Jesus was the son of man

JESUS WAS THE SON OF MAN
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
Luke 19:10 For the Son of man came to seek and to
save that which was lost.—
Question:"What does it mean that Jesus is the Son of Man?"
Answer: Jesus is referred to as the “Sonof Man” 88 times in the New
Testament. A first meaning of the phrase “Sonof Man” is as a reference to the
prophecy of Daniel7:13-14, “In my vision at night I looked, and there before
me was one like a sonof man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He
approachedthe Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given
authority, glory and sovereignpower;all peoples, nations and men of every
language worshipedhim. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will
not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.” The
description “Sonof Man” was a Messianic title. Jesus is the One who was
given dominion and glory and a kingdom. When Jesus usedthis phrase, He
was assigning the Sonof Man prophecy to Himself. The Jews ofthat era
would have been intimately familiar with the phrase and to whom it referred.
Jesus was proclaiming Himself as the Messiah.
A secondmeaning of the phrase “Sonof Man” is that Jesus was truly a human
being. God calledthe prophet Ezekiel“sonof man” 93 times. God was simply
calling Ezekiela human being. A son of a man is a man. Jesus was fully God
(John 1:1), but He was also a human being (John 1:14). First John 4:2 tells us,

“This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that
acknowledgesthatJesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God.” Yes, Jesus
was the Son of God—He was in His essenceGod. Yes, Jesus was also the Son
of Man—He was in His essencea human being. In summary, the phrase “Son
of Man” indicates that Jesus is the Messiahandthat He is truly a human
being.
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GreatTexts of the Bible
Cur Deus Homo
The Lost
1. We find in our text Christ’s estimate of the condition of humanity. It is
something that is lost. No doubt our spiritual condition may be put in various
ways. We are guilty creatures:we are depraved creatures:we are condemned
creatures:in all these fashions, and more, it may be possible truly and justly
to describe our spiritual state, and express those things about us which make
us so greatlyin need of a part in Christ’s greatsalvation. But probably there
is no single word which could be employed that would give so complete and
comprehensive a description of man as he is by nature, as to say that he is lost.
All error from the right way, all distance from our Heavenly Father’s house,
all destitution, and danger, and impossibility of return, and imminence of
final ruin, are conveyedin that one word, lost! Trace that word’s meaning out
into its various shades and ramifications, and you will find that it implies, as
no other can, all that we are, all that makes our need of the Saviour—His
sacrifice, His Spirit, His intercession.

2. We are lost, as the wayfarer is lost, because we have gone awayfrom our
Father’s house, and we are wandering in the wilderness—ina wilderness
where there is no supply for our soul’s greatestneeds, where we are
surrounded by perils, and whence we can of ourselves find no way to return.
We are lost, as the great ship is lost, for we have made shipwreck of our best
interests, and we drive, without a helm, over the tracklesssea oflife; and,
awayfrom Jesus, we know no haven for which to steer. We are lostlike the
guilty child that by recklesssinhas broken his father’s heart; for, evil by
nature, and worse by daily temptation and transgression, we are, left to
ourselves, lostto holiness, to happiness, to heaven, to God. We have lost our
birthright, lost our Father, lost our home, lost our way, lost our hope, our
time, our souls. And what loss there is in our unimproved and unsanctified
powers and faculties!How these souls are lost, in the sense that so little is
made of what was meant for so much; lost as the untilled field is lost;as the
flowerwhich no man sees is lost; as the house built and then left empty is lost;
as the ship which rots in harbour is lost. Are not these souls made for God’s
glory: ought not every powerabout them to conduce to that? What glory
ought we to have rendered to God; what goodto man: what knowledge and
happiness to ourselves? And, if a soul’s whole powers and energies are given
to the mere supply of wants that end upon a present life and world,—to the
mere earning of the daily bread,—is not that soul a noble thing lost, a noble
machinery whose poweris wastedand flung away? In all these sensesand
more, the Saviour’s description of us is a sound and just one.
3. But now, as we cannotbe worse than lost, so our being lost, so far from
shutting us out from the Saviour, forms a kind of strange door of entrance
into the whole riches of His salvation,—a kind of strange qualification for the
Lord, who declares here that they whom He came into the world to seek and
to save were only the “lost.”
My old friend, Dr. Duncan, used to say, “Formyself, I cannotalways come to
Christ direct, but I can always come by sin. Sin is the handle by which I getto

Christ. I take a verse in which God has put Christ and sin together. I cannot
always put my finger upon Christ, and say, ‘Christ belongs to me.’ But I can
put my finger upon sin, and say, ‘Sin belongs to me.’ I take that word, for
instance, ‘The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which is lost.’ Yes,
lost—I’m lost. I put my finger upon that word, and say, ‘I’m the lostone; I’m
lost’; and I cry out, ‘What God hath joined together, let not man put
asunder.’ ”1 [Note: C. J. Brown, The Word of Life, 236.]
II
Christ Came to Seek and to Save the Lost
1. Christ came to seek andto save the lost. This was the greatestmissionever
recorded, and this the greatestmissionarythat evercame to the world. Men
have gone forth on different missions. Alexander went forth to conquer the
world; Cæsarwentforth to subdue his enemies;Plato and Socrateswentforth
in searchof knowledge;Columbus went forth to discoverthe new world;
Stanley went forth to explore Africa. Warriors have gone forth to rout armies,
and their march has been trackedwith blood, misery, and death. Travellers
have gone forth to explore distant regions, to see the wonders of nature and
view the monuments of art. Philanthropists have gone forth on errands of
mercy, but our blessedSaviour went forth from heaven and came into the
world to submit to shame, to endure scourgings andto suffer death, for a race
of guilty men, that He might be able to save them from their lost condition.
While he stayedin Shansi his thoughts dwelt much on the condition of the
very poor, and on some permanent work in their behalf. “The matter which
weighs on me most heavily,” he writes, “is the question of what to do for the
lost of Chinese society. These people are the very class Jesus wouldseek outto
save, though I am not sure that the publicans and sinners were quite so low in

the socialscaleas the ‘lost’ I speak of. The people I refer to are simply the
scum of Chinese society, chiefly opium-smokers and gamblers.… I have
sometimes thought I might or ought to give my whole time to do something for
these lost.”1 [Note:J. E. Hellier, Life of David Hill, 140.]
2. Christ is a divine-human Saviour. He is one that partakes both of the
nature of God and of the nature of man. He comes into the world as the
MediatorbetweenGod and man, and how fitly qualified He is for this part of
His work in redemption. The knowledge whichHe possessesofthe two parties
to be reconciledis not merely abstractand theoretical;it is personal and
experimental, for He is God. He knows God by experience, for He is God; He
knows man by experience, for He is man. As God, He knows what is required
and what is to be done to save the lost; as man, He knows how to apply this
salvationto the hearts of men. As God, He requires an infinite sacrifice to
justify the ungodly; as the God-man, He becomes the Substitute of the sinner
and offers up Himself as this perfect sacrifice. Christ, as a Divine Person,
possesses allthe attributes and perfections of the Godhead. “In him dwelleth
all the fulness of the Godhead.” He is limitless in the extent of His power and
wisdom, and in the sweepof His duration. He is without beginning of years or
end of days. He is infinite, eternaland unchangeable in all the Divine
attributes. But Christ was human as well as Divine. He was a man. In the text
He calls Himself the Son of Man. This seems to have been His favourite
appellation of Himself. He was Divine, the Son of God, equal with the Father;
and at the same time, He was human; and He wanted to impress this truth
upon the hearts and lives of the people. So He calledHimself the Sonof Man.
Malan read some portions of the First Epistle of John—and proceededto
pray. There was something in his foreign accentand silvery voice most
winning, as he rose from a few calm little sentences into glowing utterance. In
spite of occasionaldifficulty in finding the precise words he wanted, it was like
clearwatersparkling in the sun. One expression—whichcame out in the
midst of a strain of holy yet reverentialfamiliarity of talk with Heaven, as if

the thin veil could be seenthrough—I cannever forget: “Lord Jesus,
everlasting Son of the Father, come near to us as the Son of Man, and lay Thy
warm fleshy hand upon us, that we may feel it.”1 [Note: David Brown,
Memoir of John Duncan, 143.]
3. He comes to seek the lost.
(1) Christ goes in quest of men.—He had His eye on Zacchæus when he
climbed into the sycomore tree. He knew where the objects of His pity were to
be found, and directed His course and shaped His plans that He might meet
with them. He did not sit in solemn pomp, did not dwell in quiet glory,
awaiting the approachof the miserable and guilty. His love was not of the easy
nature that merely listens to the cry of woe and want, that stretches out the
hand when power is supplicated—but of the nobler kind that goes afterthe
lost and ruined. He was the missionaryof salvation, not only its magnificent
dispenser.
A story is told of Garibaldi that in one of his arduous campaigns, one evening
when he and his troops were preparing to encamp for the night, they came
upon a shepherd who told Garibaldi that he had losta lamb and was going out
to searchfor it. The generalgave permissionto his followers to go out and
searchfor the lostlamb, but, as darkness fell, they turned in tired for the
night’s rest. Not so, however, with the leaderhimself, for in the early morning,
Garibaldi emerged from the mist carrying the lost lamb.
“O Shepherd with the bleeding Feet,
GoodShepherd with the pleading Voice,

What seekestThoufrom hill to hill?
Sweetwere the valley pastures, sweet
The sound of flocks that bleat their joys,
And eatand drink at will.
Is one worth seeking, whenThou hast of Thine
Ninety and nine?”
“How should I stay My bleeding Feet,
How should I hush My pleading Voice?
I who chose deathand clomb a hill,
Accounting gall and wormwoodsweet,
That hundredfold might bud My joys
For love’s sake and goodwill.

I seek Myone, for all there bide of Mine
Ninety and nine.”1 [Note:Christina G. Rossetti.]
A beautiful scene is that which shows us the Bishop seeking forone of his
flock, a little girl who had wandered into the wilderness. Jeannie de Nord was
a child of ten years, with a complexion scarcelydarkerthan an ordinary
English gipsy. Her father, old de Nord, had left her with an aunt while he
went awaysome distance to hunt. The aunt was neglectfulof her little charge,
and Jeannie unable to bear this started in searchof her father. So little did the
aunt care that two days elapsedbefore the word spread that Jeannie was lost.
No soonerdid the Bishop hear of it than, like the true shepherd he was, he
started with others in searchof the little wanderer. They pushed on over the
snow, following the girl’s tracks, for she had takenher snow-shoeswith her.
She had no food or blanket, and the nights were cold, and starving wolves
roamed the forests. And where was Jeannie? She had reachedher father’s
abandoned camp one night, cold and tired. Groping about, she found his gun,
which had been left there, and with the cunning of the wild she dischargedthe
weapon, and from the spark thus obtained started a fire, which kept her
warm through the night. All the next day she wandered in vain, searching for
her father, and, tired and hungry, crept back to the abandoned camp and fell
asleep. When she next opened her eyes, it was to see standing before her the
tall figure of the anxious Bishop, and to feel his strong loving arms around her
as he lifted her from the ground.
The shepherd had found the lost lamb, but oh, at what a cost!The Bishop’s
clothes were soaking from the overflowing streams they had crossedas they
wandered about, and he could hardly reachFort Simpson, so greatwere the

cramps which seized him, and for days he endured greatsuffering. But what
did it matter? Little Jeannie de Nord was safe, and none the worse for her
experience.1 [Note:An Apostle of the North: Memoirs of Bishop Bompas,
175.]
(2) That quest is continuous.—The questis not exhausted by one act, or
satisfiedwith one response. It is not merely that God seeksus in the hour of
our proud and vain revolt, when our wilful heart bids Him a proud defiance.
He does seek us then, and, by the thousand ingenuities of a love that is deeper
than we can ever know, strives to woo us to reciprocallove and cleansing
affection. But He goes infinitely farther than that. He is ever seeking us in the
deeper reaches ofour life, in its innermost and most sacredshrines, that He
may find us in our largestcapacitiesand win us absolutely to Himself. Every
day of our life, when by some disloyalty of our heart we stray the leastbit
from Him; when by some unholy thought our mind is stainedand made
unworthy to be His temple, when by some actof selfishness the old bad life
has a momentary supremacy, He quickly follows in pursuit of us to call and
bring us home. He lights His light in our conscienceandsmites us with shame;
He reveals His love and melts us into cleansing tears;He reveals His face and
compels us by the sweetcompulsionof a greatattraction.
That was the Shepherd of the flock;He knew
The distant voice of one poor sheepastray;
It had forsakenHim, but He was true,
And listen’d for its bleating night and day.

Lost in a pitfall, yet alive it lay,
To breathe the faint sad callthat He would know;
But now the slighted fold was far away,
And no approaching footstepsoothedits woe.
Oh! would He now but come and claim His own,
How more than precious His restoring care!
How sweetthe pasture of His choice alone,
How bright the dullest path if He were there!
How well the pain of rescue it could bear,
Held in the shelterof His strong embrace!
With Him it would find herbage anywhere,
And springs of endless life in every place.

And so He came and raisedit from the clay,
While evil beasts went disappointed by.
He bore it home along the fearful way
In the soft light of His rejoicing eye.
And thou fallen soul, afraid to live or die
In the deep pit that will not setthee free,
Lift up to Him the helpless homeward cry,
For all that tender love is seeking thee.1 [Note:F. W. Faber.]
Many a time it is in strange places that Christ comes upon His own. One tells
of her finding in an artless story. Her heart had been touched but not melted,
till one day in the gardenshe saw an apple tree in blossom, and as she stood
under it she was flooded with the thought of the love of God. So it became true
of her:—
Beneaththe apple tree

There I espousedthee,
There I gave thee my hand,
And there thou wastredeemed,
Where thy mother was betrayed.
Another heart, also stirred by desire, resolvedat last that she would read her
Bible straight through till she found her Saviour. At last she came upon the
words, “I am the way,” and there her wanderings ended. She had been found.
A saint tells how the Shepherd found her in an Andalusian convent, where the
fountain was the only moving sounding thing in the dead noon-day silence,
when there was not a breath to stir the lemon tree or pomegranate bush. Of
another, it is told that he was found out by his Masterwhile committing
robbery. Another was found by Jesus Christ when he was breaking the heart
of his old mother by mockeries ofreligion. A preacher, well knownin his day,
was found when listening to an old melodrama that ended with a sailor’s
drinking a glass of gin before he was hung, and saying for his last words,
“Here’s to the prosperity of the British nation and the salvationof my
immortal soul.” Down went the curtain, and down went the man, for he ran
home with all his might. He had been struck to the quick by the words, “the
salvationof my immortal soul,” and in his chamber Christ found him.1 [Note:
W. RobertsonNicoll, Sunday Evening, 33.]
After the lecture in the dissecting-roomin the Glasgow University one day a
student, usually all vivacity and chatter, was observedby his friend to be very
silent. Askedwhy, he said, “A curious thing happened in the laboratoryto-

day. Pointing to the body on which we were working, the professorsuddenly
said, ‘Gentlemen, that was once tenanted by an immortal soul.’ ” The young
man had never had a thought like this about the bodies he was dissecting
before. So Christ startled the world. He came into its dissecting-rooms and
operating theatres, its laboratories of industry, its barracks and camps, where
men were holding life cheap and exploiting thousands, for the sake of gain or
fame for the few, and He said, “Gentlemen, every man and woman, ay, and
little child on earth, is an immortal soul and of infinite value to God the
heavenly Father.” … That was Christ’s discoveryof the individual to the
surprise and astonishmentof the world.2 [Note: R. J. Drummond, Faith’s
Certainties, 328.]
4. He comes to save the lost. It is interesting to discoverthat the word
“salvation” as first used by Jesus did not have a distinctly religious meaning.
He used it of those whom He healedof bodily sickness. “Daughter,”saidthe
Masterto the invalid woman who pressedthrough the throng to touch the
hem of His garment, “be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole.”
And it is written in St. Mark’s Gospel, “Theylaid the sick in the market
places, and besoughthim that they might touch if it were but the border of his
garment: and as many as touched him were made whole.” “Made whole” in
these verses translates the same Greek wordas is sometimes translated
“saved.” Savedfolks were folks who were made whole, filled full of health,
fulfilling their purpose. Up to this day, Zacchæus had been like a sick man,
just a fragment of a man, a man who was able to use only a part of himself;
just as a sick man is a man who cannotuse his eyes, orhis limbs, or his head,
or whatever part of him is afflicted. When the sick man is made whole he lives
through all his being; he no longer uses only a portion of his body; every
organfulfils its functions perfectly. Zacchæus’s consciencewas diseased.
When Jesus touched him that day, his consciencebeganto work, and, with the
consciencein perfect health, and the love in him claiming those who had need
of him, the publican began to live through and through all his manhood.
Henceforth no part was diseased, no organwas atrophied; he was a whole
man. This then is Jesus’idea of salvation. It is not a matter of the future, it
concerns the present; it is not rescue from a future hell, but rescue from a

present self; it is not rescue for a future heaven, it is rescue for a present
service. Salvationis living as a son through all one’s being; salvationis living
as a soul for other souls.
A priest had occasiononce to interview a greatdoctor about the terrible case
of a woman of high socialpositionwho had become the slave of drink. The
doctor was a man of great force and ability, and of unwearying devotion; but
he was what would be calleda sceptic and a materialist. The priest askedif
the case was hopeless;the greatdoctor shruggedhis shoulders. “Yes,” he said,
“pathologicallyspeaking,it is hopeless;there may be periods of recovery, but
the course that the case will normally run will be a series of relapses, each
more serious and of longerduration than the last.” “Is there no chance of
recoveryon any line that you could suggest?” saidthe priest. The two looked
at eachother, both goodmen and true. “Well,” said the doctor after a pause,
“this is more in your line than mine; the only possible chance lies in the will,
and that canonly be touched through an emotion. I have seena religious
emotion successful, where everything else failed.” The priest smiled and said,
“I suppose that would seemto you a species ofdelusion? You would not admit
that there was any reality behind it?” “Yes,” saidthe doctor, “a certain
reality, no doubt; the emotionalprocessesare atpresent somewhatobscure
from the scientific point of view; it is a forlorn hope.” “Yes,” saidthe priest,
“and it is thus the kind of task for which I and those of my calling feel bound
to volunteer.”1 [Note:A. C. Benson, From a College Window, 218.]
(1) He saves by pardon.—It is done, first of all, by the complete pardon of all
the sinner’s sins. The very instant that a man trusts Christ with all his heart,
the pastis blotted out as if it had never existed: all the sins he has ever done in
thought, in word, in deed, howevercrimson in dye, go at once;they are sunk
as in the sea, never to be found again. And this is done upon this one solitary
condition, that the man believes in Jesus;and even that is not a condition, for
He that bade him believe enables him to believe, and gives him the faith which
saves his soul.

Men are not, according to the gospelsystem, pardoned on accountof their
belief of the pardon, but they are sanctifiedby a belief of that pardon, and
unless the belief of it produces this effect, neither the pardon nor the belief are
of any use. The pardon of the Gospelis a spiritual medicine: faith is nothing
more than the taking of that medicine; and if the spiritual health or
sanctificationis not produced, neither the spiritual medicine nor the taking of
the medicine are of any avail; they have failed of their object.1 [Note:Letters
of Thomas Erskine of Linlathen, i. 376.]
(2) He saves by bestowalof a new nature.—Fromthe moment that a man
believes in Jesus his nature becomes different from what it was before;he
receives a new heart—anotherinfluence takes possessionofhim; another love
engrosses him. When a man is absorbed by some master-passion, whata
different man he becomes!The passionfor wealthwill work marvels; we have
known idle persons become very diligent, and profuse voluptuaries become
even self-denying and mortifying to their flesh, in their ambition to acquire
riches. Now, God gives us another passion, the passionof love to God in
Christ, and that becomes a master-principle and rules the entire man. He who
loved self now loves God and lives for Him.
One part of the goodnews which Christ told us about God was that God
would free us from evil, awake in us a new life, and open before us boundless
possibilities of growth; and He showedus in His ownlife that men could be
freed from evil. He lived before us the new life; and He made manifest the
spiritual perfection of man. “This, then,” said those who followedHim, and
notably St. Paul, “this which God did in His Son Jesus, He will do in all His
other sons.” Into this perfectlife which was made manifest in Christ, we are
all to grow—growing up into Him in all things who is the Head, even Christ.2
[Note:Stopford A. Brooke, Sunshine and Shadow, 105.]

Cur Deus Homo
STUDYLIGHT RESOURCES
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible
For the son of man,.... Meaning himself, who was truly man, and the Messiah,
and which was one of his names in the Old Testament:
is come:from heaven, into this world, being sent by the Father, and with the
full consentand goodwill of his own:
to seek and save that which was lost: as all his electwere in Adam, and by
their own actualtransgressions;and are consideredas such, whilst in a state
of unregeneracy:and particularly the lost sheepof the house of Israelare
meant, one of which Zacchaeus was;and so the words are a reasonof Christ's
looking him up, and calling him by his grace, andmaking a discovery of
himself, and an application of salvationto him; see Matthew 18:11.
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
lost — and such “lost” ones as this Zacchaeus. (See onLuke 15:32.)What
encouragementis there in this narrative to hope for unexpected conversions?
Robertson's WordPictures in the New Testament
The lost(το απολωλος — to apolōlos). The neuter as a collective whole, second
perfect active participle of απολλυμι — apollumi to destroy. See notes on Luke
15 for the idea of the lost.

James Nisbet's Church Pulpit Commentary
CHRIST’S MISSION OF MERCY
‘The Son of Man is come to seek andto save that which was lost.’
Luke 19:10
The justification of Christ’s conduct towards Zacchæus the publican is
threefold:—
I. His own nature as ‘the Son of Man.’—This name frequently applied to
Christ by Himself, never, in the Gospels, applied to Him by others, possessed
peculiar force and peculiar advantages. It declaredHis specialconnection
with the Jew, and also identified Him with the whole of humanity. The name
is a Messianic name.
(a) The true Messiahis the Son of Man. No other could fulfil the promise
made to Abraham.
II. The man’s condition as being confessedlylost.
(a) The description Christ gives of the man, and of every man through sin, is
perfect. In a single word, He comprehends all that is dark and terrible, all that
is helpless and hopeless. The darkestfeatures in human life, the most painful
events in the world, are suggestedto our minds.
(b) The description Christ gives is merciful. The Pharisees saidsneeringly, ‘A
man that is a sinner.’ Christ’s simply says, ‘That which was lost.’There is
room for pity, for sorrow, in the word Christ employs.
(c) The description Christ gives is hopeful. Humanity, as it hears that Christ
concerns Himself with that which was lost, feels that the vilest and worstof its
children may hope in Him.
III. His own mission, in its purpose and method.—‘To seek andto save the
lost.’ In calling Zacchæus, in going to his house, Christ was simply doing what
He came to do.
(a) The work of the Son of Man is saving man. He came for no other purpose.

(b) The method of Christ is fitted to the purpose of Christ.
Illustration
‘Whittier lamented the tendency to read the Bible as though every sentence
was written in the past. Do not read it, “He was able to save,” because itis
written, “He is able to save.” Sir James Young Simpson was a famous doctor,
and always so cheeredhis patients on entering a sick roomthat some of them
said the charm of his presence was worthmore to them than all his medicines.
A young man once askedhim, “What is the greatestdiscoveryyou ever made,
Sir James?”He thought he knew what the answerwould be, but it was not
what he thought. “My young friend,” was the reply, “the greatestdiscoveryI
ever made was that I was a great sinner, and Jesus Christ is a greatSaviour.”
“I saw that I wanted a perfectrighteousness to present me without fault
before God, and this righteousnesswas nowhere to be found but in the Person
of Jesus Christ.” So said John Bunyan in Grace Abounding. And very
touching are the words of Charles Dickens:“Oh, may I, with a grey head,
turn a child’s heart to that Figure yet, and a child’s trustfulness and
confidence!” The greatnovelist knew humanity well, and from such a
confessionoffaith I think we may say he knew the Lord too, and
acknowledgedHim as the only Saviour.’
Sermon Bible Commentary
Luke 19:10
The Redeemer's Errand to this World.
I. We find in our text Christ's estimate of the condition of humanity. It is
something that is lost. Man is a lost thing. You may look at him in many lights.
He is a toiling, hardworking creature. He is an anxious, careworncreature.
But for the Redeemer's purpose, the characteristic thatsurmounted and
included and leavenedand ran through all the rest, was, that he is a lost
creature. All error from the right way; all distance from our heavenly
Father's house; all destitution and dangerand impossibility of return, and
imminence of final ruin, are conveyed in that one word, lost. Trace that

word's meaning out into its various shades and ramifications, and you will
find that it implies, as no other can, all that we are; all that makes our need of
the Saviour—His sacrifice, His Spirit, His intercession.
II. The text reminds us of what the blessedRedeemerdid for us in our lost
estate. He came to seek andsave us. The world, so to speak, pusheditself into
notice when it fell. Ah! the little planet might have circled round the sun,
happy and holy; and never been singled out from the bright millions of which
it is the least. But as it is, perhaps this fallen world's name may be on the lips
of angels, and in the thoughts of races that never sinned. We, when lost, as it
might seem, in hopeless loss, were singledout thereby for the grandest, most
precious, most glorious blessing that, so far as we know, was evergiven by the
Almighty. The Son of God left the glories of heavento die for us. The Son of
Man came to seek and save that which was lost. It is, indeed, a mysterious
thing, a thing not to be wholly explained by human wit, that the Son of God
stoodby till man had losthimself, and then came, at costof painful quests, to
seek and save him; when we might think He could so easilyhave kept man
from wandering at all. May we not think that, apart from those grand,
inscrutable reasons whichthe Almighty has for permitting the entrance of evil
into His universe—those reasons whichno man knows—the factof the
peculiar interest and pleasure which are felt in an evil remedied, a spoiled
thing mended, a lost thing found, a wrong thing righted, may castsome light
upon the nature of the Divine feeling toward the world and our race? When
all evil that can be remedied is done away with, may not this world seem
better to its Almighty Maker's eye, than even when He beheld it, all very good,
upon the evening of the sixth day?
A. K. H. B., Counseland Comfort from a City Pulpit, p. 180.
The conventionalreligionists of our Lord's time were very much shockedand
scandalisedatHis manner of life. It was sufficiently surprising that He should
be found so frequently in the societyof peasants, and of women, and of
children, insteadof courting the patronage of the wealthy and the great;but it
was perfectly outrageous that He should have become the friend of thieves

and harlots;—and these respectable persons veryfrequently expressedtheir
astonishment and their indignation at His strange conduct. And Jesus saidto
them, "Theythat are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick."
They had never graspedthe factthat Christ was a greatPhysician, and that
His business was not to go to those who were in perfect health, but to go to
those who were ill; and, first of all, to those whose casewas mostdesperate.
I. Now in this Christ has left you and me an example that we should walk in
His steps;and if we have the mind of Christ we shall follow the wandering
sheepinto the wilderness, and shall never rest until we find it. Our business is
to go to the prodigal sons of God, and to persuade them to come home again;
and, however far off they are, we must follow them to the distant country, and
we must refuse to come back without them.
II. It is a remarkable thing in this parable that Christ makes no provision for
defeat. He does not say what we are to do if they refuse to come in. He takes it
for grantedthat we must overcome if we are in earnest. Christeverywhere
assumes that we shall not fail. It was said by a great Latin historian of
Alexander the Great that the secretofhis marvellous victories, by which the
world was brought to his feet, was this: he wisely dared to think nothing of
imaginary dangers. All sorts of reports reachedhim with regardto the
difficulties of invading Asia, and so forth, but he put them all on one side. The
devil is always ready to exhibit a few ghosts ofdifficulties to terrify weak
saints. Let us despise the ghosts;there is nothing in them. We cannotfail if
our heart is full of love to God, and of sympathy with our fellow-Christians.
The only realhindrance to the progress ofthe Gospelis unbelief in the form of
downright selfishness.
Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible
Luke 19:10. For the Son of man is come to seek andto save, &c.— Fartherto
convince the people that our Lord actedagreeablyto his character, in keeping
company withpublicans and sinners, he told them, that the greatdesignof his
coming into the world was to save such; alluding to the parables of the lost
sheep, lost money, and lostson, which he had lately delivered, to prove how

agreeable itwas to reason, to the duties of his mission, and to the will of God,
that he should keepcompany with the worstof sinners, in order to recover
them unto God their rightful owner. And therefore, though Zaccheus had
been as bad a man as the multitude supposed him, and his vocationbespoke
him to be, Jesus was in the exercise ofhis duty when he went to his house.
Expository Notes with PracticalObservations onthe New Testament
Observe,
1. A description of man's deplorable state, and undone condition: he is lost.
2. The care of Christ to seek and recoverman out of that lost state:The Son of
man is come to seek and to save that which is lost.
Learn,
1. That man's condition is a lostcondition, and every unregeneratedman is a
lost man; he has lost his God, his soul, his happiness, his excellency, his
liberty, his ability.
2. The great errand that Christ came into the world upon, it was to seek and
to save lost sinners: this he does by his blood, by his word, by his Spirit, and
by his rod.
Greek TestamentCriticalExegeticalCommentary
10.]For, the greatersinner he may have been, the more does he come under
the descriptionof those (sheep) whom the goodShepherd came to seek and
save (Matthew 15:24).
Charles Simeon's Horae Homileticae
DISCOURSE:1561
THE END FOR WHICH THE SON OF MAN CAME

Luke 19:10. The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.
ONE would imagine that all should be pleasedwith the conversionof
notorious sinners: but it too often excites indignation rather than pleasure in
the breasts of proud Pharisees.Zaccheus wasa tax-gatherer, and most
probably, like the rest in that line, was addicted to rapacity and extortion,
though, perhaps, not in so great a degree as some others. He having a curiosity
to see Jesus, andnot being able, on accountof the smallness of his stature, ran
before, and climbed up into a tree near which Jesus was about to pass. Our
blessedLord in an instant converted his soul; and, calling him down from the
tree, went home to dine with him. This, it seems, gave greatoffence to the
Pharisees,who could not endure to see sucha distinguishing favour conferred
on so worthless a character. But our Lord vindicated his own conduct, by
alleging that, however sinful Zaccheus might be, he was a descendantof
Abraham; and that the very intent of his own advent in the flesh, was to seek
and to save that which was lost.
To elucidate these comfortable words, we shall shew,
I. Who this Son of man is—
This, to those who beheld him in the flesh, was no easymatter to determine
[Note:When he spoke of his approaching crucifixion, and yet of drawing all
men to himself, his hearers could not conceive how such opposite things could
be affirmed of the same person, the one indicating him to be a man, the other
to be a God. Hence they ask him, “Who is this Son of man?” John 12:32-34.]:
but to us it is clearas the light. Let us consult,
1. What Jesus has said of himself—
[He tells us that “the Sondoes whatsoeverthe Fatherdoes;” “quickens whom
he will, even as the Fatherdoes;” “has all judgment committed to him;” is to
be “honoured even as the Father is; yea, that the Fatheris not honoured
unless he also be honoured:” that he will “raise the dead by his voice:” that he
“hath life in himself even as the Fatherhas;” and “has authority to execute
judgment also, because he is the son of man [Note:John 5:19-27.].” Here he
calls himself “the Son,” “the Son of God,” “the Son of man,” evidently

shewing, that these different names were of the same import, and that,
notwithstanding he was a man, he possessed, andexercised, a divine power.
He speaks ofthe Son of man as existing in heaven before his incarnation
[Note:John 6:62.], before the world was made [Note: John 17:5.], and even
while, in his human nature, he was on earth [Note: John 3:13.].
He declared that the Son of man had a powerto dispense with the Sabbath
[Note:Mark 2:28.], and even to forgive sins [Note:Luke 5:20-24.];and when
accusedofbeing guilty of blasphemy for arrogating such powerto himself, he
reassertedhis claim to that divine prerogative, and wrought a miracle in
confirmation of it. Finally, he foretold that “the Son of man would come again
in his own glory, with his holy angels [Note:Matthew 25:31.]:” and he bade
his Disciples “watchand pray, that they might be worthy to stand before the
Son of man [Note:Luke 21:36.].”
Put these words into the mouth of Peter, or Paul, or any creature, however
exalted, and they will appeararrogant, and blasphemous, in the extreme.]
2. What his Disciples have said of him—
[The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews says, “WhenGod bringeth in the
first-begotten into the world, he saith, Let all the angels ofGod worship him:”
and again, “Thy throne, O God, is for everand ever;” and again, “What is
man, that thou art mindful of him? or the Son of man, that thou visitesthim?
Thou madest him a little (or, for a little time) lowerthan the angels [Note:
Hebrews 1:6; Hebrews 1:8; Hebrews 2:6-7.].” What can all this mean, but that
he was infinitely superior to angels in his pre-existent state, but was made
lowerthan them for a little while, for the greatpurposes of our redemption?
But St. Peterspeaks in terms that cannotwell be misunderstood. Our Lord
put this question to his Disciples;“Whom do men say that I, the Sonof man,
am? And they said, Some say thou art John the Baptist, some Elias, some
Jeremias, orone of the prophets. He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I
am? And Simon Peter answeredand said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the
living God.” Our Lord immediately replied, “Blessedartthou, Simon Bar-
jona, for flesh and blood hath not revealedit unto thee, but my Fatherwhich

is in heaven [Note: Matthew 16:13-17].”Now, if Petermeant only to saythat
he was a goodman, or a prophet, what was there in that which he might not
see and know without any particular revelationof it to his soul?
St. Stephen is yet more strong and decisive:for when he was “full of the Holy
Ghost,” he said, “I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing at the
right hand of God:” upon which his hearers, filled with indignation, stoned
him, calling upon God, and saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit [Note:Acts
7:56; Acts 7:59.].” Now is it not utterly unaccountable, that a man full of the
Holy Ghost, when favoured with a vision of God, and of Jesus standing at the
right hand of God, should, in the very hour of death, address himself to Jesus,
and not unto the Father, and that too almost in the very words that Jesus
himself had used when addressing his heavenly Father, if Jesus were not
higher than any createdbeing? If he did not see that the Son of man was also
the Sonof God, yea, “God over all, equal with the Father, he was deservedly
stoned to death, as the vilest blasphemer that everlived upon the earth.
Who can see the Disciples ofour Lord paying him such honour, and doubt
what ideas they annexed to that lowly title, “the Son of man?”]
3. What his enemies said of him—
[There canbe no doubt but that they understood the terms “Sonof man,”
and, “Son of God,” to be equivalent, and that, when used in their highest
sense, they denoted equality with God himself. When our Lord stoodbefore
the supreme councilof the Jews, he said to them, “Hereaftershall the Sonof
man sit on the right hand of the power of God.” Upon which they all
exclaimed, Art thou then the Son of God? to which he answered, “Ye say
truly, that I am [Note: Luke 22:69-70.].”
On anotheroccasionwe are told, that the Jews soughtthe more to kill him,
because he not only had brokenthe Sabbath, but said also, “that God was his
Father, making himself equal with God [Note:John 5:18.].”
But the strongesttestimony of all is, that his enemies actually put him to death
for calling himself the Son of man. When the witnesses thatappeared against
him agreednot in their testimony, the high-priest askedhim, “Art thou the

Christ, the Son of the Blessed? And Jesus said, I am: and ye shall see the Son
of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of
heaven.” In these words he evidently referred to that glorious prophecy of
Daniel, where the Son of man is representedas receiving from the Father an
universal and everlasting dominion [Note: Daniel7:13-14.]. Instantly the high-
priest rent his clothes, and said, “What need we any further witnesses?Ye
have heard the blasphemy: what think ye? And they all condemned him to be
worthy of death [Note: Mark 14:61-64.].”Now, if the name “Sonof man” did
not import that he was God also, why did not our Lord rectify their mistake,
and inform them that he did not intend to arrogate divine honour to himself,
or to insinuate that he was any more than a common prophet? By this he
would have invalidated in an instant the charge of blasphemy, and have
obliged them either to release him, or to find some other pretext for putting
him to death. But our Lord knew that they were right in their interpretation
of his words;and therefore he submitted in silence to the sentence that was
dictated by their blind infuriated zeal [Note:Thus it fully appears that “the
Son of man” is none other than “Godmanifest in the flesh.” And though there
are many passagesthat more directly prove this point, yet are these peculiarly
strong, inasmuch as they prove the divinity of Christ from things which are
spokenof him under that title, which most of all denotes his humanity.].]
It will be found an easiertask to shew,
II. For what purpose he came into the world—
In our Lord’s assertionrespecting this, we cannot fail to notice,
1. The humiliating descriptionwhich he gives of the human race—
[Every living man is characterizedby this description, “That which was lost.”
All are “by nature children of wrath [Note: Ephesians 2:3.]:” and by practice
they have aggravatedtheir guilt and condemnationa thousand-fold. To
understand the full import of this word, “lost,” letus reflect on the state of
those that are alreadyin hell, their guilt, their condemnation by the law, their
banishment from the Divine presence, their inconceivable and irremediable
misery, then we shall see our own state, with this only difference; that we are
yet on mercy’s ground, and may have our sentence reversed, andour misery

prevented; whereas they are gone beyond redemption: they are criminals
already executed;and we are under the same sentence, uncertainwhether we
shall not the very next hour be called forth for execution, but with a pardon
offered us on certain terms. O that we could realize this awful thought! — —
—]
2. The explicit declarationwhich he makes of the intent of his coming—
[We should never have soughthim: we are like a lost sheep, that never traces
back its steps to the fold it has deserted. He therefore came to “seek” us.
Howeversolicitous we had been to avert the wrath of God, we never could
have done it by any means within our own power. He therefore came to
“save” us;to save us by his blood from the guilt of our sins; to save us by his
Spirit from the powerand pollution of them.
To form a just idea of our state by means of his advent, let us once more
considerthe state of those in hell. Let us suppose that he went down to hell
itself, and there proclaimed liberty and salvationto those who would believe
in him: the state of his auditors there would exactly representour state:and if
we do not take the same interest in the glad tidings that they would, it is
because we do not feel ourselves so utterly lost as we really are.
But whether we will believe it or not, this is our state, and to deliver us from it
was the greatend of his advent. It was for this, that the Son of God humbled
himself to become a sonof man; and, if we will believe in him, he will exalt us
children of men, that we may be “sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty
[Note:John 1:12.].”]
Application [Note: The latter part of the subject is so plain and easy, that the
youngestminister can be at no loss to illustrate it.]—
1. To those who deny that they are utterly lost and undone—
[Produce one person that is not wholly lost, and we will shew you one that has
nothing to do with Christ, any more than Satanhimself has. It was only them
that are lost that Christ came to seek andsave. Let proud self-justifying
sinners considerthis.]

2. To those who desire to obtain salvation—
[The person that came to seek and save you was fully equal to the task. He was
God as well as man; and therefore there canbe no want of efficacyin his
blood to pardon, or in his grace to sanctify, you. Trust in him, and he will
prove himself able to save you to the very uttermost.]
Johann Albrecht Bengel's Gnomonof the New Testament
Luke 19:10. τὸ ἀπολωλὸς, that which was lost) viz. which had been lost
(undone), both in the way of a loss negatively(‘amissionem,’ a losing by
carelessnessorinadvertence) and in the wayof positive destruction
(‘interitum,’ death, ruin). For the participle ἀπολωλὸς [that which was both
lost and destroyed] corresponds to the two verbs, ζητῆσαι καὶ σῶσαι, to seek
and to save. It was for this purpose that the Saviour came to the sinner, to his
house.
Cambridge Greek Testamentfor Schools andColleges
10. τὸ ἀπολωλός. See Luke 15:1-32;Matthew 18:11; 1 Timothy 1:15; Ezekiel
34:11-16.
PeterPett's Commentary on the Bible
“Forthe Sonof man came to seek and to save that which was lost.”
And then He described Himself and His saving mission in terms of the
parables of the shepherd and the womanwith the lost coinin Luke 15:1-10,
which in the Sectionchiasmus was in parallel with the verses that now follow.
The emphasis on ‘saving’ indicates an especialreference to the parable of the
lost sheep. Jesus is present to deliver. So this section, which begins with the
parables describing the searchof God for the lost, is approaching its
conclusionwith an example of one who was soughtand found.

Here we have a clearapplication to Himself of the title of Son of Man in terms
of One Who saves. It was an indication that He was the Messiahofthe end
times. In Daniel 7:13-14 He does it by coming to the throne of God on behalf
of a people who along with Him are being trodden down by the Beasts,and
becoming their great Delivererwith powerand authority overall things, for
salvationis from the Lord. And here He does it, having come as the Great
Deliverer, by seeking and saving the lost. We can compare the previous use of
the title Son of Man as the One Who has authority on earth to forgive sins in
Luke 5:24. As the Ruler of His people He has jurisdiction over them, and will
searchthem out and save them.
Whedon's Commentary on the Bible
10. That which was lost—Lostin sin, as doubtless Zaccheus was. And these
are the solemn words with which Jesus closeshis mission to the publicans of
the Jordan, and his defence of the mercy that inspired it.
Expository Notes ofDr. Thomas Constable
Jesus summarized the present purpose of the Sonof Man"s ministry that
found fulfillment in Zaccheus" salvation(cf. 1 Timothy 1:15). Jesus had
sought out many, especiallyamong the lostsheep of Israel. He had saved those
who would acceptHis gracious offer of salvation. This verse is the keyverse in
the third Gospelbecause itexpresses conciselythe ministry of Jesus as Luke
presentedit (cf. Luke 4:18-19;Luke 15:5; Luke 15:9; Luke 15:24).
"This whole incident is the epitome of the messianic missiondescribed in
Luke 4." [Note: Liefeld, " Luke ," p1008.]
Schaff's Popular Commentary on the New Testament

Luke 19:10. For, etc. Comp. Matthew 18:11, which the best authorities omit.
To seek, as a shepherd, comp. chap. Luke 15:4. It was ‘the lost sheepof the
house of Israel’to whom the Lord was sent (Matthew 15:24). Zaccheus was
one of these, and acknowledging himselfas such receivedthe Masterwho was
seeking him.
The Expositor's Greek Testament
Luke 19:10. A greatkey-word to Christ’s idea of His own mission—a
Saviour.— τὸ ἀπολωλός, the lost, a pathetic name for the objects of Christ’s
quest; its shades of meaning to be learned from the parables in Luke 15 : lost
as a sheep, a coin, a foolishson may be lost. Here the term points to the social
degradationand isolationof the publicans. They were sociallepers. With
reference to the conduct of Jesus in this case Euthy. Zig. remarks:“It is
necessaryto despise the little scandalwhen a greatsalvationcomes to any one
and not to lose the greaton accountof the little” ( χρὴ γὰρ τοῦ μικροῦ
σκανδάλου καταφρονεῖν, ἔνθα μεγάλη σωτηρία τινὶ προσγίνεται, καὶ μὴ διὰ τὸ
μικρὸνἀπόλλειν (sic) τὸ μέγα). The significance ofChrist choosing a publican
for His host in a town where many priests dwelt has been remarkedon. Art.
“Publican” in Smith’s Dictionary of the Bible.
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Unabridged
For the Son of man is come to seek andto save that which was lost.
For the Son of man is come to seek andto save that which was lost. A
remarkable expression-not'them,' but 'that' which was lost [ to (Greek #3588)
apoloolos (Greek#622)];that is, the mass of lost sinners. Zaccheus was simply
one such; and in saving him, Jesus says He was not going out of His way, but
just doing His proper work. He even explains why He waited not for Zaccheus
to apply to Him; because, says He, 'My business is to seek as wellas save
such.'
Remarks:

(1) Whatever brings souls in contactwith Christ is hopeful. When Zaccheus
"soughtto see Jesus, who He was," nothing probably was further from his
mind than becoming His disciple, and a new creature. But that mere curiosity
of his, and the step he took to gratify it, were the "cords of a man" by which
he was drawn into the position for Christ's eye and voice of love and powerto
reachhim. On his part, all was the operation of nature, ordinary, everyday
principles of action:on Christ's part, all was supernatural, divine. But so it is
in every conversion. Hence, the importance of bringing those we love, and for
whose conversionwe long and pray, within the atmosphere of those means,
and in contactwith those truths, on the wings of which Christ's powerand
grace are wont to reachthe heart. What thousands have thus, all unexpectedly
to themselves, been transformed into new creatures!
(2) What a testimony to instantaneous conversionhave we here! Againstthis
there are groundless prejudices even among Christians; which, it is to be
feared, arise from want of sufficient familiarity with the laws and activities of
the spiritual life. Though the fruit of a sovereignoperationof Grace upon
their own hearts, Christians are nevertheless in dangerof sinking into such a
secularspirit, that the supernatural characterof their Christian life is
scarcelyfelt, and lively spirituality hardly known. No wonder, then, that such
should view with suspicionchanges like this, which by their instantaneousness
reveala kind of divine operation to which they are themselves too great
strangers. But what else than instantaneous canany conversionbe? The
preparation for it may be very gradual; it may take a hundred or a thousand
steps to bring the very means which are to be effectual right up to the heart,
and the heart itself into a frame for yielding to them. But once let it come to
that, and the transition from death to life must be instantaneous-the last
surrender of the heart must be so. The result of such words from heavenas
"Live"! (Ezekiel16:6): "Be thou clean"!(Matthew 8:3): "Thy sins be forgiven
thee"!(Mark 11:5): "Make haste, and come down; for today I must abide at
thy house"!-cannotbut be instantaneous, as when they issued from the lips of
Jesus in the days of His flesh. The "taking awayof the stone" before Lazarus'
resurrection, and "loosing and letting him go" after it, as they were human
operations, so they took a little time, though not a great deal. But when "the

Resurrectionand the Life" said, "Lazarus, come forth!" his resuscitationwas
instantaneous, and could not but be. See the note at John 11:39; John 11:44.
(3) The best evidence of conversionlies in the undoing or reversalof those
things by which our former sinfulness was chiefly marked-the conquest of
what are called'besetting sins.' Had Zaccheus lived before chiefly to hoard
up? Now, "Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor." A large
proportion of his means this, to part with at once to those who were in want.
But further, did Zaccheus become "rich" by appropriating to himself the
excess ofhis exactions "by false accusation"?"IfI have takenany thing from
any man by false accusation, Irestore him four-fold." The frozen heart had
melted down, the clenchedfist had opened, and-unlike the rich young ruler
(Luke 18:23) - the idol had been dethroned. This was a change indeed. See on
the wise injunctions of the Baptist to the different classesthataskedhim how
they were to manifest their repentance-onLuke 3:12.
(4) When religion comes into the heart, it will find its way into the house, as
into that of Zaccheus. Forit is in one's house that one is most himself. There,
he is on no stiff ceremony; there, if anywhere, he opens out; there he acts as he
is. Where religion is not, the home is the place to revealit; where it is, it is the
air of home that draws it out, like perfumes which the zephyr wafts to all
around. Hence, the bold language of the apostle to the jailer of Philippi,
"Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house"
(Acts 16:31; and see also Luke 19:14-15). "The voice ofrejoicing and salvation
is not only in the hearts but in the houses, not only in the temples but "in the
tabernacles ofthe righteous" (Psalms 118:15).
(5) Until men are converted and become new creatures they are "lost," in the
accountof Christ-in what sense may be seenin the case ofthe Prodigalson,
who was "lost" whena run-away from his father and "found" when he
returned and was welcomedback as a penitent. (See the note at Luke 15:24.)
Accordingly, as being the common condition of all whom Christ came to save,
they are represented as "that which is lost." But if the worstfeatures of men's
fallen state are held forth without disguise in the teaching of Christ, it is only
to commend the remedy, and encouragethose who have felt it most deeply not
to despair. For"the Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which is

lost." It was His errand; it is His business;and this glorious case ofZaccheus-
He Himself assures us-is but a specimen-case. Multitudes of them there have
since been, but there are more to come;and when any are ready to sink under
insupportable discoveries oftheir loststate; we are warrantedto tell them
that theirs is just a case forthe Lord Jesus - "for the Sonof Man is come to
seek and to save that which was lost!"
That this parable is quite a different one from that of THE TALENTS (in
Matthew 25:14-30)- although Calvin, Olshausen, Meyer, etc., but not de
Wette and Neander, identify them-will appear from the following
considerations:First, This parable was spoken"whenHe was nigh to
Jerusalem" (Luke 19:11); that one, some days after entering it, and from the
Mount of Olives. Second, This parable was spokento the promiscuous crowd;
that, to the Twelve alone. Accordingly, Third, Besides the "servants" in this
parable, who profess subjection to Him, there is a class of"citizens" who
refuse to own Him, and who are treated differently; whereas in the Talents,
spokento the former class alone, the latter class is omitted. Fourth, In the
Talents, eachservantreceives a different number of them-five, two, one; in
the Pounds, all receive the same one pound (which is but about the sixtieth
part of a talent); also, in the Talents, eachof the faithful servants shows the
same fidelity by doubling what he received-the five are made ten, the two
four; in the Pounds, each, receiving the same, renders a different return-one
making his pound ten, another five. Plainly, therefore, the intended lessonis
different; the one illustrating equal fidelity with different degrees of
advantage;the other, different degrees ofimprovement of the same
opportunities. And yet, with all this difference, the parables are remarkably
similar.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
(10) The Sonof man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.—Like
words had been spokenonce before, under circumstances that presented a
very striking contrastto those now before us. Then the loving purpose of the
Christ had for its object the “little child,” as yet untouched by the world’s

offences (Matthew 18:2; Matthew 18:11):now it rested on the publican, whose
manhood had been marred by them. The same law of work is reproduced in a
more emphatic form. There it had been that He “came to save:” here it is that
He came to “seek” as well.
5:31,32;15:4-7,32;Ezekiel34:16; Matthew 1:21; 9:12,13;10:6; 15:24;18:11;
Romans 5:6; 1 Timothy 1:13-16;Hebrews 7:25; 1 John 4:9-14
The Bible Study New Testament
For the Son of Man came. His whole purpose is to rescue those who are lost.
This is why he went to Zaccheaus'house.
The People's Bible by JosephParker
Chapter2
Christ"s Object As a Preacher. EvangelicalPreaching—Christ"sInjunction
to the Church—Charming the PoorBy Music—the Difficulty of Salvation
Text: "To save that which was lost."— Luke 19:10
The preacheris bound to setbefore himself a distinct object. The question
which he ought to propose is this: What is my purpose in this discourse? Is it
to instruct, convince, or comfort? Is it to convince sinners, or is it to edify
believers? He must be perfectly familiar with the end at which he is aiming, or
he will spend his time in fighting uncertainly, and in beating the air. The
preacherwill always find his objectin his text. What was Jesus Christ"s
objectas a preacher? To save men. If that was the objectof the Master,
should the servant have any lowerend in view?
But let us look at that word "save."Like many other simple-looking words, it
is very large in its application. It is not to be limited to one point. Men are to
be saved from sin—certainlyprimarily. But does the word "save" endthere?

Men are to be savedfrom ignorance, to be saved from error, to be savedfrom
the bondage of the letter, from false worship, from self-confidence, from
despair; so that this word "save," whichlookedso little and so simple,
stretches itselfover our whole life—of guilt, action, ignorance, behaviour,
spirit. It includes in its holy purpose the whole circle of our being. I wish we
could thoroughly understand this, and we should be more liberal and more
just in our constructionof what our ministers are endeavouring to do for us.
When the preacheris refuting a false doctrine he is as certainly endeavouring
to save men as when he stands by the very cross of the one Saviour, and
speaks ofnothing but the reconciling and all-cleansing blood. Men sayto us,
"Preachthe simple gospel." Whatis simple? and why should there be any
difficulty about the simple gospel? Whenwe preach apparently otherwise it is
not because the gospelis wanting in simplicity, but because sin, vice, is
manifold in its duplicity. The ten commandments are not ten because virtue is
divisible into ten mysteries: they are ten because vice has a tenfold aspect, and
must be met in every phase and attitude.
Our whole conceptionabout preaching, so as to save men, needs enlargement
and purification. Only let a man cry out for the space of half an hour, "Come
to Jesus, come to Jesus, just now; come to Jesus, justnow;" and he is thought
to be preaching the gospel. To me he would be preaching no gospel. I am so
constituted that I must instantly ask him to define his terms. "Come—" What
is the meaning of that short word? Is it easy, is it a child"s walk, is it a luxury,
is it a natural expressionof the intellect and conscienceand will? Why come?
And how? Thus that which appearedto be so simple, small as a grain of
mustard seed, when I plant it or sow it, it becomes a greattree, outbranching
widely, and shaking questions and difficulties from every twig of the gigantic
fabric. So I must ask for definition of terms.
Another man might preach to me and never mention the name of Jesus, and
yet he would so preachas to make me unhappy; he would so deal with my life,
showing its mystery, its pain, its poverty, its self-helplessness, as to make me
cry out, "What shall I do?" And when he had wrought that question in me,
and brought it to my tongue, then he would unfold the infinite and
unsearchable riches of Christ.

Now this was Jesus Christ"s method of gaining his object. When I say"his
method" I speak a millionfold term. When you heard him, though it were the
thousandth time, you felt as. if you had never heard him before—so new was
Hebrews , vital, true, sympathetic, beautiful. The chariots of God are twenty
thousand. Does he always ride forth in one chariot, so that you can tell it is the
King by the chariot he rides in? No. Twenty thousand and thousands of
thousands are his angels. So in the ministry of Christ I find innumerable
methods, all converging upon one object. Watch that marvellous ministry.
Jesus Christ told stories—abouta man who had two sons, about a man who
went down from Jerusalemto Jericho, about a woman who took leavenand
hid it in three measures of meal, about innumerable other things, and he so
told them that little children quickenedtheir ears, and lookedwith eyes full of
wonder. The busy man stopped with foot half way up in the air to hear what
next he would saywith that magical, mysterious, musical voice. He created
fine fancies of the mind, as, for example, "A sowerwentforth to sow," "The
kingdom of heaven is like to a net thrown into the midst of the sea." He asked
questions. When they would not admit him into the house as a preacher, he
went in as a doctor. Every preacherought to be a healing Prayer of Manasseh
, a physician. He said, "If you will not have me as the Son of God, come to
revealthe Father—where is your poor child that is sick? I will raise the little
life up again." And once he was so busy breaking bread that you would have
thought he was the world"s housekeeper. Martha never was so busy as was
her Lord just then, and for what purpose? What does he mean by all this?—to
save men, to geta hold over them, to win their attention, to conciliate their
confidence, and then to open their wondering and delighted eyes to the light of
the kingdom of God.
Sometimes we must adopt a roundabout method in trying to secure our object
as Christian teachers. Insteadofsharply clashing with prejudice, we might
diffidently ask a question. Instead of bluntly asking a man about his Christian
condition, we might delicatelyask him about his children. Instead of giving a
man a tract, we might sometimes politely offer him the paper of the day. Only
we should have our objectalways in view, and it should always be sovereign,
supreme, holy. This was the Apostle Paul"s method. He tells us exactly how it
was with him in his ministry. "I made myself servant unto all that I might

gain the more. Unto the Jew I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews. To
them that are under the law as under the law, that I might gain them that are
under the law. To the weak became I as weak, thatI might gainthe weak. I
am made all things unto all men, that I might by all means save some." When
will the church learn this greatlesson? The church is not fertile in invention;
the church is not quick and full in suggestionandadaptation; the church is
stiff, iron, stolid, wanting in elasticityand power of accommodationto the
ever-changing phases and necessitiesofthe time. If Paul had lived now how
would he have modernised that paragraphin his letter to the Corinthians?
"To the outsiders I became an outsider, to the musical I became musical, to
the scientific I became scientific, to the man of the world I became as a man of
the world, that by all means I might gain, save, bless, some."And to what pass
have we come? This—"Ifthey will not come to me, I will not go to them. I
have my church, and my service at eleven in the morning and seven in the
evening, and if they will not come to me I will not go to them. I have so many
hymns and prayers and readings. I begin at a point and end at a point, and I
do the same all the year round; my programme never changes.If they come,
so be it; if they stay away, so be it." An un-Christly speech, an ungodly and
unholy position!
Look at this matter in a practicallight. As a matter of fact, nine-tenths of the
places of worship in London on Sunday night are almost deserted. Some of
them are perhaps half full, in others there is what is called"a nice
sprinkling." In many churches there are less than fifty men of any size and
force. Now there must be a reasonfor this. Let us faithfully ask, What is that
reason? It is either that the attractionat church is very poor, or that there is a
greaterattractionelsewhere. Letme, as a Christian teacher, ask myselfthe
question, seriously, Is the singing cheerless,is the preaching dull, is the service
too long, would some other method better gain the attention of the population
than the method which I am adopting? If men will not have my methods
ought I not to change them? If they would like a parable, a story, a high
imagining about the kingdom of heaven, ought I not to endeavour to supply
these? If I cannotsupply them, ought I not to retire and make way for the
man who can? What changes canI introduce so as to gain some and save
some? This is the question which the church dare not ask.

What is the remedy for all this? Christ gives us the remedy. We must leave the
ninety-and-nine and go out. I stop there,—Go out. O wondrous word! Go out.
How far! Faras the prodigal has strayed! Go out from old methods, old
usages, oldconventionalities, old habitudes, old institutionalisms. Go out. How
far—how long? Until we find it. The church dare not do this; the church is
paralysedwith timidity. Sydney Smith said the church was dying of dignity;
its dignity is now drivelled down into timidity. Think of those great
churches—Imean by churches all kinds of places of worship—standing
nearly empty every Sunday night in the year. Why not have music in them?
Music would fill them; music would startle the old echoes;music would make
the walls wonder what was the matter with them. Music—God"s first-born
angel!Try music. Why not have lectures? Observe, where there is no need of
these things I do not advocate their introduction. If a church canbe filled
because a man is going to read a chapter of the Bible, and do nothing else, I
should saythat was the highest triumph of modern civilisation. If a church
can be filled to hear a sermon preachedabout Jesus and sin, and truth, and
God, and Heaven, so much the better; but when you find the people running
awayfrom you, abandoning your churches, leaving your finest edifices almost
wholly empty, then leave the ninety-and-nine old methods, plans,
programmes, and go out after that which is lost, and do not come back until
you have found it.
How many noble church organs are standing dumb to-night that might be
doing the work of God in the minds and hearts of the people. They will be
used here and there for the purpose of eking out the ebbing life of some aged
and asthmatic common metre tune mumbled by persons of decaying
respectability, when they might be interpreting infinite and thrilling melodies
to hearts in which baffled hope is dying. God made the organ! He who orders
the winds out of their caves, andmakes the oceanroarits hoarse amen, fills
the air with birds of varying note, and makes the rills drip music as they fall
down from mountain slopes, and sends the wide rivers singing to the sea, there
to merge their liquid treble in creation"s ancientbass—he whosedeafening
thunders seemto shake the universe, Hebrews , mighty God, put it into the
mind and heart of man to make that king of instruments, the organ, which
can announce a jubilee or bless a mourner"s heart. Yet we lock it up and hide

the key, and must not have too much of it, though there be poor people to-
night in many of these places round about us who would be glad to come in
and hear the thousand-throated instrument, speaking its gospelofsoothing
and hope. Some persons would rather hear themselves humming and booming
like lostbumble bees than they would admit stringed instruments into the
house" of God. I say let us by all means seek to save some. If they will not hear
the preacherpreach, let them hear the organplay. If they will not hear the
preachertheologise, letthem hear the lecturer expound and instruct and
startle by many a happy suggestion. Byall means let us try to save some. You
will be forgiven on the last day if you can say that you did stretcha point here
and there, and you did really venture to do something irregular and almost
eccentric in order to charm the drunkard from the public-house, and the
sensualistfrom his den of iniquity, and the wayfarerfrom his strolling, and
the prodigal from his wilderness. You meant it well. What will he say—Man
of the parable and the story, and the bread-baking and the child-kissing—
what will he say? "Welldone, goodand faithful servant; thou hast been
faithful according to thy light and opportunity; enter into the joy of thy
Lord."
Many of you could help very much in gaining some and in saving others. Why
don"t you who have this gift of preaching by music take the schoolroom
belonging to your severalchurches, and invite the poor old people round
about who would not be admitted" into concerts, to hear any kind of music
you could give them?—a nice bright little Song of Solomon, sometimes a
hymn, put in by stealth, as it were. What kind of people? Why, just the
poorestold crones you could gather—nobodyto come in who had the slightest
trace of respectability about him, the door shut in the face of every man who
has one sixpence to rub upon another. Poorold bodies, with their knitting, it
may be, or their sewing—poorwornmothers, with two or three children in
their arms, who have not seentheir husbands for many hours—getthem in.
But perhaps they will—they will—spoil the place? Let them spoil it. I like to
see a place spoiledin that sort of way. "Lord, here is the place, unspoiled; no
paint scratchedoff, no varnish interfered with, every chair in a nice cleanly
condition. This is how we kept our place, but we took care never to open the

church night or day more than we could help." What will he say? May I not
be there to hear!
Now what I have said about one department outside the church, namely,
music, I would say, if time permitted, about fifty others, and ask you music
people, literary people, persons who can contribute towards the enjoyment of
the people, especiallythe poor—I would have you say, eachof you, "Whatis
my talent, and how can I spend it so as to save some?" I want allies of all
kinds, lieutenants big and little; I want men to be doing all they can, eachin
his ownway, and all meaning the same thing, namely, the gaining and saving
of men. I take Jesus Christ"s idea of preaching, which he turned into the
widest institution upon the earth. It included feeding the hungry, clothing the
naked, visiting the sick, healing those that were ill, working miracles,
preaching the truth, revealing God, pronouncing benedictions, denouncing
public sins, encouraging the young and the old—a greatministry. He who
built that greatsky, and filled it with worlds so many and so bright, must have
grand and gracious conceptions aboutany ministry that is meant to teachand
save and bless the immortal soul.
Why is it so difficult to save men? We say, "If this gospelis of God surely it
will at once vindicate itself and save the souls of them who hear it." The
salvationof men is the supreme difficulty of God. The question you have just
put would be to me the most disturbing and distressing of all questions if we
could not relieve it by others which do not come strictly within the powerof
reasonto answer. Why do men need to hear more than one appealto come to
the Saviouraccording to the way he has laid down himself in his blessedword
and testimony? One would suppose that, with a divine message, a man had
simply to stand at the place of the concourse ofpeople, and say, "This is
God"s message,"andinstantly all hearts would yield their homage and their
love. How canwe relieve the fearful mystery?—by suggesting, orrather
calling to mind, the fact, how difficult it is to do right in any direction. Do you
know how difficult it is to getany man to be thoroughly clean? I do not say
difficult to get a man to washhis hands, but to be thoroughly cleanand to love
cleanliness. Do you know how exceedinglydifficult it is to get some persons to
be punctual? Why, to be punctual—they do not know the meaning of the
word. You say, "Eight o"clock is the time." They will be there at half-past

nine, or they will forgetthe appointment altogether, orthey will come the day
after. Do you know how exceedinglydifficult it is to get some people to pay
their debts? To pay—they are not to the manner born.
Now I use these outside illustrations, only on an inferior level, to leadyou up
step by step to the crowning difficulty. Do you know how difficult it is to geta
man to say absolutelywhat he means? When Jesus Christ said, "Let your yea
be yea, and your nay nay," he seemedto be talking a very small kind of talk,
but where is the man whose yes means yes without a taint or shadow of no in
it? Have you thought of that? Where is the man whose speechis dazzlingly
true? The most of us speak whatis generallytrue, relatively true,
substantially true, true with a grain of salt, with a mental reservation, with a
suppressedparenthesis—but dazzlingly true, transparently and gleamingly
true! If it be so difficult in these matters to do that which is right, can you not
see, through them, how possibly it may be the supreme difficulty of the
universe to save men? Jesus Christ said, "Ye will not come unto me that ye
might have life." The greatdifficulty for us is to do right in any way. Now, if
you could show me that it is so natural and so easyfor men to do right in
every other way that they ought to acceptthe gospelif it were true, I would
say you had urged againstthis divine testimony a very powerful argument.
But the whole head is sick, the whole heart is faint. Through and through, up
and down, we are wounds and bruises and putrefying sores;the right hand is
crippled, and the left hand is withered, and the head is giddy, and the heart
irregular, and the foot skilled in going backwards. Whatwonder, when the
grand climax, the sovereignappealis reached, to surrender to God and to love
him, we should come upon the supreme difficulty!
What, then, is left the preacherto do to himself, and to those who hear him?—
to proclaim the gospel, to speak of human sin and Christ"s precious blood, to
announce the grand catastrophe of evil, and the grander remedy of God"s
holiness in Christ. That is all he can do except to announce the consequences
of the rejectionor acceptanceofhis ministry. The rejection—"The wicked
shall be turned into hell, with all the nations that forgetGod. These shallgo
awayinto everlasting punishment. There is no more sacrifice forsins. The
door will be shut. Many will sayto me, Lord, open unto us, but I will say, I
never knew you. Castye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness, there

shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth." And the minister dare not trifle with
these terms. They are not given to him to gloss, amend, soften, but to utter
with self-suppressionand with tearfulness. The result of acceptance—"Ye
shall find rest unto your souls. Your sins, which are many, will all be forgiven
you. Let the wickedturn unto the Lord, for he will abundantly pardon. Great
peace have they that love thy law."
Thus promise after promise must the speakerpronounce to them who receive
the word with joy. This I would humbly, reverently do now. My friend, are
you hearing the gospelfor the thousandth time, and yet have not receivedit?
Are you going to rejectit now? This may be your lastvisit to God"s house.
Think! Are you going to receive Christ to-night, saying, "Well, he
endeavouredby all means to save some, he shall save me. Lord, receive me,
save me; open thine arms, and I will flee to thee"? Are you going to say that?
There is joy in the presence ofthe angels overone sinner that repenteth.
Commentary by J.C.Philpoton selecttexts of the Bible
Luke 19:10
"Forthe Sonof man has come to seek andto save that which was lost." Luke
19:10
"The Son of man has come." Whata blessedcoming! The Lord Jesus seems to
have takento himself, with the tenderest condescensionto our needs, that
gracious title, "the Son of man." He was the Son of God, and that from all
eternity; but he delights to call himself the Son of man. We need one like
ourselves, wearing the same nature; carrying in his bosom the same human
heart; one who has been, "in all points, tempted like as we are, yet without
sin;" and therefore able to sympathize with and to support those who are
tempted.
A sinner like Prayer of Manasseh, when made sensible of his pollution and
guilt, cannotdraw near unto God in his intrinsic, essentialmajestyand
holiness. Viewedas the greatand glorious Being that fills eternity, Jehovahis
too great, too transcendently holy, too formidably perfect for man to

approach. He must therefore have a Mediator; and that Mediatorone who is
a Mediatorindeed, a God- Prayerof Manasseh, "Immanuel, God with us."
The depth of this mystery, eternity itself will not fathom.
But the tender mercy of God in appointing such a Mediator, and the
wondrous condescensionof the Son of God in becoming "the Sonof Prayerof
Manasseh," are matters of faith, not of reason;are to be believed, not
understood. When thus received, the humanity of the Son of God becomes a
way of accessunto the Father. We can talk to, we canapproach, we can pour
out our hearts before "the Son of man." His tender bosom, his sympathizing
heart, seemto draw forth the feelings and desires of our own.
God, as beheld in his wrathful majesty, we dare not approach; he is a
"consuming fire;" and the soul trembles before him. But when Jesus appears
in the gospelas "the Mediator betweenGod and Prayerof Manasseh," and
"a Arbitrator," as Job speaks, "to lay his hand upon us both" ( Job 9:33),
how this seems to penetrate into the depths of the human heart! How this
opens a way for the poor, guilty, filthy, condemned, and ruined sinner to draw
near to that greatGod with whom he has to do! How this, when
experimentally realized, draws forth faith to look unto him, hope to anchor in
him, and love tenderly and affectionatelyto embrace him!
PRECEPTAUSTIN RESOURCES
Luke 19:10 "Forthe Son of Man has come to seek andto save that which was
lost."
Lu 5:31,32 15:4-7,32Eze 34:16 Mt 1:21 9:12,13 10:6 15:24 18:11 Ro 5:6 1Ti
1:13-16 Heb 7:25 1Jn4:9-14
Luke 19 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries
Luke 19:1-10 Why Jesus Came - StevenCole

Luke 19:1-10 A Sinner Meets a Seeking Savior, Part1 - John MacArthur
Luke 19:1-10 A Sinner Meets a Seeking Savior, Part2 - John MacArthur
Luke 19:1-10 Jesus:The Seeking Savior, Part2 - John MacArthur
JESUS'MISSION SUCCINCTLYSTATED:
TO SEEKAND SAVE THE LOST
Some have referred to this as the "goldentext of Luke's Gospel." Itcertainly
aptly summarizes Jesus'mission to earth!
Since the Jews had failed to be a light unto the nations (cf Acts 13:47 quoting
Isa 42:6), God Himself took over seeking the lost sheepas recordedby the
prophet Ezekiel “Myflock wandered through all the mountains and on every
high hill; My flock was scatteredoverall the surface of the earth, and there
was no one to searchor seek forthem.”...Forthus says the Lord GOD,
“Behold, I Myselfwill searchfor My sheepand seek them out." (Ezekiel34:6;
11)
D L Moody - TO me this is one of the sweetestverses in the whole Bible. In
this one short sentence we are told what Christ came into this world for. He
came for a purpose, He came to do a work. He came not to condemn the
world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
Brian Bell - This verse is illustrated in the experience of Zacchaeus:Jesus
came to him, soughthim, & savedhim. (Warren Wiersbe;pg.682)The whole
gospelis in this simple sentence(10);& there is not a word that has even two
syllables!
There is a very important practicalpoint of application in Jesus'"purpose
statement" -- Until a person comes to the realization that they are a sinner
and lost, they have little desire in being "found" (saved). Why would they
want deliverance (another meaning of "save")whenthey do not sense any
peril or danger from which to be rescued!Thus it is important in presenting
the Gospelto not forgetto emphasize every person's desperate state without
Christ and thus their dire need of the GoodNews. The "bad news" precedes
the "goodnews."

J R Miller - The people murmured at Jesus becauseHe went among the
outcasts. He assuredthem, however, that these were the very people He had
come to save. "The Son of Man came to seek andto save what was lost."
Sinners were the very ones He had come from heaven to continue to seek. In
another place He illustrated the same truth by the case ofa physician, whose
mission is to the sick, not to the healthy (Lk 5:31-note, Mt 9:12, Mk 2:17).
Who would sneerat the physician for choosing sick people to associate with
and callupon? Who then should murmur at Jesus for going among sinners,
when He came to this world expresslyto save sinners?
Son of Man - This is the name Jesus used for Himself more than any other
and always by Jesus Himself. It speaks ofHis humanity, God in the flesh. It
was a clearlya Messianic title (Da 7:13, 14-note)clearly referring to the
humanity and the humility of Christ, but also to His deity (see Cole's note
below). Son of Man is His name as the representative Man, in the sense of 1
Cor 15:45-47.
Steven Cole adds that "Son of Man emphasizes that Jesus was in every way
human, except for our sin. He used it with increasing frequency as He
anticipated the cross. Thus, “Its meaning for Him was inextricably bound up
with His work of redemption” (D. Guthrie, Zondervan PictorialEncyclopedia
of the Bible [Zondervan], 3:568). But the title also affirms the full deity of our
Lord. Jesus usedit when referring to the fact that He existed in heaven before
descending to earth and that He would againascendinto heaven(Jn 3:13; Jo
6:62). He used it to assertthat the Father had given Him all authority to
execute judgment (Jn 5:27). He said that as the Sonof Man He had authority
on earth to forgive sins (Lu 5:20-24). He used it often in reference to His
secondcoming in powerand glory (Lu 17:22-30;Lu 18:8; Lu 21:36; Mt 24:30;
Mat 25:31). In fact, at His trial the high priest adjured Him by the living God
to tell them whether He was the Christ, the Son of God. Jesus replied, “You
have said it yourself; nevertheless I tell you, hereafteryou shall see the Son of
Man sitting at the right hand of Power, and coming on the clouds of glory.”
He was quoting from Da 7:13, Da 7:14 and applying it to Himself. At this the
priest accusedHim of blasphemy. If Jesus did not mean that as the Son of
Man, He is God, surely He would have correctedthe priest’s mistaken
impression and absolvedHimself of the charge. Byletting it stand, Jesus

affirmed that they were correct:the Son of Man is the Son of God, one with
the Father.
Son of Man - Matt. 8:20; Matt. 9:6; Matt. 10:23; Matt. 11:19; Matt. 12:8;
Matt. 12:32;Matt. 12:40;Matt. 13:37; Matt. 13:41; Matt. 16:13;Matt. 16:27;
Matt. 16:28;Matt. 17:9; Matt. 17:12;Matt. 17:22;Matt. 18:11; Matt. 19:28;
Matt. 20:18;Matt. 20:28;Matt. 24:27; Matt. 24:30; Matt. 24:37;Matt. 24:39;
Matt. 24:44;Matt. 25:31;Matt. 26:2; Matt. 26:24;Matt. 26:45; Matt. 26:64;
Mk. 2:10; Mk. 2:28; Mk. 8:31; Mk. 8:38; Mk. 9:9; Mk. 9:12; Mk. 9:31; Mk.
10:33;Mk. 10:45;Mk. 13:26;Mk. 14:21; Mk. 14:41; Mk. 14:62; Lk. 5:24; Lk.
6:5; Lk. 6:22; Lk. 7:34; Lk. 9:22; Lk. 9:26; Lk. 9:44; Lk. 9:56; Lk. 9:58; Lk.
11:30;Lk. 12:8; Lk. 12:10;Lk. 12:40;Lk. 17:22; Lk. 17:24;Lk. 17:26;Lk.
17:30;Lk. 18:8; Lk. 18:31;Lk. 19:10;Lk. 21:27; Lk. 21:36;Lk. 22:22;Lk.
22:48;Lk. 22:69;Lk. 24:7; Jn. 1:51; Jn. 3:13; Jn. 3:14; Jn. 5:27; Jn. 6:27; Jn.
6:53; Jn. 6:62; Jn. 8:28; Jn. 9:35; Jn. 12:23;Jn. 12:34; Jn. 13:31;Acts 7:56;
Heb. 2:6; Rev. 1:13; Rev. 14:14
RelatedResources:
What does it mean that Jesus is the Son of Man?
What does it mean that Jesus is the Son of God?
What does it mean that Jesus is the son of David?
What does it mean that Jesus is God's only begottenson?
Has come - This speaks ofHis condescensionin His incarnation (Php 2:6-9-
note).
Spurgeon- If, at this time, we ask our Lord Jesus, “Whithergoestthou,
Divine Master?”his answerstill is, “I am come to seek and to save that which
was lost.” “Art thou come after those who think themselves goodenough
without thee?” He shakes his head and says, “I am a Physician, and the whole
have no need of a Physician, but they that are sick. I came not to call the
righteous, but sinners to repentance.” The gospelofthe grace ofGod is for the
guilty; if you are not guilty, there is no gospelfor you; but if you are guilty,
and confess it, to you is the word of this salvationsent.

To seek - This speaks ofHis compassionforthe horrible state of sinners.
Seek (2212)(zeteo)in this context speaks ofsearching for what is lost, in this
case everyman or woman born in the image of Adam, because allhave
inherited his "sin virus" (Ro 5:12-note)and thus all are spiritually dead (aka
lost, cf Eph 2:1-note). We see God's seeking Adam immediately after he had
sinned - "Then the LORD God calledto the man, and said to him, “Where are
you?”" (Ge 3:9)
Ezekiel34:16 “I will seek the lost, bring back the scattered, bind up the
broken and strengthenthe sick;but the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will
feed them with judgment.
“Manof Sorrows!” whata name
For the Son of God who came
Ruined sinners to reclaim!
Hallelujah, what a Savior!
-- Philip Bliss
(Here is a version from my home church)
To save - This speaks ofthe price Jesus paid to redeem us from the penalty
and powerof sin. He came to die!
To save (4982)(sozo)has the basic meaning of rescuing one from greatperil,
especiallyfrom God's judgment of sin and the penalty of eternal death. Every
person born is in greatperil for they are not guaranteedthat their heart will
beat another beat! And should it stop, they can no longer be rescuedfrom the
greatperil which is eternalbanishment away from the presence of God and
His glory! Sozo can also mean to deliver (as from the powerof sin, cf Ro 6:14-
note), to heal (as from the wages ofsin which is death, cf Ro 6:23-note, 1 Peter
2:24-note), or be made whole (to come to know and experience the true
purpose for which you were created - cf Col2:10-note ). Zaccheus had begun
to experience all of these supernatural benefits of his new life in Christ
because he had placed in faith fully in the Messiahandhad been born again.

Adrian Rogers once saidofthose who are never born again...
They go to church three times in their lives:
when they're born,
when they're married,
and when they die.
Hatched, matched, and dispatched!
The first time they throw water,
the secondtime they throw rice,
and the third time they throw dirt!
To save that which was lost - What does Jesus mean by lost? Lost refers to all
who have never been born again by grace through faith in Jesus. Theyare not
spiritually, eternally savedand "safe"in Christ. In context who was lost?
Zaccheus, a physical son of Abraham. Contrary to popular Jewishthought
(aka, "nationaldeception"), Zaccheus'physicallineage was not a "free ticket"
guaranteeing entry into the Kingdom of God (i.e., salvation). In fact, that is
the lostgroup Jesus came to first, to the lostsons of Abraham.
There are only two kinds of people — the savedand the lost. Which are you?
Spurgeon- “Forthe Son of Man has come to seek and to save the lost.” When
our Lord came into this world, he seemedto selectthat title “Sonof Man” for
himself and make it his own specialname—and worthily so. Other men are
the sons of this man or that, but his is no restrictedhumanity; it is manhood of
the universal type. Jesus is not born into the race of the Jews so much as into
the human family. He is not to be claimed for any age, place, or nationality.
He is “the Sonof Man.” And this, I say, is how he comes to man. As long as
Christ is the Son of Man, we may still say of him that he comes to seek and to
save the lost. I know that in person he has gone back to heaven. I know that
the cloud has received him out of our sight. But the taking on himself of our
humanity was a coming down to seek and save the lost, and as he has not laid
that humanity aside, he is still with men, continuing to seek and to save even

to this day. If I treat the text as if Jesus were still among us, I would not err;
for he is here in the sense ofseeking the same end, though it is by his Spirit
and by his servants rather than by his own bodily presence. He has said that
he will be with us even until the end of the age. It is still true that the great
Savior and friend of man has come among us and is seeking andsaving the
lost.
What the Bible teaches onthat which was lost - "Thatwhich was lost" is a
neuter, perfect active participle, which A. T. Robertsonsays indicates "the
collective whole" ofmankind. The lost is not a specialgroup among the
billions of mankind but a descriptive term for all men (ch. 15). The simple
facts about his lostness are that all are lost; no one can save himself; eachone
who is savedwas once lost; Christ alone cansave, and there is a time of
seeking and saving that will soonbe past forever.
Clarksonon Lost - The sense in which eachsinful human soul is lost.
(1) It has lost its way; it is a travelergoing in the wrong direction, awayfrom
his home towardthe perilous precipice.
(2) It has lost its treasure, its heritage; for it has lost its peace, its harmony, its
accordancewith all those beings to whom it is most nearly and vitally related;
it has lostits hopes.
(3) It has lost its worth, its likeness to the Holy One; it has been brought down
to folly, to that which is unbeautiful and unworthy.
Was lost (622)(apollumi from apo = awayfrom + olethros = state of utter ruin)
conveys the sense of utter destruction of one's purpose for which they were
createdwhich is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. Had Zaccheus died
without placing his faith in Jesus, he would have been thrown into a horrid
place of purposeless existence!This fate is almostbeyond our human
comprehension. We would rather say it means annihilation, cessationof
existence, but that is sadly not true, even though some teachthis false
doctrine. Every person ever born will end up in one of two places - Either
alone in hell fully conscious ofits torments or in Heaven with God fully
capable in a glorified body to experience perfectjoy and eternal bliss. Dear

reader, surely there is no comparisonbetweenthese two fates!If you have
never believed in Jesus, believe today, and you will immediately be
transferred from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light, form lost
to found!
Apollumi as it relates to mankind is not the loss of being per se, but is more
the loss of well-being. It means to ruin so that the person (or thing) ruined can
no longer serve the use for which he (it) was designed. The Gospelpromises
everlasting life for the one who believes. The failure to possessthis life will
result in utter ruin and eternal uselessnessbut not a cessationof existence. It
is a place where there is no hope! As Adrian Rogers said"There are only two
places where there's no hope. One is in Hell because whenyou go to Hell,
you've losthope. The other is in Heaven because whenyou're in Heaven, you
don't need hope!"
Steven Cole comments "You may be thinking, “How do I know that Christ
will save me in particular?” Do you see yourselfas lost? Do you know that
apart from God’s grace, youwould justly spend eternity in hell? Do you
recognize that if God left you to yourself, you would never seek Him or believe
in Him? If so, then the goodnews is, “Christ Jesus came … to save sinners”
(1Ti 1:15). He died for the ungodly (Ro 5:6). If the words, “lost,” “sinner,”
“ungodly,” fit you, then you canhave hope, because Christ came to save such
people from their sins. But if you say, “I may have my faults, but I’m not
lost,” then I cannotoffer you a Savior. Jesus came to save the lost. If you say,
“I’m only human, of course, but I’m not a sinner,” then Christ did not come
to save you. He came into this world to save sinners. If you say, “I know that I
have done plenty of wrong things, but I wouldn’t call myself ungodly,” then
I’m afraid that Christ did not die for you. Scripture says that Christ died for
the ungodly.
Brian Bell - He is still the seeking Savior, but now he uses your eyes & lips!If
we are to win souls we must seek them. The hunter knows his game will not
come to the window of his house to be shot. The fisherman knows that the fish
will not come swimming up to his house. No, they must go out & seek!- And
so must you and I!

George MacLeod- “I simply argue that the cross be raisedagain, at the
centre of the marketplace as well as on the steeple of the church. I am
recovering the claim that Jesus was not crucified in a cathedral betweentwo
candles but on a cross betweentwo thieves;on a town garbage heap; at a
crossroadof politics so cosmopolitanthat they had to write His title in Hebrew
and in Latin and in Greek …and at the kind of place where cynics talk smut,
and thieves curse, and soldiers gamble. Because thatis where He died, And
that is what He died about. And that is where Christ’s own ought to be, And
that is what church people ought to be about.”
Brian Bill - Lord Kenneth Clark, internationally known for his television
series Civilization, admitted in his autobiography that while visiting a
beautiful church he had an overwhelming religious experience. This is what
he wrote: “My whole being was irradiated by a kind of heavenly joy far more
intense than anything I had never known before.” But, as he described it, the
“gloomof grace” createda problem for him. If he allowedhimself to be
influenced by his spiritual yearnings, he knew he would have to change and
his family would think he had lost his mind. And so he concluded, “I was too
deeply embedded in the world to change course.”As far as I know, he died
without putting his faith in Christ.
David Guzik - The entire accountwith Zacchaeus gives us a remarkable who,
what, where, when, why, and how of receiving Jesus.
Who Jesus wants to receive Him: those lost.
What Jesus wants with those who receive Him: relationship.
Where Jesus wants to go: down to Him.
When Jesus wants you to receive Him: immediately, quickly.
Why Jesus wants you to receive Him: to be with Him, to connectwith Him in
life.
How Jesus wants you to receive Him: joyfully. (Enduring Word Bible
Commentary – Luke 19)

Spurgeon- When our Lord came into this world, he seemedto selectthat title
“Sonof Man” for himself and make it his ownspecialname—and worthily so.
Other men are the sons of this man or that, but his is no restrictedhumanity;
it is manhood of the universal type. Jesus is not born into the race of the Jews
so much as into the human family. He is not to be claimed for any age, place,
or nationality. He is “the Son of Man.” And this, I say, is how he comes to
man. As long as Christ is the Son of Man, we may still say of him that he
comes to seek andto save the lost. I know that in personhe has gone back to
heaven. I know that the cloud has receivedhim out of our sight. But the taking
on himself of our humanity was a coming down to seek andsave the lost, and
as he has not laid that humanity aside, he is still with men, continuing to seek
and to save even to this day. If I treat the text as if Jesus were still among us, I
would not err; for he is here in the sense ofseeking the same end, though it is
by his Spirit and by his servants rather than by his own bodily presence. He
has said that he will be with us even until the end of the age. It is still true that
the greatSaviorand friend of man has come among us and is seeking and
saving the lost.
ILLUSTRATION - George Whitefield, one of America’s greatestevangelist,
had a brother that was backslidden. One day his brother found himself sitting
at tea with the Countess of Huntingdon. He said, “I know what you have said
is very proper, & I believe in the infinite mercy & goodness ofGod. But I do
not believe in its application to me, for I am a lost man.” the Countess put
down her tea & said, “I am glad to hear it, Mr. Whitefield!” “Madam,” he
said, “I did not think you would rejoice & glory in a thing so terrible as that.”
“I am glad to hear you sayyou are lostMr. Whitefield,” she said, “for it is
written that Jesus Christcame to seek & to save that which was lost.” His eyes
sparkled, & he said, “I thank God for that text, & for the extraordinary
powerwith which it has now come into my heart.” He died later that night.
Until a man is lost he cannot be found!
ILLUSTRATION - Spurgeonillustrates this truth by saying, suppose that you
came and told me of a great doctorin London. I asked, “Whatdoes he do?”
You said, “He has many patients.” “But, what does he do?” Finally, you reply,
“He cures bad fingers.” Well, that’s not too impressive. But suppose, instead,
you reply, “There have been many patients whom no one else could cure.

Jesus was the son of man

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Jesus was the son of man