Have you ever asked someone, maybe a friend, to help you from a bind in the middle of the night when you had nowhere else to turn? How did that friend or acquaintance respond? How would you respond to a friend who needed your help? Let’s take a look at what Jesus would have to say about such a predicament.
(Luk 11:5) And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves;
How many friends do you have that you can count on at any time of day or night to come to your aid when you’re in need? I would guess that most people do not have many friends they can count on at any time of day that will drop what they are doing at the time and rush to assist them. But there is One Whom we can count on.
(Luk 11:6) For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him?
This particular man is making a request from a friend and neighbor of his for some bread in the middle of the night that he would like to be able to offer to this late-night visitor. Now we can kind of get the picture as to what is going on here: this friend feels that what he has to offer to his visitor is inadequate as he wasn’t prepared for the visit. We could take this at face value, and we could apply this to our daily live in that we need to both be a good hospitable host to our guests, and we should help our neighbors as good Christians, but there is more going on here as there is a deeper lesson God would like us to learn aside from what is on the surface.
(Luk 11:7) And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee.
Now, the answer you would expect to hear from your neighbor, if you knock on his door in the middle of the night, is that he would tell you to go away and come back when everyone is awake, like a normal person. This is what the person would ordinarily be thinking in such a situation at such a time of day, but if the person is a very good friend and they genuinely like to help people, the results may be different.
(Luk 11:8) I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth.
Because this man came to his friend’s door practically begging for his help, and the neighbor could see his friend’s desperation, he decided to help, even though it would seem that this was such an inconsiderate request. This is a true friend and neighbor.
In the Word of God, the bread symbolically represents Jesus Christ, Who is the Living Word; it is the Word of God Itself. The night represents the tribulation prophetically, and this one man is going to his friend in at midnight, which represents the halfway point of the tribulation (the time at which antichrist arrives) symbolically through the Bible, and he is asking his friend for the Word, or rather understanding of the Word of God through Jesus Christ. You can even surmise that the visitor that has arrived is antichrist and this man wants to be prepared with the Word of God before the antichrist arrives. Who would you think this friend is that is so willing to help his neighbor?
(Luk 11:9) And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.
You guessed it! It is our Father in Heaven. He is telling us here that if you pray to Him, in the name of Jesus Christ, and ask for His help in understanding, and you seek it in His Word which we get from the Bible, all you need to do is knock, at any time, and He will open the door to understanding His Word.
Now, this may even be during the tribulation itself through to the halfway point. Understanding of God’s Word will be closed during the second half of the tribulation (see the Parable of the Ten Virgins), as those who have not prepared will be deceived by antichrist, and they will not even know the difference between him and Jesus Christ, but the seal of God of His understanding will be given by the Holy Spirit right up until just before antichrist arrives for the 6th trump. Those who haven’t sought to understand God’s Word will not even know what is missing from their lives until they see Jesus Christ finally come at the 7th trump. But this is all part of God’s plan as He loves all His children and does not wish that any should perish. That is why we will have the Millennium, which begins as Jesus returns to earth.
(Luk 11:10) For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
However, if you would desire to have a closer relationship with Jesus Christ, and want to know Him, spend time with Him; and you do that through His Word, for He is the Living Word. All you have to do, after accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, is to pray to our Father through Jesus’ name, and ask God to give you the understanding that His Word has to offer, and then actually pick the Bible up and He will open the door to your understanding. It is a simple task, but how many will actually do it? I don’t know…is it important to you to not go astray from Him just because you allowed yourself to be deceived by satan and his lies, rather than learn from this letter He gave us? I would hope so and I would expect so. The Bible was written to us by God through some of His servants, and God never wastes His time or energy. It is an operator’s manual for our lives. And by all means, don’t wait until the last minute to ask for this gift.
(Luk 11:11) If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?
Do you think that if one of our Father’s children comes to him desperately and sincerely to ask Him for understanding of the Bible, that He would not give it? He doesn’t wish that any of His children would perish, but that all of them would return to Him. If you ask our Father for Jesus (Fish), would He give you satan (serpent)? No, or Father will keep you from going astray toward antichrist and his deception.
(Luk 11:12) Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?
If you ask Him for seeds of truth (egg) that He will water and grow inside of you, would He give you lies or deception (the scorpions, such as in Revelation 9, devour their pray from the inside out by dissolving and turning to mush everything you are inside through deception so that you willingly follow after a lie. These scorpions are the fallen angels)?
(Luk 11:13) If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?
People are not worthy to receive grace or eternal life because they continually fall short, but God wants us to turn to Him and live eternally with Him. It is not possible for us to be saved on our own merits, as really we have none that are good enough to earn salvation. But for God, everything is possible, and through Jesus Christ, we may receive this eternal life. So as evil as we are as people, even then, we still know how to give good gifts to our own children. So considering this, don’t you think that our Father, being infinitely better than us and infinitely good, knows how to give good gifts to His children, especially if they earnestly ask for those gifts? No sin is too big for Him to forgive as long as you repent and ask forgiveness in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. And no matter how bad you think you are if you repent and then ask for the gift of understanding honestly in Jesus’ name He will give it so that you can stay on the right path, the path or Jesus Christ.
Though, through accepting Jesus Christ, we receive salvation through grace, this does not mean that our journey is over at that point, there is still a rough road ahead. If you would like to rejoice at the return of Jesus with Jesus (which I know any Christian would), rather than having to wait one thousand years to come close to Him as you are disciplined because you have gone astray from your first love, Jesus Christ, then you will want to read what He has to say to you in this book called the Bible.
If you haven’t done this yet, accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, and then begin to seek Him by digging more deeply into His Word.
(Heb 5:12) For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.
(Heb 5:13) For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe.
(Heb 5:14) But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.
Be prepared for the midnight visitor! God Bless
