Some people speak of "foxhole Christians," those who turn to God when facing disaster—life-threatening situations, illness, financial problems, and such like. But I've noticed my feelings about my relationship with God rise or fall on different grounds.
When I'm feeling great physically, and the sun is shining, and my work is going well, and my bills are paid, and I'm not feeling guilty about having fallen to some besetting temptation, it seems that God is smiling down on me. Then it's easy to be thankful and to praise and love Him.
But when I'm overly tired, behind in my work, wondering where I'm going to get the money I need, and I've been impatient or unfeeling with my wife or children—then I'm tempted to wonder if God is really there; I'm likely to feel alone and uncared-for.
Near the end of His ministry Jesus gave some counsel to His disciples that is apropos to all Christians, but particularly to ministers, counsel that offers stability in the ups and downs of our feelings. His counsel centers on two points: first, that Satan is a defeated foe; and second, that our names are written in heaven.
Luke 10 gives the setting for Jesus' counsel. He had sent 70 of His disciples on a mission, and they had returned rejoicing that "even the demons are subject to us in your name!" (verse 17).* Jesus responded to their joyful report with the words, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I have given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing shall hurt you" (verses 18, 19).
Jesus' words point out to us that Satan is a defeated foe. He has fallen, or rather been cast, from heaven. Here Jesus speaks of three aspects of Satan's fall: the first, when he was cast out of heaven upon his original sin and consequent deception of some of the heavenly host (Rev. 12), the second, at the cross—when Jesus "disarmed the principalities and powers and made a public example of them, triumphing over them in it" (Col. 2:15, margin); and the third, at the end when Satan will be destroyed finally and forever (Rev. 20).
As a corollary to His defeat of Satan, Jesus conferred upon His disciples a measure of authority over Satan and the forces of evil. The context indicates that when Jesus spoke of "serpents and scorpions, " He probably meant it more of "that old serpent, the devil" than of the literal earthly creatures.
In a book on the life of Christ, Ellen G. White offered an encouraging commentary on the words of Jesus recorded in this passage of Luke. She wrote that Jesus indicated here that Christians are to look upon Satan as a defeated foe; we are to regard Christ's victory upon the cross as our own. Every contrite soul has as its defense the Holy Spirit's omnipotence. With Jesus by our side, there can be no such thing as failure, loss, impossibility, or defeat.
She went on to say that some Christians think and speak too much of Satan's power. "They think of their adversary, they pray about him, they talk about him, and he looms up greater and greater in their imagination. It is true that Satan is a powerful being; but, thank God, we have a mighty Saviour, who cast out the evil one from heaven. . . . Why not talk of Jesus? Why not magnify His power and His love?" 1
Stability in trouble
But while Christ has made certain Satan's end, his defeat has not yet been made fully effective. Christians still face trouble in this world: accidents happen to them, they become ill and die, and they still succumb to temptation. The last sentence of Jesus' counsel offers spiritual and emotional stability in the light of this reality. Jesus said: "Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you; but rejoice that your names are written in heaven" (Luke 10:20).
Jesus was not saying that we shouldn't be happy that Satan is a defeated foe whom Christians can successfully resist. Rather, by hyperbole, Jesus was saying that we should not focus upon this fact. Instead, what really matters is that our names are written in heaven, that our relationship with Christ is what it ought to be. In fact, the power over Satan of which Jesus spoke, the victory in the spiritual battles we face, depends on our being right with God. As Ellen White noted: "Nothing reaches so fully down to the deepest motives of conduct as a sense of the pardoning love of Christ."
As disciples of Christ, as ministers of His Word, our success and our very spiritual safety hangs on our recognizing this fact: that we are totally dependent upon a continual connection with God. That Paul recognized this is indicated by his saying: "When I am weak, then I am strong" (2 Cor. 12:10). The more clearly we realize this, the greater the power that God can manifest in us.
Jesus' words in Luke 10:18-20 offer those who have accepted Him as Saviour and Lord double encouragement. Satan is a defeated foe—and we can begin to enjoy the fruits of Christ's victory over him now. But even more important in the ups and downs of our Christian experience, our names are written in heaven. We have the assurance of eternal life. —David C. Jarnes
1 The Desire of Ages (Mountain View, Calif.:
Pacific Press Pub. Assn., 1940), pp. 490, 493.
2 Ibid., p. 493.
*All Scripture quotations are from the Revised
Standard Version.