Jesus had sent out 70 of His followers (in addition to His 12 disciples), two by two, into all the cities and towns where He would later come. They were to be His advance team to prepare the people to receive His ministry, because they were to preach to them the kingdom of God is coming to you. As proof, they were to heal the sick in His name. Obviously, if people were healed in the name of Jesus, they would be eager to hear His words when He came.
The 70 went forth in teams of two as Jesus commanded, and when they returned, they were ecstatic. They had tremendous success: Not only were sick people healed, but demons were subject to them in Jesus’ name. Their joy was overflowing. They told Jesus how the demons were cast out in His name, as though He was just finding out!
His simple response: “I beheld Satan fall as lightning from heaven” (Luke 10:18).
In NT Greek, fall denoted utter defeat, and it actually meant to be thrust out, to be cast out from a higher place to a lower. The fact is, Satan didn’t just fall: He didn’t fall because he tripped on something, stumbled and lost his balance, and toppled over the balconies of heaven.
No! He was thrust out—he was cast out!
“And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon and his angels, and they prevailed not. Neither was their place found anymore in heaven” (Rev.12:7-9). Satan was kicked out of his place! “And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent called the devil…. The accuser of the brethren is cast down, and they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony” (v.10).
The faithful angels cast Satan and his angels out with their numbers: Two to one. We overcome him by the blood and the Word. Twice in two verses, it is stated that he was cast down. In Greek, cast down is a compound word: kata= down. ballo= to throw with great force. It is intensive.
I Beheld…
Where Jesus said “I beheld,” it’s the imperfect tense in the Greek language. It actually means: I was beholding, or I was seeing… Why does this matter? Get ready for some good stuff!
In Greek, the imperfect tense refers to repetitive action in the past—something being done over and over in the past. We think of repetitive action as being in the present, but this tense means to look back in the past and see an action repeated over and over. The idea is, Jesus had a picture before Him of repetitive action, something occurring over and over in the past, which was Satan falling from heaven.
Every time the 70 went forth and cast out demons, Jesus saw Satan fall from heaven again! Two went to this town, and cast out demons. Another two went to that town, and cast out demons. As they all went forth in the authority of Jesus’ Name, demons kept coming out. And Jesus was seeing Satan fall from heaven each time!
If it were just a simple past tense—I saw Satan fall—it would be a snapshot. It happened once, you took the picture, and that was it. But the imperfect tense is like watching a video. Jesus was watching a video in His mind’s eye of demons coming out here and demons coming out there, etc.! Jesus was essentially saying to them: “While you were casting out demons, I was beholding their Master Satan falling from heaven.”
Please understand: Every time demons are cast out, Satan experiences his fall from heaven all over again. Every time a child of God, filled with the Spirit, exercises his divine authority and casts the devil out, Satan experiences déjà vu!
And another remarkable thing: This was before the cross! Before God highly exalted the name of Jesus. Before He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand, “far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, in this world and in the world to come” (Ephesians 1:19-22). Before God highly exalted Jesus, and gave Him “a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow, in heaven, in earth, and beneath the earth, and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord” (Philippians 2:9-11). This means even Satan’s knee shall bow, and Satan’s tongue shall confess that Jesus is Lord.
Those disciples had total success using the name of Jesus, and we are on the other side of the cross. We also have the authority of the blood of the Lamb. The Lamb conquered the Dragon! The Lamb conquered the Serpent!
Give No Place to the Devil!
Paul commanded in Ephesians 4:27: “Neither give place to the devil.” The Greek construction is in the present tense with the negative. The present tense denotes continual action. When it is combined with the negative, it means to stop an action already in progress. In other words, stop giving place to the devil. Stop allowing him to invade your thoughts with his accusations and lies.
When Jesus was nearing His death on the cross, we cannot imagine the pressure that was building in His spirit and the emotional anguish He faced. He could feel the hand of the Accuser pressing him sorely, and He said to His disciples: “The prince of this world comes, and he has nothing in me” (John 14:30). What this means is, there was no room in the heart of Jesus for Satan to invade. There was no lust, no guile, no malice for Satan to seize on to tempt Him. Satan could find no place to work in the heart of Jesus to get Him to go off the rails. Jesus was going to fulfill His mission to go to the cross.
Satan had no place in heaven. He had no place in the heart of Jesus. And by God’s grace and the Holy Spirit’s convicting, cleansing ministry, he has no place in me!
It is not a sin to be tempted. This is what Satan does. He tempted the Son of God, (Matthew 4), and he will tempt us. But we have the spiritual weaponry that is mighty through God to cast down his imaginations, and bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ (Ref. 2Cor.10:4-5). I once read that our minds are like a hotel: The manager cannot keep someone from entering the lobby. But he can keep them from getting a room.
Don’t give Satan a room in your mind—Cast him out in Jesus’ Name! Then tell the devil: “Déjà Vu!”
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