In the tenth chapter of the book of Luke we find a familiar Scripture about the company of seventy. I believe that we have read this and not fully understood it because the significance of this Scripture is more with us in this present time than it was with them at that particular time. This was a special dispensation or a special activity that God gave to them as a prelude of what we would walk in today. As you read, carefully picture yourself moving in this.
Now after this the Lord appointed seventy others, and sent them two and two 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 your ways; behold, I send you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. Carry no purse, no bag, no shoes; and greet no one on the way. And whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house.’ And if a man of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him; but if not, it will return to you. And stay in that house, eating and drinking what they give you; for the laborer is worthy of his wages. Do not keep moving from house to house. And whatever city you enter, and they receive you, eat what is set before you; and heal those in it who are sick and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ But whatever city you enter and they do not receive you, go out into its streets and say, ‘Even the dust of your city which clings to our feet, we wipe off in protest against you; yet be sure of this, that the kingdom of God has come near.’ I say to you, it will be more tolerable in that day for Sodom, than for that city.
“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles had been performed in Tyre and Sidon which occurred in you, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. But it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the judgment, than for you. And you, Capernaum, will not be exalted to heaven, will you? You will be brought down to Hades! The one who listens to you listens to Me, and the one who rejects you rejects me; and he who rejects Me rejects the One who sent Me.”
And 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 upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall injure you. Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven.”
At that very time He rejoiced greatly in the Holy Spirit, and said, “I praise Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that Thou didst hide these things from the wise and intelligent and didst reveal them to babes. Yes, Father, for thus it was well-pleasing in thy sight. All things have been handed over to Me by My Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.” And turning to the disciples, He said privately, “Blessed are the eyes which see the things you see, for I say to you, that many prophets and kings wished to see the things that you see, and did not see them, and to hear the things that you hear, and did not hear them.” Luke 10:1–24.
Many of the things that God has written to His people have been given specifically for us in this end time. The particular ministry that these seventy had was different from the ordinary ministry. God had given them something which would be an indication of what we would walk in during the end time. This is an example of the end-time ministry that we must move into. The continuation of this ministry did not take place in the early church. They had miracles and deliverances but not the total possession—not the total victory that the seventy witnessed. Everything was subject to them. Everything was in their hands. They had full authority to do anything that they desired to do.
Christ commissioned them to go forth and do all of those things. They went out and they said, “It works! All of these things are subject to us, the demons are subject to us!” The Word says that the Lord was … watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning (Luke 10:18). They saw the actual destruction of Satan coming to pass.
But this was not for them at that time. This is for us now. This is the end-time ministry God is bringing us into. We have to understand where God has positioned us and where God has placed us in time. We need to know that this is the end time. This is the time for that specific ministry when we will go forth as they went forth, with all authority in our hands to do the work of God: to cast out demons and see Satan fall as lightning from heaven; to see the utter destruction of Satan in the end time, because this is what God has decreed and God has declared. The early church had their miracles and they saw great things take place, but they did not have that total possession. These seventy moved with the abandonment of sonship—as sons who possessed this authority as a part of them.
When you minister, you often feel you are drawing upon various helps. You are drawing on the power of God, the anointing of God. You are drawing on the power of God when you pray for someone: “Lord, heal this person,” and God heals them. But there are other times when you feel the actual weight of authority resting upon you until you say, “Be healed.” You don’t say, “God heal this person.” You heal them because you feel it is within you, it is a part of you.
This is what God wants us to have in this day; this is what God wants us to walk in. We do not call upon these various powers just to execute the things that we see are needful, but we say, “Be done! This is the will of God for the person to be loosed: Be loosed!” If it is the will of God for this to be bound: “Be bound in the name of Jesus!” Declare the word of God! Speak the word of God; perform the will of God! Do it!
These seventy went forth unlimited by needs. Of course we have needs today, but the time is coming when we are going to walk with that full possession of sonship. We are going to go forth to do the will of God unlimited by needs.
One thing I always wanted in my life was enough money to be able to do anything that God said do. Today, you often say that you shouldn’t seek for money, but I want money and the church wants money. We want to be in the position when God says to print this literature and send it out, we are able to print it. You might think, “We have to cut back because we don’t have money for paper, we don’t have money for labor.” You see a need; you feel limited, so you just keep babying along with what you have. But I would like to have enough money to be able to say, “God, You speak and I’ll do. Whatever You speak I’ll do.” The time is coming when we are not going to be limited by needs. We are going to say, “Whatever God wants us to do, well be able to do; because it is the will of God.”
The seventy went forth and the Lord said to them. “Don’t even take a purse or shoes or anything extra, because all your needs will be supplied and taken care of.” This was not the ordinary way people went forth to minister; they took care of their various needs. Paul even worked as a tentmaker to supply his needs. This was an indication of what is to come in the end time. It was an example of what we are going to walk in today.
When we travel today, we don’t travel light. We are not able to because there are so many things we feet that we need. But God is going to make it possible for us to simply be where He wants us to be. We won’t have to travel across country with a car full of things. We won’t have to worry about carrying luggage or anything else because God will supply our needs. If we go out to fulfill the will of the Lord, God will take care of us.
They were unlimited in resources because the authority of peace was within them; it was a part of them. They could walk into a house or a city, and say, “Peace be with you,” and if a man of peace were there, the peace would come there. They spoke the peace. They didn’t have to call down peace from someplace or believe God to minister it to them. They brought this peace with them into the city or into the house. It was a part of them. It was an impartation that God gave them, and they had it within them to give to another person. They were ready to give it or hold it back if the individual was not ready to receive that peace. They could even walk out in the streets and shake the dust off their feet causing the judgment of God to be upon those people who would not receive the peace that was within them.
The authority was upon them. The authority over any power of the enemy was within them. They could speak the word—they could speak the authority and it would be executed. They moved in the judgment of God. They moved so much in the judgment of God that they became the issue. They became the ones that spoke, not Jesus or doctrine or place. Jesus said, “If they receive you, they receive Me. If they reject you, they reject Me and the One who sent Me” (Luke 10:16). They were not giving doctrine for people to say, “I don’t like that doctrine. I don’t think I’ll accept that doctrine.” They would walk in and people would accept them or they would reject them.
People make a big issue today about doctrine, but realize that what God has planted within His people is what is important. You are going to come against people who are not going to examine your doctrine or your belief, they are going to examine you. They are going to see what is within you. They are going to reject what God has to offer because they will reject you, or they will accept what God has to offer because they will accept you. This is the issue. Those seventy ministers were the ones who were received or rejected—who became the source of blessing or the source of judgment to the people they came in contact with. We are going to come into the same walk. We are going to come into that same position where we “I will be the source of blessing or the source of judgment according to whether someone receives or rejects us.
This has been a stumbling block because it has been difficult to accept. People come and say, “I love the doctrine; I love the teaching and I love the worship but this man I cannot stand.” There is something of spirit that they cannot accept in the man. Then there are many other people who come, and though they do not like a lot of things, yet there is a love, a drawing, an attraction. There is going to be a spirit planted within us that is going to minister to the spirit of the person we come in contact with. That person will not even understand what we are talking about, but will feel our spirit and reject or accept us according to what is resting upon us.
It behooves us to move into a place in the Spirit until we radiate the Spirit of God, until we are able to minister that Spirit of God. This doesn’t allow the excuses many people have that: “I can’t speak. I can’t preach. I can’t explain these issues.” That is not important. The important thing is for you to have the Spirit of God resting upon you until you are able to impart that Spirit. That person says, “Well I don’t even understand what he is talking about, but I want it. I want what he’s got because I can feel the Spirit within it.” That is what God is going to raise up today: a people who are going to become an issue, a people who are going to be accepted or rejected because of what God has done in them.
Judgment is reserved for a certain time in God’s plan, the end time. The early church didn’t have this ministry committed to them. There was some judgment that rested upon them when they lied to Peter. Peter said to them, “Why did you lie to the Holy Spirit?” and they were struck dead. Occasionally there was judgment, but the ministry of judgment is reserved for this end time. The Scripture says it is time for judgment to begin in the house of God (I Peter 4:19). This is the time God is giving into the hands of His people, into the church of Jesus Christ, the ministry of judgment. We are going to be able to speak a word and a blessing will come forth or a judgment will come forth.
You won’t have to stand and say to someone, “Be judged. Be cursed.” You will simply speak the word of God and that which is within you is going to go forth as the blessing or the judgment upon that person. If he receives the word, you will be an automatic blessing to him. If he rejects the word, you will be an automatic judgment to him because he refuses to accept the word that God brought to him.
We are already beginning to see the train of demons headed into the pit. Judgment has come to many who have opposed God and stood against God. Some who have been very critical maintain that no one can put demons into the pit but Jesus.
They fail to understand what God is doing through His people in this day—what God is doing through those who are upon the earth to do His will.
This is the ministry of the church in the end time: to speak judgment to Babylon, judgment against those who oppose God and everything that turns against God. People can stand by and criticize as much as they want. They can reject us and say that this walk is false; yet, God is going to move through His people and bring down everything that opposes Him. We are going to see it take place in this day.
If we had tried to walk in this particular ministry of judgment sooner, it would have been presumptuous. To fail to walk in it now would be to miss the will of God completely because this is what God is doing. This is the way God is moving. This is the ministry of the end time. This is why God is raising us up and bringing forth the church today. It is not just to meet and have blessings and worship and all the things that we enjoy. God is raising us up to be a people who will do the will of God. All the ministry we can receive and all the blessing we can receive is wonderful, but don’t ever think that your ministry is just to come to church and get blessed, to come and receive what you can receive. Your ministry is to come and be fed and strengthened until you are able to go out and fight the enemy—to stand against him and minister the judgment that God has put within your hands against everything that opposes God and comes against His will. What God was doing in that particular time with the seventy was like a dress rehearsal for the ministry of the sons in this day.
A new attitude is being developed within us. The unlimited resource of God is something we are beginning to feel. It is not something you can put your finger on, but you can begin to feel it. You can begin to sense that power and strength; you can begin to feel your position and your place.
There is something outstanding about a person who is in a position and he knows his place. He does not have to defend his place or prove it to someone else; he just stands in that place. That person cannot be shaken because he knows his position in God; he knows what authority he has from God. He knows what he is going to do for God and with God. He knows what God is going to do through him so he simply stands in that place. God is raising up people today with the feeling of unlimited resource who know God is endowing them with that very position.
It is wonderful to walk as the seventy walked, knowing that the ministry of peace is upon me, the anointing of peace is within me. I can go into a house and if they receive this peace they have it. If they reject it, the judgment of God is coming against them.
The seventy didn’t have to argue with anybody. They didn’t have to go in and sell themselves or prove anything. It was there. They just moved in and imparted it if the people were able to receive it. This is what is happening to the children of God today as we come into that place of sonship.
When Jesus was baptized, the voice came out of heaven and said, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” He had the assurance that He was the Son of God. He knew the place He stood in God. God is putting His assurance upon His people today. We too can march forth knowing our place in God—knowing that we stand as sons of God with authority resting upon us to do the will of God. We will no longer come to a situation and say, “I wonder if this is going to work. I wonder if this demon will be cast out.” We are going to stand knowing our place in God, knowing the authority rests upon us, and we will speak the word and let the will of God happen. This is the ministry of the end time. This is the ministry that God has ordained for us. The acceptance of who we are and what God wants to do through us is the key to the end-time events that God is bringing forth.
In the book of Revelation the twelfth chapter speaks about Satan and the war in heaven. The dragon was swept out of heaven. In Romans 16:20 the Scripture tells how the God of peace will soon crush Satan under our feet. We are to move into the place where we will see Satan defeated. We are going to see Satan cast out of heaven. This is the ministry that God has reserved for us in this end time. God is bringing to His church the awareness of judgment and the awareness of authority. We are just beginning to embrace these concepts and accept them, just beginning to accept that this is what God is bringing to His church. We are going to see this authority resting on the Church more and more in this end time.
We will carry the authority of judgment on our person to the world. We will walk as sons of God with the authority resting upon us: authority to minister, authority to speak the word—the word that will bring forth blessing or judgment—because this is the time for judgment to begin from the house of God. We speak the word of loosing and the word of binding. First of all, speak the word of loosing to yourself. Everyone of us has something that holds us captive, that holds us in a little bit of bondage. Begin to speak the word of loosing to yourself. See yourself loosed, free to walk in these things. Loose yourself into a revelation of the spirit realm. Open your eyes and your ears to revelation. Do it now because God is going to use you.
God is going to use us in this day because we are the ones that He has brought forth. We are the sons that God has raised up to be ministries in the end time to fulfill the complete will of God upon the earth. What God gave to those seventy was what He purposed for us to walk in today. That authority will rest upon us and we will go forth and speak the word of God and be the sons of God to the world in this day.