When Jesus cast out a demon from a man in the Capernaum Synagogue, the demon knew more about Jesus than anyone in the room. In the spirit world, there is no doubt about Jesus’ identity or his power and authority over everything in all creation…
31 Then he went down to Capernaum, a town in Galilee, and on the Sabbath he taught the people. 32 They were amazed at his teaching, because his words had authority.
33 In the synagogue there was a man possessed by a demon, an impure spirit. He cried out at the top of his voice, 34 “Go away! What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!”
35 “Be quiet!” Jesus said sternly. “Come out of him!” Then the demon threw the man down before them all and came out without injuring him.
36 All the people were amazed and said to each other, “What words these are! With authority and power he gives orders to impure spirits and they come out!” 37 And the news about him spread throughout the surrounding area.
Luke 4:31-37 NIV
There is a teaching from the letter of James which says, “You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder,” (James 2:19). Even demons that Jesus cast out of people knew he is the Holy One of God. We see this demon recognize Jesus immediately.
Jesus’ answer was, “Be quiet! Come out of him!” In that moment, Jesus had two priorities. The first was to silence the demon from revealing everything about Jesus. As we know from several interactions Jesus has with people early on in his public ministry, his time had not yet come. The full revelation of Jesus’ identity and purpose was still a couple of years off. This demon was cutting to the chase.
The demon knew (vs. 34) that Jesus could destroy them. Not just him. Them. There were more demons at work, and Jesus had power over all of them. This demon knew that Jesus the man was Jesus the God-man. Jesus is the Holy One of God who had infinite power as the creator of the universe.
“Be quiet.” It’s not time for all of that to come out.
The second half of Jesus’ answer is all about his purpose in restoring and redeeming people from bondage. “Come out of him!” The demon obeyed, proving Jesus’ authority over the spirit world.
Jesus is a great teacher and he died for us as our saviour. Many times, even though these truths are packed with amazing power and authority, we water down Jesus in our minds and treat him with less respect than he deserves. The people responded with appropriate amazement. The demon’s words even show a full recognition of Jesus as God over all.
Let’s approach our interactions with Jesus and his presence in our lives with the same sense of awe, wonder, and respect. Jesus is worthy of it.
Amen.
Marc Kinna
marckinna 