Transcript

An organization in Montana offered a bounty of five thousand dollars for every wolf captured alive.  Two hunters named Sam and Jed decided to head for the hills and make some money capturing wolves.

Day and night they scoured the mountains and forests searching for their valuable prey. Exhausted after three days of hunting without any success, they both fell asleep. 

During the night, Sam suddenly woke up to find that he and Jed were surrounded by a pack of fifty wolves, with flaming red eyes and bared teeth, snarling at the two hunters and preparing to pounce. 

Sam nudged Jed and whispered, “Hey, wake up.  Look.  We’re gonna be filthy rich.”

Living in this world, though unseen to us, we are surrounded by snarling enemies in the spiritual realm.  And this is no laughing matter.  It is reality.

In this episode, we will begin a series called “Delivered from Darkness.”  In the Lord’s earthly ministry, we read of numerous accounts of Christ being confronted by demons and casting them out of the people they possessed.

Christ, by His unlimited power and sovereign authority, delivered people from darkness and demons.  And this shows us where we must turn in the spiritual battle for strength and protection.  We must “be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.”

And as the Savior delivered people from darkness in His earthly ministry, this reminds us of the precious truth that Paul made known to the Church, that through Christ’s victory over sin, death, and Satan, the Father, “hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son.”

Mark 1:21: “And they went into Capernaum; and straightway on the sabbath day he entered into the synagogue, and taught.  And they were astonished at his doctrine: for he taught them as one that had authority, and not as the scribes.”

The Lord is in the north of Israel in Galilee in this account.  The Gospel of Luke tells us that the Lord had traveled to Capernaum after leaving His hometown of Nazareth. 

This time is Nazareth is when the people rejected the Lord and tried to throw Him off a high cliff.  We can be sure that this was instigated by Satan as an attempt to destroy the Messiah.  But Christ miraculously passed through the crowd, and He traveled next to Capernaum, where again He faced satanic resistance.

Capernaum was a fishing village on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee.  The Lord had just called Peter and Andrew and James and John to follow Him and they had agreed to do so.  And verse 21 then says, “And they went into Capernaum.” 

Like they had determined to do, these four disciples followed the Lord and they went with Him into the city.  After going into the city, when the weekly Sabbath came, the Lord “entered into the synagogue, and taught.”

You can go to Capernaum today and see the remains of an ancient Jewish synagogue, which still has the foundation of this same building that the Lord taught in.

The synagogue was a place of worship and instruction.  Synagogues, and the worship of God at them, had come into existence during Israel’s exile to Babylon.  They were a gathering place for the Jewish community, where the Jews gathered for reading the Law and the prophets, for instruction by scribes and rabbis, and for prayer and fellowship. 

At the synagogue, it was customary to ask visiting teachers to read the Scriptures and to teach, which is why the Lord was given the opportunity to minister in the Capernaum synagogue.

The Apostle Paul also took advantage of this opportunity in his ministry in his spread of the gospel of the grace of God, as we see in the Book of Acts.

When the Lord taught in the synagogue in Capernaum, verse 22 says the people present “were astonished at His doctrine.”  Luke 4:32 adds, “And they were astonished at his doctrine: for His word was with power.”

The word “astonished” means to strike with shock, to be struck with amazement.  The people were shocked and amazed at the manner and content of the teaching of Christ.  Christ’s teaching packed a punch.

The people quickly realized that the Lord was no ordinary teacher.  There was undeniable power connected with His words and teachings.  His message was captivating, piercing, and inspiring, and it was complete wisdom and perfect truth.

It’s exciting to think that we will hear our Lord teach and personally experience the power of His words one day in glory and throughout eternity.

As far as what Christ taught in this synagogue in Galilee, a few verses earlier, Mark recorded that “Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel” (vv. 14-15).

Christ was proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, that the people needed to repent and believe the good news that the prophetic timetable was fulfilled, that the Messiah had arrived and the long-promised kingdom was at hand.  Israel needed to repent and believe in Him as her Messiah and King to enter the kingdom that He was soon to establish.

The people in the synagogue were astonished verse 22 says, because “He taught them as one that had authority.”  When Christ spoke, it was God speaking.  When Christ taught, it was God teaching.  Christ is God, God the Son.

He taught the Word of God and He spoke with authority because He is the God of the Word and its Author.  He spoke with complete grasp and understanding of its interpretation and truth, able to authoritatively explain it all perfectly.  His words had life and power to them because they were the absolute truth.

The Lord taught, “not as the scribes” verse 22 says.  The scribes, as mere men, had no such authority like Christ, the Son of God.  And in their spiritual blindness and unbelief, they were just mechanically going through the religious motions, and their teaching was not accompanied by the power of God.

Luke 4:31 states that the Lord “taught them on the sabbath days,” plural.  This shows that Christ taught for many Saturdays in Capernaum in the synagogue, and this left the people continually “astonished,” week after week as He taught them with authority.

And Christ’s authority is carried forward to His encounter with a visitor at the synagogue on one Sabbath day.

Mark 1:23-24: “And there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit; and he cried out, Saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God.”

Revelation 12:3-4 says this, “And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. 

“And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.”

In the dragon’s, or Satan’s, rebellion against God in the beginning, he was able to persuade a third of God’s “innumerable company of angels” to follow him.  This is what Revelation 12:4 refers to when it says that “his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven.”  These “stars of heaven” are Satan’s angels or his demons.

In his ongoing rebellion and long war against God, Satan, who is the god of this world, “did cast them [or his angels] to the earth.”

Satan has attempted to thwart the plans and purposes of God from the very beginning.  And he and his angels rage, scheme, and work in this world to that end.

Revelation 12:4 states that he desired to destroy the woman’s or Israel’s Child, meaning the Messiah, “as soon as it was born.” 

And this took place when Herod “slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under” (Matt. 2:16).  Satan tried to kill Christ when He was born.

When that failed, he then tried and failed to corrupt Christ in the wilderness temptation.  He tried and failed several times to have Him slain before He could go to the cross. 

This took place in Nazareth when they tried to throw Him off a steep precipice and other times when the Jews took up stones to stone Him.

And due to his opposition against Christ, demon possession was prevalent in the Lord’s time.  The arrival of God’s Son intensified the spiritual warfare.  The birth, life and ministry of Christ was a pivotal moment in the history and future of this world. 

And Satan, the god of this world, concentrated and increased the activity of his angels in Israel to oppose the ministry of Israel’s Messiah, Jesus Christ.

And through the many demon possessions at that time, he attempted to distract, frighten, and attempt to do anything and everything to lead the people away from Christ.

The kingdom of darkness actively, boldly, and openly opposed the kingdom of light during Christ’s ministry.  And it seemed like every time the Lord turned around, there was another demon-possessed person in front of Him.

But this only served for Christ to demonstrate His supreme power over Satan and the demonic world as the Son of God.  And it also served to show His kindness and love in delivering people from the horrible consequences of spiritual darkness.

As the Lord was teaching God’s Word one Sabbath at the synagogue in Capernaum taught suddenly a man cried out and interrupted His teaching. 

The voice belonged to a man that had an “unclean spirit,” in other words a man possessed by a demon.

Demons are created beings.  They are angels.  They are fallen angels that no longer belong to God, heaven, or the kingdom of light because they chose to follow Satan in his rebellion. 

These angels now exist as part of the kingdom of darkness, and they are destined to dwell forever in the darkness and torments of the lake of fire.

Satan is their ruler.  In Mark 3:22 and other places, Satan is called “the prince of the devils” which means the ruler of the demons.  In Revelation 12:9, when Satan is cast out of heaven at the mid-point of the Tribulation, it says “HIS ANGELS were cast out with him.”

They are called “devils,” “evil spirits” and “unclean spirits” in the Scriptures.

As spirit beings, demons have the ability to take possession of a physical body.  This cannot happen to the believer, because the Holy Spirit dwells with us.  Ands as 1 John 4:4 states, “greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world.” 

Demon possession is still possible under grace.  But I believe Satan’s strategy is different today.  The devil and his angels prefer to work more behind the scenes and have people doubt their existence, which make them more dangerous. 

Much of the world has made a religion and god out of science, choosing to believe in only what they can see and touch.  Thus, demon possession, I believe, is very rare under grace, because they don’t want to discourage people in their disbelief of what they cannot see.

But demons are still extremely active, just in different ways.  They work continuously to deceive, distract, keep people blind to the gospel, promote doctrines of devils, sow chaos in the world, and to attack the church to destroy our testimony for Christ.

Demons do also work in the occult, witchcraft, fortune telling, astrology, seances, and in ghost sightings, and aliens and UFOs, but they do so to distract and keep people blind to the gospel and far away from the truth of God’s Word and the Savior.

Every single time Christ met someone demon-possessed He kicked the demons out.  And He did it very simply.  In Matthew 8:16, it says, “…they brought unto Him many that were possessed with devils: and He cast out the spirits with His word…”

In the synagogue services when Christ taught in Capernaum, they were astonished at the power of His Word; and by the power of His Word, as God, He cast out demons.

This case of casting out a demon is unusual, however, because of where it took place: in a place of worship!  This is a reminder to us that Satan does his most effective work in religion and in churches.

His purpose and that of his angels is to blind “the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ…should shine unto them.”  Thus, under grace, he works in churches and in religion to deceive and create confusion.

And he creates little subtle twists to the gospel to keep people from trusting Christ alone and the simple gospel message that Christ died for our sins and rose again.

As Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 11:3: “But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.”

We learn things about the demons in this passage and also what they believe and understand.  A man “with an unclean spirit” was present in the synagogue at one of the times that Christ taught there.

Sometime prior to this account, a demon had entered this man’s body, taken possession of it, and he now controlled this man.  This spirit, or demon, was unclean, or morally impure and filthy.  Demons are filthy and impure spirits who are rotten to their core.

The man may have attended synagogue services in the past when Christ wasn’t there, but he had never been disturbed before by what he had heard or witnessed. 

But on this day, when Christ was present and teaching, he was upset.  The Word of God, spoken from the mouth of our Lord, acted like a sword that pierced the demon.

Thus, the man, under the influence of the demon that possessed him, “cried out.”  Luke 4:33 adds that he cried out “with a loud voice.”  And his outburst interrupted the service.

The man let out a loud cry of terror, saying, “Let us alone!”  The emotional cry was expressing a mixture of anger, fear, and dismay.

Only one demon possessed this man, but the demon used the plural pronoun “us” to indicate that he spoke for all the fallen angels.

The demons are all joined together in their work of evil, and this one knew that when he was punished and condemned, all would share the same fate.  He rightly knew that Christ, the Creator, was a threat to all the demons and their activity.

The demon-possessed man said, “Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us?”

“What have we to do with Thee?” is a Hebrew idiom used elsewhere in Scripture, and it implies conflict and the incompatibility of opposing forces or designs.

It has the idea of What business do we have with each other?  Why do you interfere with us?  Why do You trouble or disturb us? 

The demon was demanding an explanation as to why Christ would come and trouble and interfere in their work in the world.  The demon was fully aware that he and Christ belonged to two opposing and completely different kingdoms, and had nothing in common, and he was angered and upset at Christ’s presence in that synagogue.

And an embodiment of evil confronted the literal embodiment of goodness.  It was light vs. darkness.  Good vs. evil.  And they clashed in a synagogue, in a place of worship, as God’s Word was taught in truth.  And so in churches today, when God’s Word is taught, spiritual confrontations and battles between light and darkness still take place.

The demon asked Christ, “art Thou come to destroy us?”

The demons are under no illusions as to the power of God.  They are fearful of His power because they are powerless before it.  James 2:19 says, “Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.”

This demon confessed that he knew that he was overmatched and that Christ could judge and condemn him and had the authority to punish and send him to the pit of hades in the center of the earth. 

One day, Satan and all demons will be cast into the bottomless pit for 1000 years when Christ’s kingdom is established on the earth.  And later still, after the kingdom, they will all be cast into the lake of fire where they will be tormented forever.

Christ’s power over evil spirits in His earthly ministry foreshadowed His future triumph over Satan and all his angels.  And it showed to all that He is the Son of God.

Because of Who Christ is, the demon knew that He had authority over him and power to destroy him in hell forever, and he accurately identified Christ here.

Through the demon, the man said, “I know Thee who Thou art.”  The pronoun changes from we and us to the singular “I” here.  The demon speaks for himself here.

This demon identified Christ in His humanity by calling Him, “Jesus of Nazareth.”  And he also identified Him in His deity by calling Him, “the Holy One of God.” 

He knew that Jesus Christ was both God and man, and that He was holy and perfect.  The demon affirmed Christ’s Deity and sinlessness.  And “the Holy One of God” is a title for Israel’s Messiah, thus, he accurately identified Jesus Christ as the promised Messiah.

Isaiah 43:15 says, “I am the LORD, your Holy One, the creator of Israel, your King.”

The Jews in Christ’s day struggled to understand, accept, or believe in His identity.  But the demons did not.  This demon affirmed truths about Christ which many still deny.  So many people then and today cannot believe what the demons know.

All demons were once holy angels who dwelt in the presence of God in heaven, and therefore it not surprising that demons know who the Son of God is as soon as they entered His presence on the earth.

The “Holy One of God” is in stark contrast to the demon’s identity who was “an unclean spirit.”  And this reinforces the opposing kingdoms to which each belonged.

Christ as the “Holy One of God” means that He was pure, fully set apart to God and His will.  But in contrast, the demon was unclean and unacceptable, and fully dedicated to the opposition of God and His purposes.

Right away, early in His ministry, Christ was confronted by the devil and his angels.  He had already faced the temptation in the wilderness by the Devil.  Now, He faced off against one of Satan’s unclean spirits in a synagogue.

Mark 1:25-28: “And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him.  And when the unclean spirit had torn him, and cried with a loud voice, he came out of him.

“And they were all amazed, insomuch that they questioned among themselves, saying, What thing is this? what new doctrine is this? for with authority commandeth he even the unclean spirits, and they do obey him.  And immediately his fame spread abroad throughout all the region round about Galilee.”

The Lord then demonstrates Who is in charge here.  Christ has total authority over the spirit world, and over demons.  He made them, He commands them, and they must obey.

1 John 3:8 says, “For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.”  In His power and authority as God, and in perfect accord with the Father’s will, Christ then liberates the captive man from the demon who had possessed this man and He delivers him from darkness.

The Lord responded to the demon and “rebuked him.”  The word translated “rebuked” refers to a word of command.  The first command of Christ to the demon is “Hold thy peace,” or literally “Be quiet.”  He commanded him to keep quiet about His identity.

The Lord did not want, nor did He need, the assistance of demons to tell people who He is.  Christ needed no testimony coming from the demonic realm.  And He would not allow unclean spirits to announce Him as the Messiah.

After silencing the demon, Christ’s next command was “Come out of him.”  And immediately the demon proved without power before the authority of Christ.  The Lord, the Creator, commanded and the demon, the created, had to submit and obey.  The powers of darkness must yield to His sovereign power.

But the wicked, vindictive, and malicious nature of the demon is evident in its treatment of the man as it came out of him.

Luke 4:35 says that the demon then threw the man down to the ground in “the midst” of all those in the synagogue. 

Verse 26 here in Mark says, “when the unclean spirit had torn him,” or caused him to convulse, shake uncontrollably, and throw himself around.

And then he “cried with a loud voice,” or he let out a loud shrill, an eerie shriek, and then the demon “came out of him.” 

Luke 4:35 adds that the demon “hurt him not,” or the man suffered no permanent injury.

As a result, the people in the synagogue, “were all amazed.”  The sight and sounds and experience of this event left the people in the synagogue staggered and dumbfounded.

Now not only did the powerful teaching of Christ astound the crowd but so did His powerful action of casting the demon out of this man.  The people had never seen such authority and power.

Verse 27 tells us that the crowd was buzzing, turning to each other and questioning. “What’s going on here?  What new teaching is this?  With authority, He shuts up demonic spirits and sends them packing, and they obey Him!” 

They knew that something new had appeared: a new doctrine, a new power. 

The people talked amongst themselves in the synagogue, and when they left, they kept on talking, telling friends and family, and news about Christ began to spread all around the region of Galilee.

Teachers and preachers often decry evil and wickedness in this world.  They bemoan the state of things in this world and speak repeatedly on how things are getting worse and worse: that evil is on the rise, and things are getting darker by the day.  And they provide example after example of it, which are very easy to find.

We do live in a sin-cursed world.  This world is spiritually dark.  Awful things are always happening.  But we have a message of hope.  We know the Answer to it all.  We see it right here.

Christ faced down evil in this synagogue in Capernaum, and with power and authority, He shut it up and cast it out.  Light drove out the darkness.  Good triumphed over evil. 

This wicked spirit was quaking in his boots and powerless before Him.  And our Lord put evil in its place and drove it out.

Yes, the world is an evil and wicked place, but Christ is the Answer.  He saves those who believe and transforms lives.  We need to make Him known. 

We need to make His gospel of grace known and spread the truth of His Word to those around us, because Christ brings light, goodness, and hope.