Yeshua was having a profound impact on the nation of Israel of preaching, teaching and healing. His ministry was growing and He needed help. Instead of helping Messiah with His mission of healing, preaching and teaching, most of the political and spiritual leaders of Yeshua’s day opposed Him. So, Yeshua raised up and empowered a new generation of spiritual leaders who were able to help Him.

Yeshua called His twelve disciples to Him and gave them authority to drive out impure spirits and to heal every disease and sickness. These are the names of the twelve apostles (think emissaries, representatives, ambassadors): first, Simon (who is called Peter) and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Him.

Except for Judas, these are some of the greatest men who ever lived or who ever will live. In the past, they were foundational to the establishment of Messiah’s New Covenant Community. In the future, they will sit on thrones ruling the tribes of Israel.

The Seed of the Woman who would crush the head of the satanic serpent was finally among us! Immanuel – God With Us, had come. There were several million of the Chosen People in hundreds of cities who needed to clearly hear this truth so they could become loyal to King Messiah. Yeshua sent these new leaders in training to help with this huge undertaking.

These twelve Yeshua sent out with the following instructions: The first instruction was to prioritize their evangelistic efforts. They were to go to the Jewish people first. Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. This is an important and ongoing Biblical principle: God’s will is to deal with the Jewish people first. It was the divine will that the Chosen People hear the Good News about the Messiah first. That same principle is still in operation today and should be followed by the Church, but sadly, that rarely happens. Jewish evangelism is not a priority in most churches – which may be one of the reasons why the Church is lacking the understanding and power and vitality the Church should have.

So, as they went out representing the Messiah, they were to go to the Jew first. Next, Messiah gave them the message they were to proclaim. It is simple and yet profound: As you go, proclaim this message: “The kingdom of Heaven has come near”. The kingdom of Heaven – God’s authority, the Lord’s dominion had come closer to the Chosen People – closer than it ever had before; closer than when the Lord led us out of Egypt; closer than when Adonai descended on Mount Sinai; closer than our time in the wilderness when the pillar of cloud was with us during the day and the pillar of fire was with us by night; closer than the time Isaiah saw the Lord in His temple, high and lifted up; closer than when Ezekiel saw Adonai on a throne over four living creatures with sparkling wheels with eyes.

God is real. He is a Person. And He is a King – a very great King. And His kingdom is real. And His kingdom, His rulership, had come near the Jewish people in a new and powerful way because wonderful King Messiah, who is the Son of the High King, had courageously entered this dark and rebellious kingdom and was among the sons of Israel. The Jewish people needed to understand this and accept King Yeshua.

Yeshua’s representative were to go to the Jewish people first. They were to proclaim that the Kingdom of God was near. And, supernatural evidences would be given to help convince the Chosen People: Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. These miraculous healings of body and soul would demonstrate the reality and goodness of God’s kingdom, and the healing and liberating power of the King, and that Yeshua is the ultimate healer of sick humanity.

The King gave His assistants other instructions to conduct their mission: Freely you have received; freely give. They were not to charge for their services. They were to demonstrate the gracious nature of the King and His kingdom.

They were to travel light and keep their desires minimal and depend on good people to provide for their needs. Do not get any gold or silver or copper to take with you in your belts – no bag for the journey or extra shirt or sandals or a staff, for the worker is worth his keep. Those whom the Lord calls, He provides for – usually through other faithful people.

While there may have been some inns that could have provided housing, if rooms were available, they may have been expensive. The King’s representatives should expect to have their needs for housing provided for by good people. Whatever town or village you enter, search there for some worthy person and stay at their house until you leave.

As you enter the home, give it your greeting (probably the traditional greeting of “shalom alechem” – peace to you). If the home is deserving, let your peace rest on it; if it is not, let your peace return to you – because not everyone who seems worthy turns out to be worthy, and you need to move on.

These were the Messiah’s representatives bringing good news about the arrival of the King into this world, bringing great salvation from the forces of Satan, sin and death with Him. Those who listened would be blessed. Those who refused to listen were in very serious trouble, and the King’s emissaries had the obligation to warn them of the certain terrible judgment that awaited them for their lack of loyalty to the King.

If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, leave that home or town and shake the dust off your feet. Truly I tell you, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town. Wow! Those who reject the King are worse sinners than the Sodomites and Gomorrahites!

Why? Because to whom much is given, much is required, and the penalty for failure is worse, and much more truth was being given to the Chosen People than was given to the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah. My friends, it is a very serious thing to hear about the coming of the Son of God, and then not be interested in Yeshua, or reject Yeshua.

The King gave His ambassadors more instructions how to carry out their mission: I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves. God the Father and Messiah the Son are kings of a real and good and eternal kingdom. There is another kingdom, a dark kingdom ruled by demonic beings who rule fallen human beings. The mission of the Messiah’s ambassadors is to rescue these fallen human beings from the demonic kingdom by telling them the truth so that they can repudiate the dark kingdom and its ways and transfer their loyalties to the kingdom of Heaven. That means we don’t want to harm human beings. We don’t want to hurt the fallen sons and daughters of Adam and Eve. No, we want to help them, save them, free them, rescue them. We are to be smart, wise, but harmless.

That means that those who represent the Lord will be vulnerable. That means they may have to suffer. That means that they must be prepared to suffer. The Lord’s emissaries may suffer from local political and religious leaders. Be on your guard; you will be handed over to the local councils and be flogged in the synagogues. The Lord’s emissaries may suffer from national leaders. On My account you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles.

Just as the physical and housing needs of the King’s representatives will be provided for while they are on their mission, those who are arrested and on trial for serving the Lord will be provided for. Messiah promises they will receive supernatural wisdom from the Wonderful Counselor. 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.

Messiah’s emissaries who are trying to rescue those who live in the dark kingdom must be prepared to suffer from Jews and Gentiles, from local and national leaders, from political and religious leaders. Perhaps even worse, they may be harmed by those they love the most – their family. Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. We must be prepared for the entire God-rejecting kingdom to hate us. You will be hated by everyone because of Me. We must develop the mindset that we are not part of the majority, that we will not be popular, that we are members of an unpopular minority who must endure rejection.

To encourage us to persevere through all possible persecution, Messiah promises: but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. Saved! Rescued from the real and deadly forces of Satan, sin and death; saved from condemnation on the Day of Judgment; saved from Gehenna, Hell, the Lake of Fire; saved to be with the Three-in-One God; saved to be part of an eternal kingdom; saved to be with the sons and daughters of God and the good angels; saved to take our place in the New Jerusalem and enjoy it blessings forever! This hope of being saved sustains us. This hope encourages us. This hope enables us to persevere though persecution and continue our mission. When you are persecuted in one place, flee to another.

And Messiah want them to know they shouldn’t expect this mission to be completed anytime soon. They need to be committed for the long haul. Truly I tell you, you will not finish going through the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes. This coming of the Son of Man is interpreted in various ways. I think it may refer to Messiah coming to judge the nation of Israel culminating in the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. The work of Jewish evangelism won’t be finished before then. And, 2,000 years later the world has not been reached, and the Lord’s representatives still to have the mindset that we are to focus our energies on going into all the world and preaching and teaching and helping.

The King’s representatives should not expect to be treated better than the King. The student is not above the teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for students to be like their teachers, and servants like their masters. If the head of the house has been called Beelzebul, how much more the members of his household! The King is the best among us, but look how the world treated Him! He was despised and rejected, slandered, arrested, put on trial, treated unfairly, tortured and crucified. We should expect the same, even worse treatment from those human beings who are under the power of the king of this world. As unpleasant as that sounds, Messiah doesn’t want the fear of persecution to deter us from carrying on His mission. So do not be afraid of them. Why not? It’s natural to be afraid of human beings who can make us suffer.

Messiah gives us four reasons:

We don’t need to fear persecution because, one: For there is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs. Evil will not win. Truth will eventually win. The proclaimers of truth will be vindicated. Knowing this will embolden us to declare the truth in spite of those who will try to intimidate us into silence.

We don’t need to fear persecution because, two: Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in Hell. Human beings can cause you pain. They can make you suffer. They can kill you. All true. But what human beings can do is irrelevant compared to what God can do. He made you and He can unmake you. He gave you body and soul, the physical and non-physical parts of who you are, and He can destroy your body and your soul in Hell – which means that your soul is not immortal. It is subject to destruction, to end of existence, to cessation of life. That is what you need to be afraid of. God is the One you need to fear. He is the One you are to serve – not evil men.

We don’t need to fear persecution because, three – God loves us: Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. People often associate suffering with divine dislike. If they are suffering, it’s because God doesn’t care about them. Messiah wants us to understand that even though we may suffer, it doesn’t mean that God doesn’t know about us or care for us. No, He does know. He knows everything about us. He does care for His suffering sons and daughters. He cares for us a lot. If we are suffering as His sons and daughters, it is not because He doesn’t know or care about us. It’s because in His wisdom He is willing to allow us to suffer – which can strengthen us, purify us and advance His redemptive plan for others.

We don’t need to fear persecution because, four: Whoever acknowledges Me before others, I will also acknowledge before My Father in Heaven. But whoever disowns Me before others, I will disown before My Father in Heaven. Boldly preaching the truth about Messiah is a life or death issue for the sons and daughters of God. Faithful proclamation about Yeshua to those around you results in divine acceptance. Giving into the fear of man that results in cowardly silence brings divine rejection. Believe me – on the Day of Judgment you do not want to be disowned by the Son of God in front of His Father. You do not want King Yeshua telling His Father, the High King, that you were not loyal, that you were a coward, that you were not willing to courageously identify with Him or take risks for Him or suffer for Him in order to further His very important mission to save other human beings.

Messiah wants to turn us into wise, fearless, bold, radical ambassadors who give ourselves fully to Him and His mission. He must come before concerns for our safety. Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the Earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law – a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household. He must come before family. Anyone who loves their father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. He must come before desires for comfort or our desires for what we want our lives to be. Whoever does not take up their cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me. Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for My sake will find it. The desire to live a comfortable life, and jobs, careers, professions are secondary to faithful service to Messiah and His mission.

These instructions were directed to 12 unique men, but the principles these instruction contain are not limited to these 12. Not everyone can be or will be an apostle who is supernaturally empowered to do miracles, and is divinely appointed to have great spiritual authority to preach to good news and start congregations and lead Messiah’s communities. Most people will lead normal lives. They will have homes and families and jobs. And they will serve the Lord by giving some of the money they earn from their jobs to support others who give themselves to ministries of leading and teaching and evangelism. Most people will serve the Lord by building up their New Covenant Communities from within and witnessing to those they come in contact with outside their community.

But, one doesn’t need to be an apostle to get a reward worthy of an apostle! The one who honors the representative honors the one who sent that representative. Anyone who welcomes you welcomes Me, and anyone who welcomes Me welcomes the One who sent Me. That’s why it’s so important to know, to honor, to listen to the true representatives of Messiah. It’s like a chain of command going from the man of God, to the Son of God, to God the Father.

The one who honors the representative honors the one who sent that representative and will be rewarded with the reward of that representative. Whoever welcomes a prophet as a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and whoever welcomes a righteous person as a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward. And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is My disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly not lose their reward. We may not be a great prophet, who for the most part were unpopular and persecuted, but when we identify with an unpopular and persecuted prophet, we get the same reward. We may not be one of the Lord’s great apostles, but when we identify with and support those persecuted apostles, we get a great reward. We don’t need a prophet or apostle in our midst to get a reward. The humblest disciple will get a great reward, and if we honor and encourage and support an unpopular or persecuted follower of Messiah – no matter who he or she is, we will get a great reward! Makes you want to stand with Messiah’s servants, and help them, and encourage them, and support them, doesn’t it?