<p>23:34<em> Therefore, look, I send to you prophets and wise men and scribes. Some of them you shall kill and crucify, and some of them you shall scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city- </em>This certainly sounds like a quotation from extant literature; Lk. 11:49 introduces it with: &ldquo;Therefore also said the wisdom of God&rdquo;. 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. 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><em>&quot;</em>I send unto you&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;<em>firstly</em>&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. Lk. 11:49 adds: &ldquo;Prophets and apostles&rdquo;. Clearly the witness of the early Christians is in view.</p><p>The Lord was talking to the scribes (:29), telling them that He was sending &ldquo;scribes&rdquo; to them. And those scribes were men amongst whom were the illiterate and who therefore didn&rsquo;t know the text of Scripture that well. Their qualification was that they had known God&rsquo;s Son. The Lord is here comparing and contrasting the old and new in the starkest possible terms.<br /><em>You shall kill</em>- As Stephen and James (Acts 7:59; 12:1,2).<br /><em>And crucify</em>- The Lord implied this would be Peter&rsquo;s fate.<br /><em>Scourge</em>- Fulfilled Acts 22:19-24; 2 Cor. 11:24,25.&nbsp;<br /><em>In your synagogues</em>- The punishment of synagogue scourging could only be applied by the Jews to official synagogue members. The fact Paul experienced synagogue discipline by beating with rods shows that he too chose to be a member (2 Cor. 11:24). The Lord spoke as if His followers would remain within the synagogue system until they were forcibly expelled (Jn. 16:2). In all this we see a distinct lack of any &lsquo;guilt by association&rsquo; mentality with the Lord. He did not ask His followers to break religious association with those who were both morally and doctrinally astray, but rather to remain in those associations until they were cast out. Notice again how the Lord refers to&nbsp;<em>your</em>&nbsp;synagogues, just as&nbsp;<em>God&rsquo;s</em>&nbsp;house became &ldquo;<em>your</em>&nbsp;house&rdquo;.<br /><em>Persecute them-&nbsp;</em>By Paul, who was himself later &ldquo;persecuted&rdquo; by the Jews (s.w. 2 Cor. 4:9; Gal. 5:11; 6:12).&nbsp;<br /><em>From city to city</em>- Fulfilled in Acts 14:19; 17:13.&nbsp;</p>