Jesus Authority Over Demons, Our Ideas, and the Word of God
Luke 4:32 and they were astonished at his teaching, for his word possessed authority.
Luke 4:33 And in the synagogue there was a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice,
Luke 4:34 “Ha! What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God.”
Luke 4:35 But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent and come out of him!” And when the demon had thrown him down in their midst, he came out of him, having done him no harm.
Luke 4:36 And they were all amazed and said to one another, “What is this word? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out!”
Luke 4:37 And reports about him went out into every place in the surrounding region.
When the teachers taught in Jesus’ day, they would almost show off by the number of other Rabbis they could quote. The more they could quote, the more commentaries they would bring together to give the people a synthesized teaching. It wasn’t bad. If you had a good Rabbi, it would be the sum of many great Rabbis’ teachings.
But Jesus arrived on the scene, read the scriptures, and then taught. He acted like a completely different class of Rabbi that could actually have the authority to come up with new teachings based on the scriptures. That was a big deal! In addition to that, it was right. None of the Rabbis around came to correct it (yet.)
So even the demons that are lingering around recognize this authority, and speak out:
Luke 4:34 “Ha! What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God.”
There are other people that fall down before Jesus (a centurion, blind men, others) and say the same thing. Except they call Him “Son of David,” “Messiah,” and “Christ.”
This demon isn’t wrong and the demon isn’t lying. So what’s up?
Well if we didn’t get it from the temptation in the wilderness, we get a second chance here: **the devil is an expert at bending the Word of God to his own purposes. ** This demon knows that Christ has come to destroy the works of the devil. He knows that Jesus is the Holy One of God. But the way it uses those words aren’t bringing Christ glory and honor. They aren’t in keeping with the character of Yahweh.
And that right there is the best test we have. God didn’t write the 66 books of the Bible in 66 separate little towers. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. So when we read a scripture or we see it being quoted by somebody to “prove a point,” do what Jesus was trying to do in that synagogue that day.
Be drawn to the man Jesus.
Look to Jesus with humility. Become the apprentice of Christ. Nobody that really knows the “Holy One of God” would talk in His face with anything except love and humility.
Jesus has the authority to cast spirits out of people. He has the power to cast the foolishness out of our thinking. He has the power to march into our questions and make them clear.
Let us offer Him our words and the scriptures we do and don’t understand with humility and teachableness. He loves us. He’ll help us out. It says so in the scriptures.
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