Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 1321
“Not withstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in Heaven.” Luke 10:20.
You will remember that last Lord’s-Day we saw our Lord correcting a very natural grief and supplying its place by a more necessary sorrow, as He said to the women, “Weep not for Me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children.” [See No. 1320—“Why Should I Weep?”] Now, this morning we shall see Him correcting a very natural joy and directing its gladness into a more elevated channel. “Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in Heaven.” If we commit ourselves to Him, He will guide us aright in all things and teach us to sanctify, alike, our grief and our gladness.
We shall commence our discourse by saying that our Lord did not blame or upbraid the 70 for rejoicing that the devils were subject to them. It would have been a very strange thing if they were not joyous on the occasion of so great a success. They had been sent forth upon their Lord’s errand. They had gone forward unhesitatingly in His name, girded with His strength. And His power had been revealed so that His name had been glorified—should they not rejoice? It was the Kingdom of God which they had proclaimed—should they not be joyful? It was their Lord’s enemy, as well as their own, who had “fallen like lightning from Heaven”—should they not exult? It was not likely, therefore, that the Lord Jesus was angry at their joy when they returned, saying, “Lord, even the spirits are subject unto us through Your name.”
We must read our Lord’s words according to the manner of Oriental speech. The peculiar idiom of our Savior’s speech often makes Him appear to be actually forbidding what He only places in a secondary place. He did not mean, in the present instance, to censure their joy in their success, but only to make it subordinate to another rejoicing and to prevent its growing to excess. Some have thought that they detected in the 70 too much personal exultation, if not an almost childish triumph in the success which they had achieved. I must confess I see small traces of such a feeling in their report to their Master. Our Lord Himself evidently coincided with the truth of their report, for He, also, said, “I beheld Satan as lightning fall from Heaven.”
I can hardly think that He could have seen that sight without joy and, therefore, in some measure, He shared in the feelings of His servants. Had He observed in these Brothers that excess of childish exultation and vainglory which is supposed, I think He would hardly have gone on to invest such novices with yet more power—but yet, He did so, for we read in the 19th verse—“Behold I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.” Had they been intoxicated with a sort of childish glee, the wisdom of our Lord, as Commander in that Crusade, would have led Him to say to them, “I had many things to have given unto you, but you cannot bear them now. I see already that you are intoxicated with your present victories and, therefore, I must withhold from you the extraordinary gifts of My kingdom till you are better prepared to receive them with humility and to use them with wisdom.”
Such prudent conduct would have been in accordance with the usual proceedings of our wise Teacher. But He saw no such excessive exultation. Whatever He might fear as likely to occur, by-and-by, He saw nothing, as yet, to blame in them and so He went on to say, “therefore I give you power over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.” We cannot understand Him to be condemning their rejoicing over the fall of devils, for He says, “Rejoice rather,” and this almost implies that you may rejoice in the first subject of joy in some degree. “Notwithstanding,” He says, “in this rejoice not; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in Heaven.” The one is forbidden only in comparison with the other. We may rejoice that God blesses our labors, but still, it must be a far less prominent joy than
that which springs out of our personal interest in the salvation of God! Church members may be glad when they see a great revival and their numbers largely increased. But, at such times it is doubly necessary to look to vital godliness and personal religion or the joy may be turned into mourning.
Now, my Brothers, taking the incident as it will apply to ourselves, there may be some of you, here present, to whom God has given many gifts for use in the kingdom of Heaven. He may also have given you influence in His Church and power among men of the world. And, moreover, your gifts and your power have not been used in vain, they have been made useful in many ways so that your course has been one of honor and success. The kingdom of God has come near to many through you and the great enemy’s kingdom has suffered injury by your means. Because of all this, you are greatly cheered. Is this wrong? Ought you not to be full of joy? I say yes, assuredly, you are bound to be glad! We should all be grateful for gifts, grateful for influence, grateful for success—but a gratitude which is not attended with joy can scarcely be called gratitude at all!