Title: 13
Author: Joe G
Last saved by: Paul J. Davey
Company: GDC

Clanking Chains

		07-08-19-A.CC02-793 /

Jesus Commissions 70 Evangelists, Lk 10:1; His Mission Shifts from Leadership to the People, 10:2; It Is Not Decreed that Any Should Perish, 2 Pet 3:9

68)	The seventy were men who believed that Jesus was Messiah.  None of them are named in Scripture.  They were selected in the same manner that the Lord chose the 12 apostles in Matthew 10:2-4.  Their mission was to take the message to the people of Galilee.
69)	The spiritual leaders in Palestine in general and in Jerusalem in particular had rejected Jesus as the Christ.  The Lord is now refocusing His emphasis away from leadership over to the general population.
70)	He chooses to begin His outreach to the people in His home province of Galilee.  Because of the enlarged number of people now to be contacted, the Lord enlarged His missionary organization to include these seventy unnamed evangelists.
71)	Their initial area of influence was around the northern shores of the Sea of Galilee and the communities of Chorazin \kō‑rā'‑zin\, Bethsaida \beth‑sā'‑e‑da\, and \ka‑per'‑na‑um\.
72)	The “appointment” of the seventy is in Luke 10:1 which translates the word ¢nade…knumi, anadeiknumi which means “to commission someone to an office.”  It is a legal term and indicates that the Lord made a public pronouncement assigning plenipotentiary authority to these men.
73)	These seventy men are called “others” meaning in addition to the twelve he had already appointed but with a different mission.  The word “others” translates the noun ›teroj, heteros which refers to “others of a different kind.”  
Luke 10:1 -		After this, the Lord appointed seventy 
others and sent [ ¢postšllw, apostellō ] them two by two, into every town and place where He Himself was about to go. 
 1)	This verse documents the commissioning of these seventy men who were to function on a specific mission to certain communities in Galilee.  The word “sent” is aorist active indicative of the verb apostellō: to send forth on a certain mission.
2)	The Lord is shifting His emphasis away from Israeli leadership to the people.  He has now set up an evangelistic organization made up of seventy advance men.
3)	Their assignment is to present the gospel to the citizens of three communities and to identify those who respond to the message after which the Lord will arrive and teach doctrine.
4)	His address to the seventy begins with both an encouragement and a challenge:
Luke 10:2 -		He said to them, “The harvest is abundant, but the workers are few.  Therefore pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.”
 1)	The encouragement is the fact that there are abundant people who have reached God consciousness among the target population and they need to hear a presentation of the gospel.
2)	The challenge is that there are more that are prospects than there are evangelists available.  Consequently, they are commanded to pray to “the Lord of the harvest.”  The word “pray” is the aorist middle imperative of dšomai, deomai.  In the middle voice it makes reference to a personal need that is to be expressed to God in prayer.  Deomai is the Greek word for petition: to ask for oneself.  If all the prospects are to be contacted then more evangelists need to be provided.
3)	The One that is in charge of all evangelistic activities is called toà kur…ou toà qerismoà, tou kuriou tou therismou: “the Lord of the harvest.”  It is God’s desire that all come to salvation.  Many will not, but all are qualified due to reconciliation.
2 Peter 3:9 -	The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some conclude, but God keeps on being patient toward us and does not decree [ m¾ boÚlomai, mē boulomai ] that anyone should perish [ ¢pÒllumi, apollumi ] but for all to come to a change of mind [ met£noia, metanoia ] about Christ.

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