This chapter is based on Luke 18:1-8. The Parable of the Persistent Widow
Christ had been speaking of the period just before His second coming, and of the perils through which His followers must pass. With special reference to that time, He related the parable “to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint.”
Luke 18:1 Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart,
Luke 18:2 saying: “There was in a certain city a judge,’’ He said, ‘’who did not fear God nor regard man.
Luke 18:3 Now there was a widow in that city; and she came to him, saying, ‘Get justice for me from my adversary.’
Luke 18:4 And he would not for a while; but afterward he said within himself, ‘Though I do not fear God nor regard man,
Luke 18:5 yet because this widow troubles me I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.’ ”
Luke 18:6 Then the Lord said, “Hear what the unjust judge said.
Luke 18:7 And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them?
Luke 18:8 I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?”
The judge who is here pictured had no regard for right, nor pity for suffering. The widow who pressed her case before him was persistently repulsed. Again and again she came to him, only to be treated with contempt, and to be driven from the judgment seat.
The judge knew that her cause was righteous, and he could have relieved her at once, but he would not. He wanted to show his arbitrary power, and it gratified him to let her ask and plead and entreat in vain. A bit sadistic.
But she would not fail nor become discouraged. Notwithstanding his indifference and hardheartedness, she pressed her petition until the judge consented to attend to her case.
“Though I do not fear God nor regard man,” he said, yet because this widow troubles me I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.”
To save his reputation, to avoid giving publicity to his partial, one-sided judgment, he avenged the persevering woman.
Luke 18:6 Then the Lord said, “Hear what the unjust judge said.
Luke 18:7 And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them?
Luke 18:8 I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?”
Luke 18:6 Then the Lord said, “Hear what the unjust judge said.
Luke 18:7 And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them?
Luke 18:8 I tell you that He will avenge them speedily.
Christ here draws a sharp contrast between the unjust judge and God. The judge yielded to the widow’s request merely through selfishness, that he might be relieved of her demands, her wishes.
He felt for her no pity or compassion; her misery was nothing to him. How different is the attitude of God toward those who seek Him? The appeals of the needy and distressed are considered by Him with infinite compassion.
The woman who entreated the judge for justice had lost her husband by death. Poor and friendless, she had no means of retrieving her ruined fortunes. So by sin, man lost his connection with God.
Of himself he has no means of salvation. But in Christ we are brought nigh unto the Father. The elect of God are dear to His heart. They are those whom He has called out of darkness into His marvellous light, to show forth His praise, to shine as lights amid the darkness of the world.
The unjust judge had no special interest in the widow who begged him for deliverance; yet in order to rid himself of her pitiful appeals, he heard her plea, and delivered her from her adversary. But God loves His children with infinite love. To Him the dearest object on earth is His church.
“For the Lord’s portion is His people; Jacob is the lot of His inheritance. He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; He led him about, He instructed him, He kept him as the apple of His eye.” Deuteronomy 32:9, 10.
Zecharuah 2:8 For this is what the LORD Almighty says: “After the Glorious One has sent me against the nations that have plundered you—for whoever touches you touches the apple of his eye—
The widow’s prayer, “Avenge me”—“do me justice”—“of mine adversary,” represents the prayer of God’s children. Satan is their great adversary. He is the “accuser of our brethren,” who accuses them before God day and night. (Revelation 12:10.)
He is continually working to misrepresent and accuse, to deceive and destroy the people of God. And it is for deliverance from the power of Satan and his agents that in this parable Christ teaches His disciples to pray.
In the prophecy of Zechariah is brought to view Satan’s accusing work, and the work of Christ in resisting the adversary of His people. The prophet says, “He showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him. And the Lord said unto Satan, The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan; even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee: is not this a brand plucked out of the fire? Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and stood before the angel.” Zechariah 3:1-3.
The people of God are here represented as a criminal on trial. Joshua, as high priest, is seeking for a blessing for his people, who are in great affliction. While he is pleading before God, Satan is standing at his right hand as his adversary.
He is accusing the children of God, and making their case appear as desperate as possible. He presents before the Lord their evil doings and their defects. He shows their faults and failures, hoping they will appear of such a character in the eyes of Christ that He will render them no help in their great need.
Joshua, as the representative of God’s people, stands under condemnation, clothed with filthy garments. Aware of the sins of his people, he is weighed down with discouragement. Satan is pressing upon his soul a sense of guiltiness that makes him feel almost hopeless. Yet there he stands as a suppliant, with Satan arrayed against him.
The work of Satan as an accuser began in heaven. This has been his work on earth ever since man’s fall, and it will be his work in a special sense as we approach nearer to the close of this world’s history.
As he sees that his time is short, he will work with greater earnestness to deceive and destroy. He is angry when he sees a people on the earth who, even in their weakness and sinfulness, have respect to the law of God. He is determined that they shall not obey God.
He delights in their unworthiness, and has devices prepared for every soul, that all may be ensnared and separated from God. He seeks to accuse and condemn God and all who strive to carry out His purposes in this world, in mercy and love, in compassion and forgiveness.
Every manifestation of God’s power for His people arouses the enmity of Satan. Every time God works in their behalf, Satan with his angels works with renewed vigour to work their ruin. He is jealous of all who make Christ their strength.
His object is to instigate evil, and when he has succeeded, throw all the blame upon the tempted ones. He points to their filthy garments, their defective characters. He presents their weakness and folly, their sins of ingratitude, their unlikeness to Christ, which have dishonoured their Redeemer.
All this he urges as an argument proving his right to work his will in their destruction. He endeavours to horrify them with the thought that their case is hopeless, that the stain of their defilement can never be washed away. He hopes so to destroy their faith that they will yield fully to his temptations, and turn from their allegiance to God.
The Lord’s people cannot of themselves answer the charges of Satan. As they look to themselves, they are ready to despair. But they appeal to the divine Advocate. They plead the merits of the Redeemer. God can be “just, and the justifier of him which believes in Jesus.” Romans 3:26.
With confidence the Lord’s children cry unto Him to silence the accusations of Satan, and bring to naught his devices. “Do me justice of mine adversary,” they pray; and with the mighty argument of the cross, Christ silences the bold accuser.
“The Lord said unto Satan, The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan, even the Lord that hats chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee: is not this a brand plucked out of the fire?” When Satan seeks to cover the people of God with blackness, and ruin them, Christ interposes.
Although they have sinned, Christ has taken the guilt of their sins upon His own soul. He has snatched the race as a brand from the fire. By His human nature He is linked with man, while through His divine nature He is one with the infinite God. Help is brought within the reach of perishing souls. The adversary is rebuked.
Zechariah 3:3 Now Joshua was dressed in filthy clothes as he stood before the angel.
Zechariah 3:4 The angel said to those who were standing before him, “Take off his filthy clothes.” Then he said to Joshua, “See, I have taken away your sin, and I will put fine garments on you.”
Zechariah 3:5 Then I said, “Put a clean turban on his head.” So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him, while the angel of the LORD stood by.
Zechariah 3:6 The angel of the LORD gave this charge to Joshua:
Zechariah 3:7 “This is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘If you will walk in obedience to me and keep my requirements, then you will govern my house and have charge of my courts, and I will give you a place among these standing here.
Notwithstanding the defects of the people of God, Christ does not turn away from the objects of His care. He has the power to change their raiment. He removes the filthy garments, He places upon the repenting, believing ones His own robe of righteousness, and writes pardon against their names on the records of heaven.
He confesses them as His before the heavenly universe. Satan their adversary is shown to be an accuser and deceiver. God will do justice for His own elect.
The prayer, “Do me justice of mine adversary,” applies not only to Satan, but to the agencies whom he instigates to misrepresent, to tempt, and to destroy the people of God. Those who have decided to obey the commandments of God will understand by experience that they have adversaries who are controlled by a power from beneath.
Such adversaries beset Christ at every step, how constantly and determinedly no human being can ever know. Christ’s disciples, like their Master, are followed by continual temptation.
The Scriptures describe the condition of the world just before Christ’s second coming. James the apostle pictures the greed and oppression that will prevail. He says,
James 5:1 Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you!
James 5:2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten.
James 5:3 Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have heaped up treasure in the last days.
James 5:4 Indeed the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out; and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.
James 5:5 You have lived on the earth in pleasure and luxury; you have fattened your hearts as in a day of slaughter.
James 5:6 You have condemned, you have murdered the just; he does not resist you.
This is a picture of what exists today. By every species of oppression and extortion, men are piling up colossal fortunes, while the cries of starving humanity are coming up before God.
Isaiah 59:14 Justice is turned back, And righteousness stands afar off; For truth is fallen in the street, And equity cannot enter.
Isaiah 59:15 So truth fails, And he who departs from evil makes himself a prey. Then the LORD saw it, and it displeased Him That there was no justice.
This was fulfilled in the life of Christ on earth. He was loyal to God’s commandments, setting aside the human traditions and requirements which had been exalted in their place. Because of this He was hated and persecuted. This history is repeated.
The laws and traditions of men are exalted above the law of God, and those who are true to God’s commandments suffer reproach and persecution. Christ, because of His faithfulness to God, was accused as a Sabbath breaker and blasphemer. He was declared to be possessed of a devil, and was denounced as Beelzebub. In like manner His followers are accused and misrepresented. Thus Satan hopes to lead them to sin, and cast dishonour upon God.
The character of the judge in the parable, who feared not God nor regarded man, was presented by Christ to show the kind of judgment that was then being executed, and that would soon be witnessed at His trial.
He desires His people in all time to realize how little dependence can be placed on earthly rulers or judges in the day of adversity. Often the elect people of God must stand before men in official positions who do not make the word of God their guide and counsellor, but who follow their own unconsecrated, undisciplined impulses.
In the parable of the unjust judge, Christ has shown what we should do. “Shall not God avenge His own elect, which cry day and night unto Him?” Christ, our example, did nothing to vindicate or deliver Himself. He committed His case to God. So His followers are not to accuse or condemn, or to resort to force in order to deliver themselves.
NEXT TIME
How should we react when Satan will use his agents to treat us in the same way Jesus was treated when He was on earth?
May God help us to learn precious lessons as we prepare for the lost severe crisis before Jesus comes to rescue His children.