<p>10:27&nbsp;<em>What I tell you</em>- It could be argued that the content of the Gospel which is to be preached is therefore to be the words of Jesus, what He told the disciples. That is certainly how they understood it, for the four Gospel records are transcripts of the early preaching of the Gospel by the disciples, and they are just that- what the Lord told the disciples.</p>
<p><em>In the darkness</em>- In the same way as the day of judgment will be a bringing to light what was done and said in darkness (:26), we should live now in that transparent spirit, openly speaking the Gospel, not hiding it, bearing in mind that one day and for eternity, it will be openly revealed who we are and what we believe. The Lord later stated that &quot;in secret [s.w. &quot;hid&quot; in :26] have I said nothing&quot; (Jn. 18:20). He was for a moment adopting the perspective of the disciples, just as He does with the language of demons;&nbsp;<em>to them</em>, what He was telling them was said in darkness, was hidden. But it was not to remain hidden within their hearts and brain cells, they were to speak it forth&nbsp;<em>now</em>, in that they were to live in the spirit of judgment day today. There are many allusions to Job in the New Testament; far more than may be apparent on the surface. Mt. 10:27 is one of them: &quot;What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light: and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops&quot;. The idea of God telling us things in the ear which we must then openly declare is surely looking back to Job's words in Job 42:5. &quot;Darkness&quot; is also a Job idea; the word occurs at least 30 times in the book. The final appearance of Yahweh in the darkness of the thundercloud was His reproof of Job's repeated suggestion that the darkness of sin somehow separated God from involvement with man. What Job was told out of darkness, he had to speak forth in the light. It seems that Job's spiritual growth is being picked up by the Lord and presented as our pattern. He does the same in Lk. 18:30, another of the allusions to Job in the New Testament, when He speaks of how each of us must give up house, wife, brethren and children for the Kingdom&rsquo;s sake, and then afterwards receive &ldquo;manifold more in this time, and in the world to come&hellip;&rdquo;. This is exactly the position of Job (Job 42:10), and yet the Lord applies it to each of us.&nbsp;</p>
<p><em>Speak in the light</em>- This verse is repeated in Lk. 12:3 but from a different perspective: &quot;Therefore whatever you have said in the darkness shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered behind closed doors shall be proclaimed upon the housetops&quot;. We are to preach upon the housetops what the Lord told us in the ear. But what&nbsp;<em>we</em>&nbsp;have spoken in the ear, or whispered, shall likewise be broadcast from the housetops. Nothing will be secret in the day of judgment, and so we are not be secretive about our faith now. We are to live as if we are in the Lord's judgment day presence- because in essence, we are. For judgment is going on right now. John's take on light and darkness is that Jewish society was the darkness in which the light of Christ was shining (Jn. 1:5; 12:46). The Lord may therefore be implying that they were still partially in darkness, and into that darkness He had come and was showing them the light.</p>
<p><em>And what you hear in the ear-&nbsp;</em>The personal relationship which we have had with Christ will be very evident at the judgment. What we say to Christ in His ear in the bedroom in the darkness, will be openly spoken by Christ at the judgment (Lk. 12:2,3). God dwells in darkness (Ex. 20:21; 1 Kings 8:12). Speaking in the bedroom in secret with the knowledge we will be openly rewarded is the language of prayer (Mt. 6:6). Our private relationship with the Lord now, praying to Him in our bedroom, meditating about Him there, will then be spoken out loud. But there is a related statement from the Lord: What we hear from Him in the ear, we must speak openly (Mt. 10:26,27; after the pattern of Isaiah in 22:14). Putting these passages together, we get the picture of us speaking to God through Christ, talking in His ear, as one might whisper something very personal into a friend's ear, in the darkness of our bedroom. And then the Lord whispers back in our ear, i.e. His revelation to us (through the word) is very personal and not perceived by others; but we must openly, publicly act upon it. And this private relationship we have with the Lord in our prayer life will then be revealed openly at the judgment. God told Samuel &quot;in his ear&quot; about Saul's future, and although the message must have been hard to relay to Saul, Samuel did so, on the housetop (1 Sam. 9:15,25). The similarities with the Lord's words are too close to be accidental. Surely He saw each of us as passing through the essential experience of Samuel. As we witness our relationship with Christ to an unspiritual world now, so He will&nbsp;speak openly of us to God (Mt. 10:32; Rev. 3:5), Angels (Lk. 12:8) and to the world (Lk. 12:2,3). He will openly confess our name, i.e. our character and personality. What we have said to Him privately will be revealed in the light, i.e. in the Kingdom (Col. 1:12). &nbsp;Preaching on the housetops is built on the language of 1 Sam. 9:15,25, where God speaks in Samuel&rsquo;s ear, and then he speaks that word to Saul on the housetop. The Lord is saying that in essence, we are all in Samuel&rsquo;s position; we hear the word of this world&rsquo;s salvation, the word about &ldquo;the Kingdom&rdquo; as it was for Saul, and that very fact is in itself the imperative to overcome our natural reservations and share it with those for whom it is intended- even if, as with Saul, we consider them unlikely and unspiritual hearers.</p>
<p>The outcome of the judgment seat will be a reflection of our&nbsp;attitude to witnessing to others: &quot;What you (the twelve disciples) hear in the ear, that preach upon the housetops...&nbsp;<em>whosoever&nbsp;</em>therefore shall confess Me before men, him will I confess also before My Father which is in heaven&quot; (Mt. 10:27,32). The Lord seems to go beyond briefing His men before they set off on their preaching mission; He goes on to say that in a sense,&nbsp;<em>whoever</em>&nbsp;follows their example will be confessed before the Father. Notice what He&nbsp;<em>isn't&nbsp;</em>saying: He isn't saying that if you're keen about preaching, this is the be-all-and-end-all of spiritual life, and this alone will guarantee your acceptance with God. He says that what we hear (i.e. believe) in the ear, our own very personal understanding and belief of the Gospel, must be spread abroad openly to others. Our salvation is through faith in God's absolute grace; but if it is&nbsp;<em>real</em>&nbsp;faith, we will preach it on the housetops, we simply can't keep the knowledge of&nbsp;<em>such</em>&nbsp;grace, such great salvation, to ourselves.&nbsp;</p>
<p><em>Proclaim upon the housetops</em>- According to the Talmud (<em>Shabbat&nbsp;</em>35b), it was the priests who were to proclaim the commencement of the Sabbath by blasts on the shophar from the housetops. Again, the Lord takes language appropriate to the professional religionists and applies it to His largely secular followers. All the time He was seeking to encourage them that&nbsp;<em>they</em>&nbsp;were to do this work. And the proclamation of the Kingdom is thus turned into a form of proclaiming a Sabbath of rest. Hebrews uses the language of the Sabbath concerning the Kingdom of God. The idea of teaching upon the housetops what we hear in the ear is language which surely alludes to how Isaiah and the prophets heard God's word in their ear and then taught it to others (Is. 5:9; 50:4). The idea was that the Lord&rsquo;s followers were not to see the prophets as pale faced, iconic figures- but to realize they were no less than them in their service of God and His Son.</p>