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Your Adversaries Shall Not Be Able
To Gainsay Nor Resist

by Tony Warren

Luke 21:12-15
  • "But before all these, they shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues, and into prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for my name's sake.
  • And it shall turn to you for a testimony.
  • Settle it therefore in your hearts, not to meditate before what ye shall answer:
  • For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist."
What does Christ mean when He says, "For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist?" How does God give His servants a mouth, which those who hate them will not be able to gainsay or resist? This is a question that has often been raised, and seldom explained adequately.

First of all, the Greek word translated gainsay is [antepo], and literally means to "speak against," or by extension to "dispute" with. It is from the two Greek words [anti], meaning against, and [epo], which means to "speak." So the text is asserting that the adversaries of God will not be able to dispute or deny what the servants of God say. And the word that is translated resist is the Greek word [anthistemi], which means to withstand. This word is a combination of the two Greek words [anti], meaning against, and [histemi] meaning to "stand." So Christ is again asserting that the adversaries will not be able to "stand against" (withstand), or oppose successfully what the servants of God say. And the reason for this is that they servants of God are the messengers of God. i.e., they come with the word of God in their mouths testifying to what He has divinely inspired to be His word. As the prophets of God have done from the beginning.

Jeremiah 5:14

The word of God is His witness given to His servants, and is with power that it judges as a two-edged sword, and cannot be refuted. In Christ's prophecy in Luke, the Lord is setting forth a principle. And what He is declaring to them is, though they throw you into prisons, though they revile you, though they persecute you, His word in your mouth they will not be able to withstand.

While the principle of this prophecy of Luke 21 is applicable to all the saints through all periods of time, the context of this passage is the Great Tribulation period. It is a time when there is great distress among true Christians because pseudo-Christians and false prophets and teachers are assaulting the Church. These false christs come against the true witnesses, reviling, slandering, persecuting and bringing false accusations against them "because" they are deceived. Being under the influence of the spirit Satan, the spirit of disobedience who hates the truth, they will be adversaries to Christ, the pillar and ground of the truth. Notice the whole context and tenor of Luke chapter 21:

Luke 21:8

These people "think" that they do God service by their malicious witness and reports against God's true servants, but their reviling will become a testimony against them (Matthew 12:37).

When Christ says that His servants are not to premeditate in their hearts what to answer, He is instructing them not to answer from the wisdom of their own hearts, but from the wisdom direct from God's word. That is the "mouth and wisdom" that all the adversaries of Christ will not be able to gainsay nor resist. In other words, the children of God should not to look to trust the words of the Church, their education, their Pastors, their traditions or to themselves to answer those who revile them. They are to look to God's inerrant word as the unassailable voice of reason.

Proverbs 3:5

Our answers "MUST" come from God, and when they do no one can righteously gainsay (speak against) it. For what professing Christian will blatantly call God a liar if you are quoting His word? They'll ignore it, trample His words under foot, or turn to the right hand and the left in order to avoid it, but they cannot (professing themselves Christians) "verbally" deny it.

As with most other prophesies Christ spoke concerning behavior, this principle relates to "all Christians" at all times, but in the great tribulation period when iniquity increases and evil spreads through the world like a plague, faithfulness is needed more than ever. Just as the principle that the spirit of anti-Christ was already working in the world when Paul was writing. But it would also be revealed "greatly" in the latter days at the time of Satan's loosing. In other words, Paul declared that Satan's power was going to be loosed sometime in the future that iniquity abound, but he also declared that it was even at that time already working in the world. The principle is that tribulation is normative for believers (John 16:33), but at the time near the second advent of Christ, it will be greater than ever. It is at this time that there will be greater persecution and reviling, and when the spirit of antichrist will go forth greatly as an adversary accusing the brethren.

1st Timothy 4:1-2

A seared conscience is one where there is no longer any "fear of God" that would inherently keep them reverent and abiding faithfully by God's laws. As they are seduced of the devil to doctrines that are foreign to the Bible, it is evidence that they have departed from the faith, and are in spiritual harlotry. As adversaries, they have disdain for all those who say that these actions of theirs are unbiblical. They hate hearing that and they want the servants of God silenced. It is the lot of every "true" Christian to be accused of falsehood, of failing to follow traditions, and of errant teachings. What makes the true prophets of God different from any false prophets (who are accused of falsehood also) is that every (Bar none) false prophet ignores certain scriptures, takes others out of context, or wrests/twists them in order to continue to hold onto their false teachings or traditions. By contrast, the true believer is prescribed by his willingness to deal with the scriptures honorably, and to have his authority founded solidly upon the word of God. He is faithful to the "whole Bible" and not just parts of it. Without this defensible foundation, we don't have the true gospel. But with the firm foundation, whenever someone accuses true Christians of falsehood, they can quote scripture which says (not implies, not assumes, and not privately interpreted to mean) what they have "testified" that it says. That is why the true Church is called the "Two Witnesses" in Revelation. Because by the law, truth is established by two or three witnesses (Deuteronomy 19:15). And the false witnesses with the spirit of antichrist, hate the truth. But as they couldn't withstand against Christ's words when they testified against Him (Mark 14:57-59), so they cannot dispute or resist the words of Christ's Church.

Luke 21:12-15

The children of God don't sit meditating on their own ideas, taking interpretive license to preach things that are not in scripture. We don't preach that there is a Pretribulation rapture, or preach on how divorce is a necessary evil, or preach that free will is the truth of scripture. That would be an offense to God because it's contradicting Him. We don't imagine things from our own vain hearts, we lean to scripture as authority. And that Greek word translated meditate is [promeletao], from the combination of words [pro], meaning "before," and [meletao] meaning to "imagine." So Christ is telling His servants not to "pre-imagine" or to pre-think it out with our own minds ahead of time. Man is desperately wicked, so that his mind is corrupted and tainted with the stain of sin. Christians are singularly aware of this, and so settle it their hearts "not" to lean unto their own understanding. That is the action of the worldly and the false prophets. The children of God are messengers of the testimony of Christ, who speaks wisdom that the worldly cannot comprehend.

Psalms 49:3-4

The language in Luke of God giving us a mouth and wisdom is illustrating the children of God are "witnessing," as God's prophets (in O.T. literally mouthpieces) as messengers of God's word.

Proverbs 2:5-6

The fact of the matter is, when the children of God are filled with the holy Spirit, they are filled with the wisdom of God, and out of their mouths will come the witness of the word like a powerful two-edged sword. It is this word that prevails and that the adversaries of Christ cannot dispute.

Jeremiah 1:9-10

The Spirit of God that dwells within God's children is "that Spirit" which guides us into the testimony of truth. It is God that gives us this doctrine that we testify of, and that puts His words in our mouths.

Proverbs 4:1-2

The good doctrine that God gives us is the witness of His holy word. Sadly, most Christians today consider God an idle bystander in regards to their obtaining wisdom and understanding. But God is not dwelling within us, wringing His proverbial hands, wishing and hoping that we might be smart enough to find the truth. The holy Spirit within us is the "active" work [energeo] or energy of God in us (Philippians 2:13) that guides us into truth (John 16:13).

Exodus 4:12

Likewise, by the power of God dwelling within us, we are sent just as Moses was, as messengers with power to be God's witnesses to men. And Christ himself confirmed this when He ascended to the throne of God.

Acts 1:8

The Holy Spirit is the true teacher that empowers us to understand the holy scriptures, thus it is what qualifies us to "speak for Christ" as witnesses of the truth. By this Spirit, through His word, our mouth is as the mouth of God as we are taught what we shall say. This is the Spiritual anointing that guides us into all truth.

1st John 2:27

As servants of God we are all "sent" with the authority of the word, and those to whom we are sent will either receive the witness, wrest it, ignore it, or practice adhominem attacks to deflect from it. But they cannot dispute it because it is what God says. And when we testify "accurately" of God's word, and they call themselves Christian, then they cannot "RATIONALLY" say God's word is a lie. At least not and continue to profess Christ. We can see more clearly how it is the Spirit of God working within God's children in Luke's mirror passages found in Matthew chapter ten.

Matthew 10:19-22

In this testimony the language is that we, "take no thought how or what ye shall speak." This is the same meaning of the Luke passage saying, "Settle it therefore in your hearts, not to meditate before what ye shall answer." We're not to use our own thoughts in our own wisdom to answer. The Spirit of our Father God will speak in us, through His word. And again, when we testify faithfully of God's word, then the adversaries cannot reasonably say that anything we declare is a lie. [u]Therefore[/u] they will redirect the conversation elsewhere, start dropping names of vaunted authors, defer to history, quote a renown Christian, or use some other defection from what [b]is written.[/b] That is the key that separates us from them. For "what is written" is what God has given us direct from His mouth. That is the wisdom that all our adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist. And Christ Himself has given us the example.

Matthew 4:1-11

Christ didn't reply with man's philosophies, worldly wisdom, or vain imagination, His reply was always an example that we defer to what was written. And that is our example of righteous behavior when confronted by the spirit Satan. We don't lean unto our own understanding, but unto what is written. For that is the word "direct" from God's mouth. That is God giving us what we shall say in response to the adversary. And because it is written, they will not be able to dispute it. They will not be able to "speak against" or refute what you say because it is a quote (faithful witness) direct from God's mouth that they will not rationally be able to deny and still be considered a Christian.

The text in Luke chapter 21 is dealing with the "professing children of God," who are actually adversaries and Pseudo-Christians. And the idea that they cannot deny it is not because they are honorable people to accept scripture proofs, but like the Scribes and Pharisees, how can they call themselves of God and yet speak against scripture you have quoted? And they know that they cannot. When you provide scripture that "PROVES" something a false teacher says is wrong, the person invariably has to totally ignores the scripture or twist it, rambling on about something totally unrelated. The reason is because they can't gainsay nor resist. In simple terms, they can't call it a lie, but still they don't "WANT" to receive it as the truth either. So all that is left for them to do practice distraction, or pretend that it means something else. They can do this to God's word because they have no real fear of God, that they would reverence it by receiving (2nd Thessalonians 2:10) it.

Proverbs 1:7-8

The faithful son receives the word of authority from his Father. And faithfulness is what God requires of His children. That we put on the breastplate of righteousness, and pick up the sword of the spirit and take up the cross and follow him. They may persecute us, they may revile us, they may call us false teacher, they may even kill us physically, but they cannot dispute or resist what we say "if" we are bearing "faithful witness" to what is written. Their hollow profession of being children of God prevents them from calling God's word a lie. You see they won't deny God's word quoted directly from scripture, but they will fight against and deny your own words. Therefore, we do not meditate and prepare what we should say beforehand, because our thoughts are prideful and vain. We defer instead to the authority of law of God.

Psalms 94:11-12

Our thoughts are prideful and thus we look to do our own vain will, rather than the will of God. And that is why we are instructed not to premeditate on our own thoughts. By contrast, the thoughts of the Lord are above reproach, and we can testify of them assured that we have truth. As a practical example, when we quote God saying, "And if by grace, then is it no more of works, otherwise grace is no more grace," will any rational professing Christians say that verse is a lie? No, because they know the consequences. Instead, they will confute or change the subject entirely. Because they cannot speak against God's word and continue to claim they are Christians. Of course, ultimately they are really denying it by backdoor spiritual osmosis, but they won't be able to speak against the scripture itself. We saw in Christ being proved or tested by the Devil in the wilderness the classic biblical example of reasoning out of the scriptures, and shutting the mouths of the adversaries. But Jesus also gives examples of how reasoning Biblically and rationally can reveal dishonesty and judgment. For example, as Christ asked the question of the chief priests and the elders of God's congregation about John the Baptist.

Matthew 21:25

Christ revealed that they would not receive the love of truth. These false teachers assuredly "understood" that they were about to contradict themselves, but they didn't want anyone else to know their deceit. Because inconsistency is the hallmark of error, and they "clearly" saw that they would be caught in "irrational" contradictions if they had answered either way. Therefore, they couldn't/wouldn't answer Christ honorably or honestly. Unlike the noble Bereans, they weren't honorable to rightly judge and search the scriptures diligently for truth. They didn't care about truth, they cared about being received. And Christ has "frustrated them" with the truth and in the process revealed their unbiblical hypocrisy. As He often did!

Luke 14:5-6

They could not and would not reply to Christ because their hypocrisy was made manifest. It's the same principle as not being able to gainsay nor resist God's word. And likewise, the penalty is the same. As Christ said in Matthew 21:25-27, "neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things," signifying their judgement, so neither will He tell the unfaithful today by what authority He judges. They shall remain in spiritual blindness because of their hardened heart, arrogance, and disdainfully proud spirit.

Proverbs 18:12

They lacked the earnest desire to do God's will, they lacked humility, they lacked honor, they lacked wisdom, they lacked honesty, and most of all they lacked the Spirit of God that would have given them all these things if they had just asked. For it is the energy of the mouth and wisdom that exhorts and reveals.

To recap, the passages of Luke 21:12-17 are an exhortation to the children of God that though they will be brought before adversaries, hated, persecuted, and killed, they will be given a mouth and wisdom that these adversaries will not be able to dispute. When the saints are brought before ministers, judges and magistrates for the sake of their faith, God's Spirit through the word, will be their unbeatable defense. That's what these passages mean. That God will give them what to say because His Spirit abides upon them. They don't reason or rationalize things out in their own mind, or meditate on what to respond to the revilers and accusers beforehand. The Spirit of God will speak within them/us through the divinely inspired word. We have a mouth given of God, and "His words" of wisdom are from the scriptures. It is what we use to answer the slanderers and accusers.

Proverbs 8:5-7

Today we hear from the mouth of God by reading God's infallible word of truth. That is how He gives us what to say. And He gives it hot and cold, not lukewarm or compromised. Because if we bring His word lukewarm, then it is not the true unadulterated word as spoken from God's mouth. For then we would not be speaking on behalf of God (as messengers of God), but on behalf of ourselves. Only God's word is a word, as it is spoken, is of power that they cannot withstand or resist.

1st Thessalonians 1:5

When Christ ascended to heaven, he sent the Holy Spirit of truth with Power for every one of us, that the false Christs and false accusers couldn't either speak against, or righteously stand against. They may condemn us, they may slander us, they may burn us at the stake, they may stone us with stones, they may nail us to a tree, but they cannot stand against the word of God testified faithfully. As indeed when Stephen was disputed by those of the Synagogue:

Acts 6:10

The wisdom and Spirit by which he spoke, they could not resist. For it was God's word, not contradictory, faithfully witnessed. Their false witnesses could not dispute it. Sure, they ultimately stoned Stephen to death, but he was full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people, and the reason they stoned him was "because" they could not gainsay nor resist the wisdom and the Spirit by which he spoke (Acts 6:10).

And this will be the same type tribulation that is prophesied about in Luke. The persecution and hate of the faithful servants of God prophesied by Christ in Luke, Matthew and Mark (among other places), takes place all throughout the New Covenant period. But near the end of the world when Christ is about to return, this tribulation of the saints will be greater than ever. The accusers will be legion and they will lay snares that the servants of God should avoid. Like not answering their deceit and queries with our own thoughts, philosophies, theories, or vain imaginations, but with the Spirit and a mouth that the Lord has given us. We answer them with a word that is as a two-edged sword that cuts both coming and going. One which none of these adversaries will be able to speak against or resist.

    May the Lord who is rich in wisdom and mercy, grant us the privilege of rightfully discerning His most precious word of truth.

Amen!

Peace,

Copyright ©2005 Tony Warren
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Created 5/22/05 / Last Modified 5/27/05
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