Authority over the Devil

Jesus demonstrated his authority over Satan’s kingdom by driving satanic forces out of the children of Israel – Mark 1:21-28.

Jesus defeated Satan in the wilderness, rejecting all his temptations. The effect of that victory was demonstrated when the Messiah exercised authority over demonic forces in the village of Capernaum, near the Sea of Galilee. The first incident occurred in the local synagogue, a place where Jews would gather to study the Mosaic Law and pray.

[Capernaum synagogue - Photo by Phil Goodwin on Unsplash]

The institution of the synagogue is not mentioned in the Torah. It probably originated during the Babylonian Captivity or shortly thereafter. The synagogue would become central to the practice of rabbinical Judaism after the destruction of the Temple by the Romans in A.D. 70.

• (Mark 1:21-28) - “And immediately, on the Sabbath, entering the synagogue, Jesus began teaching. And they were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one having authority and not as the Scribes. And immediately, there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, and he cried out aloud, saying: What have we in common with you, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know you, who you are, the Holy One of God. And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Silence, and depart from him! And the unclean spirit, tearing him and calling out with a loud voice, departed. And they were amazed, one and all, so that they began to discuss among themselves, saying: What is this new teaching? With authority, he gives orders to the unclean spirits, and they obey him!”

The men of the synagogue were amazed by the authoritative way in which Jesus taught. The Scribes expounded the Law by citing oral traditions and legal precedents, the ‘Tradition of the Elders’. However, the Scribes and Pharisees did not make legal pronouncements on their own authority.

In contrast, Jesus taught decisively and with practical applications based on his Messianic status. He was “the Son of Man” portrayed in the Book of Daniel, the anointed figure who received authority and dominion from “the Ancient of Days,” including authority over the nations of the Earth:

• “I saw in the night visions and behold! There came with the clouds of heaven one like unto a son of man, and he came to the ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom that all the peoples, nations, and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which will not pass away, and his kingdom that which will not be destroyed” – (Daniel 7:13-14).

EXORCISING DEMONS

Of the thirteen miracles recorded in the Gospel of Mark, four are exorcisms, the most frequent type of healing in the book. Eleven times, the Gospel of Mark refers to demons as “unclean spirits.” Four times the verbal form of the Greek term for “demons” is used to denote someone who is “demonized” or oppressed by demons. In the present passage, “unclean” refers to a state of ritual defilement.

Christ’s miracles of healing and even his silencing of violent storms further confirmed his Messianic authority and status. For example:

• “But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins (he says to the sick of the palsy), I say to you, Arise, take up your bed, and go to your house” – (Mark 2:10-11).

• “And he said to them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath, so that the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath” – (Mark 2:27-28).

Why was this demonized man allowed in the synagogue despite his “unclean” state? In Mark, the synagogue is frequently the place where demons are present, religious authorities are antagonistic to the Messiah, and their hardness of heart is the rule rather than the exception. Like the Temple, the synagogue became an arena of conflict whenever Jesus began to proclaim the Gospel of the Kingdom of God - (Mark 1:39, 3:1, 6:2, 12:39, 13:9).

This demon spoke through the man using the plural pronoun or “we”: “What have we in common with you, Jesus of Nazareth?” The unclean spirit represented all the demonic forces that were present in the synagogue that day. This confrontation was a harbinger of the larger conflict between Jesus and the satanic forces that would culminate in his arrest, trial, and execution by the priestly authorities.

The demon acknowledged Jesus as “the Holy One of God.” Though hidden from men, the unclean spirit knew who he was. The command of Jesus for the demon to remain silent was not to conceal his Messianic status. However, by identifying him in public, this spirit could discredit his teachings and mission.

The commanding authority of Jesus over demons demonstrates his vastly superior authority over the words and pronouncements of the Scribes, and his exorcisms validated that authority. The authority by which he taught was the same as the authority by which he expelled demonic forces from the children of God, an authority the Scribes and Pharisees could never match.

• “And if I by Beelzebub cast out demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore, they will be your judges. But if I by the Spirit of God cast out demons, then is the kingdom of God come upon you” – (Mat 12:27-28 ).

Christ’s point in the passage from Matthew was not that his opponents were exorcising demons by another or illegitimate authority, but that they could not cast them out at all. Jesus, on the other hand, could do so by the Spirit of God.

The exorcisms performed by Jesus in the synagogue demonstrated conclusively that the “Coming One” announced by John the Baptist had arrived and was now reconquering territory from Satan’s kingdom and advancing the Kingdom of God.

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SEE ALSO:

• The Son's Authority - (Jesus is the ‘Son of Man’ foreseen by Daniel, the Messiah with absolute authority over the peoples and nations of the Earth)

• Authority over Sea and Storm - (Despite his miracle of calming a storm on the Sea of Galilee, Christ’s disciples still could not understand who he was – Mark 4:35-41)

• Who is this Man? - (In Mark’s Gospel, no one understood who Jesus was except demons. Only in his death on a Roman cross was his identity understood by men)

• The Son of Man - (The figure of the Son of Man in the Book of Daniel is the source of Christ’s self-designation, the Son of Man)