These twelve Jesus sent out when he had charged them, saying, Go not off into [the] way of [the] nations, and into a city of Samaritans enter ye not;
Jesus has just chosen twelve men and sends them out with careful instructions. The first thing He tells them is where not to go. Why would the Son of God fence His messengers inside one nation? And what happened to that boundary later?
This was no narrow-mindedness on Jesus' part. God Himself had drawn a line around Israel long before, and Jesus honoured it while it stood.
In reading the Old Testament, we cannot miss this: God told His people they were not to go in and out among other nations. Intermarrying was out of the question. (But this separation was soon abused. Pride got into the heart of that nation, and they began to look down on the Gentiles as dogs. The distinction between Jews and Gentiles was God's. The looking down on the Gentiles was their failure.) This shows why the Lord Jesus told the apostles, when He sent them out, "Go nowhere among the Gentiles... but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." God had made Israel a distinct nation. The Lord Jesus would not interfere with that distinction until His own death pulled the barrier down.
Jesus names a second group as off-limits. The reason is the same one that shut out the Gentiles.
Their mission was "Go nowhere among the Gentiles" — there was as yet no word for them. "And enter no town of the Samaritans." This mixed race was half heathen and half Jew. They had no promises from God, any more than the Gentiles had. "But," said the Lord, "go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." They were the objects of this mission. It was narrow, but it was necessary, and it came first.
What these men carried was not what a preacher today carries. The power Jesus gave them pointed to who He was, and their errand reached one people only.
This was their mission in particular. There is not a word about preaching what we call the gospel, or teaching the whole counsel of God. They were to go with messianic power against Satan and diseases of the body, as a testimony to Israel... It was bright evidence that the true King, Jehovah, was there. He could cast out demons Himself, and He could give that power to His servants as well. Who but the King, the Lord of hosts, could do this? It was a far greater testimony than if the power had stayed in His own person... He sent the servants out in due order — twelve of them, matching the twelve tribes of the house of Israel... Their business was only with the lost sheep of the house of Israel. That is positive proof that the phrase means those Jews who had a sense of sin, and who were willing to receive the testimony of the true Messiah.
Even the packing orders belonged to one moment in time.
They were to go just as they were, with the coat on their backs and the shoes on their feet. They were not to lay up any store to support them during their mission. This is not a universal rule for God's servants at all times. It was a special mission, for a special time, and with reference to Israel only. It was not the gospel of God's grace, but of the kingdom. The two go together now; but then it was not so.
After the resurrection, the same Lord who closed these roads threw them open.
But in Luke 24 everything changes. The barriers of God's dealings no longer stand in the way of the messengers of grace. Israel is not to be forgotten, but the Gentiles are to hear the good news. The sun of God's salvation must now pour its living beams over the whole world. Not a soul is to be shut out from the blessed light. Every city, town, village, street and lane must be searched out and visited with love, so that every creature under heaven might hear the good news of a full and free salvation.
The trip these men took was short. The Lord's own words reach much further.
Their mission reaches only the lost sheep of the house of Israel. The judgment that fell on Israel for rejecting the testimony suspended it. But it will resume after this whole present period is over. They will not have gone over the cities of Israel till the Son of Man comes.
- Boundary. God's own arrangement with Israel closed the road to the Gentiles and Samaritans. Jesus honoured that line until His own death took it down.
- No claim. The Samaritans stood outside on the same ground as the Gentiles: a mixed people with no promises to appeal to.
- Credentials. The twelve carried the gospel of the kingdom, not the gospel of grace. Their power over demons and disease proved the King stood among His people.
- Boundary broken. After the resurrection, the same Lord sent the same men to every creature; the fence in this verse marks what the cross removed.
- Unfinished. Judgment on Israel paused the errand; it did not cancel it. The Lord ties its end to His own coming as Son of Man.
but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
The Lord sends the twelve out with real power. But He first sets a limit: not the Gentiles, not the Samaritans, but Israel. Why so narrow a mission? And why call His own people "lost sheep"?
One writer gives the reason: Christ came to make good the promises God had given to Israel's fathers. Then the circle narrows further, inside Israel itself:
When the Lord had sent out the twelve to preach the kingdom of heaven to Israel (Matt. 10), the mission was confined and narrow. He "became a servant to the circumcised to show God's truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs" (Rom. 15:8). All the promises to Israel were fulfilled in Himself. Their mission was "Go nowhere among the Gentiles" — there was as yet no word for them. Then, "enter no town of the Samaritans." This mixed race, half heathen, half Jew, had no promises from God any more than the Gentiles. And the mission did not even take in all Israel. In each town they were to find out who was worthy. So it was narrowed down to the worthy ones — the godly remnant of the people.
The phrase is not a picture of the church. It describes a nation in ruin, still waiting for the work that would put them on solid ground:
It is a Jewish mission of the twelve Jewish apostles to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. I take this quite literally. It is not said of the Church, which Scripture never calls lost sheep. But it describes the sheep of Israel in their desolate condition exactly. Before God gathers the Church, what we want is a Saviour. We Gentiles were not sheep at all, but dogs, from Matthew's point of view (see Matt. 15). And once He has brought us into the Church, we are not, and cannot be, lost sheep. But the Lord calls these poor of the flock lost sheep of the house of Israel. Up to this time, the work that could put them in the known position of salvation was not yet done.
Does "lost" only mean lost as a nation? One writer answers from the Lord's own use of the word:
So we have the Good Shepherd saying, "Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost" (Luke 15:6). On the face of it, it would not do to limit the thought of "lost" to being lost nationally.
The order follows what the Lord had just seen in the crowds:
"When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, 'The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest'" (Matt. 9:36-38). The Good Shepherd felt deep sympathy for the distresses and weaknesses of the lost sheep of the house of Israel. So He wanted others to work with Him, gathering the scattered without delay. And at once, being Himself the Lord of the harvest, He went on to send out labourers into the harvest.
Later in the same chapter the Lord tells them they will not have finished the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes. One writer reads this as a mission cut short, not one carried through:
Their Master's coming would break off their mission before it was complete… So the original Jewish mission was interrupted, and what has been well called "the Gentile parenthesis" came in. When that is over, I have no doubt the Lord will raise up servants at a future day. They will take up the word and work now set aside. And before they finish proclaiming the coming kingdom through all the cities of Israel, the Son of Man will come.
The limit belongs to this moment only. After the resurrection, the Lord sends His messengers everywhere:
But in Luke 24 all is changed. The old barriers no longer stand in the way of the messengers of grace. Israel is not to be forgotten, but the Gentiles too must hear the good news… The messengers must search out and visit every city, town, village and hamlet, every street, lane and alley, hedge and highway. They must do it with care and love, so that "every creature under heaven" might hear the good news of a full and free salvation.
- Compassion. The Lord saw crowds harassed and helpless. As Lord of the harvest, He answered His own pity by sending out workers.
- Confined. The errand passed by Gentiles and Samaritans. Inside Israel it narrowed further still, to the worthy ones — the godly remnant.
- Condition. "Lost sheep" describes Israel in desolation before the saving work was done; it is never said of the church.
- Contested. "Lost" is not just lost as a nation. The Shepherd rejoices over the sheep He found.
- Continuing. The mission broke off before it was finished. The towns of Israel will not be covered before the Son of Man comes. Meanwhile the commission given after the resurrection reaches every creature under heaven.