A sermon preached at Covenant Presbyterian Church of Fort Smith, Arkansas on August 10, 2025.
The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” And he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. 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. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” 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. 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.” Then turning to the disciples he said privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! 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 10:17–24).[1]
The apostle Paul tells us that Christ gave to his church not only the apostles and the prophets but also “the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ” (Eph. 4:11-12). As a shepherd and teacher, I have the greatest vocation in the world, I think. My job is to preach the Word, administer the sacraments, and pray for you, which I do in service to the Lord. But I do not serve alone. There are others called and serving in ordained ministry, such as our deacons and elders. But serving Christ is broader and bigger than ordained ministry alone, incorporating every one of us in Christ’s church, including you.
As Christ is the head, we collectively are the body and are “joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped.” When we are all serving as “equipped,” then “each part is working properly” and the body grows, building “itself up in love” (Eph. 4:15-16). And this is not only beautiful to witness but also joy-producing, as we use our gifts individually in service to one another and in the ministry of the church. Through us, we see God at work, and we rejoice, just as the seventy-two missionaries did upon their return to Jesus.[2]
The Joy of Serving under Christ’s Authority
When Jesus sent out the seventy-two, they went “as lambs in the midst of wolves” (Luke 10:3). He prepared them not only for reception but rejection, but when they returned, they said nothing of their hardships but joyfully recounted, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” (Luke 10:17). As called and commissioned, they healed the sick and proclaimed the kingdom, but it was the demon’s subjection at Jesus’ name that amazed them. Christ’s authority over even the spiritual realm was witnessed through their work, and while they were surprised, Jesus was not, explaining, “All things have been handed over to me by my Father . . .” (Luke 10:22). “All things,” not some, not most, but everything. As R.C. Sproul would often say, “There are no maverick molecules.” Christ’s authority is over all things, great and small, including the devil, as the seventy-two witnessed Satan’s minions fleeing at the name of Jesus.
In response to what the seventy-two had experienced, Jesus said, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven” (Luke 10:18), which may be referring to Lucifer’s punishment for his arrogant rebellion and his banishment from glory. But, “I saw Satan fall” may also be translated, “I was watching Satan fall,” and prophetic language in the past tense may also refer to the future. Jesus may have been referring to what he witnessed through the ministry of the seventy-two and through his victorious incarnate ministry as a whole.
“The reason the Son of God appeared,” the apostle John tells us, “was to destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8). Though not often apparent to the children of Israel, it was to the demons, who acknowledged Jesus’ divine authority and power, recognizing that he had complete power over them.[3] They knew what Jesus saw: The one who was once a heavenly angel of light falling like lightening from heaven, through the advancing victory of Christ and his church, reaching its climax at Calvary.
Through the victorious death of Christ, the strong man has been bound,[4] no longer blinding the nations to the gospel as he once did. Yes, the seventy-two went to the house of Israel, but after Jesus’ victorious resurrection, the gospel now advances to every tribe, tongue, and nation. It advances as a declaration of Christ’s victory of the devil, as Hebrews explains, “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, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery” (Heb. 2:14-15). Through the cross, Christ crucified death, delivering us from the devil’s dominion.
For this reason, we may refer to the Christian life as victorious. “For all things are yours,” Paul tells us, “whether . . . life or death or the present or the future—all are yours” (1 Cor. 3:21-22). In the victorious Christian life, life is ours but also death. I love Douglas Kelly’s take on this, when he says, “by the cross and empty tomb, death has been transmuted from a frightful enemy awaiting us on the others side of our deathbed, to a subdued ‘door-keeper’, who has to bow his head as we pass through into our Father’s house of light.”[5] Satan’s fall was then the beginning of our victory, to be fully and finally consummated at Christ’s second coming, when Satan’s demise shall be complete.
Until his second coming, Christ has given his church authority over the devil and his demons. As Jesus said, “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” (Luke 10:19). Ever the master of figurative language, Jesus wasn’t encouraging his disciples then or now to pass the barrel of venomous snakes or stinging scorpions but was harking back to that ancient serpent in the garden, Satan himself, and his stinging demonic followers. And over both, Jesus’ authority extends. Through faith in Christ, God gives us the power to resist the devil and his temptations, knowing that we cannot be snatched out of our Savior’s hand.[6]
Though Satan is a liar and the father of lies[7] and constantly lies to us about his authority, according to the sovereign authority of Christ, “neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:38-39).
Our loving Lord has authority over all, so let us rejoice!
The Joy of Witnessing the Spirit’s Work
The seventy-two returned with joy because they had witnessed the Spirit of Christ supernaturally at work. This was genuine joy, of seeing God supernaturally at work through them. But such joy is not circumstantial but is a deep-seated, God-given fruit of the Spirit,[8] rooted in the victory of Christ and a secure relationship with Him. It’s not mock happiness but a cheerful disposition that remains even in the midst of trials and tribulations, grounded in the cosmic reality of Christ’s triumph over sin and death.
Of course, we do not actually see the Holy Spirit. As Jesus explained to Nicodemus, “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit” (John 3:8). But we do witness evidence of the Holy Spirit’s work. To be born again is to be brought from spiritual death to life, and this is the Spirit’s work. Saving faith is to receive God’s gift of faith and savingly believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, an impossibility but for the supernatural work of the Spirit. And as the seventy-two witnessed, to witness the authority of Christ over evil is to witness first-hand the work of the Holy Spirit.
Our Lord too rejoiced, attributing what they experienced to the work of the Holy Spirit: “he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit” (Luke 10:21a). For, he was, Hebrews tells us, anointed “with the oil of gladness” (Heb. 1:9) and bestows the fullness of his joy upon all who would ask in his name.[9] Even the suffering of the cross, he endured “for the joy that was set before him” (Heb. 12:2) and that joy included our redemption. So, we may be sure that his joy is evidenced in our joy, as fruit of his indwelling Spirit.
The Joy of Eternal Salvation
God does indeed grant us joy as we witness the Holy Spirit at work, and as we serve him faithfully, but there can also be times of discouragement. It is not uncommon for missionaries to return home discouraged, for pastors to leave the ministry disillusioned, for you and I to become downcast amidst difficulties. Such discouragement can come from looking for joy in what we are doing for Christ rather than what Christ has done for us. When discouraged, disillusioned, downcast, or the like, we must remember what Jesus told the seventy-two: “do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven” (Luke 10:20).
As we are God’s workmanship, “created in Christ Jesus for good works,” what we do for him is done according to his sovereign ordination, through his atoning mercy, by the power of his Spirit, for his glory alone. We must then respond to discouragement in life by remembering the sovereign grace of God, the richness of his mercy, the greatness of his love, the immeasurable riches of his grace, and the gift of faith in Christ he gives.[10] We do not write our names in the book of life[11] but God did, “before the foundation of the world,” predestining us for adoption “to the praise of his glorious grace” (Eph. 1:4-6). Christian, when you are discouraged, meditate upon the truth and so rejoice that your names is written in heaven.
For, this too is under the authority of Christ. “All things have been handed over to me by my Father,” Jesus said, “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” (Luke 10:22). Ralph Davis says, “Normally, we may not mind Jesus having authority, but there’s a rebel streak in the human spirit that chafes at His having that much. . . . My knowing the Father ultimately rests on His decision. That may rankle some, but ‘infants’ (v. 21) just bow and worship.”[12] Though hidden from the worldly wise, God has revealed his sovereign grace to us in his Word, not for unprofitable speculation but that we may worship God the Father through God the Son by God the Spirit. For, we were made, redeemed, and exist to worship him.
We worship God the Father who ordained our salvation, God the Son who accomplished our salvation, God the Spirit who applies our salvation, the one God whose joy is in himself, “the eternal joy that God himself enjoys in the being of God.”[13] Because our salvation is solely in what God has done, then the joy of our salvation is rooted in who God is. As the Athanasian Creed confesses,
. . . we worship one God in Trinity and the Trinity in unity, neither confounding the persons nor dividing the essence. For the person of the Father is a distinct person, the person of the Son is another, and that of the Holy Spirit still another. But the divinity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is one, the glory equal, the majesty coeternal.[14]
And according to who he is, God the Father has chosen to reveal himself through God the Son by God the Spirit, according to his gracious will that God may be glorified in all.
Let us hold such profound truth with grateful hearts, for the saints of old, among them prophets and kings, longed to know what has been revealed to you and me in Christ. Their faith was in God’s promise to be fulfilled in Christ, but the fullness of time had not yet come. “But when the fullness of time had come,” the apostle Paul tells us,
God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a [child], and if a [child], then an heir through God (Gal. 4:4-7).
You now know this, and in this revelation is your joy! Do you see it? Do you know it? Then, rejoice and share it. For, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see!” (Luke 10:23).
[1] Unless referenced otherwise, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (Wheaton: Crossway Bibles, 2001).
[2] Luke 10:1-12
[3] For example, Mark 1:24; 5:7,9.
[4] Luke 11:21-22
[5] Douglas F. Kelly, Systematic Theology, Vol. 2, (Fearn: Christian Focus Publications Ltd., 2014), 401.
[6] John 10:28
[7] John 8:44
[8] Gal. 5:22
[9] John 16:24
[10] Eph. 2:4-9
[11] Phil. 4:3; Rev. 13:8
[12] Dale Ralph Davis, Luke: The Year of the Lord’s Favor (Fearn: Christian Focus Publications, 2021), 180.
[13] Philip Graham Ryken, Luke, Vol. 1 (Phillipsburg: P&R Publishing, 2009), 531.
[14] Chad Van Dixhoorn, Ed., Creeds, Confessions, and Catechisms (Wheaton: Crossway, 2022), 21.
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