Luke 10:17 ¶ And the
seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto
us through thy name. 18 And he said unto
them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. 19 Behold, I give unto you power to tread on
serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall
by any means hurt you.
20 Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are
subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.
21 In that hour Jesus rejoiced in
spirit, and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou
hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto
babes: even so, Father; for so it seemed good in thy sight. 22 All things are delivered to me of my Father:
and no man knoweth who the Son is, but the Father; and who the Father is, but
the Son, and he to whom the Son
will reveal him. 23 And he turned him unto his disciples, and said privately,
Blessed are the eyes which see
the things that ye see: 24 For I tell
you, that many prophets and kings have desired to see those things which ye
see, and have not seen them;
and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.
The seventy’s return
with them proclaiming that even devils, through Christ’s name, had to respond
to their commands is impressive and in keeping with the specificity of these
events to the time involved and the place involved. The triumph of Christ in
open display victorious over Satan involved his fall. Now, let’s not take this
phrase for more than it is, a statement of Satan’s ultimate defeat because he
still runs rule in his domain until his time.
Ephesians 2:2 Wherein in
time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air,
the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
Ephesians 6:12 For we
wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against
powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual
wickedness in high places.
Jesus tells them to not
rejoice in their presumed power over devils but to rejoice that their future is
in heaven.
Hebrews 12:23 To the
general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and
to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,
Jesus confirms here
that the only way to know the Father is through Him. In John’s gospel it is
written.
John 10:30 I and my Father are one.
John 14:6 Jesus saith unto
him, I am the way, the
truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me…9 Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long
time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me
hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then,
Shew us the Father?
Jesus states that kings and prophets have desired to know what
these simple people know. They had only their faith and expectation that it was
so. Here, almost two thousand years before Christ, Job, who appears to have
been a king, prince, or ruler of some kind (Job 29:25) said;
Job 19:25 For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: 26 And though
after my skin worms destroy
this body, yet in my flesh
shall I see God:
27 Whom I shall see for
myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me.
Solomon wrote;
Psalm 72:17 His name shall
endure for ever: his name shall be continued as long as the sun: and men shall be blessed in him: all
nations shall call him blessed.
The prophet Isaiah,
writing at around the time the city of Rome was said to be started, also wrote;
Isaiah 45:17 But Israel shall be saved in the LORD
with an everlasting salvation: ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded world
without end.
Isaiah 59:20 And the
Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in
Jacob, saith the LORD.
And strikingly, God
foretold the free gift of salvation that would be offered to man through
Himself coming as a descendant of Abraham.
Genesis 22:18 And in thy
seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my
voice.
There are many passages
in the Old Testament that foretell of the coming Saviour, the Messiah, the
Christ, some clear, some mixed in with other prophecies so that in some cases
Christ’s first and second coming are included in the same verse as we saw in
the Luke 4:18,19 reference made by Jesus to Isaiah 61:1,2 with his first and
second advents, thousands of years apart, separated only by a comma in our
Bible.
Christ is being
announced among the common people not the rich and powerful. This is His
“base,” so to speak, the average Joe and Josephine, not the powerful
movers-and-shakers. For most of history the common man lived a life of
unremitting labor and poverty ending in sickness and painful death. Childbearing
was often a death sentence for women and men often could easily die young and
leave widows and children. We have spent a great deal of our effort and money
avoiding the suffering that was our ancestor’s lot in life in many respects.
Jesus announced Himself to the man-in-the-street in these little towns, the
people who had no insulation from the rigors of life and death. Israel is now
having the kingdom of God presented to them for their salvation, an opportunity
to receive their Messiah.
The gospel is in one
aspect the poor man’s Magna Carta, his
Declaration of Independence. Because
our God is the supreme king, lawgiver, and judge (Isaiah 33:22) of the universe
neither the oppression of the powers-that-be on earth nor even sickness and
death itself can bind us. The gospel of the kingdom of God is indeed good news,
not just for the Jews, but for all men and women.
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