EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/15/2026
10:32 PM
My
Worship Time Focus:
“Intro to
Jesus’ Authority over Demons”
Bible
Reading & Meditation Reference:
Luke
4:31-37
Message of the verses: “31 And He came down
to Capernaum, a city of Galilee; and He was teaching them on the
Sabbath; 32 and they were amazed at His teaching,
because His message was delivered with
authority. 33 In the synagogue there was a man possessed
by the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice, 34 “Leave
us alone! What business do You have with us, Jesus of Nazareth?
Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are—the Holy One of God!” 35 But
Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be quiet and come out of him!” And
when the demon had thrown him down in the midst of the people, it
came out of him without doing him any harm. 36 And
amazement came upon them all, and they began talking with one
another, saying, “What is this message? For with authority and power
He commands the unclean spirits, and they come out!” 37 And the
news about Him was spreading into every locality of the surrounding region.”
I will now begin to quote from John
MacArthur’s commentary on the verses above.
“There are two equal and opposite
errors into which our race can fall about the devils,’ wrote C. S. Lewis. ‘One is to disbelieve in their
existence. The other is to believe, and
to feel and excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both
errors and hail a materialist or magician with the same delight’ (The
Screwtape Letters [New Your: MacMillian, 1977], 9). Our postmodern, post-Christian culture leans
toward the latter error. A veritable
flood of books and movies have introduced fantasy worlds of wizards, spirits,
and alien beings. Ironically, research has
documented that skeptics, irreligious people, and people in liberal churches
are far more likely to believe in superstition, the para-normal, and pseudoscience
than evangelical Christians. But even
within Christianity reality and fantasy have merged to create a confusing and
often unbiblical view of the demonic realm.
Many believers, churches, and ministries are preoccupied with
demons. They view virtually everything
that goes wrong in a Christian’s life as the direct result of demonic activity,
the cure for which is to exorcise the demon, or demons responsible. But believers cannot be possessed by demons,
and need not be terrified by them…
“There is no confusion in the Bible
regarding Satan and his demon hosts; it reveals clearly their origin, present
activity, and destiny. Originally, they
were holy angels, and Satan was the highest-ranking of all of them. They lived in heaven, where they served and
worshiped God. But through pride Satan
rebelled against God (Isa. 14:12-14; Ezek. 28:12-16), and one third (Rev.
12:3-4) of the holy angels joined him in the attempted coup. As a result of their pride and rebellion,
they were cast out of heaven along with their leader (Luke 10:18), though they
still are granted access to it (Job 1:6; 2:1).
During the tribulation, after a climactic battle with Michael and the
holy angels, Satan and the demons will be permanently cast out of heaven (Rev.
12:7-9).
“In the present age, demons operate
in the world to achieve the purposes of Satan and thwart the purposes of
God. They are behind the evil world
system that dominates the lives of all those who do not belong to God through
faith in Jesus Christ. In John 8:44, Jesus declared that all unbelievers are
children of Satan, while Ephesians 2:1-2 and 1 John 5:19 say that the whole
unbelieving world is in Satan’s power.
Satan is the god or ruler of this world (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11), who
blinds unbelievers to spiritual truth (2 Cor. 4:4) and leads them to deception
(2 Cor. 11:13-15).
“Demons made their first and only
appearance in the Old Testament in Genesis 6:1-4 (though they are alluded to in
Lev. 17:7; Deut. 32:17; Ps. 106:37), where they possessed fallen men who
cohabitated with women (cf. 2 Peter 2:4-5; Jude 6). In the New Testament, demonic activity is
confined to the Synoptic Gospels and Acts (though Jesus was accused of being
demon possessed in John 7:20; 8:48-52; 10:20-21; and demons are alluded to in 1
Cor. 10:20-21; 1 Tim. 4:1; James 2:19; 3:15; Rev. 9:20; 16:14; 18:2), as they
made a supreme assault on Jesus and the apostles. They are real, personal,
fallen spiritual beings who are wholly given to wickedness.
“This passage introduces a new theme
in Luke’s gospel. Up to this point, Luke
has focused on the person of Christ, presenting His credentials as Messiah, Son
of God, and Savior. Starting with verse
31 and running through chapter 5, Luke revealed Jesus’ power in the spiritual
and physical realms, over everyone and everything, including demons, religion
and religious teachers, disease, nature, and even death. He began by discussing Jesus’ power over
demons for a very important reason. If
Jesus is to free those held in bondage by Satan and his demon hosts, He has to
be able to break their power over the souls of men to free them from the
kingdom of Satan (cf. 2 Cor. 10:3-5; Col. 1:13; Heb. 2:14-15). It is precisely that power over the demonic
realm that the Lord demonstrates in this passage.
“The evil spirits knew why Jesus had
come. They also are well aware of the
fate that God pronounced against them—everlasting torment in the ‘eternal fire
which has been prepared for the devil and his angels’ (Matt. 25:41). The incarnation of the Son of God, who came
to save sinners (Matt. 1:21; Luke 19:10), intensified the age-long battle for
the souls of men. In desperation, during
His earthly ministry the evil spirits launched their most widespread and
visible assault ever. Even so, whenever
confronted by the incarnate Son of God, the demons reached with sheer terror
and often screamed out loud (v. 33; cf. Mark 1:23-25; 3:11; 5:1-7). They are
compelled to believe the truth, and tremble in fear because of it (James 2:19).
“This passage reveals four things
about Jesus that terrified the demons:
His preaching, purpose, purity, and power.”
Lord willing I will begin to look at
His Preaching in tomorrow morning’s SD, but it will take more than one SD to
get through that section.
5/15/2026
11:05 PM
No comments:
Post a Comment