Angelic Conflict part 254: The Carrier of the kingdom of God – Mar 3:15; Mat 10:5-8; Luk 10:1-20; 17:5-10; 8:27-39; 2Co 10:3-5.Title: Angelic Conflict part 254: The Carrier of the kingdom of God – Mar 3:15; Mat 10:5-8; Luk 10:1-20; 17:5-10; 8:27-39; 2Co 10:3-5.
No believer can be demon possessed, but they can be demon influenced through false doctrines from demons, 1Ti 4:1.
Our Lord also commissioned the disciples to preach the kingdom of heaven with the commission of authority over demons.
Mar 3:14 And He appointed twelve, that they might be with Him, and that He might send them out to preach,
Mar 3:15and to have authority to cast out the demons.
Therefore, word and deed go hand in hand. There is the word of power and the demonstration of power – the witness of the lips and the witness of the life.
On one occasion He sent out the twelve.
Mat 10:5 These twelve Jesus sent out after instructing them, saying, "Do not go in the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter any city of the Samaritans;
Mat 10:6but rather go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
Mat 10:7"And as you go, preach, saying, 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand.'
Mat 10:8"Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons; freely you received, freely give.
This given power was demonstrated in them…
Mar 6:12-13 And they went out and preached that men should repent. And they were casting out many demons and were anointing with oil many sick people and healing them.
On another occasion He sent out seventy:
Luk 10:1 Now after this the Lord appointed seventy others, and sent them two and two ahead of Him to every city and place where He Himself was going to come.
Luk 10:2 And He was saying to them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.
Luk 10:3"Go your ways; behold, I send you out as lambs in the midst of wolves.
Luk 10:4"Carry no purse, no bag, no shoes; and greet no one on the way.
Luk 10:5"And whatever house you enter, first say, 'Peace be to this house.'
Luk 10:6"And if a man of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him; but if not, it will return to you.
Luk 10:7"And stay in that house, eating and drinking what they give you; for the laborer is worthy of his wages. Do not keep moving from house to house.
Luk 10:8"And whatever city you enter, and they receive you, eat what is set before you;
Luk 10:9and heal those in it who are sick, and say to them,' The kingdom of God has come near to you.'
Luk 10:17 And the seventy returned with joy, saying, "Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name."
Luk 10:18And He said to them, "I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning.
Luk 10:19"Behold, I have given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall injure you.
Luk 10:20"Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven."
You must have joy from what you have received in grace before you can be an affective witness.
Our joy should not originate from what we do in service of our Lord. We should already possess joy from what we have received from Him freely in grace, our position in Him, and then that joy will be manifested in our service.
This principle may be the key behind the correct interpretation of:
Luk 17:5 And the apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!"
Luk 17:6 And the Lord said, "If you had faith like a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and be planted in the sea'; and it would obey you.
Luk 17:7 "But which of you, having a slave plowing or tending sheep, will say to him when he has come in from the field, 'Come immediately and sit down to eat'?
Luk 17:8 "But will he not say to him, 'Prepare something for me to eat, and properly clothe yourself and serve me until I have eaten and drunk; and afterward you will eat and drink'?
Luk 17:9 "He does not thank the slave because he did the things which were commanded, does he?
Luk 17:10 "So you too, when you do all the things which are commanded you, say, 'We are unworthy slaves; we have done only that which we ought to have done.'"
Faith is increased by more understanding of what you have received in Christ and not by what you do. Greater service follows increased faith.
Exorcisms in Jesus’ ministry.
1Jo 3:8 The Son of God appeared for this purpose, that He might destroy the works of the devil.
The account that is the most developed and detailed is the exorcism of a multitude of demons our of a man at Gerasa, Mar 5:1-27; Mat 8:27-34; Luk 8:27-39.
Here we find Jesus confronted by two men who lived amid the tombs of this town.
Two demonized men met Jesus when He landed at Gadara, but one of them was the more forward and did all the speaking. Both were pitiful cases: naked, living in the tombs, violent, dangerous, a menace to the area, and controlled by a legion of demons. (A Roman legion could have as many as 6, 000 men!) Satan is the thief (Joh 10:10) who robs his people of everything good and then tries to destroy them. No amount of man-made authority or restraint can control or change the devil's mastery over mankind. Their only hope is in the Savior.
Mark mentions his strength.
Mar 5:1 And they came to the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gerasenes.
Mar 5:2And when He had come out of the boat, immediately a man from the tombs with an unclean spirit met Him,
Mar 5:3and he had his dwelling among the tombs. And no one was able to bind him anymore, even with a chain;
Mar 5:4because he had often been bound with shackles and chains, and the chains had been torn apart by him, and the shackles broken in pieces, and no one was strong enough to subdue him.
Mar 5:5 And constantly night and day, among the tombs and in the mountains, he was crying out and gashing himself with stones.
No one was strong enough to subdue him but someone stronger than the strong man is here.
As in many other accounts the demons knew just who Christ was.
Luk 8:26 And they sailed to the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee.
Luk 8:27And when He had come out onto the land, He was met by a certain man from the city who was possessed with demons; and who had not put on any clothing for a long time, and was not living in a house, but in the tombs.
Mat 8:28 And when He had come to the other side into the country of the Gadarenes, two men who were demon-possessed met Him as they were coming out of the tombs; they were so exceedingly violent that no one could pass by that road.
There are two men possessed, but one of them is the more fierce and does all the talking.
Luk 8:28And seeing Jesus, he cried out and fell before Him, and said in a loud voice, "What do I have to do with You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg You, do not torment me."
Demons recognize Jesus as the Son of God and Judge, and they understand that there is a future judgment:
Mat 8:29 And behold, they cried out, saying, "What do we have to do with You, Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the time?"
They recognize Christ as their Tormentor and they understand that He will judge them at the proper time and fear that this time may be upon them now.
Luk 8:29 For He had been commanding the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For it had seized him many times; and he was bound with chains and shackles and kept under guard; and yet he would burst his fetters and be driven by the demon into the desert.
Luk 8:30And Jesus asked him, "What is your name?" And he said, "Legion"; for many demons had entered him.
Luk 8:31And they were entreating Him not to command them to depart into the abyss.
Luk 8:32Now there was a herd of many swine feeding there on the mountain; and the demons entreated Him to permit them to enter the swine. And He gave them permission.
Luk 8:33And the demons came out from the man and entered the swine; and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake, and were drowned.
You reap what you sow.
Luk 8:34And when the herdsmen saw what had happened, they ran away and reported it in the city and out in the country.
Luk 8:35And the people went out to see what had happened; and they came to Jesus, and found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting down at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind; and they became frightened.
Luk 8:36And those who had seen it reported to them how the man who was demon-possessed had been made well.
Luk 8:37And all the people of the country of the Gerasenes and the surrounding district asked Him to depart from them; for they were gripped with great fear; and He got into a boat, and returned.
It is likely that the owners of the pigs are Jews, which is a violation of the Law, or that Jews were involved in their trafficking, which also would violate their Law. If this herd belongs to a Jew then there are likely more owners in the area. The destruction of the pigs was a great loss of revenue and they likely didn't want to see any more losses, so despite the freeing of the man, they value their own materialism above others, which has always been common amongst mankind. Their witness of Christ's power would have given them fear since He could have judged their violation of the Law. It could simply be that they feared what they did not understand and so didn't seek to understand Him and they begged Him to leave.
It may have been that the demons destroyed the pigs in order to bring about this very result.
Luk 8:38But the man from whom the demons had gone out was begging Him that he might accompany Him; but He sent him away, saying,
Luk 8:39"Return to your house and describe what great things God has done for you." And he went away, proclaiming throughout the whole city what great things Jesus had done for him.
We see here that the man desired to accompany the Lord away from this place. It doesn't say that he believed in Christ as Savior, but it's hard to imagine that he did not, and if he did, it was after Christ had set him free from demon possession.
Christ redeemed all of mankind at the cross. All the captives have been plundered. It is after this redemption that we believe in Him and appropriate the benefits of freedom.
Gal 5:1 It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.
Principles:
They are called legion, which designates a multitude of demons as being a subgroup of a much larger army.
satan possesses a demon army that is organized. It has a single head and a single objective. The tactics or schemes that are designed to achieve that objective demand that demons have orders or assignments.
Eph 6:12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.
The Gospels include two other references to multiple demonization.
Mar 1:23-24 And just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit; and he cried out, saying, "What do we have to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are — the Holy One of God!"
Luk 8:2 and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and sicknesses: Mary who was called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out,
A legion of enemy soldiers within the satanic army had illegitimately captured a person.
If the man deserves demon possession then why does Jesus cast them out? People illegitimately capture other people.
Under Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin an estimated 60 million people were caused to be killed through executions, hostage taking, and concentration camps. [The narrator for NBC when covering the opening ceremony for the Olympics stated that communism was a pivotal experiment of an empire that ascended to affirm a colossal footprint.]
Why do we assume that it is different in the spirit world?
The Lord Jesus Christ comes, however, to reclaim territory that belongs to his Father and bring it under His rightful rule.
Hence, when the Lord shows up, the legion of demons must leave.
There are many questions as to why they desired to enter the swine. Maybe they were assigned by satan to this area and did not want to be cast away into the wilderness or what Luke says is the abyss.
Mar 5:10 And he began to entreat Him earnestly not to send them out of the country [chora – country, land, or region].
It could be that these demons were assigned to this area and that is why they beg not to be cast out of the country or to the abyss.
Luk 8:31 And they were entreating Him not to command them to depart into the abyss [abussos – deep, bottomless, prison of demons in Rev 11:7].
The abyss of Revelation would certainly be out of the country, but Mark’s account may mean that they were assigned to that particular country (as the Prince of Persia and Greece in Dan). However, this can only be conjecture.
It also appears that these demons are parasitic; that they need a host. Whether this is unique to this type, for there seems to be different types, can again only be conjecture.
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