Reading from
Mark 3:7-12 NCV, “Jesus left with His followers for the lake, and a large crowd
from Galilee followed Him. 8) Also many people came from Judea, from Jerusalem,
from Idumea, from the lands across the Jordan River, and from the area of Tyre
and Sidon. When they heard what Jesus was doing, many people came to Him. 9) When
Jesus saw the crowds, He told His followers to get a boat ready for Him to keep
people from crowding against Him. 10) He had healed many people, so all the
sick were pushing toward Him to touch Him.
11) When the
evil spirits saw Jesus, they fell down before Him and shouted, “You are the Son
of God!” 12) But Jesus strongly warned them not to tell who He was.” (KJV: And
He straitly charged them that they should not make Him known. NLT: But Jesus
strictly warned them not to say who He was. Mk.3:12)
Why didn’t Jesus
want the demons to reveal who He was? Here are few reasons: 1) Jesus wants His
listeners to believe He was the Messiah because of His words, not because of
demons’ words. 2) Jesus was going to reveal His identity as the Messiah according
to God’s time, and Jesus was not going to be pushed by Satan’s evil plans. 3)
Jesus was going to show Himself to be the suffering servant, the suffering
Messiah before He became the great King. 4) To reveal His identity (who He
really is) as a King too soon would stir up the crowds with the wrong
expectations of what He had come to do.
Satan wanted the
people to follow Jesus around for what they could get out of Him, not because
He was the Son of God who could truly set them free from sin’s guilt and power.
What did the people really expect Christ
to do? The huge crowds were looking for a political and military leader who
would free them from Rome’s control, and they thought that the Messiah
predicted by the Old Testament prophets would be this kind of man.
But Jesus wanted
to teach the people about the kind of Messiah He really was—one who was far
different from their expectations. Christ’s kingdom is spiritual. Jesus said, “The
kingdom of God is within you.” It begins with people’s heart to overcome their
sins, not with the overthrown of governments.
When Jesus
commands the demons to be silent, Jesus proved His authority and power over
them. Jesus had chosen 12 of His disciples to go out and preach the good news.
Jesus gave them authority and the power to heal sicknesses. Jesus also gave
them authority to cast out demons. NCV quoted: “… to have authority to force
demons out of people.” (Mk 3:13-19)
Before Jesus
went back to heaven, He gave authority to the disciples to cast out devils and
to lay hands on the sick and they shall recover. These are found in Mark
16:17-20. Jesus’ words was passed down to them and into the Word of God, the
Bible.
Today, when we
read this, do we believe that it was passed down to us that we have this
authority through Jesus’ Word? There is a song to sing that “He is Lord! He is
Lord! He has risen from the dead and He is Lord. Every knee shall bow, and every
language shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord!” (Author, unknown)
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