Luke 4:34
Saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art; the Holy One of God. Saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art; the Holy One of God.
On the Sabbath in the synagogue at Capernaum the cry came not from the afflicted man himself but from an unclean spirit possessing him and speaking through his voice. The plea to be left alone was the demon's terror that Jesus had come with divine power to destroy the demons and break Satan's hold over its victim. In naming Him the Holy One of God the evil spirit unwillingly confessed His divinity and divine authority. The outburst was the same adversary conquered in the wilderness meeting Jesus again face to face, seeking to interrupt His teaching and to hold its captive against the man's own longing for freedom. In compassion Jesus rebuked the spirit directly, silenced it and commanded it to come out, and by His authoritative word wrested the helpless captive from Satan's grasp and restored him to sane self-possession.
Setting and Speakers
The outcry broke the Sabbath quiet in the synagogue at Capernaum before the assembled worshipers and congregation. That Sabbath setting mattered because the Sabbath was Christ's busiest day for healing the sick, when He could best reach those laboring during the week. Wherever He went on that day He worked as a compassionate healer and unerring physician, with a stream of healing power flowing from Him to make the sick whole. He healed men and women with unhesitating willingness and hearty joyfulness, glad to restore sufferers to health.
The words were not the man's own plea but the speech of an unclean, evil spirit possessing him and speaking through him. That spirit acted as an intelligent being using the man's voice, and was addressed directly as a distinct personal agent. The outcry therefore interrupted teaching and diverted attention, even as it revealed fear.
The man had put himself on Satan's and the enemy's ground by his own sinful course, and Satan had taken possession of all his faculties. That course was one of sinful pleasure, dissipation, intemperance and frivolity, leading to ruin of health and moral life and leaving him vulnerable to Satan's control. Satan had brought him there to distract the people from Jesus and to keep truth from their hearts.
Though his understanding was darkened and gloom-covered, the man partly understood that deliverance was near and that Jesus taught from Heaven. He realized the Healer who could free him from long bondage was near, his heart longed for freedom, and he tried to appeal to Jesus for help. When he opened his lips another's will held him back and another's words found utterance through him, so only the demon's words were spoken, yet his unspoken desire for freedom was real.
The plea to be left alone and the question about coming to destroy expressed the demon's fear and terror at divine power. It feared Jesus had come to destroy the demons. It feared His power to destroy Satan's hold over the possessed man and Satan's power itself, including power to release Satan's captives and ultimately to destroy the one wielding the power of death.
By naming Jesus the Holy One of God the demon recognized heavenly teaching and confessed divinity and divine power and authority. The cry was thus an unwilling testimony to who Jesus is and to the Saviour's divine power. Devils in this way believed and trembled while Israel closed eyes and ears to the evidence.
Testimony and Conflict
The voice crying out was the same evil spirit that had tempted Jesus in the wilderness, now working in another form, and having conquered that prince of darkness in the wilderness Jesus met him again face to face in the demoniac. The outburst served Satan's aim to interrupt Jesus' teaching and divert the people's attention from Him and His message about setting Satan's captives free. Satan had brought the victim there to distract the people and keep truth from their hearts.
The moment became a fierce struggle between the man's desire for freedom and the demon's power to retain control, throwing him into contortions and cries. The demon exerted all its hellish power to keep its victim lest Jesus gain a victory, for to lose ground would give Jesus a victory. The demons understood Christ's mission better than the learned religious leaders. They knew He had power to release Satan's captives and ultimately to destroy the one who held the power of death, and they believed and trembled while Israel closed its eyes and ears to the evidence and failed to recognize the time of its visitation.
The same spirit that possessed the demoniac also controlled the unbelieving Jews who rejected Christ and scorned His teachings. With them it worked under an appearance of piety and learning to deceive them about their real motives for refusing the Saviour, concealing hostility and seeking its object by various devices. Unlike the demoniac they felt no need of Christ and remained under Satan's power.
The demons' forced confession that Christ is the Holy One of God accords with His complete sinlessness and loyalty to God's law. No envy, worldly ambition, pride or selfishness was found in Him, so Satan and his followers could find no fault in Him and Satan had no claim on Him.
Christ's Authority and Deliverance
Moved by compassion for the afflicted man, Jesus spoke not to the man but to the demon itself as a distinct intelligent being possessing him. He rebuked the evil spirit and silenced its outcry that had interrupted His teaching. He commanded it to come out of its victim and to torment him no more.
With a voice of authority He broke the cruel tyranny and wrested the writhing captive from Satan's grasp. He set the captive free into sane self-possession, conquering face to face in the synagogue the same prince of darkness He had conquered in the wilderness temptation. The demons could not resist His authority but yielded to it, for His revealed glory pained them and compelled them to cease tormenting and to confess Him as the Holy One of God.
That deliverance displayed His authority and power over unclean spirits. Those who witnessed it in the synagogue were amazed at power that could so command evil spirits.
The episode shows that a person under demonic control can become a helpless captive, unable to free himself and unable even to voice a prayer, uttering only the demon's words while his heart longs for freedom. Yet that unspoken, inward appeal for deliverance is heard by Christ. No captive, however bound, is beyond hope of deliverance in Him.