The seventy-two disciples returned rejoicing and said to Jesus,
“Lord, even the demons are subject to us because of your name.”
The seventy-two disciples had received authority from Jesus that made them demons subject to them because of his name. They were thus the instruments of Jesus in the conquest of the kingdom of darkness by the kingdom of light. From the moment Satan fell his ultimate defeat and destruction had already begun and been assured. But until Jesus came he still held dominance over the created order. He said to Jesus that all the kingdoms of the world were "mine to give to anyone I please" (see Luke 4:6). Yet he did not realize how significant the coming of Jesus was, or how already, even from the moment of the incarnation, the dark powers over the world was already being undermined. Now the victory that was possible because of the power that was present in Jesus himself was being extended by the ministry of the disciples by means of the authority Jesus had given them. These dark powers, rather than flesh and blood, were always the true opponents of the kingdom of God.
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places (see Ephesians 6:12).
Jesus casually stated that he gave his disciples such power over the full force of the enemy that nothing would harm them. He was encompassing them in the divine protection that was properly his own. No mere prophet could claim such power or guarantee such an absolute victory over the forces of darkness. But Jesus was much more than a prophet. His authority had cast Satan from heaven when he fell from grace. And his authority would ultimately seal him in hell where he could no longer have any measure of freedom try to oppose God's good creation.
You will tread on the lion and the adder;
the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot (see Psalm 91:13).
The disciples were right to rejoice that the kingdom of darkness was in the process of being destroyed. But they weren't to think too highly of their own agency in the process. They were to proceed, not out of pride, but out of confidence in the promise of Jesus that nothing would harm them. The chief thing for them to celebrate was not the authority that had been loaned to them, but the permanent reality of having their names written in heaven in the book of life. We tend to celebrate the saints for all the saintly things they did. But Jesus might well have said to any of them that they ought not rejoice nearly so much for what God himself had done through them as for the fact that they would be together with him in heaven forever. After all, everything they had was something they received as a blessing. Nothing was earned and nothing was strictly their due. God worked through them because he delighted to do so. And this was wonderful. But it was not nearly so wonderful as that he himself would desire to be so near to his creatures for all eternity.
Adults would tend to be focused on what strength they would need to possess to win the battle. Thus it was only the childlike who received the revelation of the victory of the kingdom. Only they had the trust sufficient to allow Jesus to do all he wanted to do around them and through them. This was because in being like trusting children they became more and more like Jesus, who was himself absolutely confident in his Father's providential protection. Being childlike was thus the best protection against the powers of darkness. It was also the only true entry point into knowledge of the identity of God at the deepest level. Strictly speaking, only the Son possessed this knowledge. It wasn't something that the wise or the learned could figure out, nor something that the philosophers could conclude from elaborate arguments. But it was something Jesus could share with those whom he wished. Among them were the seventy-two disciples, whose eyes and ears were blessed to see and hear what they saw. But so too ourselves. Many prophets and kings desired to hear the good news with which we have such commonplace familiarity and yet did not hear it. So let us join in Jesus giving praise to the Father for having revealed these things to us. And let us continue to grow in the childlike trust that makes us safe from every power of the enemy.
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