| “And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he departed out of him: and the child was cured from that very hour” (Matthew 17:18). |
| Many people today do not want to believe that demons (called devils in our verse) are real. They like to think that they are just imaginary beings, and do not actually exist. But demons are real; they are fallen angels who rebelled against God long ago, and Satan is their leader. They have a certain amount of power, and use this power to try and turn people away from God. |
| Here in our chapter there was evidently a child, a boy, who was possessed of a demon. That means that the demon actually lived in him, and made him do dangerous things. Sometimes demons make people have strange diseases that no one can cure, not even good doctors. People are afraid of the demons because of the power they have, but the Lord Jesus is more powerful. |
| Several years ago, a man in a foreign country I was visiting told me a story about a young man who heard the gospel and accepted Christ as His Savior. His parents worshiped idols, and were so angry that they told him to leave home and go to live somewhere else. He went to live with the family who had told him about the Lord Jesus, but after a few weeks his family contacted him and asked him to come home. Your younger sister is very sick, they said, and we do not know what to do. The doctors say that it is a demon, and that only a Christian can help her! |
| The young man immediately went home, knelt down beside his sister, put his hand on her shoulder, and prayed to the Lord, asking the demon to leave in the name of the Lord Jesus. The demon immediately left her and she felt perfectly well. That is the power of the name of the Lord Jesus! I wish I could tell you that her parents got saved, but that did not happen right away. But as you may imagine, they were very happy for their son to move back home again. |
| Demonic power was not so common in so-called Christian countries for many years, but as the Bible is being given up and people turn to false religions (or no religion at all!), Satan’s influence is increasing. We are seeing more evidence of demonic power in Western Europe and North America. But name of the Lord Jesus is still just as powerful as it was when He was here on earth, for He came into the world to destroy the works of the devil. |
