People made this remark about Jesus: What a word is this! They were saying what a commanding voice. Even though evil seems to prevail, it does not override the voice of God.
Luke 4: 31 And came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and taught them on the sabbath days. 32 And they were astonished at his doctrine: for his word was with power. 33 And in the synagogue there was a man, which had a spirit of an unclean devil, and cried out with a loud voice, 34 Saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art; the Holy One of God. 35 And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him. And when the devil had thrown him in the midst, he came out of him, and hurt him not. 36 And they were all amazed, and spake among themselves, saying, What a word is this! for with authority and power he commandeth the unclean spirits, and they come out.
This is a chronicle of the early ministry of Jesus. After his baptism and the temptation in the wilderness, Jesus first went back to Nazareth. He went to the temple and opened the scriptures to Isaiah. After reading he said this day is scripture fulfilled in your ears. He expected to be accepted as the Messiah, but the people rejected him. They tried to take him to a cliff. He slipped through the crowd saying no prophet is accepted in his own country. Jesus is a familiar name to most people of the world. It is also the most rejected name. If there has ever been a time we need Jesus, it is now.
Jesus went to Capernaum on the Sabbath. The people gathered for meeting and Jesus was there. When we gather, Jesus is in the midst. He took the scrolls and read the Old Testament. He authorizes and endorses his Word. All they had was the Old Testament. Jesus himself is the New Testament. The people were astonished at the power of his words. His doctrine amazed them. Modern education has all kinds of experts on everything. Everyone is an expert these days. I realize I need to learn. Jesus is the teacher and we need to remain teachable. Christians are the only source of truth and light in this world. You can’t trust much of anything or anyone else.
The Lord speaks with his voice and through his Word. It still has the power to run devils off. Jesus was actually in God’s house, and that’s where we find the devil. A man possessed of devils was in the crowd. The devil comes to church. When we gather, Jesus is here; the devil comes too. He works on us. He gets us sleepy or fills our minds with other things. He tries to influence us and stop the Word from getting to the lost. He tries to keep Christians from growing and seeing their place. We come to church not only to get something out of it, but we are to worship the Lord. If you get nothing out of it, it’s not God’s fault. God never lets anybody down. The Scriptures never let anybody down. The Holy Spirit never lets anybody down. It’s the reverse. We let God down.
When Jesus began to teach, the devil got agitated. It is smooth sailing until we listen to the Lord; then the devil starts to move. Jesus knew the demons were there all along whether anyone else did or not. I can’t confront the devil, but Jesus can. Listen to the Master not the voice of the devil. Jesus saw the demons control this man. You can’t be in this world or even watch television and not see the control of the devil. It’s an abomination to God. Today’s devil is the same devil of Jesus’ day. His voice prevails to many people. We listened to him before we got saved because we were under the power of the devil. Thank God for the voice of the Lord.
Look at this for next week. The devils made five remarks to Jesus in the house of God. Think about what they said. If those words were said to someone else you could see what the devil is saying. Then look at Jesus’ response. The devil spoke loudly. Jesus didn’t. People are loud in their sin now more than I’ve ever seen. You can’t walk down the street without see the way people dress. It would have landed us in jail years ago. The devil is loud. You don’t have to shout out the devil’s crowd. The voice of God prevails. Compare what we see today with what happened that day. People need to be saved and out of control of the devil. We need the prevailing voice of God.
Adwolfe Freewill Baptist Church 