Luke 10:20

The sending of the seventy is told at the start of Luke 10. Jesus sent them “two by two before his face into every city and place, whither he himself would come” (Luke 10:1), to heal the sick, to announce that the kingdom of God had come near, and to speak peace or judgment over the households they entered (Luke 10:1–12). He also warned them that some would reject them. Verse 17 is their first report on coming back. The mission itself shows that Jesus’ work reached past the twelve to a wider band of followers, a foretaste of the gospel going out to all.

The number, hebdomḗkonta, is seventy, and some manuscripts read seventy-two. Seventy has a history in Scripture. The table of nations in Genesis 10 lists the peoples of the world, and Moses went up the mountain with seventy of the elders of Israel (Exodus 24:1). Luke leaves the number unexplained, so a link to the nations is at most a quiet hint, though it fits a Gospel in which the good news is meant for every people.

They came back “with joy” (chará), and joy runs all through Luke. The angel told Zacharias that many would rejoice at John’s birth (Luke 1:14), and the shepherds heard “good tidings of great joy” at the birth of Jesus (Luke 2:10). Here it is the gladness of ordinary people who have watched God’s power work through them.

They speak to Jesus as “Lord” (kýrios), the one who sent them and the one they still obey. What astonished them is in the words “even the devils”. Their orders had named healing and preaching, and the demons yielding to them went past what they had expected. The word for devils is daimónion, a demon or evil spirit. It is a different word from diabolos, “the Devil”, and lexicons trace it to the neuter of an adjective meaning “divine”. In the Gospels it names the spirits that afflict people and oppose God’s will. “Subject” is hypotássō, to be placed under someone and obey him, so the demons did as they were told.

Jesus answers their report with words about heaven: “I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.” He sets their victories in town after town inside a far greater event, the overthrow of the one who stands behind the demons.

“Beheld” is theōréō, to look at, gaze on or behold, to watch with continued attention. Luke uses the imperfect tense, “I was beholding”, which suits watching over a span of time. The Greek name Satanâs comes from the Aramaic form, and it names the accuser, the devil, the chief adversary of God and of man. Jesus names him plainly. “Fall” is píptō, the ordinary verb for falling, literally or figuratively. The picture of lightning gives the verb its force. A flash of lightning comes down from the sky in an instant, and everyone sees it. “From heaven” (ek tou ouranou), the dwelling of God, marks how high Satan stood and how far he fell, cast down from his place of power and access.

“Behold” (idoú) calls attention to what follows: “I give unto you power”. The first “power” in the verse is exousía, the right to act that a higher authority grants, and the word also covers plain power and ability. The enemy’s “power” at the end of the verse is a different word, dýnamis, strength or might. So Jesus gives his disciples his own authority, and it reaches over all the strength the enemy has. Their power is his gift, and it goes as far as he says.

“To tread on” is patéō, to trample underfoot, which is what a victor does to a beaten foe. Serpents (óphis) and scorpions (skorpíos) were real dangers in that land, and the word for serpent names the animal itself in most of its uses. Set beside “all the power of the enemy”, they stand here for every harmful thing the enemy sends. The picture reaches back to the first promise in Genesis 3, that the woman’s seed would bruise the serpent’s head (Genesis 3:15). The psalm of God’s protection says, “Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet” (Psalm 91:13). Revelation names the old serpent outright as “the Devil, and Satan” (Revelation 12:9), and Paul promises that “the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly” (Romans 16:20). Mark records the signs that would follow believers, among them that “they shall take up serpents” (Mark 16:17–18).

“All” (pâs) covers the whole of the enemy’s might. The enemy, echthrós, is one who is hateful or hostile, a foe, and here it means Satan and every force that sets itself against God and his kingdom. Paul says, “we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world” (Ephesians 6:12), and he calls believers to “be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might” (Ephesians 6:10–12). The risen Jesus grounds the whole mission of his church in his own authority (Matthew 28:18–20).

Jesus has confirmed their victory and widened their authority, and now he turns their joy. “Notwithstanding” translates plḗn, a strong “but” that changes the subject: “in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you”. The spirits, pneûma, are the demonic spirits they had cast out. The word means breath or wind, and by extension a spirit of any kind, human, angelic, demonic or divine. Then comes “but rather rejoice” (mâllon, “rather”), and the reason: “because your names are written in heaven.”

“Rejoice” is chaírō, the everyday word for being glad, and Jesus is showing them what is most worth being glad about. Their authority was real and it was God’s gift, and joy that rests on what we do for God can turn into pride. Their place in heaven rests on what God has done for them, and it is a gift of grace. That joy holds when ministry goes well and when it goes badly, because it rests on him.

“Written” is gráphō, the ordinary verb for writing. What makes these names precious is where they are written and who keeps the book. People of that day kept rolls of citizens and members of a community, and to be on the roll meant belonging. Scripture speaks of God’s own book from the time of Moses (Exodus 32:32–33), and the psalmist calls it “the book of the living” (Psalm 69:28). Paul speaks of fellow workers “whose names are in the book of life” (Philippians 4:3). At the judgment “the books were opened” (Revelation 20:12), and the holy city is for “they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life” (Revelation 21:27). A name written in heaven means that God knows his own one by one and has given them a home in his kingdom and a share in his inheritance.

Those names are written through Christ, “the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29), who by his blood redeemed people to God “out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation” (Revelation 5:9). He intercedes for us as our great High Priest (Hebrews 4:14–16), and he is “the author and finisher of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2).

“In that hour”, while the seventy are still telling their news, Jesus himself rejoices. Luke uses a strong word here, agalliáō, to exult or be overjoyed. He “rejoiced in spirit”, and some translations read “in the Holy Spirit”, so this is joy that rises from his communion with the Father and the Spirit as he watches the Father’s plan unfold through these humble disciples.

His prayer opens with two titles. “Father” speaks of closeness, and “Lord of heaven and earth” confesses God’s rule over all creation. Jesus thanks him for a choice: “thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.” “These things” are the truths of the kingdom, the way of salvation, and the power the disciples had just seen at work. The wise (sophós) and prudent (synetós) are people esteemed for learning and understanding. In Jesus’ day that meant above all the scribes, the Pharisees and the educated, whose wisdom was bound up with study of the Law. Babes (nḗpios) are infants, from a word that literally means “not speaking”, and here the word stands for the unlearned and the common people, the am ha’aretz, people without schooling or standing. Jesus thanks the Father for the hiding as well as the revealing, because both are the Father’s own doing.

The prayer follows right after Jesus pronounced woes on Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum, cities that saw mighty works and stayed unrepentant (Luke 10:13–16). Some reject the truth with miracles in front of them, and the humble receive it. Paul saw the same in the church at Corinth: “not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise” (1 Corinthians 1:26–29). Jesus says that we must “be converted, and become as little children” to enter the kingdom (Matthew 18:3–4), and Matthew records this same prayer (Matthew 11:25).

“Even so, Father; for so it seemed good in thy sight.” Jesus agrees with the Father’s will entirely. “Seemed good” renders eudokía, good pleasure, the Father’s kind and willing purpose. His choice of whom to show these things comes from his wise and gracious design, for he works “according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself” (Ephesians 1:9–11).

“All things are delivered to me of my Father.” Paradídōmi means to hand over or entrust, and “all things” (pâs) takes in authority, judgment and the whole work of salvation. The Father has entrusted all of it to the Son. A son in that day was his father’s heir and spoke for his estate, and Jesus’ words go far past that picture. His authority is received from the Father and it covers everything. It is why he could say that “the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins” (Mark 2:10), and it is the authority he declares after his resurrection (Matthew 28:18).

Then come two halves that mirror each other: “no man knoweth who the Son is, but the Father; and who the Father is, but the Son”. Ginṓskō is the common verb for knowing, which often means simply having information, and here the context gives it its full depth. The Father and the Son know each other perfectly, as only they can. Who the Son is lies beyond human discovery, and the Son knows the Father as fully as the Father knows him. This shows the Son’s place within the Godhead, equal with the Father and distinct from him, and it is what makes him the one who can show us the Father.

The last clause opens the door: “and he to whom the Son will reveal him.” Apokalýptō means to take off the cover, to reveal or disclose, to make fully known. Knowing the Father comes as the Son’s gift, at his will, and the revealing Jesus thanked the Father for in verse 21 is carried out by the Son himself. Matthew records the same words (Matthew 11:27). John says, “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him” (John 1:18), and Hebrews says God “hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son” (Hebrews 1:1–3). The Word became flesh, “and we beheld his glory... full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). The Spirit, who searches “the deep things of God” (1 Corinthians 2:10–11), takes what is Christ’s and shows it to his people (John 16:13–15).

After praying aloud, “he turned him unto his disciples, and said privately”. The turning is deliberate, and “privately” (ídios katá) means apart, by themselves. What follows is for those who had followed him closely. “Blessed” is makários, blessed or happy, the word of the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:3–11), declaring them favored by God. “The eyes which see” use blépō, to see, and the eyes stand for the whole person’s grasp of what is in front of them. Many saw Jesus and did not believe (John 9:39–41), and to the disciples it was given to know the mystery of the kingdom, while others heard parables (Mark 4:11–12, Luke 8:9–10).

What they saw was the kingdom of God come near (Luke 10:9): healings and demons cast out, Jesus preaching the kingdom as he was sent to do (Luke 4:43), their own power in his name (Luke 10:17), and above all Jesus himself. Andrew had told his brother, “We have found the Messias” (John 1:41).

Verse 24 gives the reason, opened by “For” (gár): “many prophets and kings have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them”. The people of that day lived under Roman rule with a strong hope of the Messiah, and that hope had deep roots. Moses foretold a Prophet like himself (Deuteronomy 18:15). Isaiah foretold a child who would reign on David’s throne (Isaiah 9:6–7) and the suffering servant (Isaiah 53). Jeremiah foretold a new covenant (Jeremiah 31:31–34), and Daniel saw one like the Son of man (Daniel 7). Among the kings, David received the promise of a throne for ever (2 Samuel 7) and sang of the Lord at God’s right hand (Psalm 110), and Solomon was given great wisdom (1 Kings 3). All of them saw the promises from far off. “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off” (Hebrews 11:13), and the prophets “enquired and searched diligently” into the salvation that was coming (1 Peter 1:10–12). Jesus is the Prophet greater than Moses and the King greater than David.

“Desired” is thélō, to will, wish or desire. “See” is eídō, to see, literally or figuratively, and “hear” is akoúō, to hear, a word that also takes in understanding and heeding. The disciples saw the promises kept in a person and heard them in a living voice. Matthew records the same blessing (Matthew 13:16–17). God, who spoke in times past by the prophets, has now spoken by his Son (Hebrews 1:1–2), and “all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen” (2 Corinthians 1:20). Peter said it for all of them: “thou hast the words of eternal life” (John 6:68). Right after these words comes the lawyer’s question that leads to the parable of the good Samaritan.

The seventy were right to be glad, and Jesus was glad with them. When God works through you, in a word spoken for Christ, a prayer answered or a burden lifted, thank him for it. Then let your joy settle where Jesus put theirs. Your name is written in heaven because of the Lamb who was slain, and that holds on the day your service bears fruit and on the day it fails. The God who wrote it there keeps it.

The enemy is real, and he has already fallen. You can face temptation and opposition knowing that the authority belongs to Jesus, whose name is above every name. And the knowledge of God is open to babes. A child, an unlearned believer and a scholar all come to know the Father the same way, as the Son reveals him, and the humble heart is the one that receives. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).