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The Limited Commission - Luke 10
The Limited Commission - Luke 10
(1) Now after this the Lord appointed seventy others, and sent them in pairs ahead of Him to every city and place where He Himself was going to come.
(2) And He was saying to them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest. Luke 10:1-2
Thus Jesus enlarged his preaching realm by appointing, preparing, and instructing others. In this case, 70 disciples. Yet, such is NOT the ‘great commission’. In this commission, it does not rest on the preaching of the death, burial, resurrection, and ascension into glory.
There are also limitations in this commission that will not be in the great commission. The challenge therefore in reading this is to compare it with the giving of the great commission (cp. Matt. 28; Mark 16; and Luke 24). Also, there was a difference in the preparation and provisions made under this limited commission.
After His resurrection and before his ascension unto glory, Jesus enlarged the scope of the message, both about Him and to whom this new message of salvation was to be preached to.
OK, now it is your turn to do some reading, thinking, and acting as you compare these two commissions. One thing is still had in common – the laborers are few! Are you one of them?
Hugh DeLong
NOTE: to help you begin such a comparison study, I have put the most relevant scriptures in a basic two column chart: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/gl7cbt2ft0pgyhkw54b29/The-Limited-Commission-and-the-Great-commission-CHART.docx?rlkey=p4zn4q0nmvoxr9b0zan49y42j&dl=0