1 After this, the Lord chose seventy-two others and sent them out in pairs ahead of him into every town and place where he planned to go. 2 He said to them, “There are a great many people to harvest, but there are only a few workers. So pray to God, who owns the harvest, that he will send more workers to help gather his harvest. 3 Go now, but listen! I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. 4 Don’t carry a purse, a bag, or sandals, and don’t waste time talking with people on the road. 5 Before you go into a house, say, ‘Peace be with this house.’ 6 If peace-loving people live there, your blessing of peace will stay with them, but if not, then your blessing will come back to you. 7 Stay in the same house, eating and drinking what the people there give you. A worker should be given his pay. Don’t move from house to house. 8 If you go into a town and the people welcome you, eat what they give you. 9 Heal the sick who live there, and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God is near you.’ 10 But if you go into a town, and the people don’t welcome you, then go into the streets and say, 11 ‘Even the dirt from your town that sticks to our feet we wipe off against you. But remember that the kingdom of God is near.’ 12 I tell you, on the Judgment Day it will be better for the people of Sodom than for the people of that town.
13 “How terrible for you, Korazin! How terrible for you, Bethsaida! If the miracles I did in you had happened in Tyre and Sidon, those people would have changed their lives long ago. They would have worn rough cloth and put ashes on themselves to show they had changed. 14 But on the Judgment Day it will be better for Tyre and Sidon than for you. 15 And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted up to heaven? No! You will be thrown down to the depths!
16 “Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever refuses to accept you refuses to accept me. And whoever refuses to accept me refuses to accept the One who sent me.”
17 When the seventy-two came back, they were very happy and said, “Lord, even the demons obeyed us when we used your name!”
18 Jesus said, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. 19 Listen, I have given you power to walk on snakes and scorpions, power that is greater than the enemy has. So nothing will hurt you. 20 But you should not be happy because the spirits obey you but because your names are written in heaven.”
Read Luke 10:1-20 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!
Have you ever received a gift from someone?
Have you ever been promised a gift that you would receive at some point in the future?
In our passage for today, the closing verses stood out to me with a pretty profound insight. On returning from their missionary task, the disciples are excited because of the power that they received through the Holy Spirit. They return saying, “Lord, even the demons obeyed us when we used your name!” (v. 17)
However, in Jesus reply we see this profound truth, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Listen, I have given you power to walk on snakes and scorpions, power that is greater than the enemy has. So nothing will hurt you. But you should not be happy because the spirits obey you but because your names are written in heaven.” (v. 18-20 – emphasis added.)
In His response, Jesus is teaching a significant truth: Our future rewards are more important than our present realities – even when we are in a good place in our lives.
At one of the heights of the disciples’ happiness/joy, Jesus intentionally points out that their happiness should not be based upon what they did (or could do through the Holy Spirit), but instead that it should be based on the fact that they have been saved and given the promise of a future life with Jesus in Heaven.
The truth we must remember is that our happiness must be because of what we are promised in the future and not based upon our present circumstances. The disciples were not able to cast out every demon that they came up against, and the temptation we all face is that when things don’t go our way, we have the tendency to doubt our relationship with God. When we are in the middle of an emotional high, it is easy to feel that God is with us, but when the emotions fade and we come down from the high we are on, we are tempted to think that God is moving away from us.
This is never the case. God wants His relationship with us to be about Him and His character, not about us and our ever-changing feelings.
The disciples were excited when they returned from their mission trip because of the amazing things they experienced on it – but Jesus knew that this feeling wouldn’t last. Our hope and faith need a stronger foundation than our feelings; our hope and faith need Jesus as their foundation.
Jesus fulfilled every Old Testament prophecy concerning His first appearance – which is another way to say that He kept His promises to the Jewish nation (even if they didn’t understand the promises). Because Jesus kept His Word then, we have no valid reason to think that He won’t continue to keep His Word moving forward into the future – which means that there will be a point that He returns, and a point when we return to Heaven to be with Him.
This thought was inspired by studying the Walking With Jesus “Reflective Bible Study” package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, click here and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!
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