Luke 4:31-44
31Then he went down to Capernaum, a town in Galilee, and on the Sabbath began to teach the people. 32They were amazed at his teaching, because his message had authority.
33In the synagogue there was a man possessed by a demon, an evil spirit. He cried out at the top of his voice, 34"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!"
35"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.
36All the people were amazed and said to each other, "What is this teaching? With authority and power he gives orders to evil spirits and they come out!" 37And the news about him spread throughout the surrounding area.
38Jesus left the synagogue and went to the home of Simon. Now Simon's mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they asked Jesus to help her. 39So he bent over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. She got up at once and began to wait on them.
40When the sun was setting, the people brought to Jesus all who had various kinds of sickness, and laying his hands on each one, he healed them. 41Moreover, demons came out of many people, shouting, "You are the Son of God!" But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew he was the Christ.[b]
42At daybreak Jesus went out to a solitary place. The people were looking for him and when they came to where he was, they tried to keep him from leaving them. 43But he said, "I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent." 44And he kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea.[c]
Have you ever turned over a rock or log in the woods and seen the bugs scatter? When we look at this text we see the kingdom of darkness flees as the kingdom of God is manifested. Jesus, the Light of the World, is on the scene and like bugs scattering, demons are popping out everywhere- it is as if a giant spotlight has been turned on. The first miracle recorded in the gospel of Luke is here in vs.33 Jesus casting out a demon from a man who was in church.
It is remarkable to see the contrast between Nazareth, Capernaum and the rest of Galilee. In the earlier verses of this same chapter Jesus is in Nazareth but because of familiarity, unbelief and a lack of honor the anointing was shutdown. They could have experienced the power of God displayed in great measure but they rejected Him. The opinion they had of Jesus caused Jesus to not do anything except heal a few sick people. So now Capernaum would be the place where Jesus would set up his base of operations and move out from there to Galilee. Every place that Jesus went he displayed the might and power of God – the blind to see, the deaf to hear, the lame to walk, the dead to rise. It could have happened in Nazareth but it did not.
The key verse for our study is Luke 4:43. But he said, "I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent." Nazareth was rejecting the King of that Kingdom and did not know it. The Kingdom of God has come. What is the Kingdom of God? In the synoptic gospels it is the basic theme of Jesus’ ministry. The Kingdom of God is a unifying theme of the entire bible. It begins in Genesis and ends in Revelation where it declares, “the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our God and Savior.”
The whole bible is about how God is attempting to establish His Kingdom here on our planet even in the midst of our sin. The kingdom of God is the rule of God. You enter His kingdom the moment you submit to His Lordship. Jesus Christ is Lord and when you submit to Him you become part of the kingdom. If you never yield to him you never enter in.
The kingdom of God is expressed in word and deed. In the western church teaching the word is the main thrust and emphasis with no demonstration. Jesus not only spoke and taught about the kingdom but demonstrated the power of the kingdom. In these verses we see he did this in 2 ways: in casting out demons and healing the sick.
1 John 3:8 says for this reason the Son of God was manifested that that he would destroy the works of the devil.
Evil is real and not a figment of your imagination. Those who do not have a grasp of real evil do not have a grasp of real salvation. We don’t just need a rulebook to tell us how to live, we need someone to set us free from the bondage of evil!
When we look at the text we see evil exposed. There are demons that want to inhabit people and that terrifies some but understand that that is just part of the world in which we live. You never see Jesus condemning anyone who has a demon. I don’t know why we even make such a big deal about it. Healing the sick and casting out demons are just a normal part of the kingdom of God and should happen anytime a Christian shows up. Because where Jesus is so is his Kingdom.
To be continued.
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