Happiness and joy are very closely related. This is the dictionary definition of these two words: Happiness is “a state of well-being; a pleasurable or satisfying experience.” A definition of the word rejoice which is related to the word joy, is “to feel great delight; to be glad.” It is what most people want but never really find. Looking at the way many people are living, you realize that real happiness and joy is lacking in their lives. Some are seeking pleasure from money and wealth, believing that once they have all that money can buy, they will be able to buy joy too. But they soon find out that joy is not in their money, but the money they have labored for has even brought bigger problems into their lives.
Some look for joy in the area of fame, significance, or self-importance, by distinguishing themselves in their careers or other areas of influence that they have chosen for themselves.
They hope by accomplishing these achievements they will be happy. Yet many of these people do not have a deep, abiding happiness and joy. They may have pleasure but there is a huge difference between happiness or joy and pleasure. Pleasure is a momentary feeling that comes from something that is external.
C. S. Lewis wrote a book, Surprised by Joy, and he tells of, “experiencing a joy beyond this world ─ a specific Joy that defies our modern understanding. This idea of Joy is not a satisfied desire but an unsatisfied desire ─ a deep longing for God, a hungry pursuit of God’s heart that never ends and is more satisfying than any earthly happiness. He would later recognize these sudden aches of longing: a deep spiritual hunger for God ─ not just for an intellectual knowledge of God, but for a real relationship with Him. These deep longings in Lewis’ life ─ pointed him down the path toward a relationship with Jesus Christ.”
King Solomon in the Bible looked for happiness and contentment by experiencing all that life could offer and he said, “All that my eyes desired I did not refuse them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure, for my heart was pleased because of all my labor and this was my reward for all my labor. Thus I considered all my activities which my hands had done and the labor which I had exerted, and behold all was vanity and striving after wind and there was no profit under the sun.” Ecclesiastes 2:10-11
Some people look for joy in power. They think that by acquiring power they will be able to control people, situations and circumstances and this will produce happiness or joy. The disciples of Jesus had this experience which is described in Luke 10. Jesus had given 70 of them a special assignment to go to the people of Israel to meet their physical and spiritual needs and announce that the kingdom of God had come.
Jesus “sent them in pairs ahead of Him to every city and place where He Himself was going to come. “And He was saying to them, the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest. Go; behold, I send you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. Carry no money belt, no bag, no shoes; and greet no one on the way. Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house”, Luke 10:1-5. He told them to heal the sick and to tell people that the kingdom of God had come to them.
“The seventy returned with joy, saying, ‘Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name’. And He said to them, ‘I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning. Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will injure you.” Luke 10:17-19
The disciples came back with enthusiasm. They came back with great joy. They experienced a newfound power by being able to subdue demons. When they say, “even the demons are subject to us,” it would seem that their ability to cast out demons was supreme evidence of the power and authority they exercised in the name of the Lord Jesus. That they were able to cast out demons was proof to the disciples that they had great authority in Jesus name, and therefore they had a great cause for joy. They had experienced a newfound power.
Jesus’ response to the enthusiasm and joy of the seventy is most interesting. The first thing about His response is that it is warm, affirming, even a sharing in their joy. While their joy may have been of the wrong kind, they were not rebuked.
Before our Lord seeks to re-focus their joy, He first informed them that their ability to cast out demons was evidence of even greater issues than they had imagined. They saw their success only in terms of their having authority over the demons; Jesus was also watching their success (“I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven-v. 18); only He saw Satan being defeated. If they saw the demons as subject to them, Jesus saw Satan in the beginnings of his downfall. Satan was, like lightning, falling from heaven. He meant Satan was falling down, and he was falling “lightning” fast. The coming of Christ and the cross of Christ was and would be Satan’s defeat, and the mission of the seventy was but a preview of what was to come. Did the seventy see the demons as subject to them? Jesus saw Satan as being defeated, and his power and authority as being overthrown. Jesus came to defeat Satan and take away his power of death over mankind. “Since the children have flesh and blood, He (Jesus) too shared in their humanity so that by His death (on the Cross) he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil” Hebrews 2:14.
Author - John Spence