“Open War Is Upon You”
There’s a scene in The Lord of the Rings where Gandalf says to Théoden, “You must fight.” Théoden responds, “I will not risk open war.” Then Aragorn says, “Open war is upon you, whether you would risk it or not.” Brothers and sisters, this is our reality. “Open war is upon us” as believers whether we like it or not. Charles Spurgeon said, “To be a Christian is to be a warrior. The soldier of Jesus Christ must not expect to find ease in this world. It is a battlefield. His occupation is war.”
War is one of the world’s worst tragedies. But, unfortunately, for the Christian, there is no peace time. There is only and always war. We find ourselves living in the midst of a world at war, a war between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of darkness. Eugene Peterson said, “This is the human condition. To be human is to be at war.”
If you grew up in the West, you may have a hard time believing that we live in a war against evil. The Enlightenment taught us to think that evil things in the world have natural, social, or psychological causes. The Enlightenment said that everything can be explained by science.
Many still believe in a supernatural good (i.e. God and angels), but have largely agreed with the Enlightenment’s dismissal of the supernatural bad (Satan and demons). During the 20th century, the notion of supernatural evil went out of fashion even among many Christians.
The problem is that social and psychological and scientific remedies haven’t fundamentally changed things. Evil things like abuse and abortion and genocide and greed and terrorism are stubborn and obstinate things. They haven’t gone away despite great advances in psychological and scientific understanding.
Those of us who believe in supernatural evil tend to think that evil is out there in the really bad things and the really bad people of the world. We say, “Yeah, I believe in evil.” But when was the last time you talked to someone about evil as something that’s working against you in your day-to-day life? Or do you believe in evil the way you believe in the duck-billed platypus? You know it’s out there somewhere, you’re not sure where, but wherever it is, it’s pretty irrelevant to your life. Do you believe that personal evil is real and that it wants to destroy you?
“Let the Holy War Begin”
In the Gospels, we find Jesus interacting with personal evil regularly. In fact, one of the main reasons he came was to defeat the evil powers that have subdued the earth ever since the Garden of Eden. But the powers of darkness weren’t going to loosen their grip on the world without a fight. Remember what happened right after Jesus was baptized by John (4:1-2)? His battle against evil “began so quickly that (he) barely had time to dry off.”[1]
After Jesus withstands Satan’s assaults in the wilderness, he starts preaching the kingdom of God. His message about the kingdom is a direct threat to evil because he’s saying that God is invading territory occupied by the enemy. And the enemy wasn’t happy.
The event we’ll look at today in Luke 4 is the first time in the entire Bible where a demon is cast out of a person. Jesus is baptized, tempted by Satan in the wilderness and one of the first things he does is cast a demon out of someone. “The defeat of demons, falling on the heels of Jesus’ victory over Satan’s temptations, marks the beginning of the re-establishment of the kingdom of God on earth…Jesus’ ministry is the beginning of the end for Satan and the gods of the nations. The great reversal is underway… Let the holy war begin.”[2]
The main point of our text today, Luke 4:31-44, is that Jesus brought the war to the enemy. We’ll see his war against evil (vv. 31-37), his war against sickness (vv. 38-41), and his weapons for the war (vv. 42-44).
War Against Evil
First, in verses 31-37, we see Jesus’ war against evil. Luke uses a particular word two times in these verses to show us how Jesus flexed his power against the devil. Notice verse 32 and 36. In each verse it says that Jesus’ “word” possessed authority. Jesus didn’t walk into his battle against evil with holy oil or a priest or a ritual. He entered the ring with the word of God.
In verses 31-32, Luke says that Jesus was teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum on the Sabbath. Capernaum was a fishing village on the northwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee. Like most villages in Israel, it had a synagogue. Synagogues weren’t like the temple in Jerusalem, where people went to make sacrifices. They were places where the local Jews assembled to hear the Scriptures taught on the Sabbath (Saturday). Various teachers or rabbis would get up and read the Scriptures and comment on them. Jesus was a visiting rabbi that day and was apparently asked to teach.
But Jesus’ teaching was unlike anything the people there had ever experienced. Verse 32, “They were astonished at his teaching” (cf. v. 22). They’d never heard anyone talk like Jesus was talking. He spoke with an authority that they’d never seen from their scribes.
The scribes were highly educated. They would cite other scholars and rabbis and make arguments to support their points. But Jesus didn’t do that. He didn’t quote anyone or use other people’s arguments. There were no footnotes in his notes. He simply spoke. The force and authority of his speaking didn’t require any arguments.
Because Jesus is of the same essence or substance as the Father, the authority that he spoke with was rooted in God Himself. When Jesus opened his mouth, the very word of God came out, and when God speaks, the argument is over. When Jesus says something, that settles it. There’s no debate.
This is why the people were stopped in their tracks and filled with astonishment. How do you respond when you hear the Word of God? When we listen to the Bible being read and preached faithfully, we’re listening to the word of God. This should give us a holy reverence as we listen. This should lead us to pray for the preaching of the Word of God every week. Pray for the preacher, pray for yourselves. Pray that God would give you open ears and a humble heart to receive his word. When God speaks, things happen.
The Devil Goes to Church
In verses 33-36, Jesus’ teaching is interrupted by a demon-possessed man. All kinds of people sit in church services. Who knows how long this man sat under the powerless teaching of the scribes. The evil in his life wasn’t provoked until he heard Jesus’ teaching. When Jesus turned his gaze toward him, the demon speaks up.
Notice the fear that grips the demon, “Have you come to destroy us?” He knows that the presence of Jesus means the end of the road for him. The coming of the King and the inauguration of God’s kingdom means that the kingdom of darkness is coming to an end. The demon understands that Jesus’ purpose is the destruction of the whole demonic realm. As one writer says, “After years of an arms buildup, Satan’s forces are now being disarmed one by one by the Holy One.”[3]
The significance of these exorcisms becomes clear later in Luke, when Jesus says, “But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you” (11:20). When Jesus exorcizes demons, he’s revealing that the kingdom of God has come to the earth and that, therefore, the kingdom of darkness has to go. Two families can’t live in the same house. God created the earth as a place where he would dwell with his people, and he sends his Son Jesus as his agent to initiate the process of bringing us back to the Garden by crushing the head of the serpent.
When Jesus spoke, the demon listened and obeyed. Have you ever wondered why the demons are quicker to obey Jesus than we are? Jesus speaks to us through his word and our response is often a casual shrugging of the shoulders and going about our own way doing things.
We often hear God’s word and agree with it but don’t act on it. This demon heard God’s word, didn’t agree with it, but acted on it because he knew who was speaking. He said, “I know who you are – the Holy One of God” (v. 24). The demon recognizes Jesus as the One sent from God. The demon understood who Jesus was more clearly than the people did. He understood that he was in the presence of the holy God, so he acted accordingly.
As I said, the emphasis here is on Jesus’ “word” (vv. 32, 36). Luke is telling us that Jesus is more than an exorcist. He’s a preacher who’s come to overthrow the kingdom of darkness and reveal God’s reign by proclaiming his word. And as a result of his word ministry, the word spread about him around the region (v. 37). Jesus wages war against evil with his word.
War Against Sickness
Second, in verses 38-41, we see Jesus’ war against sickness. In these verses, Jesus moves from the public to the private sphere, leaving the synagogue and entering Simon’s house.
Luke doesn’t tell us the cause of the fever, but there are interesting similarities between the exorcism and this healing. Jesus “rebuked” the demon (v. 35) and the fever (v. 39), and the fever “left her” (v. 39), just as the demon “came out of him” (v. 35). Luke seems to suggest that the fever was a force that had taken her captive and therefore she needed deliverance. No matter what caused her fever, what Jesus does at the synagogue and then at Peter’s house is a demonstration of what he said he came to do (v. 18b).
Look what Simon’s mother-in-law starts doing after Jesus heals her (v. 39). Within moments of being healed, she’s serving them lunch! Those who’ve been healed by Jesus have new desires and fresh energy to serve Jesus. “Serving Jesus” means serving others in Jesus’ name.
Like Jesus, our ministry should follow us home. We don’t stop loving and serving people when we leave the church building. If we do, it might be because our serving at the church building is to show others how good and righteous we are. Jesus did lots of ministry publicly. But he also served individual people with particular needs in smaller, more intimate settings.
Our ministry shouldn’t be contained to whatever we do within these walls. Yes, we need nursery workers and greeters. But we mostly need members who go out of their way to build relationships with other members outside of these walls. We serve one another by being in gospel-centered relationships with each other. Pray and ask God to show you who in our church you can be ministering to. Everyone needs ministry and everyone has a ministry.
One of the most strategic places we push back darkness in the world is over a meal or coffee with other believers we’re encouraging or unbelievers we’re evangelizing. Darkness wants to keep us isolated, but the Light of the World must be seen in order to be enjoyed.
Weapons for the War
Third, in verses 42-44, we see what weapons Jesus used in his war against evil. Before we look at the weapons, notice the contrast between how the people of Capernaum respond to Jesus compared to the people of Nazareth. The people of Nazareth responded with violence, wanting to kill him (v. 29). The people of Capernaum didn’t want him to leave (v. 42).
But are these two villages that different? On the surface it looks like it but consider the motivations behind each action. As David Garland says, “They both want a miracle man to serve their selfish ends.”[4] Nazareth was angry that Jesus wouldn’t do there what he did in Capernaum. Capernaum wanted him to stay so he could keep doing miracles. Jesus’ harsh judgment on Capernaum in 10:15 confirms this. Garland again, “Their enthusiasm for him is exuberance for the miraculous, and it is insufficient for the long haul since it wanes over time.”[5] Wanting Jesus for his stuff and not wanting him for him becomes clear eventually, especially during suffering.
Prayer and Preaching
Jesus’ “weapons” for his fight against evil are prayer and preaching. In Mark’s account, it says that Jesus went out early in the morning to a desolate place to pray (1:35). Jesus was committed to prayer because his intimacy with the Father was more important than anything else. He resists the temptation from the crowds to do their bidding by staying centered on God’s calling and purpose in his life through prayer. Prayer kept him focused.
And his prayer life empowered his preaching (vv. 43-44). The core of Jesus’ ministry was announcing that God was bringing his kingdom to the earth through him and calling people to respond. The things Jesus did demonstrated the things he said. His word about God’s reign was the thing people needed, above all else.
This is why later, in Acts 6, the apostles say they must not neglect the ministry of the word and prayer to serve tables. The tables must be served! But never at the expense of the word or prayer. Why? Because God creates and sustains his people through his word (4:4). And the word becomes efficacious through the prayers of his people.
Church, we shoot ourselves in the foot if we fail to prioritize the word and prayer in order to do a thousand other good things. God’s kingdom comes as it’s proclaimed and petitioned, so may we commit ourselves unapologetically to being a people who’re centered on the word and prayer.
The Suicide of Satan
This passage shows us how Jesus brought the war to the enemy, how he came to push back the powers of darkness and heal what’s broken. You may ask, “Why does Jesus just pluck individuals out of the fire and not put out the fire itself? The entire world is broken and wounded and languishing under bondage to evil, so why didn’t Jesus just put the fire out?”
The reason is because he needed to attack the problem at its source. To do that, he had to die. The ultimate defeat of Satan would come at just the point when he thought he’d won, what John Piper calls “the suicide of Satan.” On the cross, Jesus took away the one thing that Satan could truly use against us, unforgiven sin.
This is what Paul means in Colossians 2, “God…having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him” (vv. 13-15).
Because of the cross, the evil one cannot dangle our sins over our head in order to shame us or paralyze us or make us feel that we’re not saved when we are. Jesus’ death destroyed the most powerful weapon Satan had against us, the threat of damnation. Jesus’ death means that our sins have been “set aside” so that the one thing we really should fear we don’t have to fear any more. The cross “disarmed” evil and “put them to open shame,” showing us that their threats and lies and accusations are empty, and that Jesus has once and for all triumphed over anything and everything that would keep us from him. On the cross, Jesus shamed the shamer.
Satan thought he won when Jesus died but turns out that Jesus’ death was the beginning of Satan’s death. This is why Jesus didn’t come and wipe Satan out immediately. He had to first take care of our greatest problem, namely, unforgiven sin, and then, as a result, Satan’s accusatory power was broken forever for everyone who trusts in Jesus. Is that you?
[1]Michael S. Heiser, The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2015), 276.
[2]Ibid., 280-1, 279.
[3]David E. Garland, Luke, Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Academic, 2011), 215.
[4]Ibid., 218.
[5]Ibid.