Daily Bible Reading 21st August 2026 // Luke 10:17-24
17 The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” 18 And he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. 19 Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. 20 Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”
21 In that same hour he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. 22 All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”
23 Then turning to the disciples he said privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! 24 For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.”
Happily, the response to the disciples' message was not all resistance. They saw real fruit from their ministry. The terms of their remit were to go forth as labourers into the harvest field, to preach the kingdom of God and heal the sick; they were to say, 'the kingdom of God is come nigh unto you' (9, 11) - that is, in their preaching and proclamation of the good news, those to whom they preached were brought to a moment of destiny in their experience. God has come to them and was confronting them with Himself. This is always true of the preaching of the gospel. And these disciples proved it. They found multitudes in the valley of decision, and they thrust in the sickle and reaped them for God and for Christ. It was a time of joy (17) for them, and for Jesus (21). There is always joy in the presence of the angels of God over sinners repenting and coming to life in Christ. Jesus' words in 18 to the disciples on their return are intriguing and mysterious. What did He mean? First of all, we may see in them a reference to the effect produced on Satan's kingdom by the preaching of the Seventy. If so, then the meaning is that it is a prophetic statement - that is, Satan's defeat is bespoken in the victory Christ was to win on the Cross, and His sending them forth was on the strength of that victory, and 'borrowed' from the virtue of that victory. And when, in the fullness of the time, the apostles would be sent forth at Pentecost, that fall would be seen to be real and complete. What encouragement this is to Christian work and workers! This is how to defeat the dark powers that tyrannise the world - preach the gospel!