the harvest would send out laborers into His harvest, and the next thing mentioned is that He called His twelve disciples to Him, and sent them forth.
Power and Authority
"He gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease." (Matthew 10:1)
In the margin we find "over" instead of "against," and the Revised Version reads: "He gave them authority over unclean spirits." (Matthew 10:1)
Still more emphatic is the record in Luke 9: "He called His twelve disciples together, and gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure disease. And He sent them to preach the kingdom of God, and heal the sick." (Luke 9:1-2)
Some suppose that this commission has expired, and that miracles no more occur in the church; but that is equivalent to saying that the preaching of the Gospel has ceased; for the power by which the devils are cast out, and the sick are healed, is the power by which the Gospel is preached in its fullness. "The Gospel ... is the power of God unto salvation unto everyone that believes." (Romans 1:16) "The preaching of the cross is to those who are saved the power of God." (1 Corinthians 1:18)
Now the power of God is unlimited and undivided; wherever the power of God is displayed, there nothing is impossible. The power of God is the same now that it was nineteen hundred years ago. The same power that saves men's souls, heals their bodies, and cast out devils. If we say that we do not see such power accompanying the preaching of the Gospel, that shows, not a defect in the Gospel, but in the relation of men to it. If the power is not manifested, then it is for each Christian to ask himself, Why?
But as a matter of fact, the same power and authority which Christ gave to the twelve is manifested today wherever the Gospel is really preached, and souls are saved. The Gospel is the power of God to salvation from sin. It purifies the heart by faith. "Peter rose up, and said unto them, Men and brethren, you know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe. And God, which knows the hearts, bore them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as He did unto us; And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith." (Acts 15:7-9)
Now all men are by nature sinful, and therefore under the power of Satan. "And you has He quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; Wherein in time past you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience: Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others." (Ephesians 2:1-3) "But rise, and stand upon your feet: for I have appeared unto you for this purpose, to make you a minister and a witness both of these things which you have seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto you; Delivering you from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send you, To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me." (Acts 26:16-18)
Satan is the author of sin: "He that commits sin is of the devil; for the devil sinned from the beginning." (1 John 3:8)
Just to the extent that one is a servant of sin, is he under the control of Satan. When therefore a soul is saved from sin, he is simply delivered from the power of the devil. The man in whom Christ dwells by faith, has had the devil cast out. Thus it appears that wherever the Gospel is really preached, and wherever there is real conversion, there has been the miracle of the casting out of devils.
God does not do things simply to astonish people, and to cause them to stare. Many people long to see miracles and wonders, just as they long for any excitement or sensation. God does not gratify the curiosity of such. But He is continually working miracles, however, and they who do not see them would soon cease to see anything marvelous in the raising of the dead from their graves.
Those who serve God in Spirit and in truth, acknowledging His power in all things, are continually lost in wonder at His marvelous works. To them there are no little things, for the least thing that God does is miraculous, because it is infinite. "The weakness of God is stronger than men." (1 Corinthians 1:25)
When men are living by God's Word, and are continually recognizing His power, they do not go wild when something is done that even the unthinking call a miracle. They know that miracles are God's natural working.
When the young man fell down from the third storey, while Paul was preaching, "and was taken up dead," (Acts 20:9) the Lord by Paul restored him to life, and the apostle continued his discourse. It was not because the people were unappreciative, but because they lived in constant appreciation of God's power and working.
When professed Christians learn to recognize God in all His works, and acknowledge His wonderful working in all things, so that if a dead man should be raised to life they would not give the world the idea that the manifestation of such power is an unusual thing on God's part, we may expect to see the early days of the church restored.
That which Christ said to the twelve, He says to all. To every Christian, even the humblest, He gives "power and authority over all devils." "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." (James 4:7)
With the shield of faith we are able to "quench all the fiery darts of the wicked." (Ephesians 6:16) "[Christ] suffered for us in the flesh, [that we might arm ourselves] with the same mind." (1 Peter 4:1) "[He] suffered being tempted." (Hebrews 2:18)
When the devil tempted Jesus, the Lord said to him, "Get you hence, Satan, ... [and] the devil left Him." (Matthew 4:10-11)
There was power and authority over the devil, which is given to every believer. Take it, use it, and rejoice in it.
The Lost Sheep of Israel
Jesus said to the twelve as He sent them forth, "Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter not: But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." (Matthew 10:5-6)
There is something about this charge that is not perfectly clear to our present understanding. The explanation will doubtless be found in the condition of the twelve at that time, since we see that even after Jesus ascended, it was a long time before there was much preaching to any besides the Jews.
But of one thing we may be sure, and that is that the words of Jesus to them did not mean that they should be narrow in their sympathies and labors. The Gospel from the beginning, even as today, is for "all people." (Luke 2:10) "But you shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and you shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." (Acts 1:8)
Let us note a few items concerning the lost sheep of the house of Israel. The Son of God came because "God so loved the world." (John 3:16)
He gave himself "for the life of the world." (John 6:51) "By the grace of God He tasted death for every man." (Hebrews 2:9)
Yet He himself said, "I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel," (Matthew 15:24) although He was sent "that the world through Him might be saved." (John 3:17)
Moreover at the very time that Jesus said that He was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, He was about to grant the request of the heathen woman, and heal her daughter.
Again, the Apostle James, recalling how "God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for His name," (Acts 15:14) said that this was in fulfillment of the words of the prophets, as it is written: "After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up: That the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, says the Lord." (Acts 15:16-17)
So we see that the house of Israel is restored and built up by the conversion of the Gentiles. "All Israel shall be saved," (Romans 11:26) by the bringing in of: "the fullness of the Gentiles." (Romans 11:25)
Thus we see that the Gospel which the twelve were sent to preach was not a narrow one. It differed in no respect from that which God sends to us and which we are to proclaim to others. "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all." (Isaiah 53:6)
So we are the lost sheep of the house of Israel, and unto us is the word of this salvation sent. "And the Spirit and the Bride say, Come. And let him that hears say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." (Revelation 22:17)
Then, "As you have freely received, even so, freely give." (Matthew 10:8)--Present Truth, February 10, 1898--Notes on the International Sunday-School Lesson, February 20--Timeline: IV-34 (Mission of the Twelve)--Matthew 10:1-15.