Free of Torment

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

FREE OF TORMENT

Matt 9: 32-34

32 While they were going out, a man who was demon-possessed and could not talk was brought to Jesus. 33 And when the demon was driven out, the man who had been mute spoke. The crowd was amazed and said, "Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel." 34 But the Pharisees said, "It is by the prince of demons that he drives out demons."

NIV

We had just seen two blind men whose sight was restored and now we see this man who is mute, speechless, because of the effects of the devil. It is a sad world we live in that is under the control of this evil spirit who had been cast out of heaven. He wants only to war against the creation of God, humankind. When he is able he possesses the soul of man and bring various forms of calamity upon them. He blinded those two men, and here he keeps a man from being able to speak. Man has no cure for this kind of problem, in fact the evil becomes more evil.

2 Tim 3:12-13

12 In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, 13 while evil men and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.

NIV

Evil will continue to be present in the world and it will not decrease, but increase as the ages past. We are now some two thousand years later from this demon-possessed man who could not speak. How much worse has evil taken hold over these two thousand years? We need only go through history to see the effects of demons on men. We should be aware of the forces of evil, in fact that is why God has given us his armor.

Eph 6:10-13

10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

NIV

Jesus will always deal with evil spirits by the power of God. It is God and God alone who has the power over Satan, he cast him out of heaven in the first place and he will ultimately cast him into the lake of burning sulfur, alone with all who follow him or are influenced by his power. The world is full of people influenced by his power. Whether we can say they are demon-possessed or just under his influence is not easy, we would need the gift of discernment to determine. But when Jesus encounters this man, he cast the spirit out and the man spoke. Jesus always has power over demons. As long as we have the Spirit dwelling within us, we can be sure no demon has any chance of taken us over. The two cannot coexist. The Pharisees could not refute this miracle, but they accused Jesus of having power over the evil spirit because he was operating under the power of Satan, rather than God. Jesus will answer this accusation when it comes up again later in this Gospel record. But for now let us fully grasp the influence Satan has over the world. This is why we cannot partner with the world. This is why we should not be yoked together with the world. A team of oxen, as an example, will only be as strong as the weaker of the two. The weaker will always drag the stronger down. The stronger cannot make the weaker strong. Because the world is under the influence of the weaker, Satan, and we are under the influence of God, we are the stronger of the two and therefore if we partner, if we yoke ourselves to the world in any way, we are dragged down, made weaker. This partnership includes any form of contract. Certainly we think of marriage, but contracts also include business, such as investments, which is a form of partnering with a business. Many businesses are not under the influence of God and therefor are under the influence of Satan. This is just another of his schemes we need to take our stand against. Jesus does not tolerate evil to overpower his people. We do not know the words he used to heal this man of the demon who possessed him. But we know he has the power to remove demons from anyone. When Jesus heals, he heals completely. Evil does not stand a chance against the Son of God. We also see the heart of Jesus here, filled with compassion toward this man who is tortured by an evil spirit. Evil does not bring healing, peace, calmness into a life, it brings torment and chaos. Jesus heals that torment and chaos and brings peace and calmness into our lives. Once when we were under the influence of the evil one we could not speak the truth, but now since Jesus has healed us, we can speak the truth, we are filled with the truth of God. How glorious it is to have been healed, to be free from torment.