I was raised in a noisy house of nine siblings. We absolutely loved pulling pranks on one another. The nature of the pranks varied but the end goal was the same – to crack up at someone else’s expense.
This happened to me on multiple occasions. I remember one time walking out of my room, turned left to head to the front door, when all of a sudden from out of nowhere one of my brothers jumped in front of me with a loud interrogating, soul-jolting, scary-as-a-ghost, “Boo!”
“Ha! Gotcha!” he said, “I made you flinch.”
Made me flinch? I nearly had a stage 4 heart attack!
Ever had one of those moments where you were minding your own business and then suddenly and unexpectedly you were interrupted? The reaction to blink, flinch, and drawback is natural, right?
In Luke 4:31-32 Jesus was in Capernaum, a city of Galilee. And he was teaching on the Sabbath, and everyone was astonished at his teaching, for his word possessed authority.
There was seemingly nothing too out of the ordinary in the account recorded by Luke. Jesus was minding his own business doing what he did best – teach. He spoke, people were impressed. You would’ve been impressed too. He spoke with authority.
But then all of a sudden someone infinitely worse than my brother jumped onto the scene with a loud cry. “Ha! What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are – the Holy One of God” (Luke 4:34). It was a demon possessed man. A foul, revolting, wicked and unclean demon. We’re not just talking about a suspicious looking stranger off the street roaming in the middle of the night. We’re talking about an agent of Satan who often exhibits erratic and violent actions, sometimes causing the victim to fall to the ground, roll around, and foam at the mouth (Mark 9:18). Subduing and binding the demon possessed by human strength can sometimes be futile since demons can wrench chains apart and break shackles in pieces (Mark 5:4). Would Jesus be startled and shaken up? Would he flinch? Would he blink and drawback?
“But Jesus rebuked him…” (Luke 4:35). No wincing nor flinching. “‘Be silent and come out of him!’ And when the demon had thrown [the man] down in their midst, he came out of him, having done him no harm.”
This is a glimpse into the unquestionable omnipotence of Jesus. He is all powerful and has unlimited authority and influence over all things, even over depraved and hellish demons. All things are at his disposal.
Note the response of the witnesses. “And they were all amazed and said to one another, ‘What is this word? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out!’ And reports about him went out into every place in the surrounding region” (Luke 4:36-37).
Nothing but the determined power of God incarnate could rescue the demon possessed. In the same way, nothing but the determined power of God incarnate could rescue us from our sin and from ourselves.
Wait, rescue us from ourselves?
Yes. Apart from the power and saving grace of Jesus we would remain depraved and without hope. I think the prayer in the Valley of Vision’s, “God the all” captures this well: “If thou didst not hold us back every moment, we should be devils incarnate.” Left alone, we’d destroy ourselves.
Yet, Christ willingly entered our darkness to destroy the works of the devil and redeem us for Himself. The Scriptures put it this way:
“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing…” (Ephesians 2:8).
It can’t be our own doing. We’re not righteous enough nor strong enough to save ourselves. This may not sound flattering but it’s true. “This is not your own doing…”
It was the omnipotent rebuke of Jesus that saved the man from the devil’s scheme by drawing out the demon, and it is the omnipotent call of Jesus that saves us and draws us to repentance and to follow him.
The same power that saved the man from the demon is the same omnipotent power that saves us from sin, Satan, death, and ourselves.
Moreover, his power eternally sustains us even in our present day. We need his power in our todays, don’t we? Just like we are not strong enough to save ourselves, we are likewise not strong enough to face the day apart from his power. This is why the Bible commands us to be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might (Ephesians 6:10). This is gospel encouragement rather than flattery. The Bible doesn’t lie to us and say, “You are so strong!” but rather encourages us by reminding us, “God is so strong. Therefore, hope and trust in him.” Don’t try to face the day by yourself. You can’t. Not very well, anyway.
Consider the Apostle Paul.
In 1 Thessalonians 2:2 he wrote to the church, “We had the boldness in our God to speak to you the gospel of God amid much opposition.”
Paul desired to share good news to bad people during bad times. But how could he do that? In his own strength? Not at all. Think about it. Prior to going to the Thessalonians, Paul received many beatings and blows and was thrown into the inner prison and had his feet fastened in the stocks in the city of Philippi (Acts 16:22-24).
To say that he was physically and emotionally drained would be an understatement. But he then traveled 90 miles to the west in order to reach Thessalonica.
I don’t know about you but if I was just beaten with rods, thrown in prison, fastened to stocks, and then asked to travel on foot 90 more miles, I would feel exhaustively weak.
Paul did too.
So when he wrote to the Thessalonian church, he didn’t give a veneer of his own strength, rather he revealed the source of his boldness by declaring, “We had boldness in our God.”
In our God.
Paul didn’t highlight his own strength, he spotlighted God’s. Paul wasn’t omnipotent. But he had boldness in the God who was and is always mighty.
Do you see why this is good news for the exhausted and weak? Paul didn’t need to hide his weakness. And neither do we. Likewise, Paul didn’t have to falsely prove that he was mighty and in control of every situation. And neither do we. We are not sufficiently strong all of the time. We do not have unlimited resources.
But Jesus does. He can cast a demon out of a man. We should cast ourselves before him daily.
Are you feeling overwhelmed, exhausted, or empty? Jesus has sufficient strength for you today.
Luke reveals that Jesus is the sovereign God who can crush and defeat the demon, casting him out of the man who was bound. By grace, through faith, that same power is what transforms our depraved, dark, and devilish hearts.
It is the same power that helps us in the big things such as our relationships, parenting, vocations, sicknesses, tasks, preaching, but also in the small things such as walking, breathing, moving, and living, for “In him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28). God’s power is always all sufficient.
Aren’t you glad that Jesus is omnipotent? May it be a fresh reminder that we’re never as tough as we think we are. On our own we’d collapse under the slavery of sin and Satan’s chains. But Jesus is strong, and that makes all the difference. He has unlimited and supreme power and invites us to rely upon His strength.
So stop pretending you’re strong enough. Cast yourself daily at the feet of the omnipotent Christ who casts out demons, crushes Satan, forgives sin, and carries His saints safely home.
And that’s good news!