Good morning my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
A few weeks from now it will be graduation season as men and women all around the world receive their certificates that they’ve completed their courses of study and are ready for the next step in life…applying what they’ve learned! In many professions the classroom work is followed by ‘on the job training’ as they learn by doing not simply by watching. Have you had that experience?
Yesterday I left you walking along the beach of Lake Galilee with Jesus and four fishermen He had called with these words: “Come, follow Me and I will make you fishers of men.” (Mark 1:17) They had left the tools of their trade… fishing boats and nets and were now listening to Jesus as He told them about the kingdom of God which He knew so well. (Mark 1:15) Some weeks later one of them asked Him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray.’ In response you’ll recall Jesus gave them a model prayer we sometimes call ‘The Lords’ Prayer’ and both Matthew and Luke give us a glimpse into that learning experience. (Matt. 6:8-13 & Luke 11:1-4) One of the key lines in that prayer is what these men were about to experience as they spent these next months with Jesus: “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Have you thought much about what that looks like in our lives, our families, our businesses, our communities in 2022? These four men walking with Jesus were about to see it right before their eyes!
Matthew, Mark and Luke all give us their perspective on this remarkable day in the life of these four men, Andrew and Peter, James and John, as they spend this day learning to be ‘fishers of men’ with Jesus. Mark tells it this way: “They went to Capernaum and on the Sabbath day Jesus went into the Synagogue and began to teach. The people were amazed at His teaching, because He taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law.” (Mark 1:21,22) All four of these fishermen were Jewish men, thus as boys they had studied the Old Testament daily with the local Rabbi in the Synagogue. Such study built the foundation for all aspects of life and Jewish families prioritized their boys being rooted in God’s Scripture. As young men they had then learned a trade, in their case fishing. Every Sabbath, as good Jewish men, they were in the Synagogue listening to the reading and discussion of Scripture. It was a vital part of their life. On this day, however, they and the others in Synagogue were hearing Scripture explained differently, with an authority and personal touch that it almost seemed Jesus had written those Scriptures that He read and taught that day!
Suddenly this sacred time of worship was interrupted by a shouting man in the Synagogue! “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!” (Mark 1:23,24) Every head in the room turned quickly to see who this intruder was and what lunacy would cause him to shout such things at Jesus IN the Synagogue while He was teaching God’s Scripture? Why would he speak in the plural? Who did he refer to as ‘us‘? Why did he speak of Jesus destroying ‘them‘? Why did he identify Jesus first correctly by name and hometown, but then as ‘the Holy One of God’? Heads turned again back to Jesus to see how He would answer this rude interruption.
“Be quiet!’ Jesus said sternly. ‘Come out of him!’
With furrowed brows, heads snapped back in the other direction to see how this troubled man would respond? Mark describes it this way: “The evil spirit shook the man violently and came out of him.” It means the man went into convulsions, something like an epileptic seizure, and fell to the ground writhing. Suddenly he lay calm, and then rose to his feet as a normal, peaceful man. Mark gives this explanation: “A man in their synagogue who was possessed by an evil spirit cried out…” (Mark 1:23) This leads me to believe this man was known in Capernaum and a frequent attender of the Synagogue. But on this day a demonic force, an evil spirit, had taken control of this man, actually several evil spirits, which is why he had used the plural pronoun ‘us‘. These spirits spoke through the man interrupting Jesus, but also making two very powerful, important, truthful statements which everyone in the room needed to hear. Especially the four men with Jesus needed to understand this experience, for it was at the very core of what Jesus had meant when He told them “follow Me and I will make you fishers of men.”
First lesson: the power of the evil kingdom of Satan.
These evil spirits which had taken control of this man were actually angels, just like holy angels we find in the Bible who come to earth as God’s messengers, bringing messages from God (Luke 1:11) or sometimes acting in great power. (2 Chronicles 32:21) Only these angels were evil angels who had rebelled with Satan against God and formed an evil kingdom in full opposition to God, God’s truth, God’s purposes and God’s people. These evil angels are known in the Bible as evil spirits or demons and they are present here on earth doing Satan’s bidding. (1 John 5:19) They had forcibly taken control of this man and apparently this was not the first time. Several times in the Gospels Jesus was confronted by normal people under the control of evil spirits, and each time Jesus used His supreme authority to bind and cast out these evil spirits, leaving the person calm, delivered, and in their right mind. Mark gives us another example of this in Mark 5:1-20 and yes this power of the evil, dark kingdom of Satan and demons, is very active in our world of 2022.
Second lesson: These evil spirits knew who Jesus was and correctly identified Him as ‘Jesus of Nazareth…the Holy One of God’!
From a human perspective Jesus was known by the town in which He’d grown up as a boy and that was Nazareth, about 25 miles from Capernaum. From a Kingdom of God perspective, Jesus is in fact the Holy One of God, the Son of God. These evil angels knew that because all the angels were created by Jesus! Paul writes in Colossians 1:16 “By Him [Jesus] all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible …all things were created by Him and for Him.” That identification ‘the Holy One of God’ would have been understood by those Jews in that Capernaum Synagogue as a clear proclamation that Jesus is the long awaited, God sent, Jewish Messiah!
Third lesson: Jesus has ultimate, supreme, superior power.
With only a few words Jesus stopped the evil spirits from speaking, bound them and expelled them from the man, returning the man to his calm, self control. Jesus didn’t move from where He had been standing and speaking. He didn’t scream or shout or use any magical words. Jesus simply invoked His supreme power and gave instructions to the spirits which they immediately obeyed. In leaving the man they shook him violently, Mark writes, which gives us a glimpse into the violent power of evil spirits, and their respectful hatred for Jesus!
Mark gives us this summary of this remarkable experience: “The people [in the Synagogue] were all so amazed that they asked each other, ‘What is this? A new teaching and with authority. He even gives orders to evil spirits and they obey Him.” (Mark 1:27) For Andrew, Peter, James and John, as they watched they learned that becoming fishers of men as they followed Jesus would mean they would gain a clear understanding of the spiritual battle which rages here on earth for the soul of every person. They would learn the ugly reality of the evil kingdom and the damage it can do in any life. But they would also learn the power of Jesus in delivering people from the stronghold bondage of sin and the kingdom of Satan. They would learn that as the Holy Spirit of God filled them, as He had empowered Jesus, so they would have the Holy Spirit authority to bind and cast out demons from people suffering demonic oppression or possession. That is a perfect example of the difference between catching fish to ensnare and the power of Jesus to free people from those things which hold them captive. So in closing today, let me ask you my friends, are you living enslaved, in bondage to something?
Do you need the freedom only Jesus can accomplish in you as He defeats and breaks the stronghold of whatever has a strong grip on your life? It could be lust or deceit or anger or unforgiveness. It could be alcohol or drugs or pornography or gambling. Jesus has supreme authority and power and can set anyone free from anything! He’s ready right now and available to you. He’s listening to you and He knows your situation better than you do, and He’s ready to fully engage the battle to set you free. He’s waiting for you to call to Him and ask for His help. You’ll need to repent of and reject that which is holding you in bondage, and fully trust Jesus to rescue you by His power, and then invite Him to cleanse you and reign in your life as your Lord and your Savior! (1 John 1:9; Romans 8:1) No magic words, just a sincere desire for Jesus to set you free! Right now, right where you are… I urge you to invite Jesus to do in your life what He did for the man in Mark 1!
And here’s a song to help you understand the power of Jesus unleashed in your life…
Today’s Scripture is Mark 1:21-27.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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