Luke 4:31-35

Luke 4:31-35 Then he went down to Capernaum, a town in Galilee, and on the Sabbath began to teach the people. They were amazed at his teaching, because his message had authority. In the synagogue there was a man possessed by a demon, an evil spirit. He cried out at the top of his voice, “Ha! 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!” “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.

It is interesting that Jesus met a demon possessed man in a synagogue, a place of worship. The demon in the man immediately recognized Jesus, for all demons function in the spirit world where God is. These spirits are aligned with evil and corruption. They invade where they can. Demons are capable of turning a person, a people, a culture, or a nation to evil, to corruption. With a mighty voice he shouted: “Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great! She has become a home for demons and a haunt for every evil spirit, a haunt for every unclean and detestable bird. (Revelations 18:2) When a people begin worshipping other gods, or place themselves above God, or worship self rather than God, their souls become places where corrupting spirits can abide.

However, where a soul has been cleansed and is being cleansed by the Spirit of God, spirits contrary to God find no rest. Yet there, in the synagogue, an evil spirit is stirred up, for he says, “Ha! 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!” Where Jesus is, the demons protest. Notice, the demon indicates us when he addresses Jesus, but Jesus drove out one demon from the man. I believe the demon was asking Jesus what are you going to do with our evil spirit world, and Jesus addresses him sternly and says, "Be quiet!" I will have no nonsense from you because I will give you no quarters with man. Otherwise, wherever I find your kind in man, I will drive you out. This is war. The demon still displayed his protest by throwing the man to the crowd, but the man was not hurt, AND HE WAS DELIVERED.

We who are in Christ are in a war, a spiritual war. I don't believe most of us Christians can really understand this war, for we are trapped in time and in another dimension with limited vision. We really do not understand much about God's domain, a place of the Spirit. However, our human bodies are capable of being influenced by spirits, either God's Spirit or evil spirits. We are capable of doing good and building, but we are also capable of doing evil and destroying. We are capable of saying God's words of encouragement, but we are also capable of following negative evil spirits and attitudes. We are capable of loving even our enemies, but we are also capable of hatred and bitterness towards them. We are made in God's image, with the capacity to do many wonderful things, but we also have the ability to do awful things.

God is love and life. As Christians, we can be fountains of life, or we can hide the light and display darkness. We were made in his image to display his personality, the family spirit. Father God magnifies the Holy Spirit and the Son; they reciprocate by magnifying him. We also are made for that purpose, to magnify the Lord. Christians are dearly loved children with precious souls and spirits, redeemed by Christ Jesus. We have been cleansed to do God's work. Now, the devil hates that. His horde of demons hates that, and I believe their best distraction is to encourage us towards serving ourselves. We become gods in our own image as we worship the created rather than the Creator. This spirit is one of great deception. The devil will inspire many people, sadly even Christians, to focus their lives on this world, on self. Then we will forget the war that is raging in the spiritual world. We will forget to do the will of God. Demons will not fear us. The possessed won't be delivered. Demons will let us be satisfied with the beggarly elements of this world. Rather than being God's tools for good, we become their tools for evil as we satisfy ourselves with worldly pleasures and neglect the Father's will. If we come into the presence of evil today, will the demons cry out, "Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are."