Luke 18:6-10
Luke 18:6 (KJB)
And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith.
Jesus is now telling His hearers to hear what the unjust judge has said. He was
pointing to the moral or spiritual lesson of the parable He just told.
Luke 18:7 (KJB)
And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though
he bear long with them?
God will not be like the unjust judge but will answer the prayers of His elect.
If the unjust judge had heeded the cries of the widow, God will indeed act upon
the cries of His children when they pray to Him continually. Now this does not
mean that God will answer every prayer immediately after they are prayed, but
the last part of the verse teaches us that sometimes God will delay His response
to the prayer because of something that He may be planning in concert with the
situation of the prayers of the elect.
Luke 18:8 (KJB)
I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man
cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?
Jesus assures that God will answer those prayers speedily. In fact the word
“avenge” in the Greek carries with it the meaning of “vindication, punishment,
or vengeance.” (2 Th 1:7-8 KJV) And to you who are troubled rest with us,
when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, {8} In
flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the
gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: We must always keep in mind that God’s
timing may not always be our timing. The one true parallel between the unjust
judge and the Lord is that they both rendered justice. In the last portion of
this verse, Jesus asks the question as to whether He would find faith on the
earth when He returns. This question has a tremendous application. First, the
faith is speaking of the one found in this parable. In other words, would people
have the faith to endure a long time in a bad situation and wait patiently for
the Lord’s return? Or would they begin to make compromises and start living by
sight to avoid bad situations? (Psa 40:1 KJV) I waited patiently for the
LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. David states that he had
waited patiently for the Lord and He heard his cry. (1 Pet 2:20 KJV) For
what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it
patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently,
this is acceptable with God. Peter tells us that we are to have faith and
to live patiently and wait for the Lord because He will properly judge in every
situation. Secondly, the application of the statement of Jesus can be widened to
include the whole body of believers. How many Christians are making compromises
today to avoid the stigma of being too narrow minded? Many preachers are even
equating false gospels to Christianity such as those who believe and teach that
Allah is the God of the Bible. That is not true and cannot be proven by the
Scriptures but they do it to appease the Muslims.
Luke 18:9 (KJB)
And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they
were righteous, and despised others:
Then Jesus goes right into another parable which is aimed straight at the
scribes and Pharisees. It is the parable of the Pharisee and the Publican. Jesus
knew that the Pharisees had trusted in themselves because they thought their
works were totally acceptable before God and those works rendered them righteous
and ready for Heaven. The problem was that in their own arrogance they had
learned to despise other people while exalting themselves. They made themselves
out to be the superior class and all others inferior. Their disobedience to the
law far outweighed their obedience which meant they were hell bound, not Heaven
bound.
Luke 18:10 (KJB)
Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a
publican.
The two men that went up to the temple to pray were as diverse as you could be
in ideology, yet they were both the same when you actually got to know the real
essence of what the Pharisees lived for. The publican was a man who collected
taxes from the Jews for Rome and was allowed to collect above and beyond the
total as long as Rome got their share. They were normally thieves because they
collected more for the purpose of stuffing their pockets. The Pharisees were as
covetous as the publicans but they shrouded their greed and nefarious activities
with religion. This is what makes religion very dangerous, it has the ability to
cloak evil and even work in concert with it, making it seem acceptable.