Matthew 10:26–31

"So have no fear of them." The first motive for not fearing is this: I have travelled the same path; do not be afraid. "Have no fear of them… for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known." He means: you will understand the reasons and motives of people's unbelief another day, if not now. Everyone who knows the truth and does not follow it must dislike those who do. As it was with Me, so will it be with you: but do not be alarmed. Be full of good courage, and persevere in the testimony.

And now He speaks the word which is to calm their fears: "Fear not." What meaning it has coming from such lips! Angels spoke the word "Fear not" long ago. They are only creatures sent with a message from the Throne. But the One who speaks here is the Creator Himself, made a little lower than the angels He had created… He tells them of the day when everything will be uncovered, and the secret things made known. This fact is to be before them, and before us, every day. Let us learn to look at all things in the light of the judgment seat! "Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God" (1 Corinthians 4:5). In view of this revelation of the secret things our Lord tells us to be bold and to declare the whole counsel of God.

Three great principles are here presented. First, the great general truth: man can keep nothing secret, though it may seem so. He can hide nothing. All must be in the light. God must have the upper hand, and light will win. Second, we must give an account of ourselves to God. Third, we are not to fear the secret schemes of men. We are to fear God, and bear witness according to the light given to us. To say that man can hide nothing is still not strong enough. There is nothing secret that will not be brought to light.

This is a very important principle. It upholds the authority of God as light. If anything could be kept back from that light, it would escape His power and judgment, and evil would go on independent of Him. It also upholds integrity of conscience.

They may well trust the strength of His own word: "have no fear of them." Their falsehood may seem to win for a time. But it will be fully exposed, to their own shame. Truth will win its complete victory in the end.

They themselves were to hold nothing back. They were to proclaim on the housetops all that they had been taught. God would bring everything into the light — their faithfulness to Him in this, as well as everything else. This answered the secret plotting of their enemies. It was also to mark the ways of the disciples themselves. God is light, and He sees in darkness as clearly as in light. He will bring everything out into the light. They were to do this now, in the way they lived.

All this is to keep the conscience in the light before God. Where there is anxiety about being exposed before other believers, shame before men still rules the heart and will. Self-love and reputation govern the mind. We are not in the light before God. Sin does not have its right character in our eyes. The reason is that self still has its power and place.

"So have no fear of them." The first reason not to fear is this: I have travelled the same path; do not be afraid… As it was with Me, so it will be with you. But do not be alarmed. Be full of good courage, and persevere in the testimony. "What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops" (v. 27). He encourages them to the greatest openness and boldness.

What the Lord spoke to them in darkness (that is, privately) they were to speak in the light, for it was the truth that men needed. In the same way, what we learn today in quiet communion with the Lord we are to declare with the boldness of honest faith. These things must not be just our opinions, but what the Lord speaks.

The Lord speaks of the disciples publishing on the housetop what He had told them privately. Matt. 10:27; Luke 12:3. You can often see this way of proclaiming in the East, when the public crier calls out from the housetop the news he has to make known.

They were His witnesses. What He told them in the darkness they were to preach in the light. What they heard whispered they must proclaim on the housetops (Matt. 10:27). The essence of Christ's gospel was its publicity, and also, as was later developed, its universality. Its ultimate scope was to all men and not to a few only.

They themselves were to hold nothing back. They were to proclaim on the housetops all that they had been taught. For everything should be brought into the light — their faithfulness to God in this respect, as well as all other things… God, who is light, and sees in darkness as in light, would bring all out into the light. But they were to do this in practice now.

Accordingly, Jehovah, in commissioning Jeremiah to be His prophet, said to him, "Whatever I command you, you shall speak" (Jer. 1:7). Also, the Lord, when sending out the twelve Apostles, said to them, "What you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops" (Matt. 10:27; Luke 12:3). The Apostle Paul writes in one of his letters, "I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you" (1 Cor. 11:23).

The glory of Christianity is AN OPEN BIBLE. Freemasonry, by contrast, has secret signs, and the lodges write their ritual in a secret code. Our Lord tells us that every secret will be revealed. He instructed His disciples: "What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops." (Matt. 10:27)

They were to expect insults. They were not above their Master, whom their enemies had already called Beelzebub. Their part was to trust God, whatever the hidden plots of their enemies... They were not to fear. First, they should fear Him who could cast body and soul into hell far more than those who can only kill the body. But besides, without their Father — Him who guarded them as a Father — not a sparrow fell to the ground. They had more value in His eye than many sparrows.

The coin called the "assarion" had two values, and we must allow for local differences. But the "two farthings" would be worth about one penny of our money. Matthew stresses how small the coin was that bought two sparrows; Luke stresses how many birds you got for it.

The sparrow was so worthless that if a customer bought two farthings' worth, an extra bird would be thrown in! Then the disciples were reminded that they were of more value than many sparrows and that the very hairs of their head were all numbered.

We learn our Father's special, detailed care for His own children from this: the sparrow, a bird people despise as worth nothing, cannot fall to the ground "apart from your Father." He could have said, Without God. But He said, Your Father — and a father's love is concerned for his children.

God is so great that He can take notice of these little things. He is great in great things and great in little things. Such a small thing, and it seems so worthless — yet your Father notices it!

The God who rolled the mountains together, laid valleys, seas, and rivers in their places, and calls all the stars by name, so that not one fails — this is the God who loves me!... This same God spans the heavens and measures the sea in the hollow of His hand. Yet He describes Himself as the One who notices the falling sparrow and counts the hairs of His people's heads.

Although most people are unaware of it, God takes a deep interest in all His creatures... People, nations and cities all come under the watchful eye of God. He cares for His saints in a special way, but His goodness in providing for His creation and His rule over it are always plain to those who have eyes to see.

It is important to take everything from the Father's hand. It is just as important to look at the trials of others the same way — saying to a tested Christian, "If not a sparrow falls without the Father, how could you be in this trial without the Father?" What a difference it makes to look at things from the heavenly side.

Not a sparrow falls to the ground without our Father, and He assures us we are of value to Him. He makes no mistakes, and there is nothing that escapes His eye and hand.

They were to expect reproach; they were not above their Master... Their part was to trust God, whatever the hidden plots of their enemies... They were not to fear. First, they should fear Him who could cast body and soul into hell much more than those who can do nothing but kill the body. But besides, without their Father — Him who guarded them as a Father — not a sparrow fell to the ground. They had more value in His eye than many sparrows. Lastly, whoever confessed Jesus before men, Jesus would confess him before the angels of His Father. These are the three motives that He gives for firmness.

One of the features that sets God apart is this. He cares for great things and arranges them — the ordering of the solar system, the sequence of the seasons. He also provides for small things — marking the fall of the sparrow, or numbering the hairs of the heads of His saints. The great men of the earth are too small to look after small things — they are not big enough. How different our God is! He is great enough to sustain the universe. He is also great enough to come down in fullest sympathy to the wants and troubles of His lowliest creature.

And no detail of your life is too small for His notice. When He told His disciples that the hairs of their heads were numbered, He meant it. And if you will have it that His language was figurative, so be it. But it simply means that those details of your life that are too insignificant for your notice do not escape His.

Notice, in one place He says, "Fear him," and a little later He says, "Fear not." There is no contradiction. Oh, no! In the first, it is the holy fear of a child, afraid of doing what would pain or grieve the Lord. In the second, you have the sense of the care of God... He puts the care of God, in its exact detail, in a very touching way: "But even the hairs of your head are all numbered." That is the deeply blessed interest God has in us. His eye is upon us with all the tender affection of a Father's love... If you had this sense, you could leave everything with God.

God's rule now does not keep the righteous from suffering, and least of all from suffering for the name of Christ. But the Lord watches over him. Not a sparrow falls to the ground without our Father. It seems strange to us to hear, "Some of you they will put to death … But not a hair of your head will perish."

The children of God, if they were in the power of this truth, would also be far less restless and anxious in times of sickness. God may allow us to use remedies, but how often we use them in unbelief! We act as if our recovery depended only on human help and advice. Surely if a sparrow cannot fall on the ground without the permission of our Father, His children cannot. No, the very hairs of our heads are all numbered, and God is honoured by our perfect calm and confidence in the face of the greatest dangers.

A second reason not to fear is on other grounds: and what harm can they do? They cannot touch the soul; nor can they even touch the body unless your heavenly Father allows it. "Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul." They cannot injure you. There is nothing a believer has to dread, except grieving and sinning against God.

In Palestine sparrows are plentiful. Five of them were sold for two pennies. Yet the Lord said that not one of them fell without His Father's knowledge, and He added, "you are of more value than many sparrows." If God cares for the birds — and the word used here is the small form, a little bird — surely He will care for His own beloved ones.

This is where we learn our Father's special, detailed care for His own children. Men despise the sparrow as a worthless bird, yet it cannot fall to the ground "apart from your Father." He might have said, Without God. But He said, Your Father — and a father's love is concerned for his children.

"Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows." We must listen to the Lord in John 17 to get some idea of what we are worth. God could have created a far better world than this one for each saint, better in man's eyes, and perhaps more glorious than this world was at creation. But what would all of that be next to what He has given us in Christ? And we have even more than this — yes, the love of Him who gave it all.

Here the heart is taught not only to fear God, but also to trust Him — it is not only warned, but also calmed. "Fear," and "fear not," may seem a contradiction to flesh and blood; but to faith it is no contradiction. The man who fears God most will fear circumstances least. The man of faith is the most dependent man in the world, and at the same time the most independent. He depends on God, and not on circumstances.

We only have to do what we are told in His Word, and leave the consequences to Him. He is well able to take care of His own interests, and nothing left in His hands can go wrong. Our difficulty is that we get nervous about ourselves, and wonder what is going to happen to us... A sparrow cannot fall to the ground apart from our Father; and we are of more value than many sparrows. If He is determined to keep us here for Himself, an army of murderers could have no power against us. And if it were His blessed will that we should seal with our blood the testimony entrusted to us, what does it matter? "Whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's" (Rom. 14:8).

We have had the Father's care; now we come to the Son's confession, which is still to come. The Father's care we know on earth, whatever the trial may be. The Son's confession of us will be in heaven, when the whole scene of trial is over.