Mark 1:21-26
Most fathers have the ability to elicit response from their children simply by changing their tone of voice. Apparently, they also experience great pain when they have to repeat themselves, as I often heard my father say, “Son, I don’t want to have to say this again”. As a father, I have found myself using that phrase as well, and not because it hurts to talk, but because I expect results.
The reason that our fathers used that phrase was that it was an exercise in authority. By stating it once, and phrasing that he wasn’t going to say it again, the father is showing his position as the head. What he says should be heeded to, and that in a hurry.
Jesus encountered a centurion, whose servant was at home sick. The man asked for Jesus to heal the servant, and when Jesus made to go to the house, the centurion stated that he was not worthy for Jesus to come under his roof. If Jesus could but speak the word, his servant would be healed, and then he said, “For I also am a man set under authority” (Luke 7:8). The word “also” is most telling, because it is the centurion’s way of revealing to all who would hear that he knew that Jesus was not only able to give orders but also able to take them from His heavenly father. This man knew the chain of command.
Someone else that knows the chain of command is the forces of darkness. They were aware of who Jesus was from the beginning, though the Pharisees would never see it. When Jesus arrives in Capernaum in our text, they cry out, “Leave us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God” (Mark 1:24). They knew that He was the Holy One of God; they recognized His authority.
When he speaks to the demon possessed man in verse 25, His words are simple and few, and are directed at the demons themselves. “Hold thy peace, and come out of him,” he says. Two commands are mixed into one sentence: Stop making noise, and get out of the man. However, verse 26 tells us that they do not immediately obey either command! They tear him and cry with a loud voice before finally coming out of him.
Jesus has spoken His victory, bought and paid for into your life, and there is no force of darkness that can stop it. “But Pastor Paul, I am still struggling with the same old sin that I thought I was over”, you might be saying. Don’t despair my friend. Jesus spoke and the demon kicked, but he did come out. Jesus has done the work and you may be seeing the manifestation of Satan attacking you, trying to convince you that you are not saved, but don’t worry, it is just his last gasp. Christ has spoken, and He is only going to say this once. He need not die again for Calvary was His statement against your problems (Hebrews 10:10).
This revelation that you are learning about your position in Christ is going to be so amazing, so stunning and so different that people are going to say of you what they did of Jesus in this passage, “What thing is this? What new doctrine is this?” (Verse 27). It is no new doctrine; it is the doctrine of Christ and His finished work. When He says “it is finished”, you can rest assured, regardless of the symptoms or the circumstances, “IT IS FINISHED”!
Most fathers have the ability to elicit response from their children simply by changing their tone of voice. Apparently, they also experience great pain when they have to repeat themselves, as I often heard my father say, “Son, I don’t want to have to say this again”. As a father, I have found myself using that phrase as well, and not because it hurts to talk, but because I expect results.
The reason that our fathers used that phrase was that it was an exercise in authority. By stating it once, and phrasing that he wasn’t going to say it again, the father is showing his position as the head. What he says should be heeded to, and that in a hurry.
Jesus encountered a centurion, whose servant was at home sick. The man asked for Jesus to heal the servant, and when Jesus made to go to the house, the centurion stated that he was not worthy for Jesus to come under his roof. If Jesus could but speak the word, his servant would be healed, and then he said, “For I also am a man set under authority” (Luke 7:8). The word “also” is most telling, because it is the centurion’s way of revealing to all who would hear that he knew that Jesus was not only able to give orders but also able to take them from His heavenly father. This man knew the chain of command.
Someone else that knows the chain of command is the forces of darkness. They were aware of who Jesus was from the beginning, though the Pharisees would never see it. When Jesus arrives in Capernaum in our text, they cry out, “Leave us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God” (Mark 1:24). They knew that He was the Holy One of God; they recognized His authority.
When he speaks to the demon possessed man in verse 25, His words are simple and few, and are directed at the demons themselves. “Hold thy peace, and come out of him,” he says. Two commands are mixed into one sentence: Stop making noise, and get out of the man. However, verse 26 tells us that they do not immediately obey either command! They tear him and cry with a loud voice before finally coming out of him.
Jesus has spoken His victory, bought and paid for into your life, and there is no force of darkness that can stop it. “But Pastor Paul, I am still struggling with the same old sin that I thought I was over”, you might be saying. Don’t despair my friend. Jesus spoke and the demon kicked, but he did come out. Jesus has done the work and you may be seeing the manifestation of Satan attacking you, trying to convince you that you are not saved, but don’t worry, it is just his last gasp. Christ has spoken, and He is only going to say this once. He need not die again for Calvary was His statement against your problems (Hebrews 10:10).
This revelation that you are learning about your position in Christ is going to be so amazing, so stunning and so different that people are going to say of you what they did of Jesus in this passage, “What thing is this? What new doctrine is this?” (Verse 27). It is no new doctrine; it is the doctrine of Christ and His finished work. When He says “it is finished”, you can rest assured, regardless of the symptoms or the circumstances, “IT IS FINISHED”!
