Message Information
- Key Scriptures: Luke 10:17-24, NASB
- Series: Luke (2025-2027), no. 34
- Date: Sunday, October 5, 2025 (Morning)
- Venue: Central Baptist Church — Lawton, Oklahoma
- Speaker: Jared Byrns
- Audio File: Open/Download
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A Debrief from the Mission
After any kind of major event, it is not unusual for those who participated to have some kind of debrief. Sometimes it is called a postmortem. They go over what just happened: What worked? Why did it work? What did not work? What could have been done differently? They dig into the details so that they can learn from the experience.
Some of the most famous examples come from NASA. After the Challenger disaster, when the space shuttle exploded, investigators went back through the process step by step. They wanted to understand exactly what caused the explosion and the loss of life so that it would never happen again. Through that investigation, they discovered that a small rubber O-ring had failed.
Military strategists do the same thing after a battle. They get together and ask what worked, why it worked, what failed, and what they could have done better. On a smaller scale, we do this with the academic team after a match. We ask what went well, why we won—or why we got slaughtered—and what we should have done differently.
My wife and I do something similar after taking the children to a restaurant. We sit down afterward and ask, “What was different this time that made us think it would not be chaos like every other time?” We debrief what happened. Sometimes we even do this individually as we think back over the day.
As we come to Luke chapter 10, that is essentially what Jesus is doing with the seventy—or seventy-two, depending on the translation—whom He sent out in the passage we studied last week. Verse 16 ends with Jesus sending these disciples to represent Him and share the good news about His coming Kingdom throughout Samaria and the surrounding areas. In verse 17, they return to Him eager to talk about what happened, especially the things that worked. They are excited.
The main takeaway from this passage is found in the way Jesus responds. A word appears more than once in this section: rejoice. That theme has not been as prominent as we have worked through Luke chapters 9 and 10. The focus has been on the mission, preparation for the mission, the hard work involved, and the sacrifice required.
The mission matters. Jesus placed their focus on preparing people for the King and His Kingdom. But if we are not careful, all this talk about mission, duty, preparation, and sacrifice can make us imagine that serving the Lord is supposed to be a constant drudgery.
Serving the Lord is challenging at times. He never promised it would always be easy. But it should not be a joyless experience.
Have you ever known somebody who was serving the Lord but was not happy about it? I have known people who were faithful in church, shared the gospel, served, and did what they were supposed to do, but they were sour and negative about all of it. I am not saying that means they were not saved. I am saying they were not doing it right, because serving the Lord should be a joyful experience.
That is why, when the disciples return excited, Jesus talks about the things they should rejoice in. While the mission is important, while we have a duty to fulfill it, and while it involves sacrifice, it should not be joyless. If we are approaching it with the right frame of mind, we should serve the Lord gladly even in the midst of sacrifice.
Luke writes:
“The seventy returned with joy, saying, ‘Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name.’ And He said to them, ‘I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning. Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will injure you. Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven.’”
Then Luke continues:
“At that very time He rejoiced greatly in the Holy Spirit, and said, ‘I praise You, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, for this way was well-pleasing in Your sight. All things have been handed over to Me by My Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.’ Turning to the disciples, He said privately, ‘Blessed are the eyes which see the things you see, for I say to you, that many prophets and kings wished to see the things which you see, and did not see them, and to hear the things which you hear, and did not hear them.’”
There are at least four things in this passage that Jesus points out as reasons for rejoicing. Because He begins with the one that has the greatest eternal impact, I want to start at the end and work backward, from the smallest to the greatest.
We See the Work of Jesus
In verses 23 and 24, Jesus does not specifically use the word rejoice, but He has just offered a prayer of thanksgiving. He tells the disciples they are blessed.
Sometimes that word is translated happy because we do not always use blessed in a way the world understands. Have you ever had a cashier say, “Have a blessed day”? I think that is wonderful. I am not opposed to it. But if someone asked me exactly what I meant by blessed, I might have to stop and think.
It does not mean happy in the shallow sense that everything is wonderful and going our way. It speaks of a deeper contentment and fulfillment that comes from walking with the Lord. It is more closely connected to joy than to ordinary happiness.
So when Jesus says, “Blessed are the eyes which see the things you see,” He is saying they have reason for joy. They should rejoice in what God has given them the privilege of seeing.
These seventy had seen the things that took place during their mission. They had obviously witnessed miracles. They came back saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name!” There had been spiritual warfare. Things happened that surprised them. They saw miracles take place through their own ministry.
But more important than that, they saw the greater work Jesus was doing. Though the names of most of these seventy are lost to us, they had walked with Jesus. Perhaps they had not walked with Him as closely as the Twelve, but they had seen what He did.
What had their eyes seen? They had seen the work of Jesus taking place right in front of them. Jesus emphasizes that this was not something everyone had been privileged to see.
When I read about people in the Old Testament, I almost feel sorry for them. Moses, Abraham, Elijah, and others saw incredible things that God did. But they longed to see the Messiah. Though they know who He is now, they died before they saw Him come.
These disciples saw the Messiah. They saw the fulfillment of the promises of God. You and I can look back on the Messiah and see how it all came together. He is not physically before our eyes the way He was before theirs, but through the pages of Scripture and the testimony His apostles recorded, we have an understanding of the Messiah that many people throughout history were not privileged to have.
More than that, you and I can have a relationship with this Messiah. Generations of Israelites went to their graves longing to see Him come, and you and I can know Him.
God has allowed us to see the work of Jesus. Every day we can see Him at work in us and through us. How can we spend our lives serving God and remain miserable if we remember the privilege we have—one for which generations would have given anything?
We know the Messiah. We know who He is, what He came to do, and what He has accomplished. We know Him intellectually, experientially, and relationally. We see the work He does.
Every time someone comes to faith in Jesus and is transformed, we see His work. Every time He sands some rough edge off us through the Holy Spirit, we see Him at work.
If serving the Lord has become a drudgery, stop thinking only about the tasks you have been given. Pause and think about the privilege you have been given: you get to see the Messiah at work. That is one reason to rejoice.
We Come to the Father Through Jesus
Second, God allows us to come to Him through Jesus. Verse 22 says:
“All things have been handed over to Me by My Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.”
When Jesus says that all things have been handed over to Him by the Father, He points out, as He does several times in the Gospels, that He was sent with the full authority of the Father.
Many who watched Jesus thought He was merely a prophet. If He had been only a prophet like Elijah, Moses, Isaiah, or Jeremiah, He might have performed mighty works, but He would not have possessed the authority of God. Jesus claimed to be God in human flesh, sent with the full authority of His Father.
He says that no one knows who the Son is except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son. That can sound confusing until we think about what people understood before Jesus came.
Looking back, we can see clues in the Old Testament about the Trinity and the relationship of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But before Jesus came, it was not abundantly clear to them that there was a Son, much less that they could know Him.
When He appeared, people did not understand who He was until He revealed it and made it clear. Even now, no one knows the Father the way the Son does. We can know much about God because He has chosen to reveal Himself in His Word and in the person of Jesus Christ. The Father has shown us who He is and what He is like. But none of us would claim to understand the Father as perfectly as Jesus does.
When the text says no one knows the Father except the Son, it does not mean we cannot know God at all. It means we do not know Him in the same way the Father and Son know one another.
Then Jesus adds, “and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.”
Because we are sinners, God would have been completely justified in leaving us in darkness—groping around with only the witness of creation and conscience, knowing there is a God but not truly knowing Him or His will.
Instead, God chose to speak through His Word. The opening verses of Hebrews explain that God spoke through the prophets throughout history and then, in these last days, gave us the fullest revelation of Himself through His Son. That is a loose paraphrase, but that is the point of Hebrews 1:1–3.
God chose to tell us things about Himself that He did not owe us. Then He sent the perfect image of Himself in Jesus Christ so that we could know Him.
Even then there was confusion until Jesus opened their eyes. The only way we can know the Father experientially is through Jesus. The only way we can know Jesus is because He chose to make Himself known.
In our sin, He did not owe us light. He did not owe us a relationship. But He chose to reveal Himself anyway.
God allows us to come to Him through Jesus Christ, and Jesus is the only way we can know Him. That is why Jesus said in John 14:6:
“I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”
If we become bogged down in the day-to-day work of the mission and it becomes joyless, we need to pause and remember that God has allowed us to come to Him through Jesus Christ at all.
We can become so focused on the mission and the work that we forget the simple fact that God did not owe us a relationship with Him. Everything we know and understand about God—intellectually, experientially, and relationally—is a testimony to His grace.
We should stop and rejoice in the fact that we can know Him and come to Him.
God Works Through Ordinary People
Then we come to verse 21. I love this because it is both reassuring and affirming, yet it also sounds a little insulting.
Jesus looks at those who have just been sent out and thanks the Father for the way He worked through them:
“I praise You, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent.”
How would you like to be the audience for that prayer? “Father, I thank You for the things they have seen and experienced. I thank You that You hid them from wise and intelligent people.” I think I would have questions.
But there were people in that society who presented themselves as the wise and intelligent authorities on the things of God. Priests, scribes, and royal court officials believed they had a monopoly on knowing and serving God.
When Jesus appeared, many of those people were blind to what God was doing. Some were honestly deceived; others intentionally blinded themselves. They had enough evidence to recognize who Jesus was, but they did not want it to be true, so they put the blinders on.
The things of God were hidden from them. As far as Jesus’ identity and work were concerned, it was as though nothing were happening right in front of them.
When Jesus thanks the Father for hiding these things from “the wise and intelligent,” He is not insulting His followers. There is some sarcasm directed toward those who considered themselves wise and intelligent while remaining ignorant of God’s work.
They were too impressed with themselves. They were too impressed with how they served, how they worked, what they knew, and where they came from. Their focus on themselves kept them from seeing what Jesus was doing.
On paper, the priests and religious leaders should have been the people God worked through. But God went around them, as He so often does, and revealed these things “to infants.”
These were not literal infants. They were ordinary people whom the religious elites regarded that way: “You do not know God the way I do. You do not have the right lineage, the right upbringing, or the right education. You are only a common peasant. You cannot know what I know.”
That is exactly why God went around the proud and revealed the truth to ordinary people. The uneducated and unsophisticated were given insight. They had eyes to see and ears to hear what God was doing. They were the ones God could use.
Who is God more likely to use: those who are so impressed with themselves that they will not listen, or those who come saying, “I cannot do this. I am not worthy, skilled, smart, or educated enough—but I will do what You tell me to do”?
God uses the second group.
Jesus says:
“Yes, Father, for this way was well-pleasing in Your sight.”
God is pleased to use ordinary people. I hope this does not insult anyone, but I think most of us fall into that category. None of us are billionaires that I know of. If you are, come talk to me afterward. None of us are major celebrities or television personalities. None of us are nationally known preachers with thousands of people watching on television.
We are ordinary people. But God works through ordinary people.
Sometimes the mission becomes burdensome because we forget that it is a privilege for God to choose to work through us. He does not have to do that. On paper, there may be many people who would appear better suited to do what He has called us to do.
There are certainly people who, on paper, would be better at doing what I am doing right now. But God calls, equips, places, and uses ordinary people.
Perhaps we become burdened because we are trying to do the mission on our own terms and through our own effort. Or perhaps we have become so impressed with ourselves that we no longer realize it is God working through us.
I am ordinary. This is all God. We need to stop, regain that perspective, and rejoice that God chooses to work through us.
Our Names Are Written in Heaven
Finally, we come back to verse 20. The conversation began with the disciples returning and saying, “Even the demons are subject to us!”
They had to be excited. Not long before, Luke chapter 9 records that even after Jesus gave the Twelve authority over demons, they were unable to cast one out. A father had to bring his son directly to Jesus.
Now these seventy returned having done something even the Twelve had recently failed to do.
Jesus tells them that He gave them this authority and watched Satan fall from heaven like lightning. Their success did not surprise Him. It was exactly what He told them would happen.
But then He says:
“Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven.”
I do not think He means it is wrong to celebrate what God had done through them. He is talking about priorities. Do not make your greatest joy the fact that spirits submit to you. Rejoice instead that your names are recorded in heaven.
If you are a believer—if you have trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior—that is what you should celebrate.
The good news is that it will remain true today, tomorrow, and the day after that. When you are having a wonderful day, it is still true. When you are having the worst day of your life, it is still true.
When amazing things happen in your service for the Lord, when you see something miraculous or nearly miraculous, it remains true. When things feel dry and barren, it remains true.
This is a reason for rejoicing that never goes away.
The verb translated recorded is in the perfect tense. It describes something completed with continuing results. Their names were not merely written in heaven for the moment. They stood written there.
The word also refers to a written record, which many commentators connect with a list of citizens who possess full rights and privileges in a kingdom.
Jesus is telling us that our greatest source of joy is not what happened today, what might happen tomorrow, how well we perform, or what successes we experience. Our greatest joy is our secure place in the Kingdom and the full privileges we possess as children of God because of Christ alone.
If serving the Lord becomes burdensome and you need to recover your joy, return to that truth. Our standing does not ultimately depend on our performance or circumstances. If we come to the Father through Jesus Christ, God has written our names in heaven.
I think this is what David meant when he prayed:
“Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and sustain me with a willing spirit.”
David was one of those who died without seeing the Messiah, though God revealed things about the Messiah through him. He still understood what it meant for fellowship with God to become dry, ordinary, or burdensome. He needed the joy of salvation restored.
There may be times in our lives when serving God feels like drudgery. When it does, go back to where it began. Your name is written in heaven because Jesus Christ suffered, bled, and died to pay for your sins in full.
None of this is based on your performance or circumstances. It is based on that moment in history when Jesus took responsibility for your sins and mine, was nailed to the cross, shed His blood, and died so that we could be forgiven.
Then there was a moment in your life when you trusted Him as your one and only Savior, accepted the payment made on your behalf, and placed your faith entirely in Him. Your name was written in heaven.
If nothing else happens today that gives you reason to rejoice, you still have that. That is reason enough to wake up every day rejoicing in the Lord.
