On This Day: Silencing the Demons That Knew Jesus

That evening at sundown they brought to him all who were sick or oppressed by demons. And the whole city was gathered together at the door. And he healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons. And he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him. (Mark 1:32-34)

   When I come to a text like this, my first thought is what it tells me about my Savior. And today, the Scriptures want me to consider Jesus as both healer and deliverer.

   However, it was characteristic of Jesus’ ministry that “he would not permit the demons to speak”. Here it is clarified that it was “because they knew him”. Jesus did not want their testimony. Although they knew him, they hated him and were working against him.

   This text does not tell us anything about how it applies to us today. Does Jesus still “heal many who are sick with various diseases”? Does Jesus still “cast out many demons”?

   The answer is “YES”! What Jesus initially did himself, and then continued through his apostles, has now been distributed throughout the church Jesus is building so that the Holy Spirit gives “spiritual gifts” for whatever ministry is needed.

   Here is my assessment of why we do not see more ministry that looks the way Jesus and the apostles did things: because Satan has so much success at getting Christians to fight among themselves instead of uniting to fight against him!

   Yes, the way Jesus did his work through his human body was by every part of his human body immediately joining him in whatever he set out to do. Not one cell of Jesus’ human body resisted his will.

   On the other hand, when Jesus wants to do his work through his spiritual body, his church, it’s a totally different story! Everyone (in a generalized kind of way) thinks we have a right to do only what we want and only when we want to do it. People imagine that we are free to avoid scary topics like healing and deliverance just because they make us uncomfortable to talk about. Church folks put limits on what God is allowed to do in their lives, who he can unite us with to do his work, and all kinds of manmade and childish specifics that we think we have the right to impose on God’s work.

   I do not have all the answers when people ask whether Jesus wants to heal everyone, or how we discern the difference between a disease in one person and demonization in another. But I know that God wants us “to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:1-3) so he can do his work through his spiritual body as he did it through his physical body.

   For today, will you join me in asking our Savior, Jesus Christ the Lord, how he wants to work through our places in the body of Christ to continue his saving work in others? And if you read this far and realize you are the one who needs Jesus’ ministry, do you know where to find members of the body of Christ who will pray with you and join God’s work in your life?

   And for all of us, God warns us in his word, “Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons” (I Timothy 4:1). This is why we must not listen to demons!

   Instead, Jesus told us to live by every word that comes from the mouth of God, and this is what we now have in the Scriptures, the Bible. 

   So, seek God in his word and prayer and ask him for whatever you need, listen to what he says in his word, and join him in whatever he shows you he is doing. And when you see it, be sure to tell people about what Jesus has done for you because you can be sure that Satan is sending his demons throughout the world to tell them quite a different story!

 

© 2024 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8

Email: in2freedom@gmail.com

Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.)