Matthew 10:5-8

These twelve Jesus sent out and commanded them, saying: “Do not go into the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter a city of the Samaritans. 6 But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 7 And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ 8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.

The Gentiles

Christ sent out and commanded His disciples to do and follow the above things.  They were told not to go among the Gentiles.  This would mean there are people that are not His and never will be (John 17:9).  God desires for all men to be saved but knows that all won’t (1 Timothy 2:3-4); only those He has given to His Son.  The Gentiles in the Greek context represents people not of the nation of Israel, the uncircumcised, or the lawless ones.  Christ is speaking spiritually always, so when He said they needed to go to the lost sheep of Israel, He was speaking of the spiritual Israel God was forming in and through Himself as prophesy.  This fulfills the Scripture that there are neither Jew nor Greek if one is truly in Christ; in other words, there is no separation but one union that makes them the same in God’s eyes according to His promise (Galatians 3:27-29).  If Christ told them to go to the lost sheep than that means they would have to know who to go to.  This is not in their own understanding or leading, but is to be done by the leading of the Holy Spirit that Christ would send after He left them.  The Holy Spirit would help them to discern who were spiritual Israel’s lost; as only God knows who are truly His—the ones who are to abstain from wickedness because they are to be His (2 Timothy 2:19; John 17:6-12).

The uncircumcised represent the ones that have not circumcised their hearts in the Spirit and also strive to receive glory from men before receiving glory from God (Romans 2:28-29; John 5:44; John 12:43).  This is only done by God Himself and God provides more of Himself through His Spirit, to love the Lord with all our heart and soul (Deuteronomy 30:6).  No man can do this on his own without God; this would only be what God considers a circumcision of the flesh (Jeremiah 9:25).  This form of ‘circumcision’ is one where men try to follow the Law or the Scriptures without true leading of the Holy Spirit (using the Bible as if it’s to be followed alone, as if it’s a book of directions, John 5:39-40).  Even Christ said, “Man cannot live off bread alone, but on every word that comes out of the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4).  In other words, it’s not about feeding our carnal or physical needs (as one would by believing they can just follow the Scriptures without the Spirit’s leading), but it’s more about feeding our spiritual needs which is provided from a Living God, out of His mouth consistently (represented by the Holy Spirit).  The manna provided for by God in the wilderness was used to sustain their hunger physically, but they still needed God’s guidance speaking directly to them, in order to live and press on through the circumstances they were put in by Him (Deuteronomy 8).  They also needed to understand and know that to be sustained in the spiritual was what real faith entailed.  It was not getting our physical needs met alone but more so something much deeper, beyond their own understanding and not by what they can see before their own eyes (Hebrews 11).  They had to continue on in trusting God to lead them into His promise.  The promise to the Israelites at the time was into the promise land, but it represented something deeper.  It represented the promise of God’s only Son that would come and bring them back to God or into God’s country (His spiritual Israel, His land, His nation, Deuteronomy 34:4).  Just as God led the Israelites through and out of the wilderness, He would by His Holy Spirit, lead them out of sin (death) and into righteousness (Life) through His Son Jesus Christ as the promise of salvation (Isaiah 53).

The lawless represent those that are disobedient or rebellious to the things of God (1Timothy 1:8-11).  It’s a body of people considered, the lawless one.  Just as Christ has a Body of people that are a part of Him and represent Him and His leadings by the Spirit, there is also a body of people that are agreeing to walk in sin by the leading of Satan (2 Thessalonians 2:5-12).  The lawless one (or the body of people in rebellion to the Holy Spirit), have no pleasure in righteousness.  They are not led into true purity and righteousness by the Holy Spirit’s leading in all things through Christ, but instead accepts worldly desires over righteous and godly living (Titus 2:11-15).

Jesus told His disciples to not go to the Gentiles but He also instructed them to heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, and cast out demons. These were miracles that He did as well as His disciples.

The Miracles

The miracles mentioned that were performed by Christ and His disciples were a prophetic sign as to what HIS disciples would do in the days to come.  Christ did say that His people would do greater things than He (John 14:11-13).  What were greater than what He had already done, including the miracles?  It wasn’t the miracles spoken of in Matthew 10:7-8, it was deeper than that.  The kingdom of heaven is not observed in signs (Luke 17:20-21).  The greater thing Christ was speaking of was being able to give Life (Him) abundantly (John 10:10).

Those that will walk in His glory will be able to truly give Life, the eternal One, so that the ones that believe them will never perish.   Those that believe will receive what they need from those that walk in the glory so they’re not ever snatched out of God’s hand (John 10:28).  It will not be them (the ones in His glory), in their own spirit not ruled fully by Christ, but the Life (God) in them doing it through them.  To this day, NO ONE is able to give that Life (even though they may think); only God can give and take away Life (Job 1:21; 1 Samuel 2:6; John 10:17-18).  God is about to give His Life of abundance to His chosen people.  Out of that abundance there will be:

> Reception to His Truth, therefore grace upon grace to have the faith that will not fail.

John 1:16

For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace.

> Goodness according to God’s ways always being brought forth.  The overflow (superabundance) of the heart the mouth speaks—this would be the treasured heart of God; the peoples’ mouths will speak the Life that is in God, which is the Holy Spirit AND CHRIST leading to Life.

Luke 6:45
The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart.

Matthew 12:35
The good man brings out of his good treasure what is good; and the evil man brings out of his evil treasure what is evil.

There are now many speaking forth as vipers; trying to speak good things when there’s wickedness in them (wicked motives in them) because of their harlotry.  In Hebrew leprosy can mean stricken.  The form of strickenness or disease that Christ speaks of in Matthew 10:8 for His disciples to cleanse people of is the disease of spiritual harlotry.

Proverbs 23:26-35

My son, give me your heart,
And let your eyes observe my ways.
27 For a harlot is a deep pit,
And a seductress is a narrow well.
28 She also lies in wait as for a victim,
And increases the unfaithful among men. 
29 Who has woe?
Who has sorrow?
Who has contentions?
Who has complaints?
Who has wounds without cause?
Who has redness of eyes?
30 Those who linger long at the wine,
Those who go in search of mixed wine.
31 Do not look on the wine when it is red,
When it sparkles in the cup,
When it swirls around smoothly;
32 At the last it bites like a serpent,
And stings like a viper.
33 Your eyes will see strange things,
And your heart will utter perverse things.
34 Yes, you will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea,
Or like one who lies at the top of the mast, saying:
35 “They have struck me, but I was not hurt;
They have beaten me, but I did not feel it.
When shall I awake, that I may seek another drink?”

The strickenness is harlotry which many need to awaken from before they continue to ‘drink another drink’ which will continue to contaminate them into seeing things not really from God and utter twisted things not led fully by God (2 Peter 2:12; Colossians 2:20-23);  if not cleansed of,  this will lead to death (sleep)(Revelation 18:1-8).  Babylon is a spiritual city people walk in when not cleansed fully.  It is a ‘mixed city’ (just as God refers to the spiritual Jerusalem in opposition as a cleansed city, Revelation 21:1-27).  The mixture is adulterated Truth (or added opinions, feelings, revelations, etc. led by the carnal nature alone).   As God does many times, He may demonstrate in the natural form many cities in the world that symbolize what He’s speaking of when someone walks in the fleshly nature (sin) and is ‘living’ or becoming ‘one’ (agreeing or committing adultery) with that city.  The immorality in the natural reveals the immorality of how God sees sin in peoples’ lives in the supernatural; no different than how Sodom and Gomorrah was (Genesis 19).  Sodom and Gomorrah was a natural example of a city where people lived in sin and wickedness.  It represented spiritually in its form, where people live or abide when they walk in sin.  This is how God sees it.  He says to come out of Babylon for a reason.  He’s saying, “Come out of your sinful or wicked ways.  Stop adding your own ideas or ways on to things that I have shown you.  These are things you do not truly understand but speak much about anyway without My Spirit’s reasoning,” (2 Chronicles 7:14; Ezekiel 33:12; John 8:11).

Breakdown of Matthew 10:8:

> Sick—those diseased, weak, wearied, and feebled (Matthew 11:28-30; Hebrews 12:12; Isaiah 35:3-5)

> Raise the dead—raise those in the fleshly nature up into the spiritual nature led by the Spirit of God, those of His walking in sin (death)—help lead them out of sin, and those that are asleep in harlotry because of strong drink—lead them into Truth or real love, that is, God (Matthew 4:16; Ephesians 5:14; Isaiah 60:1; John 5:24; 1 John 3:14)

> Cleansing leprosy—cleanse them of their scales (Acts 9:18; Psalm 119:118), cleanse the Body of the most offensive, annoying, and dangerous disease of harlotry (Mark 9:47; Proverbs 19:11; Ecclesiastes 7:21-22; Leviticus 19:18; Proverbs 18:19; Matthew 18:7).  Unfaithfulness (or harlotry) unto God in lack of obedience to the Holy Spirit, can lead one being easily offended, which leads to defilement of the Body—a dangerous disease.

> Drive out demons—force demons or evil spirits to leave or cast them out of people by the leading of the Holy Spirit or Christ which is the Power (Luke 10:17; Acts 16:16-18).

The commands which Jesus spoke for His disciples to do would not only bring miracles as described more in depth above, but when done in righteousness in the leading of the Holy Spirit in all things, it would bring Christ or Life abundantly to those that are His.  This would bring the goodness necessary to walk away from sin and death entirely through receiving the Truth of His Spirit to walk in the grace that would instill the kind of faith to stand in all things.  God planned this for those that would become lost, but yet found by Him, only to return to Him by His obedience to abstain from all wickedness so that they may not only have life but bear it as well (Matthew 7:17-19).  The good life is to bear good fruit which is to do God’s will.  The only way this can be done is through complete obedience to His Spirit (Matthew 7:21).  To be led fully in all areas of one’s life by His Holy Spirit is to do God’s will.