In 9:1-6 we have the spreading of the ministry through the twelve apostles. This spreading of the ministry is actually the spreading of the jubilee.
Luke 9:1 says, “And having called together the twelve, He gave them power and authority over all the demons, and to heal diseases.” The power and authority over demons and to heal diseases is for the release of the captives. As a result of the fall, man was captured by Satan, sin, and disease, which is the issue of sin. Every fallen human being is a captive both of demons and of diseases. Therefore, the Man-Savior gave the twelve power and authority over demons and diseases. This is the negative aspect of the jubilee, the aspect of the release of the captives.
The authority in 9:1 over demons and disease is a foretaste of the power of the coming age (Heb. 6:5), that is, of the millennium, in which all demons will be cast out and all diseases will be healed (Isa. 35:5-6).
Demons are the spirits of the living creatures who lived in the preadamic age and were judged by God when they joined Satan’s rebellion (see Life-study of Genesis Message 2). The fallen angels work with Satan in the air (Eph. 2:2; 6:11-12), and the demons move with him on the earth. Both act evilly upon man for the kingdom of Satan. The possession of people by demons signifies Satan’s usurpation of man, whom God created for His purpose. The demons need to be cast out from possessed people so that they may be delivered from Satan’s bondage (Luke 13:16), out of Satan’s authority of darkness (Acts 26:18; Col. 1:13), into God’s kingdom.
Luke 9:2 says, “And He sent them to proclaim the kingdom of God and to cure the sick.” Here we have the proclaiming of the kingdom of God as the positive aspect of the jubilee. The kingdom of God involves the recovery of the right to enjoy God in Christ.
Let us review what we have said in an earlier message concerning the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is the Savior (17:21) as the seed of life, sown into His believers, God’s chosen people (Mark 4:3, 26), and developing into a realm which God may rule as His kingdom in His divine life. Its entrance is regeneration (John 3:5), and its development is the believers’ growth in the divine life (2 Pet. 1:3-11). It is the church life today, in which the faithful believers live (Rom. 14:17), and it will develop into the coming kingdom as an inheritance reward (Gal. 5:21; Eph. 5:5) to the overcoming saints in the millennium (Rev. 20:4, 6). Eventually, it will consummate in the New Jerusalem as the eternal kingdom of God, an eternal realm of the eternal blessing of God’s eternal life for all God’s redeemed to enjoy in the new heaven and new earth for eternity (Rev. 21:1-4; 22:1-5). Such a kingdom, the kingdom of God, is what the Savior preached as the gospel, the good news (4:43).
According to 9:2, the Lord sent out the twelve to proclaim the kingdom of God. To proclaim the kingdom of God is to proclaim the jubilee. In particular, it is to proclaim the positive aspect of the jubilee—the recovery of our lost right to the enjoyment of God. Therefore, in sending out the twelve, the Man-Savior was spreading the jubilee through them to the surrounding country.
In 9:3 and 4 the Lord said to the twelve, “Take nothing for the journey, neither a staff, nor a bag, nor bread, nor money, nor have two tunics apiece. And into whatever house you enter, remain there, and from there go out.” Why did the Man-Savior tell the sent ones not to take anything for their journey? The reason He told them to take nothing was that in the jubilee things are common under God’s ordination. Therefore, there was no need for the twelve to take anything for themselves. The picture here indicates that when the jubilee comes there will not be any selfishness. Instead, everything will be both for us and for others.