Mark 1:21-28 - Jesus Delivers

Mark 1:21-28

Mark 1:21–28 LEB

21 And they went into Capernaum and immediately on the Sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue. 22 And they were amazed at his teaching, because he was teaching them like one who had authority, and not like the scribes. 23 And so then there was a man in their synagogue with an unclean spirit, and he cried out, 24 saying, “Leave us alone, 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 silent, and come out of him!” 26 And after convulsing him and crying out with a loud voice, the unclean spirit came out of him. 27 And they were all amazed, so that they began to discuss with one another, saying, “What is this? A new teaching with authority! He even commands the unclean spirits and they obey him.” 28 And the report about him then went out everywhere in the whole surrounding region of Galilee.

Pray

Jesus teaching in a Synagogue

Not something that is radical Jesus spent a lot a time in the “church” but then immediate after he spends time in the house.

Jesus is not just a person of the church nor is he a person that avoids it and doesn’t like synagogue. Jesus is about his Fathers business in the home (your home) and he is about his Father’s Business at the Church. Are you about your Father’s Business.

Jesus goes and speaks with authority and why shouldn’t he. It’s His Father’s house, and the people are astounded by his authority.

If we have the holy spirit why do we not speak with authority? Who is this God living in you?

And as he is speaking and teaching a man with an unclean spirit. In other words he was demon possessed. And Jesus shows his authority sending the demon out.

Demons

We tend to overlook demons

We like God. We like angels

But we Don’t really like Demons. They have been accused of things that weren’t there fault. They have been over used for years. Every little problem, “demons did it”.

And some people still might be in that camp. Demons are everywhere and in everything. That isn’t helpful.

Others swing to the other extreme. Demons aren’t real

But they are. If we are to be Bible believing Christians we must believe demons.

This statue is a statue of the Assyrian Demon Pazuzu

What are they?

There are two major thoughts on the subject.

(I am going to have to simplify the ideas and wont fully cover them, see me if you want more reading)

Fallen Angels

Sometime after their creation, and after they were declared “very good” in Genesis 1:31. Satan rebelled and was cast out of heaven.

Isaiah 14:12 LEB

12 How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of dawn! You are cut down to the ground, conqueror of nations!

Luke 10:18 LEB

18 So he said to them, “I saw Satan falling like lightning from heaven.

When Lucifer sinned, Jesus said, Luke 10:18, and in the book of revelation Satan is seen as

Revelation 9:1 LEB

1 And the fifth angel blew the trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from heaven to the earth, and the key of the shaft of the abyss was given to him.

Satan seen as a star fallen from heaven

A group of angels chose to rebel with Satan.

John saw this great wonder in heaven, “… an enormous red dragon … His tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth … the great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him” (Revelation 12:3–9).

Since Satan is referred to as a star which fell or was cast down to earth, and Revelation 12:4 says a third of the stars were cast out with him, then the conclusion is that the stars in Revelation 12 refer to fallen angels, fully one third of the heavenly host. If the one-third number is in fact accurate, what assurance that is! Two thirds of the angels are still on God’s side, and for followers of Christ, they are on our side as well.

This idea really comes from the Bible but mostly from John Milton’s Paradise Lost

Which is part of Catholic Tradition

Disembodied spirits of dead Nephilim

(Little harder to explain)

This Idea Starts in Genesis 6

Genesis 6:1–4 LEB

1 And it happened that, when humankind began to multiply on the face of the ground, daughters were born to them. 2 Then the sons of God saw the daughters of humankind, that they were beautiful. And they took for themselves wives from all that they chose. 3 And Yahweh said, “My Spirit shall not abide with humankind forever in that he is also flesh. And his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.” 4 The Nephilim were upon the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God went into the daughters of humankind, and they bore children to them. These were the mighty warriors that were from ancient times, men of renown.

If you translate it as the sons of God being angels and the daughters of man as human women.

You get a half angel half human being. they were the Nephilim. Giants

There dependents are known as the Anakim

Numbers 13:32–33 LEB

32 And they presented the report of the land that they explored to the Israelites, saying, “The land that we went through to explore is a land that eats its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in its midst are men of great size. 33 There we saw the Nephilim (the descendants of Anak came from the Nephilim), and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their eyes.”

there were other clans of giants as well (Deut 2-3) Emim, Zamzummim, and Rephaim. These will be enemies of the people of God. Joshua will be called to annihilate these people. Joshua summed up the conquest this way: “There was none of the Anakim left in the land of the people of Israel. Only in Gaza, in Gath, and in Ashdod did some remain.” Those were three Philistine cities. Goliath would come from one of them (Gath) in the days of David (1 Sam 17:4).

The key to understanding how these giants were perceived as demons in the biblical material—an idea that got a lot of focus in Jewish writings produced after the Old Testament—is the term Rephaim. In the Old Testament, the Rephaim are described as giant warlords (Deut 2:8-11; 3:1-11; Josh 13:12), but also as frightening, sinister disembodied spirits (“the shades”) in the Underworld, called Sheol in Hebrew (Isa 14:9; 26:14; Job 26:5). The disembodied spirits of these giants were therefore associated with the abode of the dead, something everyone feared, since everyone feared death.

But the Rephaim also had another awful association. There are nearly 10 references in the Old Testament to a place called the Valley of the Rephaim (e.g., 2 Sam 5:18, 22; 23:13). Joshua 15:8 and 18:16 tell us that the Valley of the Rephaim adjoined another valley—the Valley of Hinnom, also known as the Valley of the Son of Hinnom. In Hebrew “Valley of Hinnom” is ge hinnom, a phrase from which the name gehenna derives—a term conceptually linked to Hades/Hell in the New Testament.

Since these are half angel half human they don’t die in the natural way. They live on and they are the demons

Does it matter?

I really don’t know what is right. I don’t know if it really matters. How you view this subject does change some theological issues. It changes what the unclean spirit mean when he says to Jesus you have come to destroy us. What sin is Jesus cleaning up after?

But in the end the idea is there are unclean spirits. and they do possess people. They are at work in people.

For the people of Mesopotamia Demons were a fact of life. For the people of Jesus time Demons are a fact. For us today Demons are.

Good News for the Believer

Take heart, if you have the holy spirit living in you. You cannot be possessed by another spirit, Because the Holy cannot live with unholy. But they can live in someone. I have seen it

The great thing is a believer cannot be possessed. But that does not mean you can’t be influenced. They can’t make you do anything. You are not chained to the Sin.

Genesis 4:7 LEB

7 If you do well will I not accept you? But if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. And its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.”

The Hebrew verb used here, ravats, normally indicates lying down, as in resting (29:2; Isa 11:6); it can also refer to lying in wait like a predator does when waiting for prey (Gen 49:9).

The Hebrew word ravats is also associated with the Akkadian word rabitsu, which in Mesopotamian religion is used in reference to demons that were believed to guard entrances to buildings. Thus, it is possible that sin is being personified here as a demonic force, waiting to pounce on Cain. This fits with the curse of the serpent who God says will strike at the heel of people (3:15).

Listening to the False Spirits

These demons do speak to believers. Believers are not immune to demons speaking to you.

Anyone can come under the influence false spirits. That’s why 1 John warns us to test the spirits. The voices that we listen to make big differences in our lives And usually it starts out with a whisper. A twist of the truth, A half lie. And if we are not careful we can be lead astray and find ourselves way off course because we listened to a lie that became more and more and more

Like a person I know who now has three “friends” that live with them, And this person talks to them and thinks its normal. Didn’t start with that, but…Put a frog in water and slowly turn up the heat. He will sit there till he dies

Demons are real and we must be on guard.

Not that they are responsible for everything. But they are there

But the blessing is that Jesus delivers

Jesus Delivers

He frees from the punishment of sin. He frees from those lying spirits. If we listen to him. If we claim Him. If we proclaim Him.

God’s timing (I didn’t plan it)

Today is purim. Day in which the Jews were delivered from the plans to destroy all Jews found in the book of Ester. A celebration of God’s deliverance and protection. The bible is full of Deliverance

And The blessed Father, Son and Holy spirit want us to be delivered. Delivered from the punishment of sin. But more than just initial salvation. Deliverance is about life. Life in its fullness, freedom from the chains of that tie us

Deliverance from those habitual sins

Deliver you from fear

Deliver you from the traps that that ensnare

Deliver you from the Lies that encircle us

Next Steps

What deliverance do you have in your life that you can celebrate today?

Maybe some of you need deliverance

Pray but take action

Get help

Pray

Bibliography

https://blog.logos.com/2015/10/where-do-demons-come-from/

Grudem, Wayne A. Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine. Leicester, England; Grand Rapids, MI: Inter-Varsity Press; Zondervan Pub. House, 2004.

Heiser, Michael S. The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible. First Edition. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2015.

Got Questions Ministries. Got Questions? Bible Questions Answered. Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2002–2013.

Barry, John D., Douglas Mangum, Derek R. Brown, Michael S. Heiser, Miles Custis, Elliot Ritzema, Matthew M. Whitehead, Michael R. Grigoni, and David Bomar. Faithlife Study Bible. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012, 2016.

Image by user World Imaging, from Wikimedia Commons. License: CC BY-SA 3.0