"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 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."
Jesus sent out seventy of His followers to do His works and to spread His word. When they returned from the journey, it seems that they were pretty impressed with themselves. They marveled that, "even the devils are subject unto us through thy name." Jesus agreed that He had seen Satan's work crushed for that time, and agreed that He had given them unusual protection, but He reminded them of what is of utmost importance in His work: to never forget where we came from. Jesus said that our source of rejoicing, like the seventy He sent out, is not that He has empowered us for service, but that He has saved us in the first place. We must never forget that salvation is a gift of the grace and love of God. We must never forget that we are sinners saved by grace. If we are not careful, we can become real proud of our service in the kingdom, and start to think that we are something because God is using us. If the "spirits" are subject unto us, it is because we are saved by, and serve One who is greater than the "spirits." If we take the credit for ourselves, the devil will win after all. I can approach this subject from personal experience. It is a great temptation after God has used us in a mighty way to think that "we really shined today." There is that flesh part of us that wants to think that we surely had a little to do with the great things that God brought about. God did use the gifts and talents that He gave us, but the credit for success, is His. When we rejoice in a job well done, we are to be thankful above all that our "names are written in heaven." In that way, we will never cease to be amazed that Jesus can use us in a mighty way to serve Him and to serve others. Jesus did not denigrate what the seventy did; He actually told them that it was a job well done. He just wanted them to remember, as He wants us to remember, that it is a great thing that God has "written our names in heaven." It is also great that we can be saved and be empowered to serve Him. Let's rejoice today that we belong to God in a saving relationship with Jesus, and that He will use us to do His work. Bro. Joe
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AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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