Luke 22:38

That very answer shows He did not mean it literally. Two swords would be a very poor supply for eleven disciples. That is quite clear. If it had been eleven swords, one could understand. But the Lord said that two swords are enough, and that shows at once how mistaken it was to take His words in the bare literal sense. Those who did take them literally made very bad use of them a little while later, and Peter is the very man.

The disciples, however, missed the force of the Lord's words. They thought only of their weapons of the flesh. They were quick to show two swords, and that showed a zeal of the flesh, ready to fight. His own faith was firm and settled. He met all hatred with His Word, and used no weapons of the flesh. He simply said, "It is enough," certainly not enough swords, but enough discussion. He would say no more since they did not understand. They had to learn by sad experience.

The way the disciples were kept then, and the saints now, is quite different. Then they were kept for earth; now for heaven. Here He provided for them by His own right and power, though He did not do so for Himself. But now they would be left to the difficulties and trials of a world where Satan governed and the Lord was absent. Satan would stir up opposition and turn hearts against them. They would learn in the world, as regards men, as we say, to shift for themselves. They were left facing Satan, with the Lord absent in heaven, to share the suffering caused by the power that He Himself came under.

The Lord had used the sword, purse and bag as pictures of the ordinary means the disciples would now be thrown on. He certainly did not mean that they should give up, for themselves, the ground of grace in the presence of evil, even under the worst insult and injury. He had insisted on that ground when He first called and commissioned them as apostles. He says no more. The true sense waits for the day when the Holy Spirit would be given, and would lead them into all the truth.

Was not the Lord's meaning plain when He said, "It is enough"? If our warfare were with flesh and blood, would two swords be enough? No, the weapons of our warfare are not carnal. He did not mean a real sword to resist the world. He meant a hint that the world would draw its sword against them. It was a warning from the Lord that they would have to meet the world's fiercest hatred. Peter failed to see it, and in the garden used the sword he had boasted of against the high priest's servant. The Lord then spoke more plainly, "Put your sword back into its place," and at once healed the servant's ear.

The fact is, they did not understand then the spiritual significance of His words. But Paul understood them later. He described the Christian life in the language of the battlefield, not in the language of the drawing room or the easy couch. Mark well how he speaks of "the good fight," and of "sharing in suffering as a good soldier." He speaks too of "wrestling not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness."