Luke 10: The Seventy Sent Ahead of Jesus

Introduction

This message is the tenth in the series "Jesus, Who Did He Pray For?", given during an evening of prayer and Bible study at the Église Évangélique de Pentecôte de Nantes. The series looks at those whom Jesus called and for whom he prayed. The previous session had stopped at the names of the apostles, written on the foundations of the new Jerusalem alongside those of the twelve tribes of Israel.

Before returning to the apostles, the preacher opens Luke 10 and asks the congregation a question: what strikes you in this first verse? His answer takes only a few words: Jesus sends his disciples "ahead of him," to where he himself was about to go.

From there, the message moves through Jesus' teaching in the temple (John 7), then through the calling of Matthew (Matthew 9). The common thread is simple: it is Jesus who chooses, who sends, and who acts. Our part is to be attentive to what the Holy Spirit is doing among us.

Message Outline

1. Sent Ahead of Him, to Where He Was About to Go

"Now after these things, the Lord also appointed seventy others, and sent them two by two before his face into every city and place where he was about to come" (Luke 10:1). These are not apostles, they are disciples.
What strikes the preacher is the "ahead of him": Jesus walks behind. He did not stop at training the twelve. He trained these seventy, then many others. "That is deep."
Faced with the immensity of the needs, he gives them one important thing: "The harvest indeed is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Pray therefore to the Lord of the harvest, that he may send out laborers into his harvest" (Luke 10:2).
"I send you out as lambs among wolves" (Luke 10:3). The preacher mentions the wolves that recently ravaged flocks of sheep in one region of France: "It is terrible to see."

2. "Greet No One on the Way"

Jesus asks them to carry no purse, no wallet, no sandals, and to greet no one on the way (Luke 10:4). It is a hard instruction to understand for people sent into every city.
The preacher tells a memory from Africa. Within the Assemblies of God, a serious conflict set two camps against each other. He said to a missionary: "We missionaries will never be able to solve this problem between them. Only they can." The brothers from both sides agreed to meet.
The meeting began around 7:30 p.m. At midnight, they were still at the greetings: how is your wife, your cattle, your chickens, your son, all the way to the great-grandparents. An older pastor who was accompanying him in Africa for the first time did not understand. Days later, the problems could be settled.
Greeting no one does not mean ignoring people when arriving in a city. Everything Jesus asks of them shows that he cares about the cities, the countryside, and every place where he was about to go.
Jesus does not give a delegation, he gives a mission to accomplish. And those who are sent know who sent them: when they return, they must give an account.

3. Rejoice That Your Name Is Written in Heaven

The seventy return with joy: "Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name." Jesus answers, "I saw Satan having fallen like lightning from heaven," and he gives them authority to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy (Luke 10:17-19).
"Don't rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven" (Luke 10:20). The preacher also reads in it the permission to rejoice when demons are subdued.
He remembers a time of visitation in a church in Vimoutiers. Many people under various kinds of bondage came. The team fasted, prayed, and ended up exhausted.
A pastor told him that as a child, he and the other children would laugh when disabled people came in wheelchairs. They were told off: you must not laugh. But he laughed because he knew they would leave pushing their wheelchairs, healed by Jesus. "And that is what happened."
That same pastor used to tell him: "Rejoice, the demons are not comfortable." Jesus is the master. He is the one who sends and who must act. Our concern remains the evangelization of cities, villages, and the countryside.

4. The One Who Had Not Studied

In John 7, Jesus goes up to the feast "not publicly, but as it were in secret." The crowd murmurs: some say he is a good man, others that he leads the people astray. In the middle of the feast, he goes up to the temple and teaches.
What is surprising is not that he teaches, but that he does so while people are seeking to harm him. The Jews marvel: "How does this man know letters, having never been educated?" (John 7:15).
He did not go, like Saul of Tarsus, to sit at the feet of Gamaliel. At that time, you chose your teacher and your training. Jesus overturns that: "You didn't choose me, but I chose you" (John 15:16). "It is a bit unsettling."
How does he know the Scriptures? The eternal Son of God receives all the teaching of the Father, and it is this teaching that he passes on to his disciples.

5. Not Missing What God Is Doing

The Jews were not sensitive to what Jesus was doing among them: he has a demon, they said, and they persecuted him. Jesus had warned: if they persecuted me, they will persecute you too (John 15:20). "Let us be attentive to what the Spirit of God is doing."
The preacher leaves the following week for an eight-day seminar on the African continent. He was given the theme and the broad outline. Early that morning, before the Lord, the Spirit visited him and showed him what God was going to do.
He has lived through services where God showed him in advance who was going to prophesy and how the meeting would unfold. He also mentions the angels: we do not worship them, but they fix their gaze on what is said about the cross (1 Peter 1:12).
He tells the story of an elderly sister of the church, now with the Lord. She had ulcers on her leg and suffered all night. She could have called to say she would not come. She came. Back home, she took off her stocking: the ulcer was completely closed.
"God does beautiful things, and you could miss them." Let us not miss what God is doing: the action of the Spirit of God takes place in your heart.

6. Matthew, a Calling That Costs

"Jesus saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax collection office. He said to him, 'Follow me.' He got up and followed him" (Matthew 9:9). Afterward, many tax collectors and sinners come to sit at the table with Jesus.
Matthew, also called Levi, collected tolls and duties for the Roman Empire. He was despised by the Pharisees and hated by the Jews. The preacher, who has been in Nantes for fifty years, recalls the city's old toll: a tax was paid on entering and leaving, and those who collected it were not well regarded.
Matthew was rich. By following Jesus, he gives up a lucrative trade, his political friends, and all his personal advantages. He becomes an apostle: he will receive Jesus' teaching, heal the sick, cast out demons, and teach in his turn.
God does not ask you to give up your job or your situation. But when a pastor is called to ministry, he must give things up. To young pastors who said they had left everything, he would answer kindly: "You have left nothing at all." And he adds: "Serving God is wonderful."
A young woman had just been baptized. The church was short of Sunday school teachers, and the pastor asked everyone to pray for some. She prayed, and the Holy Spirit said to her: "It is you."
She then wanted to go to Bible school, which was almost unthinkable at the time for a woman in the Assemblies of God. Then she received a missionary call, and it was then that she fell seriously ill. The preacher vouched for her before the missions committee: "We have to take the risk of sending her." She served fifteen years in Mali among children.

7. "I Will Bless Your Family"

The preacher makes a confession. During a certain period, he came home from missions on night flights. He had seen deaf, mute, and paralyzed people healed. But on the plane, at an altitude of ten thousand meters, he sometimes wept: his wife was alone and the enemy was trying to destroy his family.
In Toulon, a few hours before the Gulf War, he stayed twenty-four hours without sleeping. While he was preaching, a voice kept playing like a broken record: "If you do not stop traveling, I will destroy your family." He warns: "You must never argue with the devil."
He said to the Lord: "If you tell me to stop, I will stop." And God answered him: "I will bless your family."
The devil seeks to destroy us, but we bind the powers of darkness at work in this city, in the name of Jesus Christ. We are more than conquerors (Romans 8:37): the victory is in Jesus.

Key Takeaways

Jesus sends his disciples ahead of him, into the cities and countryside where he himself wants to go. It is a mission, not a delegation.
The greatest joy is that your name is written in heaven. When Jesus is the master, the demons are not comfortable.
We did not choose Jesus, he chose us. He passes on the teaching he received from the Father.
God does beautiful things among his people. It is possible to miss them if we are not attentive to the Spirit.
When the Spirit of God puts a calling in your heart, even in the midst of weakness, he is faithful to fulfill it.

Personal Application

In which city, neighborhood, or place does Jesus want to go, and is he sending you ahead of him?
Do you pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers, and are you ready to hear "It is you"?
What do you rejoice in most in your Christian life: visible results, or the fact that your name is written in heaven?
What could make you miss what God is doing: fatigue, pain, routine?
Which voice of the enemy is playing on a loop in your head right now, and which promise of God can you set against it?

Verses Cited

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does Jesus send the seventy "ahead of him"?

Luke 10:1 specifies that he sends them into every city and place where he himself was about to go. For the preacher, Jesus walks behind them: he does not give them a delegation but a mission to accomplish. He cares about the cities as much as the countryside, and those he sends come back to give him an account.

Should we rejoice that demons are subject in the name of Jesus?

Jesus tells the seventy to rejoice above all that their names are written in heaven (Luke 10:20). The preacher adds that we can also rejoice to see demons subdued: when Jesus is the master among his people, the demons are not comfortable.

Do we have to leave our job to follow Jesus like Matthew?

No. Matthew left a lucrative trade because he was called to become an apostle. The preacher stresses that God does not ask you to give up your job or your situation. Someone called to pastoral ministry, however, must give things up. But it is wonderful to see God set his eyes on you and touch your heart.