AFTER his painful experience in Nazareth Jesus continues his ministry in Capernaum, a town in Galilee. He is always going about his master's business. The thing that is significant is that the first and foremost activity in his ministry was that of teaching. Again we have evidence of the wonderful spiritual quality of his teaching. He spoke the truth of God with authority. Two lessons are here to be gleaned in this fact. The first is that teaching the truth of God is the chief activity of ministry. Ministers are sent forth by and from God to teach and preach the gospel. This is our business. It comes before miracles; before social activity and caring; before organisation. These things are good and important, but teaching God's truth must be paramount. It is by teaching the truth that people are saved from their sins, and God is glorified.

The other lesson from verse 31 and 32 is the matter of authority. The authority of Jesus came from the fact that he spoke the word of God. He taught the truth. It is true that Jesus was unique in this, for being the Son of God as well as the Son of man, he came peculiarly equipped for the task of making the truth of God known. Having said this, it is also true that ministers of the Gospel must preach and teach with authority, and that authority can only be found when the minister is faithful to the Word of God given in the Bible, which is the inspired revelation of God. Not only so but in every act of teaching, the minister must, through much prayer and communion with God, seek to declare the counsel of God for each occasion, that is the truth for the occasion. This makes preaching more onerous and difficult, but only if we speak the word of God from God will we have authority, and know the blessing of God on our ministry.

After or in the occupation of teaching Jesus comes face to face with a man who is possessed by a devil, an evil spirit. The man was in the congregation as Jesus was preaching. The demon showed his animosity against Jesus and his teaching by shouting out before everyone present, “Ha! What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are – the Holy One of God!” Jesus rebukes the demon. He speaks to the demon possessing the man, not to the man himself. Jesus commands the demon to be quiet, and come out of the man, and the demon has to obey and leave his possession of the man. This demonstration of power and all that has occurred in this casting out of the demon causes the people to be amazed that Jesus has such authority that demons have to obey him.

Again let us notice seriously the lessons which are taught here. In the first place we see the reality of demons, and therefore of Satan, the prince of demons. We see the reality of the opposition that Satan and his hosts of demons have against Jesus, and the teaching of the truth. We see also that the devil's business is to silence the truth. If he can't do it by preventing the truth being taught, he will do all he can to pervert the truth with error and unbelief. This activity of the devil is very much in evidence in the church today, where the bible revelation is questioned, and people feel able to pick and chose what they will believe and accept in it as the word of God. One of the successes of the devil in our day is that he has succeeded in convincing people that he does not exist, and by this people are not on their guard, and are easy prey to Satan's deceptions. At least let us make sure we are not so deceived.

The next lesson is that Satan is present even in church worship, and he is seeking to pervert the work of God. We learn that he uses ordinary people who are under his dominion to be his agents. Where the true word of God is preached, Satan mobilises such people to act on his behalf to pervert the truth, and hinder people from hearing the truth. Where Satan has achieved his goal in making the ministry to depart from the whole truth of God, then he is quiet, but as soon as the Spirit of God comes in reviving power and grace, and the gospel is preached with power, then the devil becomes activity and this we must be aware of, and seek the defence of the whole armour of God, and be strong in the Lord and the power of his might.

Then we have this powerful message of victory over Satan. Jesus had total power over evil spirits, and if we are hiding in him, then we will have the victory also by his power and grace. Jesus came to overcome Satan. Through his sin Adam gave his allegiance to Satan, and plunged all humanity into subjection to Satan, Jesus came to overcome the evil one. The evil one's power over human beings is because we have sinned and therefore God in justice must punish sin and condemn the sinner. This is Satan's hold over us. Jesus came to remove this hold, and he did it completely through his death, whereby he made an all-sufficient sacrifice for the sin of the whole world, so satisfying the justice of God on account of the sin of all who believe on him and trust in him as Saviour. When we rest upon Jesus alone, then we are not only forgiven, but freed from Satan's dominion, and are translated into the kingdom of God, and this is for ever.

So let us with confidence trust in the Lord through whom we are saved. Never let Satan deceive us into fearing him and his power. Let us always know that in Jesus we possess eternal life, and heaven is our home. Let us pray earnestly that in this our day there may be a demonstration of Christ's power and victory over Satan, as Satan's hold on people is broken, and people are saved from their sins and brought into the kingdom of of God, and the church revived to the glory of God.