But *ye* are they who have persevered with me in my temptations.
At the Last Supper the disciples argued over which of them was greatest. In the middle of it the Lord named them as the men who had stood by Him through all He suffered. The words raise a hard question: how could He say this of men who were hours away from sleeping, denying and running?
The timing makes this startling. He speaks after one disciple's treachery and after their quarrel over rank.
And the bright day will come when Jesus will tell us what He told the disciples, "You are those who have stayed with me in my trials." This was after the discussion of who should be the greatest, after He had before Him the treachery of one disciple, and the unworthy vanity of the others. He knew all that they had been in the past, the trial they had been to Himself, their many weaknesses and failures. Yet He puts it as an honour to them.
Only Luke records these words of praise. The other Gospels tell the same night from a very different side.
Only Luke tells how graciously He noticed that they had persevered with Him in His trials. Both accounts, of course, were perfectly true. In Luke it was the reckoning of grace. It was really the Lord who had stooped to stay with them, and had held up their faltering steps. Yet He could say that they had stayed with Him. … It is always like this in grace. Matthew and Mark tell us the sad truth that, when He needed the disciples most, they all forsook Him and fled.
The wonder is not that they stayed. It is who kept them standing.
We know they would not have stood one hour with Him if His grace had not enabled them; and yet notice how He even gives them credit for what His own grace alone had wrought.
Older translations read "temptations" here. The word reaches back over His whole life on earth, not only to the night ahead.
But the Lord owns their faithful continuance with Him while in His trials. We know what they were like when the dark hour really came — asleep, or running away, or denying Him. That is how they were sifted. Yet by grace they had stayed with Him through the time of His humiliation and trials. He had submitted Himself to these in His life on earth, for man's sake.
He is not only crediting them. He is telling them what their love is worth to Him.
We do not believe enough in Christ's heart towards us, and we have not enough heart for Him either. He values our affections: "You are those who have stayed with me in my trials." What a Saviour He is!
Instead of settling their dispute over rank, He hands them a kingdom — which makes the argument pointless.
Then as to the future, what room could there be for strife among those who were all destined to sit on thrones? Would the Lord forget their service? Would He fail to value it rightly? Let Him speak, and settle that: "You are those who have stayed with me in my trials." So none of them will be forgotten in the coming day. Continuance with Him to the end will certainly have its recognition and full reward.
Rank is His Father's to give, not theirs to grab.
He knows how to teach them, by His own example, what the love of God is; and at the same time He shows them the grace which is in Him, and all the faithfulness for which they are indebted to Him. It is as though He had said, You need not raise yourselves: my Father will raise you.
They had kept company with a rejected King.
Those who had been the companions of the rejected Messiah would be the companions of the glorified Messiah. As His Father had appointed Him a kingdom, the reward of His humiliation and faithfulness, so He appointed one to them, to share with Himself.
What He said to those first disciples holds for His own today.
Those men whom our Lord chose to be with Him wherever He went on earth were wayward and full of failure. Yet how blessed and encouraging it is to find Him giving them the credit of faithfulness in the end … And so it is with us today who are Christ's own — "who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time" (1 Peter 1:5).
- Grace speaks first. He commends them right after the betrayal and the quarrel over greatness — He honours them in full view of their failure.
- Grace supplies what it credits. They could not have stood one hour on their own; it was He who stayed with them, and yet He calls the perseverance theirs.
- Grace looks back over a life. "My trials" reaches across His whole path of humiliation on earth, not only the coming night.
- Grace hands out a kingdom. He forgets nothing they gave Him. Companions in His rejection become companions in His glory. Men headed for thrones need not argue about rank.
- Grace still reckons this way. The Father raises His own, so we need not raise ourselves. His power keeps us to the end.
And *I* appoint unto you, as my Father has appointed unto me, a kingdom,
The Lord speaks these words at the supper table on the night of His betrayal. The twelve have just been arguing over which of them is the greatest. His answer is not a rebuke about rank but a gift: He hands them a kingdom on the same terms He received one from His Father.
One commentator weighs the Greek word behind "assign" (older translations read "I appoint") and rules out any idea of a will:
"I appoint," διατίθεμαι. Not "I bequeath": compare Jeremiah 31:31 in the Greek Old Testament. As far as we know, the Jews used no wills at the time when the Gospel of Luke and the Letter to the Hebrews first circulated.
The setting makes this startling. He gives away a kingdom while His enemies wait at the door:
Think what a moment this was for Him. Think of the surroundings He was in — sorrow and rejection, and men waiting outside to drag Him away to death. Yet He speaks about the kingdom. The kingdom was present to Him, and He says, "I appoint to you a kingdom." Only a man in power and position can talk about appointing.
The men receiving this kingdom would abandon Him within hours. Yet He has just said they stayed with Him through His trials — and one writer points out that Luke alone preserves this side of the story:
Matthew and Mark, and even John, make their forsaking of Christ very obvious a little later. Luke alone tells how graciously He noticed their perseverance with Himself in His trials. Both, of course, were perfectly true. In Luke it was the reckoning of grace. It was really the Lord who had chosen to continue with them, and had sustained their faltering steps.
He treats His people the same way still, right up to the day each of them stands before Him:
Because He loves them, He delights to say everything He can in their favour. He delights to say all He can for each of us; and when we stand before the judgment seat, He will surprise us. Little things we had forgotten He will remember and bring up in our favour.
He ends the argument over greatness by pointing to what His Father will do:
The Lord, always full of gentleness and meekness, forgets Himself in His care for His disciples… He knows how to teach them, by His own example, what the love of God is. At the same time He shows them the grace that is in Him, and all the faithfulness they owe to Him. It is as though He had said, You need not raise yourselves: my Father will raise you.
The clause "as my Father assigned to me" places Christ Himself in the position of a receiver. He did not seize the crown any more than He seized the priesthood:
The kingdom is a delegated thing, a stewardship. All is subjection: His days of kingly power, His days of self-emptying sorrow, His days of heavenly priestly ministry. All alike are subjection and service. Christ did not glorify Himself to be made a High Priest. The One who glorified Him said to Him, "You are My Son; today I have begotten You." So we may say He did not glorify Himself to be made a King either. The One who glorified Him said to Him, "Sit at My right hand, until I make Your enemies Your footstool."
The kingdom is theirs, but not yet. The waiting itself has a purpose:
They could expect present trial. Yet He appointed His disciples a kingdom — future indeed, but such as the Father had appointed to Him to be revealed in due time. They would have to wait for the time of this glorious exaltation, when they would be feasted in His kingdom and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. This judging will be an administrative government in the Millennium, for which suffering with Him has fitted them.
Our reign waits on His:
We shall reign with Christ; but even He sits on the Father's throne as yet. He waits to receive His own throne; and so do we much more. If our hearts were right, we should not want to reign without Him… He will come in His kingdom, which He has not yet received. Until then our calling is to endure, not to reign. When He appears, we shall appear with Him; when He reigns, so shall we with Him.
- Appointed, not bequeathed — the word is a formal assignment made by One in power. It is not a will left behind by a dying man.
- Received before given — Christ takes the kingdom from His Father's hand, just as He took the priesthood. He hands it on to His people on the same terms.
- Grace speaks first — He credits the twelve with standing by Him, when in truth He had stood by them. He still says everything He can in His people's favour.
- Rivalry answered — no one needs to lift himself up when the Father will do it. The promised kingdom leaves the argument over greatness with no point at all.
- Endure now, reign then — He waits for His own throne, and His people wait with Him. Today's trial trains them for the government to come.