Daily Devotion

I would like to know as much about Capernaum as I do about Nazareth, but the strange fact is that there is even doubt as to the site of this lakeside town where so much of Jesus' mighty works were done.

 

This scripture is especially interesting because it is the first in Luke where we encounter demon possession. The ancient world believed that the air was thickly populated with evil spirits which desired entry into humans. Often it was thought that they enter people through food or drink, and all illness was caused by them. The Egyptians believed there were thirty-six different parts of the human body and any of them could be entered and controlled by one of these evil spirits. It was such a spirit that Jesus exorcised here. To many people, this is a problem. On the whole, modern thought regards belief in spirits as something primitive and superstitious which we have outgrown. Yet Jesus believed in their existence.

 

If Jesus was really a man, in scientific things he must have had the knowledge open to mankind. But because He was God in human form, his knowledge exceeded that which was then open to men.  Modern thought has been swinging round to the admission that there is something real about demons after all. There are certain physical troubles that have no bodily cause as far as can be discovered. Since there is no physical explanation, some now think there must be a spiritual one and that demons are not unreal after all. The people were astonished at Jesus' power-and no wonder. Jesus' authority was something new because when Jesus spoke to the demons, He said, "I say to you." He needed no authorities to support Him; His was not a delegated authority; He was authority incarnate. Here was a man who spoke as no one else. In every sphere of life, the expert bears an air of authority. Jesus is the expert in life.He speaks, and men know that His words are beyond human argument-this is God!

 

Life Application: What is your opinion about demon activity in the human race? Just accept Jesus as the expert in human life. He has always been the healer as well as the deliverer.

 

Praise/Prayer: Dear Father, I am so thankful that Jesus came to represent You on earth. He showed us that there is no demon who can resist Your authority and power. I am so thankful that when I needed to, I could use Your Name and authority and demons left and the sick were healed. PRAISE GOD FROM WHOM ALL BLESSING FLOW! AMAN!