There

“And He said to them, ‘I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven….’” (Luke 10:17).

Fall of Lucifer for John Milton's epic poem Paradise Lost (Gustave Doré)

There is a story in the Gospels that speaks of Christ’s power over the spiritual world – particularly demons.

And I have recently been reading one of them again and I have been thinking about this today because the words that Christ used are so vivid…  “And he said to them, ‘I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven….’” (Luke 10:17).

“The seventy returned with joy, saying, ‘Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!’ And he said to them, ‘I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I have given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing shall hurt you. Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you; but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.’” (Luke 10:17-24).

I have been thinking about the reality of that.  You see, Christ saw Satan fall.  He was there.  It was not figurative – He was being literal.  He was telling us – explicitly – that He is timeless.  And this is something that is so profound that I feel I could spend eternity just contemplating such a thought as that.

Last year, my sister’s husband passed on to eternal life.  He was a young man with a young family and I am in no way romanticising the terrible suffering of that experience – for him and for the people who loved him who are left behind.  But rather, I am considering this terribly sad thing from the perspective of this Gospel story…  Where Christ saw Satan fall…

What hope there is for me in those words today!  Christ was there when the angels fell.  He was there when humankind fell.  He was there when humankind was redeemed.  He was there when the world began – and He will be there when the world ends.  In other words, everything that has happened and will happen is only a blink of the eye of God, who has seen everything and will see everything and knows everything.  And there is great comfort in that.  After all, if God could see the angels fall and know that all is good (and know this well enough to create humankind – who would also fall) and if God could see the Sacrifice that HE would make for LOVE of us to make reparation for our sins and still God could move ahead with all that He had written, then there is certain certainty…

And this means that when loved ones die, or suffer or when things go wrong.  This means that when times are difficult or my children are worrying me, there is always hope.  Because Christ was there when things were terrible – when Satan fell from the sky.  He was there when things were repaired – suffering and dying for our sins.  And He is there when life is simply too hard for me.

And there is hope for me – through Christ – right there…

For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.