Rejoice in Your Salvation [Luke 10]
17The seventy returned with joy, saying, "Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name."
18And He said to them, "I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning. 19"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. 20"Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven."
21At 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. 22"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."
23Turning to the disciples, He said privately, "Blessed are the eyes which see the things you see, 24for 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."
As the seventy returned with joy after seeing all that God had done through them Jesus encouraged them not to rejoice in that power or the results of it but to rejoice that their "names are recorded in heaven." He wanted them to rejoice in God and in their great salvation.
Jesus then exemplified for them rejoicing in the Holy Spirit. "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."
Thank You, Jesus for showing us the way to rejoice. We praise You, Father that Your Son knows You and desires to reveal You to us. We are blessed to see Jesus and to see the prophesies fulfilled in Your Son. Cause us to rejoice in our great salvation today. Our names are recorded in heaven because of Jesus!
Verna McCrillis, 12/16/2009