Paraphrase: (11/24/09)
Lk 10:17-20 When the seventy returned, they were excited by their successes. “Lord! Even the demons obey the orders we speak by Your authority.” Jesus replied, “I saw Satan fall, like a bolt of lightning from the heavens. Look, as you have experienced, I have given you the right and the power to trample serpents and scorpions without harm. Indeed, you have that authority over every power of the enemy. Nothing whatsoever shall cause you harm. But, that’s not the point. That’s not the thing to celebrate, even though spirits are subject to you. No, rejoice in this: Your names are permanently recorded in heaven.”
Key Verse: (11/25/09)
Lk 10:20 – Don’t rejoice in your authority. Rejoice in your salvation.
New Thoughts (11/25/09-11/26/09)
The first reaction I have to this passage is to wonder just what Jesus means in verse 18. I really wish that we had a sense of His delivery as He was speaking this. Where was the emphasis? What was the attitude, the emotion behind this pronouncement? But, all we have is the bare statement: “I saw Satan fall from the heavens like lightning.” What is He saying? By some theories, this could be a declaration of an historical event prior to His incarnation, that point Isaiah writes of, “How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn! You are cut down to earth, you who weakened the nations” (Isa 14:12). This is taken as speaking of that point of time in which Satan had begun his open rebellion against God, and been cast out along with those other angels who had joined him.
And yet, aren’t these events something in the past even when we read about Job? And, there is the devil still walking in and out of the courts of heaven. So, perhaps Isaiah is looking forward with that, rather than backward. Or, perhaps we simply need to recognize that time such as we understand it is not a concept that applies in so linear a fashion in the heavenly realms. Past, present, future: these are concepts that we have a certain understanding of, yet in the realm that measures infinity, to that One who sees the end from the beginning, do they truly apply? I think not. So, we might well see the corruption of Eden, the fall of the morning star, and the casting down of the dragon with his angels (Rev 12:8-9), as the same event played out in differing aspects. We might even need to fold the Crucifixion and Ascension of Jesus into that same moment, for all of these things are matters of Satan’s defeat.
However many other meanings one might find in what Jesus has said, though, it seems clear enough that He intends these words to serve as affirmation to the seventy who have completed their assignments. There is a resounding, “Yes!” to be heard in these words. See what you have accomplished! See the power of obedience!
It would be best to view this statement as crossing the times. It is historical in its reference, as we may understand from the record of the Fall. Satan was already thrown down from heaven, that bright morning star of which Isaiah spoke. It is also future, from our perspective. It points with a prophetic finger to the defeat Satan would suffer at the Cross. There, he thought he had won the day, but it was there that his defeat was sealed for all eternity. It points further still, to that judgment written of in the Revelation. The serpent, though defeated for eons, must yet suffer the final blow. And, it is also the present-tense impact of what these seventy have accomplished. I rather doubt that we should take that present-day application as a literal declaration from Jesus. He is not speaking of some physical manifestation of Satan’s defeat that had transpired while these men were on the road. It is a bit of hyperbole, of figurative speech. Jesus is honoring their accomplishments by extolling the impact of their efforts. It’s not just that those particular demons they encountered were forced into submission. It’s that this power, revealed to and understood by those whom God was calling, marked out the certain doom of Satan’s rebellion. It did so because the power did not rest in man, but in God. That doom was as certain as any promise of God, which is to say absolutely so.
Notice, for example, that at a later point in His brief ministry, Jesus speaks of Satan’s judgment as accomplished fact. Judgment is now upon this world and its ruler is to be cast out (Jn 12:31). The ruler has been judged (Jn 16:11). Yet, the convicted felon has still some freedom of movement. As I have noted, we see that he was yet able to present himself before God’s throne in Job’s day, and the implications of the Revelation are that he retains that capacity in some wise. Otherwise, how is it that that star fell from heaven to earth when the fifth angel sounded his trumpet (Rev 9:1)? Otherwise, where was that dragon, the devil, thrown down from (Rev 12:8-9)? It is then that we read that no place remained for them in heaven, those rebel forces. It is for this cause that we learn from Hebrews that the heavenly altar was as much in need of the cleansing blood of Christ as was the earthly.
The NET suggests that the way we ought to understand this declaration is that the exorcisms that were being accomplished in the name of Jesus, upon His authority, are emblematic of the greater defeat Satan experiences at Jesus’ hands. Again, this is certainly one thing that can be taken away from that message, but it doesn’t seem to be the whole of it. Listening to the overall flow of Jesus’ response to the seventy, it’s easy to hear the voice of that One who would write to the seven churches in the Revelation. What you have done is commendable in the extreme, however… You have indeed made good use of My authority, not exceeding its proper bounds nor neglecting its exercise. Nevertheless…
Nevertheless, what you are overjoyed by is not on base. The power is not the point. The exorcisms are not the point. The miracles are not the point. Don’t rejoice in that stuff, it’s the wrong focus. If you focus on those aspects of this walk, you will walk off the path. If your eyes are on the power, you will inevitably abuse the power. The power is good when used for good, but it is easily made an idol. Rejoice instead in your salvation. That’s what really matters. Rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven, and recorded in such fashion as to never be erased. It is accomplished fact. Indeed, it was accomplished fact long before you ever went on this mission. It would have remained accomplished fact had you done nothing of what you have done.
Understand the Scriptures, when they repeatedly tell you that your names were recorded in the book of life from the foundation! Understand that either your names were recorded there from the foundation or they shall never be so recorded. Rejoice that it’s the former and not the latter. Consider what awaits those whose names are not found in that book, and realize the gratitude that ought to shape your every waking thought. Realize that whatever you may accomplish for the kingdom, it shall never repay what you have been given, and surely never earn it!
I cannot emphasize this message enough, particularly being in the branch of Christianity that I am. We are so enamored of the charismatic display of gifts. We are so thrilled by healings and prophecies and all other manner of manifestations of the presence of the Holy Spirit. We’re all over the idea of seeing God’s face. But, we miss the point. Never mind that we miss the significance of seeing even God’s backside, and what that must mean to us as concerns our spiritual development. More critically, we fail to emphasize what really matters, as Jesus teaches it. All of that stuff is fine. It’s good. But, it’s not cause to rejoice in itself. The only cause to rejoice, in the end, is knowing salvation is assured, your name is etched in stone, deeply engraved and beyond the power of millennia to erode from that one book that matters, the book of life.
Pastor has been preaching, the last few weeks, on this matter of the one thing: one thing Mary chose, one thing I know, one thing I do. This is that one thing. Mary chose blessed assurance. My soul finds rest because I know: my name is written! These uncertainties and dry spells that beset me of late, they cannot change that. It was written from the foundation, and it shall stand for all eternity. God has said it. It is finished! One thing, then, I do: I pursue a life that manifests my utmost gratitude for this gift beyond all measure. I know I do it poorly yet, and stumble often in that effort for want of proper attentiveness. But, it remains the truth: This one thing I do, pressing on toward the goal, and letting go the past that hinders.
The only way I can ever hope to minister effectively is from that foundation. If I’m not settled in my own salvation, what can I offer to another? Healing? So what! Death still awaits. A word of knowledge? Lovely. But, if it does no more than avoid one pitfall to land the hearer in another pit which is deeper still, how much have I helped him? All of this stuff, as fine as it is, as glad as we are to hear of it, and yes, as much as it distresses the enemy, remains fleshly, material, temporal. The benefits will fade with time. Salvation, though! Salvation is eternal! Life, real life from the giver of Life: That never fades. Apart from that, truly, nothing else matters.
Armed with that certainty of salvation, we are able to lay hold of peace such as cannot be found elsewhere. Nirvana holds no such certain hope of peace. Certainly, the absurd fantasies of the Muslims in their suicidal assaults on humanity offer not even a glimpse of such peace, not in the next life and certainly not in this one. But, look at the promise of God: Though there will be such distress upon the nations as has never been known before and shall never be known again, even so: Those whose names are written in the book will be rescued (Dan 12:1). Michael, the angelic prince who guards the people of God will arise. Though a thousand fall to the left, ten thousand to the right, fear not! This is not your fate. Though your body die, even by means most terrible, yet you shall live, and that forever, and that forever spent in the very presence of God. For us, then, to live is Christ and to die is gain. Whom shall we fear?
Rejoice in this! Your names are recorded! On this Thanksgiving Day, what other cause do I need to give thanks with a truly grateful heart? None at all.
