The Gospel of Mark 1:21-28
21 And they went into Capernaum; and immediately on
the Sabbath He entered the synagogue and began to teach.22 And they were
astonished at His teaching; for He was teaching them as one having
authority, and not as the scribes.
23 And immediately there was a man in their synagogue with
an unclean spirit; and he cried out,
24 saying, “What do we have to do with You, Jesus the Nazarene? Have You come
to destroy us? I know who You are—the Holy One of God!”
25 And Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be quiet, and come out of him!”
26 And throwing him into convulsions, the unclean spirit cried out with a loud
voice and came out of him.
27 And they were all amazed, so that they were arguing among
themselves, saying, “What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands
even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him.”
28 And immediately the news about Him spread everywhere into all the
surrounding district of Galilee.
Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the Gospel that. “The time
is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe the
gospel.” And He did so first in the Synagogues to reach the Jews. For God sent
His Son to first reach His people so that they may know God and repent. They
would see that Jesus is the Messiah prophesied in Genesis 3 through Moses and
the prophets.
They, Jesus and those who are His disciples, the ones who
gave up their lives to follow Jesus, entered Capernaum and on the Sabbath,
Jesus began to teach. He didn’t approach with hesitance, but with a humble
boldness as he opened the Torah and spoke to those assembled.
But there was a difference from other Rabbis for Jesus was
teaching with authority. He is God, He is the Son of God, He knows His law, He
knows His righteousness, and He has the authority to speak without question
that which is His truth as a command.
This astonished the people, for the scribes who knew the
law, for their job was to write the Torah over and over. There were no printing
presses back then. Men had the work of copying the Torah with accuracy and this
created a class of Jews called Scribes sometimes referred to as Lawyers because
they knew the Law.
But Scribes had no authority, they were not the chosen
priests of Yahweh and that left them only claiming the Law as their authority,
not God. Though they believed they were speaking on God’s behalf.
Mark informs us that immediately a man in the synagogue with
an unclean spirit cried out. An unclean spirit is a demon. Demons are spirits
and humans who do not have faith in Yahweh are subject to oppression and even
possession by them. Fallen angels who feast on the wicked desires in your heart
and lead you down the road to destruction.
This man had many spirits indwelling him. By their admission,
because they knew they were in the presence of the Messiah, the Son of God, was
one of rage and terror, saying, “What do we have to do with You, Jesus the
Nazarene? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are—the Holy One of God!”
Did you hear what they said? They said, “Have You come to
destroy us?” Us implies there is more than one demon in that man. The demons
also know that Jesus is the Holy One of God who will in time be cast into the
eternal fires no longer able to plague mankind.
They cannot stand to be in Jesus' presence, they rebuff His
authority saying, “What do we have to do with you?” Does this not sound
familiar? How many of you have said if not in your heart but even with your
mouth that you would have nothing of Jesus?
You know truly that Yahweh is a living God and His Son is
Jesus, but you suppress this because of the same reason the unclean spirits do,
you hate that He has authority over you. Jesus has come so that people would be
saved from their sins, but those who reject this salvation do so because they
love their sins and do not want to face the reality that they will pay for their
iniquity.
Jesus spoke His testimony to John the Apostle in Revelation
22: 12-14 “Behold, I
am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man
according to his work. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last,
the beginning and the end.”14 Blessed are those who wash their robes, so
that they may have the authority to the tree of life and may enter by the gates
into the city. Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the sexually immoral
persons and the murderers and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and
practices lying.”
And Mark tells us that Jesus has the authority to command
even the spirits, “Be quiet, and come out of him!” and the spirits obeyed and
threw the man into convulsions and cried out in a loud voice and came out of
the man.
By the word of the Son of God, The Holy One of God, demons
must obey and leave.
And the people in the synagogue were amazed, arguing amongst
themselves saying, “What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands
even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him.” And why not? This man comes in
from nowhere, opens a scroll, and begins to teach, with authority, and in the
middle of his teaching a rebellious demon sticks out it’s head and cries in
rage at that which would command him. And the teacher rebukes the spirit from
the man, cleansing him of the possession with humility and power.
It went viral and the news of what happened spread through
the districts of Galilee. This authority that Jesus has still pierces the heart
of the ungodly. For Jesus commanded His disciples saying, “All authority has
been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all
the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy
Spirit, teaching them to keep all that I commanded you;”
So we go and we teach the truth as given by Yahweh through
His written word.
There is great joy in Jesus who brings life to all who
repent and believe. Jesus the Messiah has risen from the dead, conquering it,
and lives. He is in your midst with us, but you cannot see. You are blind and
your heart is darkened thus we bring the light that we proclaim.
Death will soon take you and when you die you will face
judgment for your sins. God is just and cannot by His nature abide by sin nor
dismiss it. Every act of rebellion and transgression against God is wrapped up
in sin, yet you have foolishly chosen to do it because you love your sin, rather
than follow Christ and His righteousness that would truly enrich you.
From the Ten Commandments, we have false worship,
idolatry, misusing God’s name and living vain lives, violating the Sabbath,
dishonoring parents, murder, adultery, stealing, lying/false witness, and
coveting.
In the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew
5–7), Jesus took some of these same sins to a new level. Regarding
murder, Jesus said, “Anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to
judgment.... But anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of
hell” (Matthew
5:22).
Regarding adultery, Jesus said, “Anyone who looks at a
woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:28).
This includes men lusting other men and women lusting other women.
In Galatians
5:19-21, we are told, “The acts of the sinful nature are obvious:
sexual immorality, impurity, and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred,
discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, and
envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like.
I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this
will not inherit the kingdom of God.”
In addition to the
various lists that can be found in Scripture, we are told in 1 John
5:17 that “all wrongdoing is sin.” Not only does the Bible tell
us the things not to do, but in James 4:17,
we are informed that anyone “who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do
it, sins.”
God is just and He must bring recompense to every sinner.
You are that sinner, and you cannot comprehend your sins to
root them all out and make yourself right with God. Not by obeying the Law, nor
by deciding that you are right with God. Only God can make you right with Him
and He sent His son Jesus to live that perfect life without sin, die, and rise
on the third day alive.
Jesus bore all our sins; He bore all the sins of all who
believe in Him. He suffered the totality
of God’s Wrath upon Himself that every sinner deserves, willingly, so that
those who believe in Jesus may have peace with God.
As it is written, “God, being rich in mercy because of
His great love with which He loved us even when we were dead in our
transgressions, made us alive together with Christ—by grace, you have been
saved—and raised us with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in
Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches
of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus for by grace you have been
saved through faith, and this not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;9 not of
works, so that no one may boast.” Ephesians 2:5-8
Turn away from your unrighteous sinful ways which lead to death and turn toward and follow Jesus which leads to life.
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