| The Arena of Conflict With the Devil |
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| Written by David Lawrence |
| Monday, August 10 2009 00:00 |
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At the recent Ligonier Conference on the Holiness of God, Stephen J. Lawson used Luke 4:31-37 as his text and pointed out something worthy of sharing with our readers. Jesus entered the synagogue, a house of worship, at Capernaum and began to teach the people. In this synagogue, this house of worship, at the very time of worship, was a man possessed by a demon, an evil spirit. Is it not a bit ironic that a demon would possess a person in the very midst of an organized religious service? The demon cried out in recognition of Jesus’ being the Holy One of God and protested that he dared to come to the synagogue to destroy him. “What do you want with us?” he cried, as though asking what reason the Holy One of God should be interfering with this worship service. Jesus told him to be quiet and come out of the man, which he did, and which caused the people to be amazed at Jesus’ authority. Jesus was exercising real religious authority in a house of worship, such as these people had never seen. What Jesus told the demon, according to Dr. Lawson, was “Shut up! Don’t interrupt my teaching!” He went on to observe that this synagogue, this house of worship, this worship service, became the arena for confrontation between Christ and the devil. It was not the tavern or brothel, but a house of worship! This incident gives one pause, but then it makes sense that the one place the devil would want to control and dominate would be organized religion – houses of worship – worship services. Thus the religious setting becomes the scene of the greatest kind of confrontation between Christ and the devil. Jewish religion of Jesus’ day was detrimental to the welfare of people. Souls were kept in bondage by the tyranny of the religious leadership. Religion became an opportunity for the exercise of power over others in a hideous example of hypocrisy. Thus many are turned off to organized religion today. It need not be so! Christ will always take on the devil in religious places, but our place is to be with Him, clinging to Him, following Him, listening to Him, and gathering with those who truly love Him and whose hearts are open and tender to the call of the Good Shepherd. I take comfort in knowing that this conflict between perverted religion and the Son of God is not new – but I know who has prevailed, and I know where I belong. So I encourage you, my brother, my sister. |
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