And he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. 19 Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. 20 Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

21 In that same hour he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. 22 All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”

23 Then turning to the disciples he said privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! 24 For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.”

Luke 10:18-24

Introduction

When I was a child, I learned a simple song in Sunday School and it went like this, “I have the joy, joy, joy joy down in my heart…Down in my heart to stay. And I am so happy, so very happy, I’ve got the love of Jesus in my heart.” It’s a simple song with an important truth. Christians are a rejoicing people because Jesus has come into our lives to stay eternally. But somewhere along the way, we lose sight of this powerful reality. It’s as if to know Christ cannot be both serious and joyous. But this simply is not the message of Christ. Jesus never states that following Christ is a life of ease and comfort, quite the opposite. We learned that following Christ means denying oneself. It means that sometimes you will be rejected by your family, your culture, your society because you follow Him. It means that your comforts will be challenged. But what Jesus never says is that the Christian life is joyless. That song I learned as a child is true not because of life’s circumstances, but because Jesus resides deep in my heart to stay. And it is this idea that Jesus wishes for His disciples to realize as they return from their ministry.

Remember, in Luke 10:1-16, Jesus had sent them out, preparing them for the harvest field, preparing them for danger and rejection, preparing them for a lack of comfort, preparing them for judgment. It was a harsh warning. But it was one they needed to heed. I’m sure it left them feeling uneasy and unsure about the mission. But as verse 17 states, they ‘returned with joy.’ They had seen amazing things, they had been left in awe, and they couldn’t help but respond with joy. This week, if you have children, you will see a response from them that will express their hearts, whether they want to hide it or not. When they open their gifts, watch their faces. If their lips quiver as they say thanks to the new pair of pants and shirt, you’ll know what is going on deep in their heart. Externally, they might be saying thank you, internally, they are feeling disappointment and perhaps despair. If they open the gift to find a new nerf gun, or a video game, or Zhu Zhu pet hamsters, and you see them burst our squealing or laughing, you know what they are feeling deep inside. They cannot hide what they feel. Well, the disciples came back with joy because of what they saw and because of what they had genuinely experienced. And yet, as great as their joy was, Jesus tells them that there are even greater reasons to rejoice than merely seeing signs and wonders. They had only begun to experience what the Lord had in store for them. And so each reason Jesus gives to rejoice is greater than the previous one and it culminates in something so spectacular that words will not adequately describe their joy. And these same reasons to rejoice are our reasons as well. So let’s look at Jesus’ three reasons to rejoice in Luke 10:17-24.

Reason #1: God Has Defeated Satan Forever (vv. 17-19)

The first reason then that the disciples should rejoice is that God has defeated Satan forever (vv. 17-20). Luke records in verses 17-19: “The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” 18 And he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. 19 Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you.” When Jesus ‘saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven,’ he was repeating what was long thought of Satan, that He would be soundly defeated by God’s Messiah as predicted in Isaiah 14:12-13: “How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn! How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low! 13 You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven.” Jesus was that Messiah who would finish the Enemy once and for all, and it would be by the cross that this would be accomplished as Hebrews 2:14 declares: “Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil.”

The disciples’ ministry therefore, was a reminder to the world that this was the beginning of the end of Satan’s power and rule. The demons submission to them and the disciples power over the Enemy in verse 19 is not a supernatural magic show to wow the bystanders, but rather, it was intended to be a sign of the Giver of such authority, that is Jesus Himself. He would not only overwhelm the demonic forces by his awesome power, but He would also protect His people from harm, hence the language of the serpents and scorpions. Commentator Darrell Bock puts it this way: “In the war with Satan, Jesus’ ministry is D-day.”(Darrell Bock, Luke Vol. 2, 1008.)

And for this reason, anyone who follows Christ ought to rejoice. After all, one’s greatest enemy has been defeated. And like any movie where an evil enemy is continually defeating the hero, once the enemy is finally vanquished by the hero, there is an almost visceral feeling of joy. When Germany finally surrendered during World War II, there were mass celebrations that broke out all over the world. Novelist Mollie Panter-Downes describes in New Yorker Magazine what she saw in London on that day:

American sailors and laughing girls formed a conga line down the middle of Piccadilly and cockneys linked arms in the Lambeth Walk. It was a day and night of no fixed plan and no organized merriment. Each group danced its own dance, sang its own song, and went its own way as the spirit moved it. The most tolerant, self-effacing people in London on V-E Day were the police, who simply stood by, smiling benignly, while soldiers swung by one arm from lamp standards and laughing groups tore down hoardings to build the evening’s bonfires…The young service men and women who swung arm in arm down the middle of every street, singing and swarming over the few cars rash enough to come out, were simply happy with an immense holiday happiness. They were the liberated people who, like their counterparts in every celebrating capital that night, were young enough to outlive the past and to look forward to an unspoilt future. Their gaiety was very moving.

The defeat of a hated enemy and the end of suffering and pain of war has the natural effect of great, exuberant joy. How much more then will the defeat of the ultimate Enemy bring to God’s people? This is the reason why Jesus was telling the disciples they should rejoice.

However, there is one problem. The disciples simply didn’t get it. It seems obvious from the context, especially verse 20, that they were more excited about the demons subjection to them than to Jesus. We learned in verses 1-10 that Jesus had sent them on a mission with all sorts of cautions, one to proclaim the good news that the Christ has come. And by God’s grace, they returned with news of great success. They had seen miracles. They probably cast out demons and healed the sick. They were given authority and power unlike any seen before. But as always with human beings, success got to their heads. The irony of it all is that the very reason for Satan’s fall from the earth, his pride, was the very sin they were falling to in their response to Satan’s fall.

There is a lesson to be learned by all of us through the disciples foibles. Success, peace, comforts, happiness, all of these are blessings of the Lord. But these are also incredibly vulnerable times for any believer of God. I’ve been reading in the Chronicles, and it seems story after story is the story of kings who succeed because of their devotion to God, but as God provides comfort and peace, they seem to lose sight of His grace. David, after all of the successes, is walking on the roof when kings go to war, and he commits murder and adultery. Solomon, after receiving riches untold and great wisdom because of his early humility before God, later in his life when he had everything, he worshipped the idols of his many wives. Asa was King of Judah. He brought great reforms in 2 Chron 15 and repaired the Temple and put away all of the idols that had cluttered the land. And yet, when Hanani the prophet rebuked him in his latter years for depending more on alliances with Syria rather than the Lord, Asa had him thrown into prison and ‘inflicted cruelties on some of the people.’ In 2 Chron 17:3, it says King Jehoshaphat, Asa’s son, ‘walked in the earlier ways of his father David’ and ‘sought the God of his father and walked in his commandments.’ For much of his life, he sought the Lord and trusted in him. But later in his life, he aligned himself with the evil king of Israel Ahaziah and did not depend on God. Each king would fall to the same temptations, even Hezekiah and Josiah. Peace and success are wonderful blessings from God. But oh how tempting it is to forget the Lord during such times. J. C. Ryle aptly warns all of us during such times:

When everything around us seems to prosper, and all our plans work well,–when family trials and sicknesses are kept from us, and the course of our worldly affairs runs smooth,–when our daily crosses are light, and all within and without like a morning without clouds,–then, then is the time when our souls are in danger! Then is the time when we have need to be doubly watchful over our own hearts. (J. C. Ryle, Luke, 359)

I know that we are often praying for positive outcomes for things, as I believe we should. We should pray that there would be physical healing. We should pray that the unemployed should find a job. We should pray that singles find a godly spouse, and that couples be able to have children, and that marriages have deep love without the manifestation of sins, and that souls be saved. But what are you most thankful for, the outcome, or the One who has brought about that outcome? Success apart from Christ leads us to worship the created things (outcomes of circumstances) rather than the Creator (Rom 1:25). Which is the very reason we should rejoice not in the sign and power and outcome, but rather, the One who gives us the authority over the greatest Enemy of all.

Reason #2: Name Written in Heaven (vv. 17-20)

The second reason then that the disciples should rejoice even more is that their names are written in heaven as Jesus tells them in verse 20: “Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” The Bible regularly refers to the metaphor of heaven as a place where the names of those who are saved are written in a book. When Moses interceded for the people of Israel as they faced God’s wrath, he said to God: “But now, if you will forgive their sin—but if not, please blot me out of your book that you have written.” (Exodus 32:32) Paul also notes that fellow workers of the Gospel ‘are in the book of life.’ (Phil 4:3) The idea is that God knows everyone who is saved and He has made sure that salvation is assured.

And thus, as great as it is to defeat Satan, it is still less dramatic than the salvation of sinners. There is no miracle that can be performed, not the creation of the universe, not the moving a mountain, not the cure from cancer, not the suspension of gravity, nothing can compare to sinners being saved. And the reason why salvation is so great is because sin created such a chasm between God and us [the chasm of a couple in the midst of a severe conflict cannot compare] and so the cost of salvation would be priceless. Creation didn’t cost God His only beloved Son, but our salvation from our rebellion and sin did.

Surely, this is a far greater reason to rejoice than any other reason. We work so hard to find things to rejoice in, to mean something, to find some sort of pleasure and peace. Think of every major decision of your life, everything of import, the school you chose to attend, the friendships you sought, the good opinions of your parents, the person you desired to marry, the career path you chose, the ways you spent your money, the children you had, the way in which you raised your kids, the way you spend retirement, the ministry you had. We want joy to come from such events and from such work. But even if it should come, it is so fleeting. Or it is only a taste, but nothing more. But there is one joy that will last forever, and it is that your name is written in the Book of Life. And there is no better reason to rejoice than that. Ian Murray tells the story of Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, the famed preacher of Westminster Chapel. As his life drew to a close, Murray asked this question to the good doctor: “How are you coping now that your ministry is so confined?” If you know anything about Lloyd-Jones, you know how prolific he was in preaching Scripture. He has 14 large volumes of sermons just on the book of Romans. He loved to preach and minister. After 53 years of preaching and ministry, you would think Dr. Lloyd-Jones would be a bit forlorn about being unable to preach and minster due to age. And yet his response to the question was: “Do not rejoice that the demons are subject to you in my name, but rejoice that your name is written in heaven.” He then added, “I am perfectly content.”(Quoted from Phil Ryken, Luke Vol 1, 350)

Oh how we are far too content on such small things such as peace and quiet in our house or the ease of life after children or when we open our Christmas gifts to find what we were wishing for or a marriage that simply gets by. What do you rejoice most in, especially this Christmas season? Christian, are you rejoicing in the fact that your name is written in the Book of Life? If not, no wonder you are tired and weary and joyless. You have forgotten what a wondrous work it was for God to save you from your sin. It cost Him His Son’s blood! So rejoice!

Reason #3: The Triune God Dwells in Great Joy (vv. 21-24)

Finally, the last reason that the disciples should rejoice most is that God the Father, Son, and Spirit dwells in great joy with one another according to verses 21-22: “In that same hour he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. 22 All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.” The word ‘rejoiced’ in verse 21 is a different word for joy than the ones used in verses 17 and 20. It’s a more intense type of joy, great exuberance, the kind that produces a ground-swell of wonder and affect. And also, what’s unique about this joy is its sense of fulfillment. This joy is complete, as if every wish, every dream, every hope is fully consummated and realized. This is a joy that is not lacking one bit. And He has this joy because He is in perfect relationship with the Holy Spirit (‘rejoiced in the Holy Spirit’) and with the Father (‘no one know who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son.’) So let me put it to you this way, there is nothing you can do to add or subtract to the joy of the Lord. He is perfectly joyous. The implications of this are astounding if you think about it.

For example, when my kids obey me, it is very easy for me to feel happy about that. My joy increases. When my kids disobey me, I feel unhappy. My joy decreases. It’s the sad reality of the human heart. Our joy is affected by others. But for God, His joy is not rooted on us. He is not less joyous because of our sins and more joyous because of our goodness. Instead, He is completely and perfectly joyous in Himself because of His being God the Father, Son, and Spirit. Nothing can change that, not even our sin, and not our morality. And yet, despite the fact that He doesn’t need us to experience perfect joy, out of His great mercy, God has decided to love us with unfathomable love, so that we too might share in His joy.

And so Jesus tells us in the parable of the talents that the master will say to those who are faithful to the end: “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.” (Matt 25:21) Jesus wants us to share in the joy that He has with the Father. John 17:26 makes this quite clear: “I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.” Jesus’ whole reason for coming to the world, the very reason why we celebrate Christmas, was that the fullness of joy and love the Son has with the Father and Spirit would be shared with me and you! And Jesus would set His face towards Jerusalem to bear the cross so that this could happen. Do you see how lavished God’s love is for you?

I don’t know about you, but my natural tendency is to hoard what good things I have for myself. If I have one last piece of gum, I don’t naturally want to share it with others. I don’t want to share my meals. The natural person in me doesn’t want to give to poor orphans in Mozambique, or to missions, or to the ministry of the church. Shua and I have been drinking roiboos tea these past nights, and for the past few times, when I make tea, I have made it for myself only. And when she looks at me and asks, “What about me?” I give her mine pretending I made it for her (of course she sees right through me). Sometimes it really startles me that I am so self-centered and self-focused, even without realizing it. It is so ‘natural’ to be so.

Thank God that He is not like this at all! He doesn’t give us leftovers. He gives us His very best. He gives us not only the perfect joy that He has, but His Son as the means to receive that joy! This Christmas, amongst the parties and gifts, and family gatherings. Rejoice because those are mere fragrances of the Feast that is to come. Rejoice because Satan has been and will be completely obliterated by the work of Christ. Rejoice even more because your name is written in the Book of Life. But rejoice most of all because God the Father, Son, and Spirit dwell richly in perfect joy and that He wants you to share in that joy eternally! Have a joyous Christmas!