Don’t be fooled by the title, this is not an extensive study of demons. That would take far more than this brief article.
Sunday night, the College Class was studying the first 29 verses of Mark, chapter 9. That text tells the story of Jesus casting a demon out of a young man which his disciples had not been able to cast out.
We had a very good period of discussion about the text. But I thought of a comparison I wanted to share with you regarding demons, Jesus and us.
In Mark 9, the father of the possessed boy makes the statement that the demon “often throws him into the fire or the water to kill him.” The same description of action and purpose can be seen in the account of the demon-possessed man at the Gadarenes. As soon as they were given permission to go into another body—the pigs—the demons immediately drove them into the lake and killed them.
The brief comparison is this: The demons seem to have come to destroy. Jesus came to seek and save. Even to seek and save his enemies.
So my thought is who do I/we more closely follow? Do we seek to save or destroy?
Do you remember this verse?
11 For this is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another.
12 Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous.
13 Do not be surprised, my brothers and sisters, if the world hates you.
14 We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains in death.
15 Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him. (1 Jn. 3:11-15 NIV)