What is the difference between a disciple and an apostle? In Matthew 10:1-23, Jesus chooses twelve ordinary men, gives them His authority, and sends them out. Dr. Toby Holt explains what set the apostles apart and what Jesus warned them to expect. Moved with compassion for crowds like sheep without a shepherd, Jesus called twelve unlikely men — fishermen, a tax collector, even Judas. Holt distinguishes a disciple, who patterns his life after his teacher, from an apostle, uniquely sent with the sender's authority. Jesus sent them first to Israel and warned they would be "sheep among wolves," facing rejection. Those who endure to the end will be saved.

Questions this study answers:

1. What is the difference between a disciple and an apostle? A disciple follows and imitates his teacher — true of every believer. An apostle was specially sent with Christ's own authority, a unique office.

2. What warnings did Jesus give? That they would be like sheep among wolves, facing rejection, arrest, even betrayal by family. He told them to be wise and to endure.

3. What were the apostles sent to do? To preach, heal, and call people to repentance with Christ's authority, beginning with Israel — carrying His message as His representatives.

"Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves." — Matthew 10:16 (NKJV)

Dr. Toby Holt is President of New Geneva Theological Seminary, and his sermons have been downloaded more than 1.9 million times on SermonAudio. Find more verse-by-verse Bible teaching at newgeneva.org; support this ministry at newgeneva.org/give.

At the end of Matthew 9, Jesus told His disciples to pray that God would send more laborers

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into the harvest, more shepherds who would help Him minister to herding sheep.

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In chapter 10, He commissioned 12 of these men for ministry, men that the Bible refers

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to as the 12 apostles.

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Today we are in chapter 10 of Matthew.

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Specifically, we're looking at this familiar story in which Jesus commissions and then sends the 12 apostles into the mission field of Israel.

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So that's the focus of chapter 10, the commissioning and the sending.

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With that said, we're starting in chapter 10, but do you remember the last words he spoke in chapter 9?

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The end of chapter 9 says this,

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He saw the multitudes, and he was moved with compassion for them, because they were wearied and scattered like sheep having no shepherd.

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Then he said to his disciples, the harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few.

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Therefore, pray the Lord of the harvest would send out laborers into his harvest.

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We're going to see that that statement about sending out laborers has everything to do with what he's going to do next.

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You know, a number of years ago, I had the privilege of serving as a chaplain in a hospital.

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And that meant I served in the ER, and that meant I encountered a lot of situations that were fairly traumatic.

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Now, if you walk into the ER, if you walk into the ER of a hospital after, say, a major

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incident has occurred, what you'll find when you go to the hospital is that the hospital

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is filled.

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And as you look out, you'll see that the biggest problem that there is is that there's plenty

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of people who are wounded and hurting, even dying, and yet there's not enough physicians

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to treat them.

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With that said, when Jesus looked out at the multitudes in chapter 9, everyone in his line

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of sight was in critical condition.

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Everyone he looked at was, spiritually speaking, dying.

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Whether they recognized it or not is a different matter,

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but he understood what he was seeing.

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Jesus knew that there weren't enough physicians on hand,

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and so he tells his disciples, he says,

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look about, look at the multitudes who are hurting.

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What do we need?

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We need more, like you men, like you 12 who will go out

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and minister to them in the midst of their hurt.

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So he says, pray.

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Pray that God would send more laborers.

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You know this is a darkened age.

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It was true then, it's true now.

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You know it's a darkened age.

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You know there's cancers and hardships and death.

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There's all manner of things.

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This world is one giant ER.

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And he said, we need more physicians.

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We need more laborers.

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We need more folks to go out and proclaim the good news.

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Not the good advice, the good news.

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So he tells the disciples, pray.

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Pray that God would do this.

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Pray for more servants.

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Pray for those who go out.

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Pray for more laborers.

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Jesus in his humanity could not simultaneously be in Capernaum and Jericho.

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Jesus in his humanity could not be all places at once, and so there was a desire in order to

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effectively minister to those in his age that others would be appointed to share the task,

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to share the privilege of going out and assisting those who were hurting. There was a bumper crop

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everywhere Jesus looked, and as a result, in chapter 9 he prays, and in chapter 10 he sends.

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He sends his 12 apostles out into kingdom service. All right, let's consider that service now. I'm

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to reread verses 1 through 4, if I don't butcher all the names here. I'll get through verses 1

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through 4, and then we'll work our way through the balance of the text. Verse 1, when he had

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called his 12 disciples to him, he gave them power over unclean spirits to cast them out and to heal

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all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease. Interesting, the primacy on the spirits.

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Interesting, he starts with the spirits and the demons and the like. In our day and age, we have

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no idea the negative spiritual footprint that's let down our community by that which we would

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call an evil spirit. Well, Jesus recognized it. And before he even gets to the cancer and the

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diabetes and the blindness and the leprosy, he starts with this. And so that's what he gives

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them the power and the authority to do. The authority is transferred from him to them,

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their commission. So to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease. Now,

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the names of the 12 apostles, notice that's a different word than he called them in verse one,

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Now, the names of the 12 apostles are these. First, Simon, who was called Peter, and Andrew,

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his brother. Then James, the son of Zebedee, and John, his brother. Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas,

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and Matthew, the tax collector. James, the son of Alphaeus and Labaius, whose sermon name was Thaddeus.

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Simon, the Canaanite, and Judas. Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him. All right, let's stop there.

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Before we continue, does anyone know, and don't shout it out, think about it, does anyone know

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the difference between a disciple and an apostle. I would ask you, is there a difference? And I'm

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going to answer my own question. The answer is yes, there is. You see, a disciple, a disciple is

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someone whose life is patterned after the rabbi, in the case of the Old Testament Jews. A disciple

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is someone who sits at the feet, who learns from the rabbi, and begins to walk in the way the rabbi

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has walked, whose approach to life and faith and the like is patterned after he who has fallen. So

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to be a disciple of someone is to, in effect, reflect them in your own faith and walk. Now,

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did Jesus have a lot of disciples? A lot of people sitting on his feet, a lot of people learning,

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a lot of people beginning to reflect him in their attitudes and affections. Yes, he had all manner

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of disciples. He had all manner of disciples. In fact, there's disciples even in the present. What

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did he say in Matthew 28? He says, go and make disciples of all the nations. So disciple is a

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term that applies to every Christian believer, every regenerate born-again son and daughter. You

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and I are disciples of Christ, but are you an apostle? Not so much. You see, an apostle is

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something different. An apostle, and here we see the 12 of them, an apostle is one who is sent on

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a particular mission and given the authority of the one who sends them. Now, we've all been sent

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in a sense. Yes, amen and amen. We've all been sent in a sense. However, these men stood out in

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some particular ways. First is this, they learned from Jesus Christ himself. They sat at his feet.

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Secondarily, he made them particular ambassadors that he did not make everyone else. He gave them

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authority and powers that weren't granted to everyone he encountered or everyone that was a

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disciple of him. He set apart 12. Just as he set apart the 12 tribes, he sets apart 12 apostles

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here, who will in time judge the 12 tribes. God knows what he's doing. He sets these people apart.

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He gives them a unique title. He gives them unique gifts. They're served in a unique time,

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a unique place. We call it the apostolic age. The church fathers that followed over the centuries,

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there were some great church fathers, but even they didn't just start calling themselves apostles.

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To be an apostle, to be an apostle is something unique, and it's a term that's given to these 12,

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Not necessarily to everyone who wants to take the title.

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Now, why them?

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That's the next question.

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If these 12 guys, if God says, you know, you, you, you, and you,

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I'm going to give special power, special authority.

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You're going to be my messengers.

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You're going to be my ambassadors.

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I'm going to give you an authority that I'm not sharing with every person under the sun,

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but it's going to be unique to you during this age to go and advance the kingdom.

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So if Jesus did that, then the question is, how did he choose?

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Was there apostolic tryouts? Was there like, everyone come on out, we're trying out for

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apostle today. Well, no. In fact, it's just the opposite. Not only is there no apostolic tryouts,

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it seems like if you were just standing back, it seems like Jesus just picked people at random.

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If you were standing back, it looks like when he starts picking fishermen out and tax collectors,

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if you were a Jew at that time, you'd be like, no, no, no, no. This is not where we start. This

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is not the dream team. Jesus, you got this wrong. Come on over. You want a dream team? You want like

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the super friends? We're going to get 12, and they're going to go out and conquer the world.

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Let's leave the tax collector alone. The fishermen, you know, they're well-meaning, but remember,

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they're fishermen. They haven't been trained in all the high and mighty things, right? Which is

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why the scribes and the Pharisees always hated them. They hated having fishermen come in and

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correct them and address them and the like. So why these guys? Well, the short answer is,

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I don't know. But you know what? I don't know why he chose me to be his son. I don't know why he

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chose you and I to be sons and daughters. I don't know why he does what he does, but I know that he

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does it, and I know there's great wisdom in the doing. He chose these 12. He even chose Judas

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for reasons that make no sense from a human perspective, and yet all the sense in the world

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if you're God who has a divine plan. Whatever the case, he assigns these 12, and then he says,

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All right, you remember? Remember in chapter 9, guys, when I was talking about the harvest?

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Well, go for it. I'm sending you on out into that field. All right, let's look at verses 5 through

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10 as we read about this field now. Verse 5, so these 12 Jesus sent out and he commanded them,

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do not go into the way of the Gentiles, interesting, and do not enter a city of the

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Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as you go, preach, preach,

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not give a message or suggestion, preach, saying the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick,

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cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.

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Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor copper in your money belts, nor bag for your journey,

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nor two tunics, nor sandals, nor staffs, for a worker is worthy of his food.

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All right, you know, the United States has this job that if you're a really great donor in a

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political campaign, you too could perhaps have. It's a job called being an ambassador. What happens

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is, and it's been true of all political parties, but what happens is if you would give a lot of

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money to a particular candidate, he goes on to be presidency, well, as one of the rewards,

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He'll send out ambassadors to different nations.

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With that said, how many ambassadors do you think there are?

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Well, the total, I had to Google it, but the total is 189 ambassadors

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sent out to countries that are small and countries that are great,

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countries all over the scope of things.

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Now, the ambassador that's sent to Fiji has what?

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He has a narrow audience, right?

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Furthermore, the ambassador to Fiji is not responsible for sharing anything

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with China, Russia, Iran, Iraq, what have you. That's not the way that that works. He has a

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narrow mission field. Well, the same is true here. What Jesus says, I'm sending you as my ambassadors.

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And there is one place I want you to go, and it's to those lost sheep of Israel. He said, at this

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time, you're not going to worry about the Gentiles. At this time, you're not going to worry about the

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Samaritans. But, verse 6, go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Now, why? Why just

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them. What's going on here? Didn't Jesus have a plan for these other people groups? Well, of course

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he did. Of course he did. Just ask the Apostle Paul if God had a plan for the Gentiles. Paul

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would say, yes, he did. Why? Because Paul was the ambassador. He was the apostle to the Gentiles.

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However, there's a distinction that we have to make, and that is this, that Paul's ministry,

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his ambassadorship took place when? Well, it wasn't during the time of Christ's ministry. It

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wasn't during the three and a half years, give or take, in which Jesus ministered publicly. Rather,

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it was after Jesus had died, was resurrected, and ascended. Paul's ministry to the Gentiles

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occurred after Christ's death. However, at the time we read this in Matthew 10, at the time that

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Jesus spoke to his apostles here in verse 5, the fig tree, so to speak, was not yet barren, was not

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yet dead, and Israel's rejection had not yet been cemented. And so the covenant community was still

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God's focus at this season, at this time when these words were spoken. But in time, after the

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rejection would be complete, after the crucifixion and the ascension, at that time Gentiles from

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every nation would be engrafted into the olive tree, so to speak, would be engrafted into the

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root. But in this particular time, this particular moment, the lost sheep of Israel remained the

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focus. And so verses 5 through 10, Jesus sends them out, not into Greece, not out to Rome or

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what have you. He sends them out by twos into Judea. Now, you would think that they would be

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more well-received in Judea than they would be in Rome or Greece or what have you. Well,

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you'd think that, but you'd be wrong. Let's look at how they're received, verses 11 through 15.

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Verse 11, now whatever city or town you enter, inquire who in it is worthy and stay there till

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you go out. And when you go into a household, greet it. And if that household is worthy,

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let your peace come upon it. But if it's not worthy, then let your peace return to you. And

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whoever will not receive you nor hear your words, when you depart from that house or that city,

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shake off the dust from your feet, for assuredly, and this is interesting, assuredly I say to you,

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it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment

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than for that city. All right. In the previous verses, Jesus had told you, I'm sending you,

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But by the way, let's travel light, guys.

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Let's travel light.

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That's one of the things you guys are going to do by faith.

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You're going to trust that if there is a sovereign God,

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then as you go out, he'll provide for you.

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He'll take care of you.

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Something we do in the church world and church planning

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and other aspects of ministry is sometimes we think

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that our situation has to be so idealized in order to succeed.

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Well, here's the thing.

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Jesus told the people he was sending out,

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don't even worry about that tunic and that second pair of sandals

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and a box of raisins and whatever else they were thinking of bringing.

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Don't bring it!

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He says one of the things you're going to demonstrate through faith is that the Father will look after you as you do your good work.

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You go into a town, there will be people there who will take care of you.

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And if there aren't, then kick off the dust off your feet, go down the road, you'll find another town, there will be people who will.

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You're not going to go hungry, you're not going to die in the wilderness, you will be looked out for.

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So he does this in verses 5 through 10.

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Now, some places, some places again would accept them more readily, others maybe less so.

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And so, again, there's this statement that if you go into a village, a town, a city,

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a hamlet in Israel, and they will not receive the message of the Jewish Messiah, they will

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not receive what you were telling them about me, they will not receive the good news and

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the hope and the consolation they've been waiting for for centuries.

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If they won't receive it, then do something visible.

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Kick the dust off your feet as a sign of judgment against them.

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This was a cultural thing to do.

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We know that because in Acts 13, Paul does the same thing when he leaves Antioch.

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He says, if they don't listen to you, there is something dreadfully wrong, because they should,

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because they've been given every advantage under the sun. And if they reject the advantages they've

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been given, and they reject the message, they reject these things, I assure you, my disciples,

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my apostles, it's going to be worse for them for doing so than it ever was against the poster

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children of God's wrath, the people of Sodom and Gomorrah. Sodom and Gomorrah. To this day,

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to this day, when you evoke those names, again, they're the poster children of wrath. But here,

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God's doing something interesting. He's saying that those who reject Jesus Christ, or not even

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reject him, but reject the apostles who speak of him, that the city that does that has garnered

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for itself a greater judgment than even the city's most famous in all of humanity for being

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judged. What is going on here? What is being said? Well, here's the thing. When these towns,

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when these hamlets, when these villages, when these little, you know, burbs outside of Jerusalem,

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when they would reject a guy like Peter or James or John or what have you, who were they really

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rejecting? Well, Jesus told them elsewhere. He says, if they reject you, take it to the bank,

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they're rejecting me. And if they're rejecting me, they're rejecting the Father who sent me.

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He says this in Luke 10. He's talking about some other cities. And in Matthew 10, he talks about,

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you know, Sodom and Gomorrah and the like. Well, here he identifies something different. He says,

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woe to you, Chorazin. Woe to you, Bethsaida. If the mighty works that were done in you

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had been done in Tyre and Sidon, which were famous for their destruction as well,

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They would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes,

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but it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you.

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And you, Capernaum, which was one of his favorite hangouts on earth,

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one of the places Jesus spent the most time was Capernaum.

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And he says this to Capernaum.

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He says, and you, Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven, you will be brought down to Hades.

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He who hears you, so now he's talking to his disciples, he who hears you hears me.

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and he who rejects you rejects me and who rejects me rejects him who has sent me for all of their

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evil for as bad a place as sodom was and i am sure it was dreadful i'm sure trip advisor would steer

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you away from sodom gomorrah these were the worst places filled with the worst people they were

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pagan they were evil they were wicked they were depraved but as bad as they were they had not

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rejected the Son of God, overtly, in the way that even the people of Capernaum had.

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The people of Sodom and Gomorrah were terrible people doing terrible things. However, they had

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not been the recipients of the mighty works and the mighty gospel that the people in Capernaum

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and elsewhere in Galilee had had. They had not received one-tenth, probably one-one-hundredth

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of the revelation. The light from heaven had not kissed the shores of Sodom and Gomorrah the way

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that it had Capernaum or Bethsaida. The Son of God came down from the throne, was born of a woman,

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grew up, began a public ministry. That ministry took him right in a place like Capernaum. He went

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to Capernaum and he teached. And people could look God in the eyeballs. And after looking God

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in the eyeballs, what did they do? They rejected him. And you begin to wonder why the judgment that

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befalls them would be worse than Sodom. Well, whether we wonder or not, Jesus said, you can

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take it to the bank, it will be. All right, let's look at verses 16 through 20. Behold, I send you

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out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore, be wise as serpents. Notice it doesn't say deadly

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as serpents. Wise as serpents and harmless as doves. But beware of men, for they will deliver

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you up to councils and scourge you in their synagogues. You'll be brought before governors

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and kings for my sake as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles. See, the Gentiles are not totally

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out of the picture here. But when they deliver you up, do not worry about how or what you should

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speak. For it will be given to you in that hour what you should speak. For it's not you who speaks,

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but of the Spirit of your Father who speaks through you. You know, one of the things, and I'm

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trying throughout this series on Matthew to do this, one of the things that we don't really

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understand or appreciate is how far gone Israel was at the time of Christ. We really don't understand

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or appreciate how far gone they were.

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Matthew, who was writing to a Jewish audience,

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knew how far gone they were.

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And he attempts to express it again and again and again.

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Israel was a spiritual wasteland in Christ's day.

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One of the reasons we know it's a spiritual wasteland

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because when he came to Jerusalem right before his Passover week,

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he looks at Jerusalem and he just cries.

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He just weeps.

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And he effectively tells them that you didn't know the hour of your visitation.

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I came to you much like a mother hen wants to gather the chicks close or what have you.

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I came to you with this sort of love and affection.

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You wouldn't have it.

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You wouldn't have it.

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They were further gone than we possibly know.

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When was the last time the temple was destroyed prior to 780?

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When was the last time?

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What year?

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586.

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586 B.C.

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By who?

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The Babylonians.

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At 586, the Babylonians came in.

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They destroyed, just leveled Jerusalem, just leveled the city.

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Now, Ezekiel, which we studied, I think, last spring, Ezekiel had visions.

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God told him, hey, here's what's going to go down.

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He's going to say, the reason the destruction is coming

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is not because they don't have a temple

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and it's not because they don't have priests in tall, pointy hats

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and it's not because they don't have sacrifices.

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They have all that stuff.

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The problem is, the problem is that they forgot what it all means.

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And they're going through the motions.

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And not only are they going through the motions,

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but as they go through the religious Jewish motions,

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they're adding, they're stapling to it all these false and foreign and pagan gods

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to the point that if you walked into the temple,

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if you walked in the courts on Ezekiel's day,

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you would find there were other altars and idols set up.

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There was drawings of creepy creatures on the walls.

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Ichabod, the glory had departed, which he literally does.

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I think it's in Ezekiel chapter 10.

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The glory leaves the threshold, goes up in the air.

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And what happens very shortly thereafter?

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Well, the city is destroyed.

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Why? Because it was a spiritual wasteland.

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Well, guess what?

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In 70 AD, one generation after the time of Christ's death,

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the city would be destroyed again. The reality is that when Jesus was operating in Judea and

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Galilee, Jerusalem, wherever he went, it was like the days of Ezekiel. The people had idols,

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they had pagan practices, they had denied every aspect of faith that the prophets had told them

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about to the point that when God himself came in their midst, they hated him and they killed him.

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They were gone. And because that was their condition, Jesus is talking to his apostles

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and he says, you know, guys, this isn't going to be easy.

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I'm sending you into an environment

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that is going to be more hostile to you

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than you even now know.

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He says you're going to be beaten and scourged

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and delivered up to councils and kings and dignitaries

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and all the like for my sake.

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But here's the thing.

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As you do so, you won't be alone.

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And in those moments when you're persecuted

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to the point even of death, you will not be alone.

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And when you're called upon to speak,

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you'll be given that which to say.

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But he told them it's not going to be easy.

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Those who fly the flag of King Jesus the highest will draw the most flack and sometimes what you

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might call friendly fire for daring to do so. Let's see how he builds on us as we look at our

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last verses. He's going to continue this theme because he wants them to know what he's getting

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them into. They're commissioned and sent into just a really tough battlefield. So verses 21 through

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23. Now, brother will deliver up brother to death, and as if that's not bad enough, and a father his

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child, and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death, and you will

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be hated by all for my name's sake, but he who endures to the end will be saved. When they persecute

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you in this city, flee to another, for surely I say to you, you will not have gone through all the

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cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes, which is an allusion to Daniel. You know, there's

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a verse in Scripture that warns us of something that I would warn you of as well. Do not be

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unequally yoked to unbelievers. 2 Corinthians 6, be ye not unequally yoked together with

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unbelievers. For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? What

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communion hath light with darkness. Now, why is that a big deal? Why should we avoid entering

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into relationships, especially marriages with unbelievers? Well, it is because of this.

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The believer and the unbeliever are not simply separated by an intellectual schism by which one

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person believes one thing and someone else intellectually believes another. That's not

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the difference. The difference is greater than that. The difference is what we call ontological.

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It reaches down into their very nature and to the life of their heart itself. And what Scripture

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would say is this, the unbeliever is dead in their sins and trespasses and spiritually flatlining.

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Meanwhile, the believer has been changed into something different to their very core.

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They are born again, which is not just a euphemism for the day you accepted Christ.

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Being born again speaks to an ontological difference by which your nature is different.

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You're a new creation in Christ, different than that which you previously were.

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And if that's true, then you'll operate differently than you used to. And if it's true,

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you will operate differently from those who continue in their unbelief and rebellion.

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That's why we don't be unequally yoked. Now, in times of peace, even in marriages maybe where

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there's no strife, you might not understand those distinctions when they're less visible. In our

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light time and age, 21st century North American Christianity, right now the persecution is not

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that intense, so to speak. It's a time of relative peace and freedom for believing what we want to

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believe and worshiping the way we want to worship. And because that's true, the distinctions I just

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made between belief and unbelief, regenerate and unregenerate, are not as obvious for now.

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But in times of religious persecution, all bets are off. In times of religious persecution,

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it is different. R.C. Sproul, in his commentary on the book of Matthew, he said this. He said,

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several years ago, I read a history of the oppression that the people of Hungary suffered

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after World War II when they were imprisoned by the Russian occupiers. And at that time,

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the Hungarians were forbidden to worship Jesus. They were not allowed to read their Bibles or

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to pray. And when the children went to school, they were questioned as to whether their parents

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prayed with them, or read the Bible to them. If the children said that they did,

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the secret police came. They came to the house that night, and they took the parents

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away. Some children who were older intentionally turned their parents in,

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and some parents turned their children in as well. You see, at 10,000 feet,

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at 10,000 feet, the nature of, let's say, an ox and a donkey, to use the biblical picture,

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of unequally yoked at 10 000 feet the difference in ox and donkey you can't even discern

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at 10 000 feet even when they're in the barn you don't really notice a huge difference four-legged

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creatures just sitting there right not a huge difference but put them out in the field

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put them in a situation where their natures are stress tested and their compatibility

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is tested and you'll see that they will operate very different ways

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that are often countered to one another when the apostles went out across judea what they were

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going to see was that certain towns and cities and certain families would respond differently

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certain individuals respond differently and what they were going to see was that they preached

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jesus into a hostile climate community some people's hearts would be changed to the holy

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spirit they've been able to receive that which they previously had rejected they would be enabled

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by God to understand that which others around them, maybe even people in their own family,

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would reject. And because this was true, and because the tensions were so high, what would

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happen is exactly what Scripture says would happen. Households are divided against one another.

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In fact, later in this very chapter, later in chapter 10, Jesus is going to say the same. He

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says, you think I came to brought peace? Just wait and you see what happens. Just wait. Mother's

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going to be turned against daughter and father against son. It's going to be hard and difficult

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because I'm the stumbling block of a fence.

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Those who enter through the narrow gate,

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those who turn to the Son of God,

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those who believe in Him,

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whose name alone can save,

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they will not only be saved,

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but their nature is going to be fundamentally different

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than those who will continue and ultimately die

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in the rejection and the rebellion.

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And in times of crisis,

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when these different people,

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when the ox and the donkey,

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when the Jacob and the Esau

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are against one another,

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in times of persecution, you'll see it.

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Perhaps in ways that we don't in our age, for now.

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But he said this is what to expect.

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As we close this morning, I'll mention one last thing from verse 23,

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which is the last verse we were looking at.

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In verse 23, Jesus told the disciples to go through all the cities.

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But interestingly, he tells them something that should make you stop and think for a moment.

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He says, all right, go do your thing.

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I'm sending you. It's going to be tough.

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Just go to it.

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Heal the sick, proclaim the kingdom, cast out the demons,

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get to it. But as you do it, what you're going to find is you're not going to reach all the cities

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before, before what? What does verse 23 say? For surely I say to you, you will not have gone

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through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes. Now, what? What does he mean by this?

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What is he talking about? Well, as we close, I'll mention three prevailing theories. On the one

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hand, some people think that this is referring to his final return. You know, his final coming.

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Jesus came here, and at some point in the future, he's going to yet come again. So some are thinking,

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Well, maybe that's the return he's talking about.

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The problem with that is what?

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The problem is it doesn't take 2,000 plus years and counting to reach the hamlets of Israel.

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Okay, so that's, in all likelihood, that's not what's being referred to.

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The coming of the arrival of the Son of Man in the future, when he comes at the end of time,

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is probably not what he's referring to his literal apostles when he told them to hurry up and make haste.

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He's probably talking about something different.

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Now, some people, the second theory that some people believe is that maybe he's talking about

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you're not going to have time to reach all the cities before my death, crucifixion, and ascension,

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and for the inauguration of my kingdom here on earth. He's saying maybe you're not going to reach

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all of them before that happens. And in fairness, that was going to happen pretty quickly. So some

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believe that maybe that's what he's referring to. However, I think that Jesus may have been

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referring to a different coming of the Son of Man, which is a picture again from the book of Daniel.

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It's possible what he's referring to is the judgment that was about to go down.

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He says, go and share the gospel with all these hamlets and towns and villages

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and all these families and all the folks and all the lost sheep.

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Seek out the lost sheep of Israel.

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Because judgment is coming upon the house of Israel.

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It's very possible that what he's referring to is his coming in judgment in 70 AD,

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one generation later, in which Jerusalem would be destroyed and the people would be oppressed.

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This is a theory that we're going to explore in greater detail when we get to his Olivet Discourse

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in Matthew 24. As inclined as I am to just jump in, let's wait for that. Let's pray.