The Harvest Is Great: Lessons from the Sending of the Seventy (Luke 10:1–21)
The Harvest Is Great: Lessons from the Sending of the Seventy (Luke 10:1–21)
Page: 100 | Passage: Luke 10:1–10:21 | Generated: March 2026
DIRECT ANSWER BLOCK
In Luke 10:1–21, Jesus sends out seventy disciples two by two into every city ahead of him. He commissions them to pray for laborers, heal the sick, and proclaim the kingdom of God. When they return rejoicing over their authority over demons, Jesus redirects their joy toward a greater foundation: that their names are written in heaven.
KEY VERSE
“Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.”
— Luke 10:20 (KJV)
DEVOTIONAL BODY
Page 100: A Milestone and a Mission
There is something fitting about reaching page 100 of a journey through the New Testament and landing here — in the middle of a sending. Jesus does not wait for disciples to feel fully ready. He appoints seventy of them, pairs them up, and dispatches them like advance teams into the towns and villages he intends to visit. The mission is urgent, the labor force is thin, and the harvest is vast. “The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few,” he tells them. “Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest” (Luke 10:2).
That prayer is still necessary today. The fields have not grown smaller. The instruction has not been rescinded.
Sent Out Vulnerable, Backed by Heaven
The conditions Jesus sets for the seventy seem, on the surface, like disadvantages. No purse. No bag. No extra sandals. No pausing to greet people on the road. They are sent as “lambs among wolves” (Luke 10:3). Everything about the commission strips away the appearance of self-sufficiency. They are to depend entirely on the households that receive them, eating what is provided and staying where hospitality is offered.
This is not carelessness — it is theological precision. The mission depends on God, not on the missionaries’ resources. The laborers are worthy of their hire (v. 7), but the harvest belongs to the Lord. When they enter a city that welcomes them, they heal its sick and announce the nearness of the kingdom. When a city refuses them, they shake even its dust from their feet — and still declare that the kingdom has drawn near (v. 11). The message is not contingent on reception.
Charles Spurgeon put it plainly: “God does not give harvests to idle men except harvests of thistles.” The seventy went. They did not wait for better conditions. They carried only the authority they had been given, and that was enough.
Authority, Joy, and the Right Foundation
The seventy return “with joy” — and not a mild joy. They are exhilarated. “Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name” (v. 17). Jesus does not dismiss this. He confirms it: “I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. 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” (vv. 18–19).
This is real authority. It is not metaphorical. But then Jesus says something that reorients everything: “Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven” (v. 20). The greater miracle is not what the disciples can do in Jesus’ name — it is that they are known by him. Their names are inscribed in the heavenly register.
D. L. Moody, commenting directly on this passage, wrote: “It is the privilege of every one of us to know, beyond a doubt, that our salvation is sure. Then we can work for others.” The order matters: security in salvation produces fruitful service. The disciples could go out boldly not because they were confident in themselves, but because they were confident in whose they were.
The Joy of the Father Revealed
The passage closes with one of the most tender moments in Luke’s Gospel. Jesus, filled with joy in the Holy Spirit, breaks into prayer: “I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes: even so, Father; for so it seemed good in thy sight” (v. 21). The word Luke uses for Jesus’ joy here is unique — it is a deep, exultant gladness. Jesus is not merely pleased. He is rejoicing.
What causes this eruption of gratitude? The Father’s sovereign goodness. The kingdom has come near. Ordinary people — untrained, unimpressive, sent out without provision — have been given eyes to see what prophets and kings longed to witness. And the Father has arranged all of it. Spurgeon, speaking of a believer’s assurance, wrote of how “glory begun below” — the inheritance secured, the presence known, the name written. That inheritance is what the seventy have stumbled into, and it is what Jesus now celebrates before his Father.
CALLOUT
“The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest.” — Luke 10:2
The command to pray for more workers is itself an act of mission. Jesus does not merely tell us to lament the shortage — he tells us to bring it before the one who owns the harvest. The prayer changes us. It aligns our hearts with the urgency of God’s work and opens us to being the very answer we are asking for.
APPLICATION
Three things Luke 10:1–21 invites you to do:
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Pray specifically for laborers. Jesus’ first instruction to the seventy is not to go — it is to ask. Before the sending comes the praying. Take time today to name specific places, people groups, or communities you know are without gospel workers, and bring them before the Lord of the harvest.
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Go with what you have. The seventy were not sent when conditions were ideal. They were sent vulnerable and dependent. Whatever resources, relationships, or opportunities you have right now are enough to take the next step of faithfulness. Do not wait for a better-equipped moment.
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Anchor your joy in the right place. It is easy to build identity around what we accomplish for God — ministry results, answered prayers, visible fruit. Jesus redirects the seventy away from this. Let the bedrock of your joy be this: your name is written in heaven. That cannot be taken from you by failure, rejection, or a city that shakes its dust at you.
FAQ BLOCK
Q: Who were the seventy sent out in Luke 10?
The seventy (some manuscripts say seventy-two) were disciples of Jesus beyond the twelve apostles — followers he had trained who were prepared to carry his message into new places. Jesus sent them in pairs into every city he planned to visit, making them his advance representatives.
Q: What does “the harvest is great but the labourers are few” mean?
Jesus uses the image of an agricultural harvest to describe the urgent spiritual need of people ready to receive the gospel. The fields are full of souls who could respond, but there are not enough workers willing to go. His solution is prayer — asking the God who owns the harvest to call and send more.
Q: What does it mean that names are written in heaven?
In Luke 10:20, Jesus tells the disciples that the proper foundation for their joy is not their authority over demons but the fact that their names are recorded in God’s heavenly register — a biblical image of belonging to him, being known by him, and secured in salvation. This is the believer’s unshakeable identity.
Q: Why did Jesus say he saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven?
Jesus’ statement in Luke 10:18 points to the cosmic significance of the disciples’ mission. Their Spirit-empowered work in his name was not merely a local evangelistic trip — it was a sign that Satan’s dominion was being broken. The kingdom of God advancing through ordinary people is a defeat for the powers of darkness.
CALL TO ACTION
If reading through Luke 10 has stirred something in you — a sense of being sent, of a harvest bigger than your resources, of a name that is known in heaven — then this journey through Scripture is exactly for you. Carry it with you. Hold it in your hands wherever you go.
We’ll send you a free pocket New Testament to hold it all in. Just cover shipping.
