Commentaries:
The great archangel who later became Satan and his legions of angels were once clean spirits until they rebelled against the Most High God. In the ages before human history, they dwelled in the preincarnate Christ's presence, and thus they are very aware of His attributes. Thus, the demon in the synagogue does not hesitate to acknowledge "the Holy One of God."
Jesus does not let it speak of Him because He would not receive testimony from such a lying, diabolical source. For the same reason, Paul refuses the public witness of a fortune-telling spirit in Philippi (Acts 16:16-18). There can be no association between Christ and Satan. Jesus does not even carry on conversations with demons, but He commands and instructs them by the power and authority of His heavenly Father (Matthew 8:31-32; Mark 1:34).
Martin G. Collins
The Miracles of Jesus Christ: Exorcism in the Synagogue
Related Topics:
What Jesus did on the first Sabbath of His ministry is to signal an attack against the forces of evil. He began a holy war to free mankind from Satan and sin. The demon knew it, which is why it reacted the way it did. It threw a tantrum. If we would put what the demon said into modern, colloquial terms, it snapped at Jesus, "Why are You interfering here?" And Jesus came right back, with authority, "Shut your mouth! And come out of him."
The demon was not about to give up easily. It was probably a strong demon, but it did obey its Master and came out—yet not without thrashing the man around. Fortunately, the man was not hurt.
So the first shot that was fired in this war was a spiritual healing: Jesus liberated a man from a demon on the Sabbath day. He may have done a few other things before, but this was the first public act as part of His ministry.
This began the war for control of the earth, for the right to rule over it after He had defeated the demons' master, Satan. Jesus was showing that the demons would not fare any better than he. By casting out the demon, He restored order and peace to the congregation, as the possessed man had been causing trouble.
The second thing He did, then, was a physical healing that resulted in service to others. This unfortunate woman, who was bound by a disease, is relieved of it by Jesus Christ. Then she rose and immediately served everybody else. This ought to give us a clue—those of us who receive healing—as to what we are supposed to do with our healing. We are to rise and serve.
Here, in a nutshell, are major principles by which our Sabbath activities can be judged. The Sabbath is for redemption, liberty, joy, peace, and service that comes through fellowship and instruction that reorients our devotion to the right direction.
John W. Ritenbaugh
The Fourth Commandment (Part 2)
Other commentary entries containing this verse:
Luke 4:16
Library resources that contain this verse:
E-mail this page
