Jesus Is The One Who Casts Evil Out

Saturday of the 26th week in course

Psalm 119, the longest chapter in the OT, has the prayer of somebody in the midst of a crisis: “It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn thy statutes.” It may very well be a prayer of Job, whose life and response we have been studying over the past few days. That would be Job’s prayer after his ordeal, the loss of everything except a critical wife, and many days of living with her and a terrible skin disease. Job is able to put the words “good,” “afflicted,” “learning” and “law” together in one sentence. A remarkable growth for the man, and a remarkable turnaround in his fortunes as well.

What was the law or statutes that Job was able to learn from his crisis? I’d like to suggest that his lesson was “to see or hear the Lord is worth giving up everything.” He said that before his fortunes were restored, before he got fourteen thousand sheep and many camels and asses and oxen, as well as sons and daughters and another 140 years of life.

The disciples had their own joy when they returned from their mission trips all over Palestine. Satan fell from heaven because Michael, the archangel, and his legions of the heavenly host had thrown him out when they had attempted a palace coup against the Lord. Here on earth, Satan contended over forty days with the Son of God, Jesus, thinking that he could corrupt this fellow as he had debased all the phony Messiahs before Jesus, and as he would vitiate all those who came after Him. But Jesus defeated Satan in the desert, refusing all the allurements of the earth, all the power the Evil one could muster. That ministers of the Church have the ability to expel demons with prayer and fasting is only possible because our Lord has set the example and won the victory over evil.

But having power over evil is not even half of our mission. Our mission is to attract all of humanity to right living and right praise of God. So we must live joyfully and learn to put everything except Jesus Christ away from our desire. We must develop a hunger for the souls of men and women to know Christ and His mysteries, and to love the things of God, even more than we do. So we must stay alert to the opportunities, listen to everyone who wants to talk with us, and always be ready to defend the truth of the Gospel that brings peace and joy to all who believe.