Back when I lived in Kenya in 2005, I learned a lot about the spiritual world from a pastor named Simon.
Pastor Simon was a from a part of Kenya known for witchcraft and demonic activity and that sort of thing, so his faith and ministry as a follower of Jesus involved a lot of spiritual warfare.
This was not my experience growing up. Sure, I read Frank Peretti books [image: peretti] (does anyone remember this book cover? This terrified me as a kid!). But my day to day Christian life just did not include a lot of the supernatural.
Pastor Simon, on the other hand, had a lot of first-hand experience.
I remember one time he was teaching about prayer and said, “One time my friends and I were praying and a witch was flying over and I guess our prayers disrupted his flight so he fell out of the sky. And that’s why prayers are…”
And I was like, “Wait, what!? Go back to the guy flying?”
Pastor Simon had stories about almost dying until he took a cursed rock out of his pocket, about having a bus stop disappear until he prayed, about encounters with angels…
This was normal stuff for him. In Pastor Simon’s world, Christians are in a pitched battle against the forces of darkness.
In our world, we barely talk about it.
So today we are going to crack open this topic just a little bit and talk about the fact that, while our lives probably won’t look like Pastor Simon’s, we do have an enemy.
Do I have your attention? Let’s get into it.
SETUP PART II
This is actually part II of last week’s message. We are in a series (“Witness”) where we’re exploring the person of Jesus from the perspective of his disciples.
And for these two weeks we’re looking at a moment in the gospels where Jesus sends out 72 of his disciples to prepare the way for him.
Luke 10, Page _____
If you remember, the world of the text connects this passage with a much bigger narrative - of God bringing his healing mission to the world. And because it’s a much bigger story that we’re all still a part of, Luke - the author of this text - wants us to see ourselves standing right there with the 72, learning what it means to be sent by Jesus.
Here’s how the passage begins:
Luke 10:1
The Lord now chose seventy-two other disciples and sent them ahead in pairs to all the towns and places he planned to visit.
We’re not going to recap everything from last week, but the bottom line is that when Jesus sends out these disciples, he promises them that they will encounter what he calls “sons and daughters of peace” along the way. People who will take care of the disciples as they do what they were called to do.
The big idea was this: When God calls you to go, he also prepares the way.
Well, today, we’re going to look at the flip side of this mission. Because Jesus also says this:
Luke 10:3
Now go, and remember that I am sending you out as lambs among wolves.
In other words, we may have supporters in our path, but we are also opposed.
Let’s talk about those wolves.
THE SATAN
To do that, let’s skip down to verse 16. After all of his other instructions, Jesus says this:
Luke 10:16-20
“Anyone who accepts your message is also accepting me. And anyone who rejects you is rejecting me. And anyone who rejects me is rejecting God, who sent me.”
When the seventy-two disciples returned, they joyfully reported to him, “Lord, even the demons obey us when we use your name!”
“Yes,” he told them, “I saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning! Look, I have given you authority over all the power of the enemy, and you can walk among snakes and scorpions and crush them. Nothing will injure you. But don’t rejoice because evil spirits obey you; rejoice because your names are registered in heaven.”
What in the world is Jesus talking about here? Demons? Satan falling like lighting? Walking among snakes? What?
I imagine that for many of you, this is kind an uncomfortable topic. Because we have a lot of cultural baggage associated with it. Images of imps with pitchforks, the Exorist, occult rituals… It’s kind of a lot.
It might be tempting for us “enlightened modern people” to just reject the whole thing entirely. But I don’t think that’s an option because Scripture makes it really clear that dealing with the Evil One is a part of our faith, whether we like it or not.
But with that said, I want to acknowledge something right out of the gate: A lot of our ideas about who Satan is and how he and his demons work in the world do not actually come from the Bible.
A lot of it comes from what’s often called the “pseudepigrapha” or “false writings.” Books that the early Church rejected as not true or orthodox. A lot of our mental images of Satan (the red skin, the bat wings, the horns) come from things like Dante’s inferno from the 14th century.
Essentially, a ton of our ideas about the Evil One come from Christian fan fiction.
So what does the Bible actually say about Satan?
Well, first of all, his (or its) name is not actually Satan. Because “satan” is the Hebrew word for “the adversary. “
ho satanas (Hebrew) - "The satan" - the adversary, opponent, enemy
ho diabolos (Greek) - "The devil" - the slanderer, informer, traitor
There’s a definite article. Satan and Devil are titles, not proper names. The satan. The diabolos.
So what is the satan?
Well, here is where it is important to take a big step back and consider the grand narrative of the Bible.
What we see from the very beginning is that God creates the universe, which includes plants, animals, humans, and spiritual beings.
In the ancient imagination, these spiritual beings lived in “the heavens” (a.k.a. the sky) and were visible at night: the stars.
From the beginning of the story, humans rebel against God’s intentions. It’s kind of what we do. We spread violence and corruption and sin instead of life and justice and abundance.
But did you know that in the Bible this human rebellion is echoed and in some way connected to a rebellion among the spiritual beings? Just as some humans stand opposed to the purposes of God, so do their spiritual counterparts.
God wants to heal the world, to bring creation back into his presence, but this dual rebellion stands in the way. The satan and his demons work hard to knock humanity off course and, as we’ll talk about more in a moment, humans give the satan power in the process.
So that’s the dual rebellion throughout Scripture, and the satan - the adversary of God - is leading the charge. Which is exactly what you see throughout the gospels and the book of Acts. He’s standing in the way of Jesus.
The satan tempts Jesus in the wilderness to abandon his mission before it starts. He is the one who enters into Judas to betray Jesus. He’s the inspiration for Ananias and Sapphira to lie and hold back resources from the Church.
The satan even inspires the disciple Peter to question whether Jesus really has to die.
Matthew 16:23
Jesus turned to Peter and said, “Get away from me, Satan! You are a dangerous trap to me. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.
Bottom line: The satan stands in the way of God’s healing mission in the world and he recruits humans to join him in that purpose.
But… what I don’t want you to miss is the fact that the satan is not God’s equal. He isn’t even a worthy rival. The story of Scripture is not some titanic struggle between a good God and an evil one. No.
The satan is and always has been a created being and God’s power over him is absolute.
Scripture makes that abundantly clear.
POWER
So here’s a fair question: why then does God allow the satan to stand against him?
Well, this is a question for the ages and one that has been debated for millennia, but I think the answer has a lot to do with us and the freedom God gives us to choose.
In the biblical narrative, the primary reason these dark spiritual forces have power over us is because we give them power over us.
We want to be the masters of our own universe, so we worship and pledge our allegiance to the spiritual beings that convince us they can make it happen.
I mean, the very first thing that Adam and Eve do is believe the deceptions of a created being - the serpent in the garden - because he says they could have more knowledge than what God offered them.
Humans are meant to be the masters of God’s created beings, not mastered by them.
And yet that same bargain is made over and over again. The Israelites worship other gods, the kings of Israel put their trust in evil spirits, and demons run rampant through a society that keeps buying their lies.
The satan and his angels have power because we give them power.
And I know some of you are thinking, “well I don’t.” I don’t give my allegiance to spiritual powers. Well, I’m not so sure.
The ancients understood that things like wealth and power and sexuality and pleasure and success and victory were forces that went beyond humanity. Now, they gave them all names and called them gods, but are we really so different?
You probably don’t have an Asherah pole in your back yard (she was the goddess of agricultural fertility), but have you ever bought the lie that if you just dedicate yourself a bit more faithfully to acquiring more money, you’ll finally be happy? Have you made sacrifices to that end?
I bet you don’t believe in the god Marduk (the Babylonian God of power), but how often does your need for affirmation and success and “winning” dictate your choices? Of who you spend time with… Of what you do with your life…
You may not worship Dionysus (the Greek god of wine and pleasure), but have you ever felt like your draw towards sex or alcohol or pornography or food was a bit out of your control? That your addictions were calling the shots in your life?
Oh yes. We give power to the satan and his minions and in so doing we join the rebellion against the purposes of God in this world.
Repeat that for thousands and thousands of generations, and you get a humanity that is fully enslaved to the schemes of the adversary. Who can’t help but give him our allegiance.
I SAW SATAN FALL
Thank God that isn’t the end of the story.
Because Jesus rejected the satan’s lies. He lived fully surrendered to the will of God. He freed people from demonic oppression. He undermined the accuser’s power by dismantling human systems of injustice.
Through his death on the cross he took on himself the consequences of this rebellion and through his resurrection from the grave, he freed humanity from the clutches of the Evil One once and for all.
He ripped the prison door off its hinges. We no longer have to be trapped under the power of the satan.
But it gets better than that. We now have power over him.
Let’s go back to Luke 10 and I’ll show you what I mean.
When the 72 disciples return from their mission, they are filled with joy. Look at verse 17.
Luke 10:17
“Lord, even the demons obey us when we use your name!”
It’s true. Because now their allegiance is to the son of God and they are operating from his authority. From his power. Remember, the satan is just a created being. Jesus is the Creator God incarnate.
Jesus’ response to them is fascinating.
Luke 10:18
“Yes,” he told them, “I saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning!”
What does he mean?
Well, most likely, Jesus is referring here to a prophecy by Isaiah in the Old Testament where the prophet is taunting the king of Babylon, who thought that he could lift himself up to the heavens in power.
Isaiah 14:12
How you are fallen from heaven,
O shining star, son of the morning!
You have been thrown down to the earth,
you who destroyed the nations of the world.
Now, this passage is about a human king. It says nothing about the satan.
Although, fun fact: the Latin translation of this verse is where we get the name Lucifer (“shining one”), even though, again, it’s about the king of Babylon.
So why would Jesus talk about Satan falling from heaven like this?
Well, in Scripture the line between corrupt human kings and the spiritual forces that empower them is a little blurry. They’re kind of the same thing.
Which is why, in the Jewish tradition of Jesus’ time, this “shining star” being throne down to the earth became equated with the satan himself being throne down.
The point of all of this is that, according to Jesus, the satan’s reign of power over humanity is coming to an end. He’s being dethroned and cast down even as the Son of Man is ascending.
Which is why, as the 72 disciples went out into the world, representatives of Jesus himself, they discovered that they too had power over the forces of darkness.
CRUSHING SNAKES
The way Jesus explains it in verse 19 is this:
Luke 10:19
I have given you authority over all the power of the enemy, and you can walk among snakes and scorpions and crush them. Nothing will injure you.
Crushing snakes? What does he mean?
Well, this goes right back to the beginning of the story. To that very first created being that humans gave their allegiance to: the serpent in the garden of Eden.
After Adam and Eve rebel against the Creator, God curses the snake and his descendants. And here’s what he promises:
Genesis 3:15
I will cause hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.
In other words, the family of Eve and the family of the snake will be in conflict… until a descendent of the woman will one day do what his ancestors could not.
Although the serpent would draw blood on the cross, Jesus would crush his power over humanity once and for all. The satan, the accuser, the adversary - standing in the way of God’s purposes from the beginning of time - was finally defanged.
Which brings us back to the promise Jesus made to the disciples. You can crush snakes and scorpions. You have the authority to overcome evil. You are my representatives and you now have the power to heal this broken world in my name.
In Jesus, the satan has lost his power over you and you now have power over him.
Yes, followers of Jesus are opposed in our mission. And the satan is going to do whatever he can to throw us off course. But all our enemy can do now is scheme and bluster and lie.
If we reject his deceptions, the satan can’t touch us anymore.
STEP BOLDLY
I know this is a lot to chew on, but let’s get practical.
Last week I encouraged you to step boldly into your calling as a participant in God’s healing mission because he will prepare the way for you. Don’t wait until you’ve got all your ducks in a row. Just go.
Well, today, my encouragement is the same. Step boldly into your calling because your opponent has lost his power. You can go in the authority of Christ because his Spirit dwells inside you.
You do not have to be swayed by his lies and schemes anymore.
Right? You feel a tug to follow God into something beyond yourself - to heal this world in the way he’s called you to do - and then immediately hear those words:
“You’re not capable of this.”
“You’re too broken to be of any use.”
“You aren’t smart enough. Or successful enough. Or good enough.”
Would words like that ever come from the mouth of Jesus? Of course not. He loves you. He believes in you. He’s the one who created you. Who is calling you! It’s his power working through you; not yours.
So you know where those lies are coming from: the satan who has already been defeated. If those lies are keeping you from stepping boldly into your calling, I want you to remember these words from the Apostle Paul:
2 Corinthians 12:9
I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me.
Or these words from the Apostle James:
James 4:7
Humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
He’ll flee because the battle has been won. The message of Jesus - our witness, our testimony, our gospel - is a message of victory.
You have been called by Jesus to go. To go into the harvest fields and announce, through words and deeds, that his kingdom of healing and life has come at last.
God has already prepared sons and daughters of peace to receive you and the one who stands in your way has already been defeated.
What are you waiting for? It’s time to follow the call.
——
I want to close with the words of Revelation 12. John’s vision of our enemy’s moment of defeat:
Revelation 12:9-11
This great dragon—the ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, the one deceiving the whole world—was thrown down to the earth with all his angels.
Then I heard a loud voice shouting across the heavens,
“It has come at last—
salvation and power
and the Kingdom of our God,
and the authority of his Christ.
For the accuser of our brothers and sisters
has been thrown down to earth—
the one who accuses them
before our God day and night.
And they have defeated him by the blood of the Lamb
and by their testimony.