In verses 5-15, Jesus gave the Apostles instructions for their task. Now, in verses 16-23, He prepares them for the inevitable hostility and suffering that will come from the world because they are His true representatives. This message is not just for the Twelve, but for all who will faithfully bear His name until the end of the age.
The Inevitability of Persecution
Jesus does not promise His followers protection from persecution, but preparation for it. He uses language that demands they expect hostility:
- “Be on your guard; you will be handed over…” (v. 17)
- “You will be brought before governors and kings…” (v. 18)
- “But when they arrest you…” (v. 19)
- “Brother will deliver up brother to death… children will rise up…” (v. 21)
- “You will be hated by all for My name’s sake…” (v. 22)
Persecution is not an accident but an expected part of the Christian life (“all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution”—2 Timothy 3:12). This is the great tradition of the true Church: a history marked by suffering and martyrdom, where Christ’s kingdom grows not by killing, but by sacrifice.
The Nature of the Mission Field (v. 16)
Jesus sets the solemn tone with a powerful and profound metaphor:
“Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves.”
This striking imagery immediately defines two things: the helplessness of the missionary and the lethality of the world.
1. The Missionary as “Sheep”
The sheep represents the disciple’s nature in the face of the world’s hostility:
- Defenselessness and Helplessness: A sheep is timid, non-aggressive, and utterly defenseless. It possesses no weapons to fight a predator.
- Dependence: Sheep are completely dependent on the Shepherd for protection, guidance, and provision. The disciple is called to rely fully on Christ’s power, not their own strength, which is why they are sent out with nothing (v. 9-10).
- Focus on Innocence: The sheep is a creature of innocence, symbolizing the harmless, non-retaliatory nature a disciple must maintain, even when attacked.
2. The World as “Wolves”
The wolf represents the hostile, Christ-rejecting world, including individuals, religious authorities, and governments:
- Lethality and Savagery: Wolves are cunning, ferocious predators known for their brutal, indiscriminate slaughter.
- Cunning Hostility: As you noted from the shepherd’s account, wolves are cunning, working terrible havoc in the flock without always being detected. This speaks to the hidden, deceitful, and violent spiritual and physical attacks disciples will face.
- Authority’s Danger: The instruction immediately moves to literal authorities—”local councils” and “kings” (v. 17-18)—showing that the “wolves” include official powers bent on destruction.
This passage essentially says, “I am sending My innocent, dependent people into a world that is savagely hostile and intends to destroy them.”
The Necessary Wisdom and Integrity (v. 16)
Since disciples are defenseless and the danger is great, Jesus gives a dual command for how to live and act in the world:
“Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.”
This is not a contradictory command but a call for a supernatural blend of prudence and purity.
1. “Shrewd as Snakes” (Prudence)
The snake, known for its caution, silence, and ability to move unnoticed, symbolizes the need for spiritual prudence (or wisdom). This means:
- Circumspection: Be careful, wary, and wise about where you go and what you say. Do not foolishly rush into danger or provoke unnecessary persecution.
- Strategy: Be wise in planning and carrying out the mission, making the best use of opportunities (like focusing on receptive people, v. 11).
- Survival: Know when to speak and when to be silent, and when to flee to another city (a theme Jesus will take up later in the chapter). This is not cowardice but strategic effectiveness for the sake of the mission.
2. “Innocent as Doves” (Purity)
The dove, known for its gentleness and loyalty (in the context of the New Testament, also associated with the Holy Spirit), symbolizes the need for moral purity and integrity. This means:
- Purity of Motive: Your mission must be free from any selfish, manipulative, or false pretense. You must not fight or retaliate.
- Harmlessness: Despite the cunning required, your character must be without malice or deceit. The disciples must never become like the wolves they oppose.
- The Message’s Truth: You must remain faithful to the clear, unchanged message (v. 7), never compromising the gospel for safety or acceptance.
The Promised Divine Assistance (v. 19-20)
Faced with this terrifying future—being hauled before courts and kings—the disciple’s natural reaction is anxiety. Jesus addresses this with a marvelous promise:
“But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.” (v. 19-20)
In the moments of greatest danger and public scrutiny, the disciple’s helplessness is overcome by the Holy Spirit’s power.
- Worry is Forbidden: Since the trial is for Christ’s name and is part of God’s plan, anxiety is needless.
- The Persecution is Ministry: Being brought before governors and kings is not a punishment, but a divine opportunity to be “witnesses to them and to the Gentiles” (v. 18).
- Divine Eloquence: The Father’s Spirit will speak through them, turning the disciple’s weakness into a powerful, authoritative testimony that no opponent can match.
This promise turns persecution into the ultimate preaching platform, a testimony that even the most powerful people on earth will be forced to hear.
The next section (v. 21-23) escalates the persecution, predicting deep family division and enduring hatred, which truly foreshadows the end times. This entire passage emphasizes that being a faithful representative of Christ leads not to ease, but to witnessing through suffering, supported entirely by the power of God.
Does knowing that the Lord’s expectation of persecution is a sign of faithful ministry change how you view hardship or opposition today?
he disciples, being men of that land, knew all this very well. Can you imagine their reaction when Jesus said, “I’m going to send you out as My ambassadors.” How will it be, Lord? Please tell us.
We Are Sheep Among Wolves
The answer: “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves.”
That is not exactly the most thrilling call to the ministry I’ve ever heard. Picture it in your mind’s eye. The timid sheep trembles at it. The wolves are rough, unmannerly, coarse-minded, irritating, and annoying. The poor sheep does not feel at home in such company. A sheep walks in the midst of wolves.
The image of the shepherd in Psalm 23 is that the Lord makes the sheep lie down in green pastures and walk beside still waters. Now, the sheep hears a roaring sound. He sees every now and then the white teeth glittering within the wolf’s mouth, and he is ill at ease. One wolf may bite its leg; another may jump and catch its neck. The sheep is scared to death. What a scene!
Who gives a Gospel ministry call like this? We only talk about Christ as our Shepherd, as in Psalm 23. John 10 talks about Christ as the Good Shepherd who knows, loves, and cares for His sheep, and they know His voice. But the idea of them being among vicious, destructive, deadly wolves was the Lord’s way of graphically illustrating the helplessness and fearfulness of confronting a Christ-rejecting, God-hating world with the message of the Kingdom. This is the world we have to go into.
Sometimes the wolves are even among us, as in Acts 20:29, where Paul said to the elders of the Ephesian church, “I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.” There was a wolf even among the twelve disciples named Judas, who ultimately betrayed Jesus, delivering Him to be murdered. He brought danger to our Lord from the human side. Sometimes they are on the inside, masquerading as sheep, the “wolf in sheep’s clothing” from Matthew 7:15. But when we go into the world, we go among wolves. “The wolves are out there.” That is how it will be.
Frankly, that would be enough to panic anyone: helpless, defenseless apostles going out among rapacious, vicious, wicked, God-hating men. That is why He begins verse 16 with “Behold!” That’s a word of amazement: “You won’t believe this! This is astounding!” You would think the Lord would say, “I am the King; you are My Messiah ambassadors. Men, we are going out as wolves among the sheep. Get ’em! Tear ’em up for the Gospel! Let us go and turn the world upside down. Let us win India for Jesus! Let us bring down Satan’s strongholds!” In Matthew 9:38, Jesus refers to the multitude as sheep without a shepherd. It would seem that they’re the sheep and we’re the wolves with the power of God. But no, they are the wolves and we are the sheep.
The Necessity of Christ’s Honesty
Jesus’s honesty is so true that we can believe Him. Today, people don’t believe preachers because they don’t tell the truth and the reality, offering tall promises like politicians. Even Jesus Himself did not promise ease. People also enjoy this; they don’t want the real, hard, difficult facts. Today, many churches will not take Jesus as their preacher because He is so true and honest. He would have no job in the marketing industry.
We are so concerned about getting people saved that we pretty well water down the Gospel—we dissolve it. We don’t deeply talk about repentance or confession of sin or humbling oneself or mourning for sin and being poor in spirit. We don’t talk about the Lordship of Christ, or obedience and the narrow way, or the cost and the price. Then, when someone becomes a believer, we don’t talk about going out into the world as sheep among wolves. We say, “Let’s go share. Will you not speak about Jesus’s love to a perishing world? How much God will bless us?” We’ve got nice little formulas that we use. We aren’t as honest as Jesus was; we don’t call people for evangelism/work and say, “There are some rapacious, wild wolves out there. Will you go as a sheep to save them?”
It isn’t the world’s way to win adherence; the world talks about ease, comfort, riches, advancement, and ambition: “What is in it for me?” But Jesus offered hardship and death—such honesty. And His frankness in telling them the worst kept Him from giving a rosy, beautiful dream that would be shattered by hard experience after they were immediately baptized and lured into the faith. He knew the future in store for Himself, for His Gospel, and for His disciples.
We have to learn the frankness of Christ in telling the truth, because if we are dishonest in our presentation of the Gospel and of what service to Christ is, people will come to Him on false pretenses and not the truth anyway. What have we gained? Only false disciples.
When Jesus called people into His service, He initiated them by saying, “You’re going to go out. They don’t agree with you or believe your message or want to hear your message.” They may persecute you and get you ripped to pieces. It isn’t easy; they’re going to cut you up out there.
He is like a true commander. Giuseppe Garibaldi, in 1849, after the siege of Rome, said this to his soldiers, “Men, all our efforts against superior forces have been unavailing. I have nothing to offer you but hunger, thirst, hardship, and death. But I call on all who love their country to join with me.” And they came by the hundreds. After Dunkirk, Churchill said, “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat.” Similarly, our Lord offers blood, sweat, tears, hunger, thirst, and death. And He knew that dangers and death itself will not appall a soul that is touched into heroic self-forgetfulness by His love. That’s the way it is, and He never sends anyone out without telling them the full truth. Life is tough on the mission field, but it’s also tough to be a missionary at home.
Who Are the Wolves and Why Do They Attack?
Let us understand this verse. We know who the sheep are: they are the apostles. “I send you forth as sheep.” But who are the wolves? Persecution will come from the wolves. Who are they?
Verse 17 tells us: “Beware of men.” Men are the wolves—human beings. It’s true that we wrestle, not against flesh and blood, but “against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” Yes, we wrestle against a demonic foe: Satan, the prince of the power of the air, the ruler of the darkness of this world. But its agents are human, and the enemy is men.
Throughout the years of God’s people, Satan has used men who have slaughtered the saints, who have imprisoned, crucified, burned at the stake, and stoned the saints of God. Men have snuffed their lives out and still do it, even to this day. That’s why verse 17 says to beware of men. Keep your eye out for men; they’re not your friends, in one sense. This is not to make you jaded. I don’t want you to forget to reach people and love them as God does. We are to, “Do good unto all men.” We need to keep a balance, but realize that the enemy will attack through human agencies. Persecution will come from men. Don’t be shocked when you are rebuked, insulted, or beaten for preaching the Gospel by men.
Why are they so vicious and why do they attack us? It’s very simple. Verse 18 says, “You shall be brought before governors and kings for My sake.” Verse 22 says, “You shall be hated of all for My name’s sake.”
They are vicious not because they really hate you, but because they hate Christ. The concept of ‘name’ there refers to all that Christ is. ‘In the name of Christ’ is the sum of all that He is. It’s because of who He is and what He’s done that we are persecuted.
Mark this: if we are persecuted because of who Christ is and what He has done, it has to be very obvious that we and Christ are doing what we are doing together. In other words, if Christ is not made manifest, no one will persecute Him in me. But when I am persecuted, it is because I represent Christ; it is because He is in me, living His life. It is because I reflect Christ in the world that I am persecuted. If I am not experiencing persecution, I may not be representing Christ as I should.
In Galatians 6:17, Paul said, “I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.” Visible on Paul’s body were the marks and scars from the stonings, whippings, and beatings he endured. To him, they were the marks of Christ; they weren’t intended for him. People weren’t angry with Paul—he wasn’t that big of an issue; they were upset at Christ. Since they couldn’t strike Christ, they got to His emissary. Twice they actually took his life; once he came back. Finally, they chopped his head off with an axe, but it wasn’t because of him. It was because of Who was living in him.
The same thing is in Colossians 1:24. Paul said, “I fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh.” Paul took blows meant for Christ. Paul wanted to know the fellowship of His sufferings. He prayed his highest prayer, “That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings.”
Paul really identified with being able to be punished, not for what he did, but for what Christ was doing through him, in confronting the world of darkness.
You can actually get excited; Peter said, “If you be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.” When the Kingdom is built, Satan will cause people to react; they will rebel, ostracize, criticize, condemn, turn you away, and falsely accuse you. But it’s okay for us to stand and take the blows meant for Him who took the blows meant for us. In fact, that’s a joy.
Jesus Christ struck Paul when he was persecuting the church, saying, “Paul, why are you persecuting Me?” Paul never met Christ, but when you touch any of His sheep, you touch Him. So actually, we are representatives of Christ, sent out to represent Christ as sheep among wolves. The wolves are men, and the reason the wolves are so vicious is that they hate Christ.
The spiritual world picture is bigger. If you read Revelation 12, the dragon (Satan) tried to kill Christ, but the child was caught up to heaven. So, he tries to kill the offspring of the woman. This war is going on from generation to generation: the enmity between the seed of the woman and the serpent (Cain and Abel, Isaac and Ishmael, Jacob and Esau, Israel versus Egypt, David and Saul, Christ and all His enemies). This hate will continue till the end of the world between children of darkness and light.
Why Accept This Dangerous Task?
Why should I take this dangerous task? Why can’t I keep giving excuses, like in the parable: “I bought a cow, bought land, got married, cannot come?” We already saw: for His name’s sake.
“I send you forth.” What a grand expression; there are so many things in that statement. It could be used by no mere man. Our commission justifies us in what we do. For a sheep to go into the midst of wolves of its own accord would be a foolish courting of peril, but when the great Shepherd says, “I send you,” it would be a grievous fault to linger. Who is this who says, “I send you”?
- It is “The Lord of the Harvest.” It is the Lord of the harvest to whom we pray, who actually sends us forth in answer to our own prayers. He is the Master of all worlds and owner of the souls of men.
- It is the Great Shepherd. “I, the Great Shepherd… who will give My life for the sheep… I, who prize you, for you are My sheep. I who love you, for I bought you with My blood. I, who would not expose you to a needless danger. I, who know by My infinite wisdom that I am doing a wise and a kind thing. I send you, My sheep, My dear sheep, for whom I laid down My life—I send you into the midst of wolves, therefore you may safely go, for I who love you send you there.”
- It is the Triumphant One. “I send you.” He came as a lamb among wolves, passed through the danger, endured it, and triumphed in it—mark that—I who overcame in the very character in which I send you. Have you not read in the book of Revelation, “The Lamb shall overcome them”? And again, “They overcame by the blood of the Lamb.”
The Divine Purpose of Persecution
But in all of it, Jesus affirms a divine purpose. He says that though His followers will be brought before leaders and authorities for His sake, it will be “as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles” (v. 18). In the midst of hostile persecution against the Gospel, God’s unseen hand of providence is at work—advancing the testimony of His own Son through the persecuted!
The apostle Paul himself experienced this. When he wrote his letter to the Philippian believers, he was in prison for preaching the Gospel. And he told them:
“But I want you to know, brethren, that the things which happened to me have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel, so that it has become evident to the whole palace guard, and to all the rest, that my chains are in Christ; and most of the brethren, in the Lord, having become confident by my chains, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.” (Philippians 1:12-14)
What a wonderful word of encouragement this is to His church in a hostile world! Jesus is letting us know that, whenever governments or religious councils close the pulpits to the preaching of the Gospel, God sends the message out even louder from the prison cells!
We will learn how we handle the persecution. I believe it is one of the most rich passages you’ll ever see in the Bible about how we react to a hostile world. I believe it will become more hostile in our own country if we will be faithful to declare the truth with the same honesty our Lord and His disciples declared it.
Why Don’t We Experience Persecution?
Why does this text seem so strange and not our experience at all? Why don’t we experience it?
One reason is that we don’t represent Christ as we should. Examine ourselves. Another reason is that we don’t preach the Gospel. Even when we preach, I actually believe that part of the reason we don’t experience more overt persecution is that we have so altered our message to accommodate rather than to confront men.
The Gospel begins with, “The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness.” What do you say first? “You are a depraved sinner who has broken God’s law. You know what is true of God by the creation around you, but you have turned the truth into a lie and worshiped the creature more than the Creator. God has given you up to your own lusts.”
That is so different from the way we normally present the Gospel. But Jesus said, “When you preach repentance and that the Kingdom is at hand, you are actually confronting people with their sinfulness; you are confronting the dupes and agents of Satan across the world and throughout all of human history, and you can count on them to react.”
It doesn’t mean you are looking for this, and we’ll see that next week as we see the proper response. But when we recruit for the ministry, people need to be reminded that they are going out as sheep among wolves. People will misunderstand you, misrepresent you, and criticize you. You have to accept that as part of it. Sometimes I think the physical suffering would be easier to handle than the emotional and mental anguish.
Another reason Christianity doesn’t spread is that people try to preach a Christianity that doesn’t promise any troubles or sickness. People listen to these lies and come to Christ, then see what lies have been told, and turn back. A Christianity that avoids persecution will water down the message and preach a friendly, wrong gospel. We have not learned a life of committed Christian living. People have been beaten, tortured, insulted, and even killed for the Gospel, but we are not even willing to take some rebukes and rejection.
If you’re not suffering much persecution, it could be the result of not being definitive about your faith. 2 Timothy 3:12 says, “All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” God also may be gracious in giving you a time of respite. But somewhere in the world, at all times, the church is suffering persecution and being devoured. One day we may experience it here. We can thank God for this breath of fresh air, but in the midst of it, don’t be under the illusion that there is no persecution.
We fear if we speak, they may reject us, so we don’t even open our mouths. If we are definitive with our faith, there will always be a price to pay. You cannot confront a God-hating world without a reaction. So much of our Christianity is locked up inside church walls that I often wonder if the world even knows who we are.
Do you see the promise of purpose and glory that comes with the “blood, toil, tears, and sweat” of being Christ’s representative?
Grace Reformed Baptist Church, Bangalore 