The Gospel of Luke 10:17-24 Receiving the 70 disciples
Luke 10:17-24 · Vern Peterman · Sep 6, 2015
Gospel of Luke, No. 41
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4926514343694

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

Good morning. We're going to be continuing our investigating Jesus through the gospel of Luke chapter 10 verses 17 through 24 as Courtney read for us here and one step at a time. One of the things that is happening in this passage here is the 70 who were sent out in the passage we looked at last week verses 1 through 16 are now returning, and so they're reporting back to Jesus how things went. They do have something to say, as we'll see here in the very first verse of the passage, verse 17. Jesus has a lot more to say to them, and that's verses 18 through 24. What Jesus has to say provides some spiritual insight into several different topics, as we'll be seeing here.

And so we'll look more carefully at what those things are. Jesus redirects their spiritual focus, as we'll also see, and the priorities. He'll say, this is more important than this, rather that you look at this rather than that. So he's going to redirect them.

Luke 10, 17, the 70 return with joy, saying, Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name. Apparently something real different from the experience that a lot of Jews would have. Now, one of the things that comes out is, in your name. Jesus casts out demons by direct command. Jesus didn't go up and say, you will leave now in Jesus' name. He didn't do that.

He gave direct commands to the demons to come out. And whatever he told them to do, that is exactly what they did. If he told them to be silent, they were silent. If he told them to leave, they left, and he did so directly, okay? And the demon left right away, not just says, on the count of what, right? Didn't say on the count of five or ten or something, just gone, right? So, direct command. These 70 did not directly command the demons to leave, however. What they did is they would command the demons to leave in Jesus' name.

And now, the name isn't just name-dropping. It isn't just, you know, hey, that Jesus' name, that's the magic one. It means all of who He is, and in this case, all of what He is authorized. We also pray in Jesus' name. and it's done also in addition to who he is and what he's authorized, it's on the basis of what he has done that we say in Jesus' name. So when we say in Jesus' name, we're not just name-dropping. We're not saying magic words. We're talking about all of who he is, all of what he's authorized, and everything that he has accomplished.

Now, they were also rejoicing in what they could do. Hey, Jesus, we're really happy because They could cast out the demons in Jesus' name. But the healing and casting out the demons was not the end goal, was it? The healing and casting out demons was to validate their message. And that message was the spiritual priority.

So that was one thing that comes out here that they didn't quite have clear in their minds. They were rejoicing in what they could do and in fact it was what they could do that validated the message and the message was most important. Even more at issue in the longer term would be how the Jews responded to the gospel of the kingdom that they spread.

Now something very interesting, Jesus does not lay on them the responsibility for how the Jews respond. Eventually we'll see in the gospel of Luke that the Jews did not respond well, but he doesn't see that as an issue for them. Okay? Doesn't see that as an issue for them.

Luke 10.18, and he said to them, I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning. That's very interesting. Very interesting.

One of the things we talked about previously, historically Satan and the angels were given a window of opportunity to decide for or against God. Human beings have that same opportunity, but it's not one singular window, it is a window for each person to put their trust in the Lord or not.

Additionally, for the angels, there is no plan of salvation. Whatever they choose, that's locked in for eternity. Human beings uniquely, by God's doing, have a plan of salvation. We begin fallen, all of us, and then can choose to put our trust in the Lord's salvation.

These angels had one singular window of opportunity for all of them, who are all created at one time, to decide for or against the Lord. So something comparable, but also very different. One third of the angels, that's from Revelation 12, 1-6, a third of the angels chose to side with Satan and were driven away. You know, it's a kind of a spiritual insanity. If you can imagine, here are the angels, and they're told, you can decide for or against the Lord now. Whatever you do, it's locked in. I'm not going to do anything to try to save any of you who decide now. And to think that this is going to turn out well, that's just insane. That's just nuts.

But that's what a third of the angels chose. Satan and his angels fell from heaven, as Jesus put it. Their domain was limited to earth. They're stuck here for a time. Satan now retains an access to heaven. to ask God for permission to act, as he did with Job, we referenced Job chapters 1 and 2, that time will come to an end. There will be a time when Satan will be bound, and it won't be anything that we do. One angel, we don't even know the angel's name, one angel will bind Satan for a thousand years. So that time will come to an end when he has access. Satan's fall from heaven is declared with each departing demon.

There are two errors of extremes regarding Satan that we as believers ought to avoid. One is ignorance about Satan. To be ignorant of Satan is a problem. The other problem is attributing too much to Satan. And frankly, a great many Christians these days do exactly that. They go and blame, oh, Satan did this, Satan did that. If anything bad happens, it must be Satan that did it, right? So they go around thinking that they're going to bind Satan. Good luck with that. I don't know who keeps letting Satan loose.

But attributing too much to Satan is a problem, too. So either one of those errors is a difficulty. There are Christians who attribute too much to Satan and as a consequence they end up blaming Satan for everything and actually putting too much focus on Satan. Satan is opposed to God but he is not equal to him.

Is Satan all-knowing, omniscient as we would say? No, he is not. Is Satan omnipresent? No, he is not. Is Satan all-powerful? No, he is not. So Satan is opposed to God, but he is in no wise equal. Satan is a created being. Satan has already, by the way, lost the battle. He's already lost.

So do I need to worry about him and get all focused? No. I don't need to do that. God is not pacing the floor of heaven saying, Oh no! What am I going to do about Satan? God's not worried about it. Each departing demon in this instance was evidence of Satan's having lost already. That's what Jesus is talking about. Satan coming down like lightning from heaven.

We are to behold the Lord, not Satan. We're to behold the Lord, not Satan. Christians who get all wound up trying to bind Satan and blame everything on Satan are giving Satan too much credit. Our focus is to be on the Lord. if we encounter Satan to resist him. That's the message in the New Testament. But really, Satan doesn't know your address. Satan doesn't know much about you. Here's Luke 10, 19. Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will injure you.

Now this is very interesting. He gives these particular 70 A pass on physical danger. A pass on physical danger. You've been granted immunity, right? Like in all the video games and whatnot. This is no game, of course. Jesus has granted them immunity from physical harm. This, by the way, is going to happen again during the tribulation period when we're out of here. To 144,000 single Jewish males. They will be granted immunity.

Notice too that Satan and his allies cannot touch or harm them either. This is a key thing for us to learn about. Satan only has the power as God allows him. God could keep you entirely from physical harm too, but he has purpose in it. If it's God's job to keep everybody safe, he's doing a terrible job. If that's God's job, He's doing a terrible job at it. If God has things happening in our lives, it's for a purpose. It's for a purpose.

Over 20 years ago, I was coming down with Lyme disease, and I can recall a time I was just laying on the couch. physically and mentally and emotionally just hardly able to handle things. And I didn't even have a diagnosis yet. But I thank the Lord because I knew he was doing something, something big in my life.

And that's key for us to look at. It's not God's job to keep everything bad from happening to us. He is capable of doing so with certain ones. So if He allows something to happen in our lives, it's for a purpose. And that's a key thing for us to observe from here. God can keep us from various things, but if He allows something in our lives, He has a purpose in it, an eternal purpose. He works all things together for good, for those who love the Lord, who are called according to His purpose, and that we are predestined to be conformed to His image.

That's the good. Is everything that happens to us good? Absolutely not. Some things are really awful. But God has His purpose in everything, and we can count on that. He's working all things together for the good, that we're conformed to the image of His Son. Here's Luke 10 20.

Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this that the spirits are subject to you. That's what you came up rejoicing. Right. But rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven. Jesus told them they were rather to rejoice that their names were recorded in heaven rather than rejoicing that the demons responded in his name. Huge principle. This is big. Our position is more important than what we can do.

As a matter of fact, I'll put it this way. God doesn't ask us to do anything for which He's not already provided for in our position. This is why the Apostle Paul can write Romans and go five and a half chapters before there's anything to do. This is why Paul can write Ephesians and go four and a half chapters out of six before there's anything to do. He's provided in our position for everything that He asks us to do. Position is far more important than what we can do.

To have one's name recorded in heaven refers to the book of life. In ancient times, citizenship was in a city. For example, Paul had a Roman citizenship. Citizenship in Rome. uh... and the list of living citizens was called the book of life Here you have on the top of page two a table, which initially, it's funny, I'll make a table like this and some people say, oh great, and other people say, huh, right? And it's just, it's funny how it communicates differently to folks. So let me try to summarize.

You have all the way starting in the book of Exodus, the book of life begins to come up. There in Exodus and Deuteronomy and on into Psalms, It's referring to physical life, those who are physically living. As it goes to the last part of the Old Testament, it begins talking about kingdom life with the implication of eternal life. Those who are not physically living anymore were looked at being blotted out. But being blotted out of the Book of Life disappears after the book of Psalms in Isaiah and in Daniel and on into the New Testament there is no blotting out of the book of life so the earliest Old Testament passages the book of life was just a list of the living citizens of the nation of Israel they didn't have a city yet they didn't have a city yet Jerusalem would eventually become that city in which they would have citizenship As the people of Israel died physically, their names were blotted out of the Book of Life. It was the list of living citizens. Later in Old Testament times, starting with Isaiah and into Daniel, the Book of Life also meant recorded for life in the kingdom, looking forward to the coming kingdom. Kingdom life also implied eternal life.

Now, once we get to this verse in the Gospel of Luke, the Book of Life is the list of the ones who have eternal life. We in the body of Christ have a heavenly seating and heavenly citizenship, so our being in the Book of Life has greater significance, even, than those at other times. Because we have a heavenly citizenship. We have a heavenly seating. We're blessed in the heavenly places in Christ, etc. Nobody ever from here forward in matter of fact starting in Isaiah and into Daniel has their name erased or blotted out of the book of life.

This is key. This is key. A great many of the cults A great many of the cults will teach loss of salvation. We've been going through some of the cults in our elective here in this room. They'll teach loss of salvation and they'll talk about people's names being blotted out of the book of life.

That's not anywhere in the New Testament. No erasures. Jesus himself even promises, that's Revelation 3, 5, That to erase a believer's name from the book of life is not even remotely possible. It's a promise. Not even remotely possible that I'll blot your name from the book of life. Not happening. If your name is in the book of life because you believed, it's not going to get erased. And he promises it's not even remotely possible that it will get erased. Your name is there to stay.

While no name is ever blotted out, the list of those who are saved by faith, it is recorded in Revelation 13.8 during the tribulation period, 17.8, and then on into chapter 20, which is the white throne judgment, that some names will not be written. And frankly, a great many names will not be written. So there are names that are not written, but no name is ever blotted out. never the book of life will be brought to the great white throne judgment to show those who are being judged they do not have their names written in the book of life which is why they're all there here's Luke 10 Verse 21, at that very time, he rejoiced greatly in the Holy Spirit and said, I praise you, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, for this way was well pleasing in your sight. So here's Jesus.

He's praying to the Father here about these 70 who have returned. One of the things we see here, this verse has all three persons of the Trinity in one verse. God the Son is speaking to God the Father as He rejoices in the Holy Spirit. All three persons of the Trinity there. The Trinity, and some have called it a triunity. That's not, by the way, a term that you'll find in the Bible, but the Bible clearly teaches it.

It's three personal beings with one essence. Us human beings are accustomed to one personal being, one essence, right? So the Trinity kind of tends to blow our circuits. But this is something the Bible clearly teaches. God the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are all three personal beings with one essence and therefore one God. So three personal beings, one essence. The Bible clearly teaches that from beginning to end. And this passage here gives all three persons of the Trinity in that one verse. Here we have a diagram that's on page 3 of your handout. It shows the Father is not the Son, the Father is not the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is not the Son, so they're separate persons. But all three of them are God. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all deity.

So that's clearly demonstrated. These are not, by the way, the only verses that demonstrate that, but they're good examples. The Bible teaches that God is those three personal beings, one essence, not different modes of expression of God. There are some who teach that, that these are different modes of expression of God. They're actually three separate identifiable persons that have a separate identity, but one essence.

Alright, one of the things that this verse makes clear, earthly intellect does not guarantee spiritual understanding. So if you get the very highest of mental and intellectual capacities, no matter how stunning or how brilliant, It cannot attain to the understanding of spiritual things. You will have people who are brilliant in a worldly sense and come up with all sorts of scientific investigations and conclusions. They still do not arrive at the proper spiritual understanding.

An understanding of spiritual things must come from God revealing the truth to someone who will believe in Him. To someone who will believe in Him. God is the one who reveals truth. The reason we have the Bible is because we could not know the things that are in it otherwise. We would not otherwise arrive at those conclusions. There is no other way to have spiritual understanding.

Scripture tells about five ways that God reveals. So you have these five ways. One is nature, and another one is providence, God's guidance and actually limitation on man, conscience, and then a special revelation that is scripture and Jesus Christ himself. These are the five revelations the scripture talks about, and these are the scripture passages. that you see for backing up those five areas of revelation.

Now, one thing also is God's revelation is now complete. While reading the Bible about God revealing truth to believers through dreams, for example, Joseph was one who had things revealed through dreams, angel appearances as took place with Mary, visions, etc. God's revelation to us was completed with the book of Revelation.

So we don't need to regard the kinds of revelations that are offered today nor to modern-era apostles. One of the things that Nancy and I have been noting, we will sit down and try to do biblical counseling with someone who's of a charismatic background, and frequently there's just a complete bypass of what we're trying to counsel with. So it's a problem to have a mindset that goes around what scripture reveals. Rather called to behold the Lord through his written word and to stick to his word as the means of what we understand spiritually.

Here's Luke 10.22, all things have been handed over to me by my father and no one knows who the son is except the father and who the father is except the son and anyone to whom the son wills to reveal him.

Actually, he's continuing here. It might seem otherwise. He's continuing with this prayer. In the context at this time, the all things includes the divine revelation and the divine power. He has not yet gone to the cross, been buried and resurrected, ascended and seated. So at this point in time, it's the revelation and power.

The Father and the Son each have mutual knowledge of one another. being within the Trinity. In this context, Jesus, the Son of God, is living on the earth, and the Son is the one who reveals the Father by the Son's own will, and that's exactly what Jesus says here. He wills what he will reveal of the Father.

Here's Luke 10, 23 and 24, turning to the disciples, he said privately, Blessed are the eyes which see the things you see for I say to you that many prophets and kings wish to see the things which you see and did not see them and to hear the things which you hear and did not hear them. So blessed are these 70 disciples who had gotten to see firsthand the things that have been revealed in centuries past in the Old Testament. They got to go out and deliver the gospel of the kingdom with the king having commissioned them. Things that were not well understood even to those who received them in the past.

Here's an example from Daniel 12, 5-13. Daniel 12 is the end of the book of Daniel. The first six chapters are historical accounts and the last six chapters are prophetic. And so here, towards the end of the book of Daniel, he says, Then I, Daniel, looked, and behold, two others were standing, one on this bank of the river, and the other on that bank of the river. And one said to the man dressed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, How long will it be until the end of these wonders? I heard the man dressed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, he raised his right hand his left hand toward heaven and swore by him who lives forever that it would be for a time times and half a time and as soon as the they finished shattering the power of the holy people all these events will be completed and verse 8 as for me I heard but could not understand so I said my lord what will be the outcome of these events he said go your way Daniel and Isn't that something? Go your way, Daniel, for these words are concealed and sealed up until the end time. Verse 10, many will be purged, purified, and refined, but the wicked will act wickedly, and none of the wicked will understand, but those who have insight will understand. From the time that the regular sacrifice is abolished and the abomination of desolation is set up, there will be 1290 days How blessed is he who keeps waiting and attains to the 1,335 days.

You got that straight yet? Verse 13, But as for you, go your way to the end. Then you will enter into rest and rise again for your allotted portion at the end of the age. Daniel is told he's not going to understand what he has written. Here it's been revealed, but you're not going to get it, Daniel. It's time for you to go your way. You will enter into rest and rise again. The resurrection is given in Daniel 12, 1 and 2 for Old Testament saints.

He's not going to understand this. Now, I can help you understand it just a little bit. We're not going to go into this in great detail, but this is the 70th week. This is the period of tribulation. And so the half a week, the three and a half years, the 42 months and 1260 days given in Daniel 9, 27a and Revelation 11, 3. The second half of that, second half of the tribulation period, half a week, three and a half years, 42 months, 1260 days is given in Daniel 9 and 7 and 12. And in Revelation chapters 11, 12 and 13. This period of time goes into the time right after the tribulation period, when there is a 30-day period of judgment. Those judgments are given out in Matthew chapter 25, and then 45 days for setting up the Millennial Kingdom. So these are the periods of time that he's given there. Daniel is wondering, what is this all about? What is this all about? He doesn't understand it.

Blessed are these 70 disciples who had gotten to see firsthand the things that had been revealed in centuries past, but were not that well understood even to those who received them. We too have been blessed with more revelation on things than Daniel had access to, and even more than these 70 blessed disciples.

We who have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. The Lord does intend to have us be blessed and to continue to be blessed by having understanding and insight. As we study God's Word, we find that we're catching up with all the things that God has already accomplished. That's the blessings that we continue to receive is an understanding of and growing in all the things that God has already done in our lives. Let's pray.

Lord, we do thank you for what you've revealed here. We thank you that with these 70, there are things that they understood, even more so than people in times past. And we, too, have been blessed in a great many ways and are given to understand even more than these 70. And we thank you for that. We just entrust this day to you. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.