And he spoke also a parable to them to the purport that they should always pray and not faint,
Luke opens this chapter with a rare thing: the Lord tells us in advance what a parable is for, and the purpose is prayer that does not quit. Prayer needs that push because of delay, because of trial, and because of the strong pull to give up.
The setting of the parable is narrow: a scene of ruin and coming judgment. The lesson drawn from it is not narrow at all. One writer draws out why that matters:
Here is prayer in a setting of ruin and deep trial — prayer with evil close at hand, and God's judgment coming... This is all the more striking. The circumstances are clearly limited, but what He draws from them is universal. The Lord is urging prayer in view of the final trial; but He opens with a plain moral rule about the value of prayer at all times.
The widow in the story has no protector, no influence, and no second option. That is the point of the picture. It shows what "not lose heart" asks of us:
Faith would be tested. If people looked to God, and not just to the blessing, they would not give up, even when no answer came. They would go on, always looking up, though everything seemed against them. The widow stands for people who have no human help. Their one help would be steady, unbroken prayer.
Losing heart is not failing to pray once. It is dropping a prayer because nothing has happened. The verse calls for prayer that keeps going:
We must persevere. We must not lose heart and give up, even when the answer does not come as fast as we expect. It may please God to exercise our souls by keeping us waiting on Him for days, months, or perhaps years. The exercise is good. It is morally healthy; it tends to make us real; it brings us down to the roots of things.
The same writer measures ordinary prayer meetings against this standard and finds them wanting:
I feel there is a great lack of earnestness and perseverance in our prayer meetings generally... We do not seem like men in earnest. We lack the spirit of the widow in Luke 18, who overcame the unjust judge by the sheer force of her persistence.
Some readers assume the judge stands for God — as if God must be worn down before He acts. Commentators reject that reading:
The argument runs from the lesser to the greater. The unjust judge no more stands for God than the unjust steward in Luke 16 stands for the disciple. Even the unjust judge would rather see justice done for the most helpless and friendless person than be worn down by endless appeals. How much more will God step in on behalf of His elect against their enemies!
The two delays look alike from outside and are opposite underneath:
Why did the judge not answer? Because of his selfishness! Why does the Lord not come back? Because of His long-suffering. The Lord seems to pass by our prayers, as the judge passed by the poor woman — but the judge passed her by out of selfishness! The Lord passes by, not wishing that any should perish.
Writers connect the widow to the faithful remnant of Israel in a coming time of persecution, since her cry for vengeance fits saints awaiting deliverance by judgment on their oppressors. Even so, the wider use of the verse is not lost:
The Holy Spirit gives this call a wider reach, with the moral purpose we have often noticed in Luke's Gospel. Every saint should profit by it.
Commentators differ over the details. Some saw Jerusalem in the widow. Others saw the early Church under Roman rule. Kelly holds that the parable is meant only to encourage people to keep praying at any time.
Waiting is where most people give up. Here is delay described plainly:
The Lord may keep us waiting a very long time and still intend all along to grant the request in the end. He may delay to make the blessing greater when it comes. We tend to think delay means denial. It is not always so.
- Purpose stated. The Lord tells us the point before He tells the story — always pray, never lose heart — so no one can make it mean something else.
- Purpose tested. Delay is the test. If we look to God Himself, and not just to the blessing, we keep looking up when nothing has changed.
- Purpose contrasted. The judge acts to be rid of a nuisance; God bears long out of long-suffering. The argument runs from the worst judge to the best Father.
- Purpose widened. The scene points to believers in a coming time of trial. Yet the lesson is general — every believer should profit from it.
- Purpose applied. Persistence is what the verse asks for. Waiting months or years is not wasted time; it is the exercise that makes us real.
saying, There was a judge in a city, not fearing God and not respecting man
A judge with no fear of God and no concern for people is the last person a helpless woman would want to face. Yet the Lord chose him to open a lesson on prayer. The parable turns on one question. If even this man gives in, what will God do for those who cry to Him?
Luke tells us the point before he tells us the story. The setting is dark, but the lesson reaches wider than the setting.
Here it is prayer out of a setting of desolation and deep trial — prayer with evil close at hand, and divine judgment too... This is all the more striking. The circumstances are limited, but what He draws from them is universal. The Lord is urging prayer with a view to the final trial. Even so, He starts with a plain moral instruction on the value of prayer at all times: people ought always to pray, and not lose heart.
Two things are said of him, and together they remove every restraint. He fears no judgment from God above him, and he has no regard for people below him. Such men were real.
Our Lord stressed persistence. He gave as an example a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. You see such a judge again and again in the pages of Josephus. He wrote the history of the Jews at the time when the Romans under Titus destroyed Jerusalem. This judge had no principle and no compassion.
Notice what did not move him. The rightness of her case never entered the argument.
We are not told whether the woman who came to him had a just cause against her adversary. It likely made no difference to the judge either way. He was not interested, so at first he would do nothing for her. But she kept presenting her case. In the end he gave judgment in her favour, just so she would not bother him any more. The Lord insists that he was unjust.
The Lord picks two figures at opposite extremes of power. The widow's adversary was the very person who owed her protection.
The figures used were the best possible for encouragement. On one side stands a judge of unrighteousness, who neither feared God nor respected man. On the other stands a widow wronged by an adversary. He was near enough to do her all the greater harm, because he should have been her protector. Yet her persevering cry wore out the judge's indifference. He could not stand her continual appeal, and to escape the annoyance he let her have justice.
This matters, or the parable teaches the opposite of what it means. The Lord does not compare God to the judge. He contrasts God with him.
This is an argument from the lesser to the greater. It no more treats the unjust judge as God than the unjust steward in Luke 16 stands for the disciple... Even the unrighteous judge would rather grant the rights of the most friendless and feeble than be stunned with appeals forever. How much more will God step in on behalf of His elect against their enemies!
And the reasoning does not stop at logic. God has more than a character to uphold.
If the unjust judge listens and acts for the defenceless, whatever his motive, will not God? But this is far from all. God has His affections, not only His character, but objects of His delight. Will God not avenge His own elect? He is the righteous God who takes vengeance. It could never suit Him to make light of evil or to let the wicked go unpunished. For then how shall He judge the world?
Commentators differ over how far the picture reaches. Kelly ties the widow closely to the faithful remnant of Israel caught up in the judgment described just before, yet insists the lesson is for all: "Every saint should profit by it." Fereday reads the same setting forward:
Dark days are coming, when people turn against Christ and abandon the faith. The Christian world and the Jewish world will join hands in the worst wickedness. Those who hold to God will have no resource but prayer... God will certainly avenge their wrongs and judge their oppressors in His own time. The question is this: will His people wait for Him, and accept no deliverance except what comes from His hand?
The widow's method — coming back again — is the practical lesson. Delay tests faith rather than defeating it.
He may delay His answer to prayer, if that pleases Him. Faith still holds on. It knows for certain that infinite power and love will never let a single trusting soul be overwhelmed. "Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning."
- Purpose — Luke gives the point before the story: keep praying, do not lose heart.
- Pressure — The judge yields to nothing but persistence; he acts to be rid of her, not to right a wrong.
- Powerlessness — The widow had no power and no protector. Her one weapon was to keep coming back.
- How much more — The argument runs upward, not across. If persistence wears down indifference, love will answer.
- Patience — God being slow is not God refusing. The one question left is whether His people will wait for Him alone.
and there was a widow in that city, and she came to him, saying, Avenge me of mine adverse party.
The parable sets a judge who fears neither God nor man against a widow who keeps coming to him for justice. Everything about her spells weakness — no husband, no influence, no friend at court — so the question is what a person like that can still do.
The Lord chose both figures on purpose — the hardest court, the weakest plaintiff.
The figures used were the best possible to encourage. On one side is an unrighteous judge, who neither feared God nor respected man. On the other is a widow wronged by an adversary near enough to do her all the greater harm, because he should have been her protector. Yet her persevering cry wore out the judge's indifference. The Lord shows the thoughts and motives of the judge's heart, and draws the believer's attention to the way God's providence even now works on the most reckless and unprincipled men for the sake of the oppressed.
Her problem is not only that her cause is unheard. It is that nobody has any reason to hear it.
A widow pleads her case, a woman robbed of her natural supporter. Who cares for a widow? — her influence is nothing, and the judge does not care one straw that her adversary should have justice measured out to him.
The verb behind "she kept coming to him" is not a single visit. Kelly notes the tense:
Luke 18:3 — "Came"; or, "kept coming" (imperfect tense).
That repetition is the whole point of the parable for the person praying today:
Here, then, we have an important moral condition pressed on us: perseverance. "They ought always to pray and not lose heart." This is closely tied to being definite and persistent, which we spoke of already. We want a certain thing; we cannot do without it. So we wait on our God — urgently, together, in faith, and without giving up — until He graciously sends an answer. And He surely will, if the moral basis and the moral conditions are kept up.
The judge stalls. God also seems to stall. The reasons are opposites.
Then He shows how the judge turned a deaf ear to the poor widow. Now does not the Lord appear to do the same? It was the judge's wickedness — it is His glory, and His long-suffering. Why did the judge not answer? Because of his selfishness! Why does the Lord not come back? Because of His long-suffering. The Lord seems to pass by our prayers, as the judge did pass by the poor woman, but the judge passed her by because of his selfishness! The Lord passes by, not willing that any should perish.
Read it as a contrast, not a likeness.
It is an argument from the lesser to the greater, which no more views the unjust judge as God than the unjust steward in Luke 16 means the disciple. In both cases the appeal is either powerful or comforting. Jesus would encourage us to pray always and not lose heart, even when the answer seems slow and evil seems to grow. Even the unrighteous judge would rather see to the right of the most friendless and feeble than be forever stunned with appeals. How much more will God step in for His elect against their enemies!
Commentators differ here. Kelly holds that the exact application points to a suffering group in Israel, while the lesson still reaches every believer:
In short, then, the parable touches the godly Jewish Remnant rather than the Christian when we come to the exact application of the widow... Still, the Holy Spirit gives the exhortation a wider bearing, and with the moral purpose we have so often noticed in our Evangelist. Every saint should profit by it.
Another writer applies the widow to the Church, and finds in her lack of any earthly resource the root of unceasing prayer:
Her very state of loss has been the means, in the dealings of the God of all comfort, of her choicest blessing... The Church enters most fully into the enjoyment of the boundless affections of her Lord when she realizes her widowhood, as far as earth is concerned — her desolation, in this respect, as having not a single visible resource. And not only that: by it her entire dependence on Him would be deepened. Out of this again would grow her continual supplications and prayers night and day.
- Desolation. The widow has lost her protector. Her adversary is the very man who should have shielded her, and the court is the hardest possible.
- Dependence. Having nothing visible to lean on is not her disqualification. It is the source of her crying to God night and day.
- Persistence. She kept coming. One definite plea, brought again and again, not one try then silence.
- Delay. The judge ignored her out of selfishness. When God delays, the cause is His long-suffering, not indifference.
- Contrast. The argument runs from lesser to greater. A godless judge gave justice just to be rid of her; God will surely act for His own.
And he would not for a time; but afterwards he said within himself, If even I fear not God and respect not man,
The judge acts at last, but not because the widow is in the right. First comes a stretch of flat refusal. Then he talks himself into it. Why would the Lord hold up such a man to people He wants praying? That question is the force of the verse.
The refusal lasted a while, and that stretch of nothing is where most people give up. One writer sets the parable against that experience:
God's delay in answering prayer often tries even true-hearted souls, and tempts them to give up praying. To all such, the parable of the Unjust Judge has an encouraging voice.
The waiting is not wasted time. It does something to the one who waits:
We must persevere. We must not faint and give up, though the answer does not come as quickly as we might expect. It may please God to exercise our souls by keeping us waiting on Him for days, months, or perhaps years. The exercise is good. It is morally healthy; it tends to make us real; it brings us down to the roots of things.
From the outside, a delayed answer looks the same whoever gives it. The parable forces us to ask why each one holds back:
The judge lent a deaf ear to the poor widow. Does the Lord not appear to do the same? It was the judge's wickedness — it is His glory, and His long-suffering. Why did the judge not answer? Because of his selfishness! Why does the Lord not come back? Because of His long-suffering. The Lord passes by, not willing that any should perish.
The judge names his own godlessness as he reasons with himself. One commentator passes on Bengel's summary of those words:
"The creed of a powerful atheist."
That is why the parable uses such a man. The Lord lets us listen in on a mind with no better motive in it:
The figures used were the best possible for encouragement. On one side stands a judge of unrighteousness who neither feared God nor respected man. On the other stands a widow wronged by an adversary who was near enough to do her all the more harm, because he should have been her protector. Yet her persevering cry wore out the judge's indifference. He could not stand her continual appeal, and to escape the annoyance he let her have justice. The Lord reveals the thoughts and motives of the judge's heart. He points the believer to how God's providence still works for the oppressed, even through the most reckless and unprincipled of men.
Nothing in this man is meant to describe God. The comparison runs upward, from the worst case to the best:
This is an argument from the lesser to the greater. It no more treats the unjust judge as a picture of God than the unjust steward in Luke 16 stands for the disciple. In both cases the appeal is powerful, or comforting. Jesus would have us always pray and not lose heart, even when the answer seems slow and evil seems to spread. Even the unrighteous judge would rather see justice done for the most friendless and feeble person than face endless appeals. How much more will God step in on behalf of His elect against their enemies!
So what keeps a person praying when nothing comes back?
Faith would be put to the test. If people looked to God, and not merely to the blessing, they would not lose heart, even when no answer came. They would keep going, always looking up, though everything seemed against them. The widow represents those who have no human help: their one resource would be steady prayer.
Who exactly does the widow stand for? One writer applies her first to a group in Israel, then widens the lesson:
In short, the parable touches the godly few left in Israel rather than the Christian, when we come to the exact application of the widow. Still, the Holy Spirit gives the call a wider reach, with the moral purpose we have so often noticed in Luke's Gospel. Every believer should profit by it.
- Refusal — "For a while he refused" is the hinge of the parable. The delay, not the outcome, tests the one praying. That is where people give up.
- Reason — The judge withheld out of selfishness. God's delay comes from long-suffering. The pause may look the same. The heart behind it is opposite.
- Contrast — The judge is not a portrait of God. He is the lowest possible comparison. If even a man who fears neither God nor man will act, how much more will God act for His own.
- Resource — The widow has nothing but her voice, and that is her qualification. Those with no human resource have constancy in prayer.
- Result — Waiting is not lost time. It makes us real, brings us down to the roots of things, and trains us to pray always and not lose heart.
at any rate because this widow annoys me I will avenge her, that she may not by perpetually coming completely harass me.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge says.
The Lord stops the story and tells His hearers to listen again — not to the widow, but to the judge and his private reasoning. Why should a man who cared nothing for God or people teach us about prayer?
What the Lord asks us to hear is not a verdict but a calculation. The judge gave the widow justice to buy his own peace. Jesus opens up that reasoning for the believer to study.
The figures used were the best possible for encouragement. On one side stood a judge of unrighteousness, who neither feared God nor respected man. On the other stood a widow wronged by an adversary. He was near enough to do her all the greater harm, because he should have been her protector. Yet her persistent cry wore down the judge's indifference. He could not stand her endless appeal, and to escape the annoyance he gave her justice. The Lord reveals the thoughts and motives of the judge's heart. He draws the believer's attention to God's providential ways. Even now they work in the most reckless and unprincipled people on behalf of the oppressed.
The Lord's own comment unlocks the story. The judge is not a portrait of God, but the low end of a comparison, and the force runs upward.
The comment which the Lord adds, as the second part and the application, makes it all plain to the trained ear… It is an argument from the lesser to the greater. It no more treats the unjust judge as God than the unjust steward in Luke 16 stands for the disciple. In both cases it is a powerful, or a comforting, appeal. Jesus would encourage us to pray always and not lose heart, even if the answer seems slow and evil spreads. Even the unrighteous judge would rather give justice to the most friendless and feeble person than be stunned by endless appeals. How much more will God step in for His elect against their enemies!
Both the judge and God appear to ignore the cry for a while. The likeness stops there, because the reason behind each silence is opposite.
Now does not the Lord appear to do the same? It was the judge's wickedness — it is His glory, and His long-suffering. Why did the judge not answer? Because of his selfishness! Why does the Lord not come back? Because of His long-suffering. The Lord seems to pass by our prayers, just as the judge passed by the poor woman. But the judge passed her by because of his selfishness! The Lord passes by, not willing that any should perish.
The comparison alone would steady a praying person. But the next verse adds something the judge never had: those crying are God's own.
In the parable there are two considerations. If the unjust judge hears and acts for the defenceless, whatever his motive, will not God? But that is far from all. God has His affections, not only His character, but objects of His delight. "And will not God avenge His own elect?" The righteous God takes vengeance. It can never suit Him to make light of evil or let the wicked go unpunished. For then how would He judge the world?
Commentators link the widow with those who will suffer in the last days, when prayer is the only help left. Yet the lesson reaches wider.
The first eight verses of our chapter complete the prophetic warning. They show that the resource of the righteous in the last days will be prayer. The parable has a special application to the future oppression of God's witnesses who will then be found in Jerusalem. Even so, this gospel, as usual, keeps the teaching general, so that it fits any and every difficulty that tests people… The widow represents those who have no human resource: their resource would be constancy in prayer.
Some writers read the widow's own plea for justice as belonging to that setting, not to Christian speech.
"Give me justice against my adversary" is not Christian language. It was right for saints before the cross, as the Psalms show. It will also be a fitting desire for those persecuted between the rapture and the appearing. Christians look to be taken out of this scene, leaving their enemies behind them.
- Hear. The Lord points to the judge's own private words. Even a man with no fear of God ends up doing right by the helpless.
- Compare. The argument runs upward, not across. The judge is the low bar, not a picture of God, just as the unjust steward in Luke 16 is no model disciple.
- Contrast. The judge's delay came from selfishness. God's delay comes from long-suffering: He is not willing that any should perish.
- Belong. The judge owed the widow nothing. Those who cry day and night are God's own elect, the objects of His delight. Justice for them is certain.
- Persevere. The widow had nothing else to fall back on, and neither will the saints of the last days. So the parable teaches everyone to pray always and not lose heart.
And shall not God at all avenge his elect, who cry to him day and night, and he bears long as to them?
The parable behind this verse puts a widow with no power next to a judge with no conscience. Then it asks a question about God. If even a careless judge finally acts, what will God do for people who are His own and who never stop calling on Him?
The unjust judge is not a portrait of God. He is the weakest possible case. The Lord uses him so no one can escape the conclusion about God.
It is an argument from the lesser to the greater. It no more treats the unjust judge as God than the unjust steward in Luke 16 stands for the disciple. Jesus would have us always pray and never lose heart, even when the answer seems slow and evil grows. Even the unrighteous judge would rather grant justice to the most friendless and feeble than be worn down by endless appeals. How much more will God not step in on behalf of His elect against their enemies!
The Lord does not rest the case only on God being better than the judge. He adds that the people crying are His own. God's own righteousness is also at stake, since He is going to judge the world.
In the parable there are two considerations. If the unjust judge hears and acts for the defenceless, whatever his motive may be, will not God? But this is far from all. God has His affections, not only His character, but objects of His delight. "And will not God give justice to His elect?" It can never suit the righteous God, who takes vengeance, to make light of evil. Nor can it suit Him to let the wicked go unpunished. For then how shall He judge the world? He notices the cry from the oppressed day and night, and it is the cry of His own elect.
The elect have nothing else to lean on. So the question becomes one of simple dependability.
God's elect, virtually helpless in a persecuting world, have only God to depend upon. Their cause is right, and God is absolute in justice and truth. Is He less dependable than a selfish judge? Let His own cry day and night to Him, never discouraged because the time seems long.
The judge delays, and God appears to delay too. But the reason behind each delay is opposite.
Then He shows how the judge turned a deaf ear to the poor widow. Now does not the Lord appear to do the same? It was the judge's wickedness — it is His glory, and His long-suffering. Why did the judge not answer? Because of his selfishness! Why does not the Lord come back? Because of His long-suffering. The Lord passes by, not willing that any should perish.
Commentators differ over who "them" means in the closing question, "Will he delay long over them?" The pronoun can be read two ways.
The word "them" means either the "elect" remnant, as one expositor takes it, or the adversaries. Field translates it: "He deferred His anger on their behalf" — that is, for the elect.
The widow's plea does not sound like Christian prayer. It fits God's people in other times — before the cross, and in a coming time of persecution.
"Give me justice against my adversary" is not Christian language. It was proper for saints before the cross, as the Psalms show. It will also be a fitting wish for those who are persecuted between the rapture and Christ's appearing. Christians look to be taken out of this scene, leaving their enemies behind them. Saints on earth after the Christian period can only look for deliverance when judgment falls on their persecutors.
Yet the cry itself is an act of faith, and God's delay has its own purpose.
There is real faith in crying to God day and night like this. If He delays, He is not slow about His promises, but is bringing souls to repentance so that they too might be saved. And there is perseverance until the answer comes.
Though the setting is a particular crisis, the Lord draws a universal duty out of it.
It is the more striking, because the circumstances are clearly limited, while what He draws from them is universal. The Lord is urging prayer, in view of the final trial. Yet He starts with a plain moral rule about the value of prayer at all times: men ought always to pray, and not lose heart. God will not be careless about the constant cry of His own elect. They look abandoned, and all the might of man is against them in their fiery trial. But the duty always remains true.
- Lesser to greater. The unjust judge is no picture of God. He is the worst case, chosen so the conclusion about God is unavoidable.
- His own. God acts not only because His character is just, but because the ones crying are the objects of His delight.
- Righteousness. He cannot make light of evil or leave the wicked unpunished — otherwise how would He judge the world?
- Delay. The judge put her off out of selfishness. God's silence is His long-suffering. He is not willing that any should perish.
- Always. The setting is a final trial. The lesson is for all time: keep praying, and never lose heart because the time seems long.
I say unto you that he will avenge them speedily. But when the Son of man comes, shall he indeed find faith on the earth?
The Lord has just promised that God will not ignore His elect who cry to Him day and night. The verse ties that certainty to a hard question. A promise of swift justice ends in a doubt about faith.
The unjust judge is not a picture of God. He stands at the low end of a comparison.
It is an argument from the lesser to the greater. It no more sees the unjust judge as God than the dishonest manager in Luke 16 stands for the disciple. Even the unrighteous judge would rather grant the rights of the most friendless and feeble person than listen to endless appeals. How much more will God step in on behalf of His elect against their enemies! It is true that He bears long as to His own; but He will avenge them soon, as everyone will admit when the blow falls.
The two delays look alike from the outside. Their reasons are opposites.
Now does the Lord not appear to do the same? It was the judge's wickedness — it is His glory, and His long-suffering. Why did the judge not answer? Because of his selfishness! Why does the Lord not come back? Because of His long-suffering. The Lord seems to pass by our prayers, as the judge passed by the poor woman. The Lord passes by, not willing that any should perish.
Notice what the Lord leaves certain here, and what He leaves open.
There is not the smallest doubt about the coming of the Son of Man to answer the cries of His elect. The only doubt is whether faith will be alive and active among them. The Lord asked the question, "Will He find faith on earth?" but He did not answer it. The inference seems to be that faith will be at a low ebb. That agrees with His own plain statement elsewhere: "the love of many will grow cold." Only if we always pray will we not faint.
Crying out under pressure is not the same as trusting God. Pain forces one cry out of a person. The other rests in God and expects Him to act.
He notices the cry from the oppressed day and night, and it is the cry of His own elect. "I tell you, He will give justice to them speedily." But will there be the faith that expects Him to act? Still, the question stands. When the Son of Man comes, will there be that faith on the earth, the faith that rests on God known in peaceful communion? Will it not rather be the cry of the righteous in bitterness of spirit, a cry forced out of them, and not the cry of desire?
Commentators differ here. Some read the word as personal trust. Others follow an older translation that reads "the faith" — the body of truth people can abandon.
This is not a creed or confession of faith drawn up by a denomination, sect or party. It is the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. It is the same faith our Lord asked about: "Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He find the faith on the earth?" It is the faith revealed in the Word of God. The heart of that faith is the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ.
The title matters. His coming for His people and His coming as Son of Man are not the same event.
When the Lord comes for His people, He does not come to the earth, but into the air. We meet Him there. As the Son of man He comes to the earth and finds unbelief and idolatry supreme.
That rules out one popular expectation about how history ends.
This is not the conversion of the world by the gospel. The Lord Himself asked the question, "When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth?" And when He does come back to the earth, no glad and delighted crowds will welcome Him.
The parable looks ahead to God's witnesses under pressure in Jerusalem. Even so, its lesson is not fenced off from ordinary readers.
The parable has its special application to the future oppression of God's witnesses who will then be in Jerusalem. Even so, as usual with this gospel, the instruction is general. It suits any and every kind of difficulty that may test people. Faith would be tested. If people looked to God, and not just to the blessing, they would not faint, even when no answer came.
- Cry — The elect cry day and night, and God notices. His answer is not in doubt.
- Delay — God's slowness is long-suffering, not the selfishness that made the unjust judge stall.
- Speedily — He bears long with His own, yet He will avenge them soon, and everyone will admit it when the blow falls.
- Question — His coming is certain; only faith is in doubt. The hint is that faith will be at a low ebb.
- Practice — Keep praying. Look to God and not just to the blessing, and you will not faint, even when no answer comes.