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Day 265

Luke 21 : 8-19 "SPECIAL WORDS OF COMFORT"

Day 265 – Luke 21

Text: Luke 21 : 8-19

SPECIAL WORDS OF COMFORT

Jesus must have stunned His Disciples when He spoke of the destruction of the beautiful Temple of Jerusalem. They must have been further shocked when He went on to speak about how the End Times would see the world experiencing tribulation.

The third topic must have disturbed their hearts even more. Jesus was preparing His Disciples to expect persecution and that always meant suffering! How would they cope when tested by fire?

Graciously and tenderly, Jesus spoke great words of comfort to His Disciples. Let us take time to consider what He said,

“You will be brought before kings and rulers
for My Name’s sake.
But it will turn out for you as an occasion for testimony.

Therefore settle it in your hearts not to meditate beforehand
On what you will answer;
For I will give you a mouth and wisdom
Which all your adversaries will not be able to contradict
Or resist.”
Luke 21:12-15

What wonderful promises these are! What great comfort to the soul these words bring! Let us take time to hide these precious words deep in our hearts!

The Lord promised that He would give us “a mouth and wisdom”. This simply means that there will come special empowering from the Lord!

A PREVIOUS PROMISE GIVEN

We are reminded of a previous promise that the Lord Jesus gave. He warned His Disciples that there will be people who would resist and oppose them. However, they must not be afraid, for He would give them the Holy Spirit who would help them in their hour of need.

“Now when they bring you to the synagogues
and magistrates and authorities,
do not worry about how or what you should answer,
or what you should say,
For the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour
What you ought to say.”
Luke 12:11-12

We must study these precious promises together and note that they complement each other. How our hearts must be encouraged to know that we will be specially empowered that we might bear good testimony for the Lord.

WONDERFUL EXAMPLES IN THE SCRIPTURES OF HOW THIS EMPOWERING WORKS

We have two very clear examples of how these promises worked out. The first example that we may cite would be the Apostles Peter and John. They were jailed for a night because they preached the Name of the Lord Jesus (Acts 4:3). The religious authorities who fought against Jesus had turned their attention on the Disciples.

Peter and John were not daunted in the least. They gave a good account of themselves as they stood before the Sanhedrim Council of Jerusalem. They defended their faith in the Lord Jesus bravely (Cf Acts 4:8-12).

The Sanhedrin Council could not but admire their courage. They observed,

“Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John,
and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men,
they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus.”
Acts 4:13

The Spirit of God had indeed filled the lives of Peter and John. Somehow, they found courage to speak boldly concerning their faith in the Lord Jesus. More than that, they also found the words to speak confidently. Obviously, they had been given “a mouth and wisdom” as Jesus promised!

The second example concerns Stephen. In Acts 7, we have a fairly full account of how Stephen stood up for his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Though Stephen was NOT an apostle, he displayed a similar courage and knowledge of the Scriptures.

The Scriptures explain to us why Stephen was able to witness so courageously and powerfully for the Lord Jesus. The following words help us understand the significance of what Jesus promised,

“Stephen… a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit…”
Acts 6:5

“And Stephen full of faith and power, did great wonders
and signs among the people.
Then there arose some… disputing with Stephen.

And they were not able to resist the wisdom
And the Spirit by which he spoke”
Acts 6:8-10

What Jesus promised His Disciples were fulfilled just as He said!

THE CHALLENGE TO EXERCISE OUR FAITH IN THE LORD’S PROMISES

Do we really believe what Jesus said? Only a Disciple who has learned to walk with Jesus and to trust His Word implicitly would be able to fully believe Him!

Let us be deeply challenged to exercise our faith in the Lord’s promises. He has promised us special Holy Spirit empowering in times of testing! Can we believe Him?