3. A DEMON CAST OUT Mark 1:21-28 (Luke 4:21-28) 21 And they go into Capernaum and straightway on the sabbath day--Our Saturday. The seventh day was used by our Creator as a rest from his six days' work of creation (Genesis 2:3), and enacted as a Jewish law at the exodus from Egypt (Exodus 20:8-11) to commemorate the day Israel was delivered from Egyptian bondage. he entered into the synagogue and taught.--[After his baptism Jesus made Capernaum his home. It is called "his own city." (Matthew 9:1.) It was on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. It was more accessible as a center of travel that suited his work. Peter and Andrew, James and John, were with him here, and also made the city their home. On the Sabbath he went into the synagogue. It was the custom of the Jews to meet in the synagogue on the Sabbath to read the law and to worship God. The synagogue grew up after the Babylonian captivity, and brought the worship of God to the homes of the Jews, secured the reading and expounding of the law on every Sabbath, and from this time there was much less tendency to idolatry and to rebellion against God. Their responsibility to God and their knowledge of the law was kept before them more constantly by these more frequent meetings and reading of the law. In the synagogue the reading and expounding of the law were not confined to the priests, but every Jew could do this. Jesus did it here, as did the apostles afterwards. (Acts 13:15-17)] 22 And they were astonished at his teaching: for he taught them as having authority, and not as the scribes.--This is a broad contrast, most accurately drawn, between the manner in which Jesus taught and that of the scribes. [They were accustomed to the reasonings of the scribes dealing in forms and traditions and observances. The teaching of Jesus was peculiar. First, the matter of it differed from that of the scribes and Pharisees. He taught not traditions or ceremonials or observances, but he taught great, practical truths embodying man's duty to God and to his fellow men. He demanded right, justice, mercy, and love to man. He demanded reverence and love for God shown by obedience to his laws. He announced these duties in plain and simple terms that the simplest could understand. He did not reason and philosophize about them, nor undertake to show their reasonableness, but he announced the truth as without doubt and as one speaking by authority, knowing whereof he spoke, and he presented these truths in simple, axiomatic forms and addressed them to the hearts of his hearers. He spoke as one who knew the truth without doubt and spoke it by the authority of God. You are not to listen to Jesus as an expounder, but as an authoritative lawgiver.] 23 And straightway there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit; and he cried out,-- [The unclean spirits were demons. They were evil spirits that took possession of men and afflicted them in various ways. It is often a trouble to know why they should have existed then and not now. This seems to be true that when God exercised miraculous power or sent forth angels, or good spirits to minister good under his direction, he permitted the devil to exercise miraculous power and to send forth evil spirits to do his bidding. The difference between them was in the quality of their work. God wrought miracles, and sent forth his Spirit to bless, help, benefit man. The devil could not do this kind of work. He did evil. "Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?" the Jews asked. (John 10:21.) The devil and his spirits always wrought to injure, afflict, degrade man. When God ceased to work miracles or to use these evil spirits as his messengers, he curtailed the power of the devil so that he could not work miracles. These demons, or unclean spirits, all seemed to know Jesus and his true work and character, and would cry out at his approach. We think it true that none save immoral and bad persons were possessed of demons. As God's Spirit dwells with, and his angels watch over, only the holy and upright, so the demons, or spirits of the Evil One, dwell only in the hearts of the wicked. The devil seeks to ruin both soul and body.] 24 saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus thou Nazarene? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art,--"The demons also believe, and shudder." (James 2:19.) The invisible world of evil had a clear recognition of the character and mission of Jesus. the Holy One of God.--King James Version adds: "Let us alone," which is a common cry today among those in error. They do not want their error exposed, so they preach the doctrine, "Let us alone." [The demons and evil spirits seemed to understand that Jesus came into the world to overthrow and destroy them and to consign them to torment. He came to overthrow the devil, to "destroy the works of the devil." (1 John 3:8.) He came to overthrow and consign to ruin all his servants and subjects, so they begged Jesus to let them alone, and asked what they had to do with him. "Art thou come to destroy us" or "to torment us before the time?" (Matthew 8:29); and then he declared, "I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God." What prompted the demons to testify that Jesus was the Son of God, or the Holy One of God, we do not understand. They always were ready to bear this testimony, possibly with the view to appease his wrath and to cause him to deal kindly with them.] 25 And Jesus rebuked him,--From the beginning of his encounters with these evil spirits he rebuked them for speaking favorably of him, and commanded them to hold their peace and depart from their victims. It was important that he do this for at least two reasons: (1) That the faith of those who believed in him should not rest even in part on the testimony of evil spirits. (2) That he should not appear to sustain friendly relations with these evil beings and with the devil who ruled over them. In spite of all his precautions the charge was made that he cast out demons by the power of Satan (Matt. 3:22-26);and it was perhaps for this very purpose of giving apparent grounds for this charge that the devil prompted the demons to testify as they did. saying, Hold thy peace,--Be muzzled, restrain thyself. Cease from complaints. He would accept no testimony from such a source. and come out of him.--This was proof of the power of Jesus and that he had no hesitancy in using it. Instead of accepting the testimony of the demon that he was "the Holy One of God," Jesus rebuked his impious audacity, forbade him to speak further, and commanded him to leave his victim. The most brilliant proclamation of the claims of Christ does not authorize an unholy proclaimer. The church should reject an unholy preacher. 26 And the unclean spirit, tearing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him.--The demon yields because he was obliged to, not because he chose to do so. He exerted his last power, tried to inflict all the pain he could, and then unwillingly bowed to the Son of God and came out of the man. 27 And they were all amazed, insomuch that they questioned among themselves, saying, What is this? a new teaching!--They did not know whether to rejoice or to be alarmed. What might not such a being as Jesus do to those around him? How powerful is this man's word or command? His calm assumption of original authority as a teacher had already excited their wonder. with authority he commandeth even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.--The climax is reached, the teaching is vindicated, the authority is proved and acknowledged, and the result is what might be expected. 28 And the report of him went out straightway everywhere into all the region of Galilee round about.--[It was natural that a report of these wonderful manifestations of power and this deliverance from afflictions so terrible, this power over the demons that were subject to no human power, should spread abroad among these people of Galilee. The evil spirits, or those possessed of them, entered the synagogue. Such could not enter the temple.] [They were amazed to see one who could command these demons so they would obey him, and they questioned one another, and said: What thing is this? What does it mean? What new teacher and power is this? It was unheard of that these unclean spirits should be subjected to the authority of man. But Jesus was ruler over the spiritual as over the material world, and when he commanded they obeyed.] The miraculous cure, which led them to make earnest inquiry of the doctrine of this new teacher in the synagogue, to whom the demons even were obedient, had great effect on the people. The evil spirits could exert miraculous power, but it was always for evil to those possessed of them. We must sometimes suffer greatly to get rid of our sins, but had better suffer than sin. They are never idle, working night and day seeing whom they can devour.