<p>11:49 <i>Therefore also the Wisdom of God said- </i>This certainly sounds like a quotation from extant literature, possibly from an apocryphal book no longer known. The Lord Jesus was indeed &ldquo;the wisdom of God&rdquo; (1 Cor. 1:24), and so it could be that the Gospel writers were pointing out that these words of Jesus were a proof text amongst their persecuted converts; perhaps by quoting Matthew's words here, Luke is treating them as &quot;the wisdom of God&quot;. Certainly the Lord&rsquo;s words here would&rsquo;ve been a good mission statement for the early church. Or it could be that the Lord is quoting some now unknown text with approval. There can be no doubt that every part of the verse has direct relevance to the first century witness to the Jews. The source of the quotation is therefore of secondary importance; the Lord places it in His own mouth, at any rate, in predicting the outcome of the great commission. And yet clearly enough, at the time He spoke these words, that bunch of mixed up, largely secular men, who misunderstood so much, who knew so little, and whose ideals were so misplaced, were far from being the preaching machine which the Lord&rsquo;s words imply here. We can take one simple lesson from this- He had a profound hopefulness in people, a hopefulness which against all odds so often paid off. We, by contrast, tend to be highly cynical of people because we fail to see what they might turn into in spiritual terms.</p><p><i>I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and persecute</i>- <i>&quot;</i>Send them&quot; is a reference to the sending of the great commission. The Lord&rsquo;s desire was that the worldwide witness began at Jerusalem (Lk. 24:47), and Paul&rsquo;s interpretation of the commission was clearly that it involved being sent&nbsp;<i>firstly</i>&nbsp;to the Jews, and then to the Gentiles. The secular disciples were the equivalent of the prophets in the old Israel. There may be particular reference to the New Testament prophets, those who had the Spirit gift of prophecy. Clearly the witness of the early Christians is in view.</p>