Jaw-dropping Jewels about Jesus
Rarely does Jesus, God the Son, do exactly what we expect of Him. It seems odd that He so frequently surprises us, given that He never changes. Hebrews 13:8 makes this absolute statement: “Jesus the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” Still, though He is blessedly consistent in His goodness, Jesus does unforeseen things. Even when He does what is expected, He does not always do it in the way that we anticipate. Let us join with Jesus on a jaw-dropping journey. (I will be using this opening paragraph for each of the brief messages in this series. The following material will change daily.)
The account of Jesus’ interaction with a Gentile Gadarene continues in Mark 5:6-9: “But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped Him, and cried with a loud voice, and said, ‘What have I to do with Thee, Jesus, Thou Son of the Most High God? I adjure Thee by God, that Thou torment me not.’ For He [had] said unto him, ‘Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit.’ And He asked him, ‘What is thy name?’ And he answered, saying, ‘My name is Legion: for we are many.’” This chilling response indicates that this man was afflicted by multiple demons. Still, he “ran” to Jesus and “worshipped Him,” revealing immediately that our Savior is far stronger than all of the forces of Satan. We must avoid two erroneous extremes that give our “adversary the devil” (I Peter 5:8) perverse pleasure. First, it is common to deny the reality of Satan, to suggest that he is merely a symbol of evil. Such an approach denies the clear teaching of the Bible. Second, an excessive, unhealthy interest in things demonic will deflect our attention from the omnipotence of our Lord. For example, trouble with your AMC Gremlin or your Lamborghini El Diablo does not mean that your car is demon-possessed. When confronted with the difficulties of life, our focus should not be upon Satan but rather upon our Savior, Jesus Christ.