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Luke 10:13–15
“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. But it will be more bearable in the judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you. And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You shall be brought down to Hades.”
God’s Word clearly teaches that all people (except Jesus) are sinners and are subject to divine wrath (Rom. 1:18; Rom. 3:1–20, 23). Yet Scripture informs us that degrees of wickedness exist. Some sinners are so depraved that they are notorious for their evildoing. When these sinners gather together, their cities can become havens for vice, embodying what it means to oppose the Lord.
The cities of Sodom, Tyre, and Sidon are known in Scripture for their wickedness. Sodom was a town of sexual perversion (Gen. 19:1–11), and Tyre and Sidon were known to oppress Israel and thus received prophetic condemnation (e.g., see Ezek. 26–28). First-century Jews were well aware of these cities’ sins and certainly viewed themselves as more righteous than their inhabitants.
Jesus’ use of these cities to make a point about the sin of the people who witnessed our Lord’s earthly ministry but did not respond in faith and repentance, therefore, was particularly striking. When He commissioned the seventy-two, Jesus said that it will be better on the day of judgment for Sodom than for those who reject His ambassadors (Luke 10:10–12). He followed that up by pronouncing oracles of woe on Chorazin and Bethsaida, two towns in Galilee, and observing that if Tyre and Sidon had seen the miracles and ministry of Jesus, they would have repented (Luke 10:13–14). Jesus was contrasting the hard-heartedness of the Galileans with the hard-heartedness of the famously evil citizens of Tyre and Sidon. The Galilean Jews prided themselves on their righteousness, but they had a false estimation of themselves. If they truly had hearts to follow God, they would have responded more favorably to Christ. Tyre and Sidon, despite their wickedness, were not so set against God that they would have been unable to see the work of Jesus and not be moved to faith and repentance. Jesus then said that Capernaum, another Galilean town, would face judgment for denying Him (Luke 10:15).
Dr. R.C. Sproul well summarizes the essential point that Jesus was making with these words of condemnation when he comments, “The more light you have been given of the things of God, the more information you have been given about the kingdom of God, the more liable you are for your response to that message.” Because the Galilean Jews had received a crystal-clear revelation of the Lord’s salvation, their guilt for rejecting Him was far greater than the guilt of the enemies of Israel who had no such revelation.
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
Ignorance of God’s revelation in Christ will not excuse an unbeliever on the day of judgment. Nevertheless, the guilt and punishment will be greater for those who have heard of Christ and rejected Him than for those who never heard of Him. We must exhort those who have heard the gospel to believe on Jesus, for if they do not, they will suffer a greater judgment.
for further study
- Leviticus 4
- Luke 12:35–48
- John 19:11
- James 4:17
the bible in a year
- 2 Kings 20–22
- John 6:60–71