Mark 1:29-34, Matthew 8:4-17, Luke 4:38-41
29 And immediately he left the synagogue and entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. 30 Now Simon’s mother-in-law lay ill with a fever, and immediately they told him about her. 31And he came and took her by the hand and lifted her up, and the fever left her, and she began to serve them.
32 That evening at sundown they brought to him all who were sick or oppressed by demons. 33 And the whole city was gathered together at the door. 34 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 1:29-34
4 And Jesus said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a proof to them.”
5 When he had entered Capernaum, a centurion came forward to him, appealing to him, 6“Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering terribly.” 7And he said to him, “I will come and heal him.” 8But the centurion replied, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed. 9For I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” 10When Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who followed him, “Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith. 11I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, 12while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” 13And to the centurion Jesus said, “Go; let it be done for you as you have believed.” And the servant was healed at that very moment.
14 And when Jesus entered Peter’s house, he saw his mother-in-law lying sick with a fever. 15 He touched her hand, and the fever left her, and she rose and began to serve him. 16 That evening they brought to him many who were oppressed by demons, and he cast out the spirits with a word and healed all who were sick. 17 This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: “He took our illnesses and bore our diseases.”
Matthew 8:4-17
38 And he arose and left the synagogue and entered Simon’s house. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was ill with a high fever, and they appealed to him on her behalf. 39And he stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her, and immediately she rose and began to serve them.
40 Now when the sun was setting, all those who had any who were sick with various diseases brought them to him, and he laid his hands on every one of them and healed them. 41And demons also came out of many, crying, “You are the Son of God!” But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew that he was the Christ.
Luke 4:38-41
Again today we see the issue of demonic activity arise. I want to pick up where our previous post left off and answer two more questions regarding how Christ’s disciples might think about and confront demonic activity. My hope is that through considering this subject to such a large degree we will have a more faithful view of our world and every day experiences based upon the truths of scripture.
Personally, I feel we are tempted to think Jesus silenced all demonic activity and these issues are not a reality in modern life. I don’t think this is a faithful understanding of Biblical teaching and the realities I have observed in life.
Question 1: Does Jesus give believers authority to rebuke demons and command them to leave?
Answer: Yes
“12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness” (Eph. 6:12)
How then can a Christ follower exercise power over a demon?
Answer: The only tactic for confronting demonic work is the truth of scripture
Authority alone comes from Christ and is known only to us through His Word
Reality 1: Only in and through the name of Christ can a person have any authority over evil spirits (Persons have no power in and of themselves)
I want us to consider that in the 19th chapter of Acts Luke records an account where some religious Jews are attempting to deal with evil spirits in their own religion and power. What occurs in this context is that these men had seen the power the apostle Paul had used earlier and while not truly believing in Christ decided to command a spirit to leave a man. Luke records the account as follows…
“13 “Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists undertook to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims.” 14 Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this. 15 But the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?” 16 And the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.” (Acts 19:13-16)
Notice in this account not only are the itinerant Jews confused as to exactly who Christ is and why He offers His followers power over evil spirits but when the spirits turn on these individuals the individuals have no power over the evil and are overtaken.
Reality 2: Acceptance of membership as children in God’s family is the only position from which we can successful engage into spiritual warfare.
To conclude this topic for now I want to ask a common sense question I hope aids in practical thought and action on the subject.
Question 2: How would the Bible direct modern believers to engage with others and evil spirits?
Answer: Carefully and gently
“For God is not a God of confusion but of peace” (1 Cor. 14:33)
Reality: There are varying degrees of evil spirits we all have and have dealt with
Demonic influence should not be thought of as a negative factor but may simply indicate that Satan is trying to attack the person to keep him or her from a more effective witness of Christ
Below I am going to provide a length except from Wayne Grudem’s “Systematic Theology”. Grudem does an excellent job addressing this subject and helping disciples of Christ frame a faithful worldview on the subject of the demonic.
Excerpt from Grudem
[“The rebuking of demons does not have to be a highly dramatic or emotionally charged procedure. Some contemporary stories tell of long, drawn-out battles in which the Christians counselor argues with the demon and shouts at it repeatedly over a period of several hours. But there is no indication in the New Testament that demons are hard of hearing, nor are there long examples of such long periods of conflict in order to get a demon to leave. Jesus simply “cast out the spirits with a word” (Matt. 8:16), even in one case (with the Gerasene demoniac) the evil spirit showed some initial resistance (see Mark 5:8; Luke 8:29). Jesus then asked its name and then cast out many demons at once (Mark 5:9-13; Luke 8:30-33). The power to cast out demons comes not from our own strength or the power of our own voice, but from the Holy Spirit (Matt. 12:28; Luke 11:20). Thus, a quit, confident, authoritative tone of voice should be sufficient.
Second, to avoid being drawn into a long conversation or battle with the demon itself the Christian counselor should focus not on the demon but on the person being ministered to and the truths of the Bible that need to be affirmed and believed…If the person who is receiving the ministry will focus on and believe in the truth of Scripture and will renounce sin and thereby put on the “breastplate of righteousness” (Eph. 6:14) then the evil spirit will have no foothold in that person’s life. If the demon refuses to leave in spite of the command given in the name of Jesus, then it may be best to wait until another time after more prayer and personal spiritual preparation on the part of the person being minister to and the persons who are engaging in this ministry. (Matt. 17:19-20)
Third, it is important for Christians not to become overly curious in all this area of demonic conflict. Though it is a ministry that the Lord gives all Christians authority to engage in, Scripture nonetheless tells us that we are to be “babes in evil” (1 For. 14:20) That is we are not be over fascinated with matters of evil and attempt to become “experts” in some kinds of evil just to satisfy our curiosity.
Fourth, if the person being ministered to is not a Christian, it is important that he or she be urged to come to Christ as Savior immediately after the demon is cast out so that the Holy Spirit will reside in the person and protect him or her from future attacks. Otherwise there may be a worse result later.
43 “When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, but finds none. 44 Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it comes, it finds the house empty, swept, and put in order. 45 Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there, and the last state of that person is worse than the first. So also will it be with this evil generation.”
(Matt. 12:43-45)
Fifth, effectiveness in difficult cases of demonic influence may be related to our own spiritual condition. When Jesus had cast a demon out of an epileptic boy, and “the boy was cured instantly,” the disciples privately came to Jesus and asked “Why could we not cast it out?” (Matt. 17:18-19). Jesus said to them, “Because of your little faith” (Matt. 17:20). Mark’s gospel reports that Jesus also said in response to the disciples, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer” (Mark 9:29). The disciples apparently were at the time weak in faith; they had not spent enough time in prater recently and they were not walking fully in the power of the Holy Spirt.
Jesus issues a clear warning that we should not rejoice too much or become proud of our power over demons, but that we should rejoice rather in our great salvation. We must keep this in mind least we become proud and the Holy Spirit withdraw his power from us. When the seventy returned with joy saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” (Luke 10:17) Jesus told them, “Do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you; but rejoice that your names are written in heaven” (Luke 10:20).]
Wayne Grudem
In closing I think the biggest takeaway on this subject for the faithful Christ follower is to avoid the sensational. We don’t witness a large dramatic engagement of emotions from Christ in His encounters. He is clear, sound in God’s truth, and direct in its application. He does not ignore demonic activity but He also does not seek it out.
If we are following Christ we should follow Him, not lead. In our following we will encounter others whom are under spiritual influences that are not Christ. We should not fear or be surprised but ready ourselves with God’s truth through His Word. His truths are our assurance and conquering strength against the schemes of any enemy.
