Luke 13:3

Verse of the Day Devotion Luke 13:3 

“I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” – Luke 13:3    

Today, we will be looking at the importance of repentance.  Starting in verse 1 we read, “Now on the same occasion there were some present who reported to Him about the Galileans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.” Luke 13:1. During Jesus’s teaching found in chapter 12, some came to Jesus to tell Him of a horrendous event that happened to some Jews from Galilee.  There is no record of this event in secular history, however there is an incident like it from before Jesus’ ministry. Pilate wanted to build an aqueduct from the Pools of Solomon to the city of Jerusalem. To pay for it, he demanded money from the temple treasury, money that had been dedicated to God – and this outraged the priests and the people. When the Jews sent a delegation to beg for their money back, Pilate sent into the crowd soldiers dressed as common people, and at a certain signal they took out daggers and attacked the people asking for the money. Now, this may not have been the same incident, however it does show how Rome, and particularly Pilate, pictured the Jews and did what they could to force obedience from them.  The phrase, ‘whose blood Pilate mingled with their sacrifices’ speaks of how the blood of those killed mixed with the blood of the sacrifice itself.  

Now, it appears that Jesus read into their story the idea of self-justification, rooted in the common notion back then that disaster falls on them who deserve it.  Basically if a person sins, something bad will happen to them. Jesus turns this around and asks them, “Do you suppose that these Galileans were greater sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered this fate? “ Luke 13:2. Jesus turned the theological issue around. Is this punishment for sin? Do persecution and death prove the victim to be a greater sinner than those who do not suffer? Jesus, one who was looking suffering square in the face as he marched to Jerusalem denied such a theological outrage. He reminded them that everyone has sinned. Paul put it this way, “But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” Romans 3:21-23.

Jesus then answers the question Himself, in our focus verse. “I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” Luke 13:3. Jesus was countering their belief by saying apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; for all have sinned and fall short of God’s glory.

Jesus then asks them a question to enforce His thought.  “Or do you suppose that those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, were worse culprits than all the men who live in Jerusalem? I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” Luke 13:4-5. Jesus added his own illustration. He takes another recent tragedy down at the corner of the south and east walls of Jerusalem at the water reservoir called Siloam. Eighteen people died in an accident on the tower there. Were these the worst sinners in Jerusalem, punished for their horrible sin? He then repeats our focus verse.  “I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” Luke 13:5. He in essence told them, you all must repent or perish.  Jesus’ warning that they must repent or perish had an immediate, chilling fulfillment. Within a generation, many citizens of Jerusalem who had not repented and turned to Jesus perished in the destruction of Jerusalem.

We must be careful that we do not fall into this trap ourselves.  It is not our place to look at others and compare their life to ours, looking to place ourselves as more righteous than they are.  We are called to go out and help lead the lost to Christ, and to disciple Christians to live a life that is pleasing to God. It is not to put ourselves above everyone else.  Paul put it this way.  “For through the grace given to me I say to every man among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith.” Romans 12:3.  No one is saved by their own good works, but by the grace given us by Christ.  We have all sinned, therefore we all need to repent.  For if we do not truly repent, we will perish.  

William Funkhouser MDiv, ThD, Founder and President of True Devotion Ministries.

Numbers 23:19

Verse of the Day Devotion: Numbers 23:19   

“God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent; Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?” – Numbers 23:19   

This is part of the passage where Balak of Moab sees Israel and feared them.  “Then the sons of Israel journeyed and camped in the plains of Moab beyond the Jordan opposite Jericho. Now Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites. So, Moab was in great fear because of the people, for they were numerous; and Moab was in dread of the sons of Israel.” Numbers 22:3.  And because of this he sends messengers to Balaam to request that he curse the Israelites.  “Moab said to the elders of Midian, now this horde will lick up all that is around us, as the ox licks up the grass of the field. And Balak the son of Zippor was king of Moab at that time. So he sent messengers to Balaam the son of Beor, at Pethor, which is near the River, in the land of the sons of his people, to call him, saying, “Behold, a people came out of Egypt; behold, they cover the surface of the land, and they are living opposite me. Now, therefore, please come, curse this people for me since they are too mighty for me; perhaps I may be able to defeat them and drive them out of the land. For I know that he whom you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed.” Numbers 22:4-6. 

Now Balaam agrees to do so for a fee.  He was a Midianite, a non-Israelite prophet, otherwise known as a diviner.  Midian was on the east of the Jordan river and when Joshua led Israel to the promised land, He gave this land to the Reubenites  who chose to go back across the Jordan to settle there. “With the other half-tribe, the Reubenites and the Gadites received their inheritance which Moses gave them beyond the Jordan to the east, just as Moses the servant of the LORD gave to them;” Joshua 13:8. And when Israel took the land of Midian, they killed Balaam the diviner. “The sons of Israel also killed Balaam the son of Beor, the diviner, with the sword among the rest of their slain.” Joshua 13:22. Now, Balaam goes out to speak to the Lord to receive His words. “He said to them, Spend the night here, and I will bring word back to you as the LORD may speak to me. And the leaders of Moab stayed with Balaam.” Numbers 22:8. Then Balaam hears from the Lord. “God said to Balaam, do not go with them; you shall not curse the people, for they are blessed.” Numbers 22:12. He then goes back and tells Balak, adding, “Though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not do anything, either small or great, contrary to the command of the LORD my God.” Numbers 22:18b.

Balaam is then asked a second time by Balak to curse Israel and he returns with these words, “How shall I curse whom God has not cursed? And how can I denounce whom the LORD has not denounced?” Numbers 23:8. Then Balak asks a third time.  “Then Balak said to him, please come with me to another place from where you may see them, although you will only see the extreme end of them and will not see all of them; and curse them for me from there.” Numbers 23:13. Therefore Balaam goes and returns with the words of our focus verse. “God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent; Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?” Numbers 23:19. 

Those words God spoke to Balaam He also speaks to us.  What God says is what we should abide by and proclaim to others.  We should not go to Him thinking we can get another response, for He will never lie to us and He will never reverse or change His mind.  We may not always like, at that moment, what He says, but we must trust Him knowing what He says is absolute truth and will work for our good.  If we know what God has said, we must not be like Balaam and go back to see if He has changed.  We must profess His truth as seen in His word, and only if we need clarification do we go to Him, not if we want to hear something else. 

William Funkhouser MDiv, ThD, Founder and President of True Devotion Ministries.