Luke 10:19, commentary and pictures

Christ gave the seventy, and with them all His followers, authority over Satan and every hostile power pictured as serpents and scorpions, with assurance that nothing shall ultimately harm them as they carry out His mission. That authority is exercised through His name and His believed Word, by which evil spirits are subjected and driven from minds, because Satan is a conquered foe overcome by Christ's mightier power and victory on the cross. The omnipotent Holy Spirit is the defense of every contrite soul, so no one who penitently claims Christ's protection and lives in contact with Him will be abandoned to the enemy or left alone in battle. This does not mean believers cannot suffer or die outwardly, but their inner life remains safe in Him. The name of Jesus is no charm to be used without faith, as the defeat at Ephesus shows, and this power is no call to seek controversy with devils, for the chief joy is not that spirits submit but that names are written in heaven.

Mission of the Seventy

Christ sent seventy men everywhere to preach the kingdom of God and the gospel of truth, with Himself to follow after them in every place where they were sent. That sending shows God's plan that leaders bring in new workers and place them in responsibility and educate them under direction in how to care for the work, rather than depending only on the same experienced workers. Those who receive light and power from heaven are made more capable of being trusted with responsibility and should be selected and trained for it. The sending was to reap because the fields were already white to harvest, and that same sent harvest work was carried forward when Peter took up preaching that added three thousand souls.

The chapter calls for a serious work before God's people requiring heart, mind, soul, and strength in His service. That work is not confined to believers but reaches unbelievers, placing truth before those living up to all the light they have, seeking precious souls in cities, and loving those for whom God gave His only begotten Son. It leads others through the open door Christ has set before His workers into fellowship with the saints as He redeems human beings from sin. The serpents and scorpions picture the opposition the disciples will face from people and satanic forces as they labor for God. Giving the disciples power to carry on in His name the same work for which He had been hated and slain by the Jews shows His wisdom and goodness, and in His name they had power over the works of Satan.

The promise to tread on serpents without harm is like God keeping the serpents in the wilderness bound so they could do Israel no harm while Christ in the pillar of cloud gave every word through Moses to the people. When Israel grew indifferent to His mercies in leading them out, murmured and complained, and insulted the Lord by departing from Him, He let the serpents loose upon them so that plague fell and they began dying. Then at their plea for Moses to pray, God commanded a serpent lifted on a pillar with promise that everyone who looked would be healed of the plague. The strangeness of healing by looking teaches belief of every word from the mouth of God without reasoning about it, for what God says is truth and must be done. All who looked were healed, while those who refused to look received no healing.

Power Over the Enemy

Christ gave the seventy authority over all the power of the enemy, pictured as treading on serpents and scorpions, with the assurance that nothing would harm them as they carried out His mission, and that same gift of power over Satan and his forces belongs to His disciples and followers. In the battle with the adversary they are not left alone, and nothing can finally harm them under His protection. The promise was first sealed by supernatural endowments given to the twelve apostles and the seventy disciples, and henceforth belongs to all Christ's followers.

That authority is exercised through Christ's name, as shown when the disciples reported that evil spirits submitted to them, enabling them to overcome demonic opposition. As the preached Word is believed, Satan and his angels are driven from people's minds and the devil loses his hold on them. Their authority to cast out evil spirits is evidence of the power accompanying the gospel commission, belonging to the conflict in which Satan is cast down and God's work advances even as Satan fiercely tries to hinder it, so the enemy cannot defeat their work.

Satan is to be regarded as a conquered foe whose power is overcome through Christ's victory, which believers are to accept as their own. That victory was secured by Christ's death on the cross, and Satan's ultimate destruction and the end of evil will bring lasting peace to heaven and earth. Though Satan is powerful, Christ is mightier, having cast him out of heaven.

The omnipotent power of the Holy Spirit is the defense of every contrite soul, so no soul who penitently and faithfully claims Christ's protection will be permitted to pass under the enemy's power. He will never abandon the soul for whom He died nor desert believers in battle with the adversary. The promise is fulfilled as Christ stays with the tempted soul, holds firmly by a hand that never lets go those who live in contact with Him, and sends angels to force back the hosts of evil surrounding souls bowed under oppression and standing on the brink of a precipice and to guide their feet to the sure foundation.

The assurance that nothing can destroy their life in Him does not mean believers cannot suffer or die outwardly; their inner life remains safe with Christ in God, and those who wound His believing children face severe judgment. The enemy's power may be permitted to trouble followers, but it can be rebuked through prayer. Success over evil and that spirits submit is not the chief reason for joy; the greater cause for joy is that their names are written in heaven.

Claiming the Promise Faithfully

The authority Christ gives over evil spirits cannot be taken up by using the name of Jesus as a mere charm apart from faith in Christ. At Ephesus men without faith attempted such an exorcism and ended in defeat. Their failure exposes the danger of profaning His name by treating it as a formula for power. Nor does possession of this authority make it safe to seek out spiritual conflict. God's people must remain alert, and they are not to enter controversy or attempt to cast out devils unless they have a commission from God to do so.