Jesus Casts Out Demons
We have been discussing the correlation between the Tabernacle of God and the life of Jesus. Recently we introduced the Holy Place of the Tabernacle and the objects that are contained inside it. Our latest focus has been upon the Golden Altar of Incense, which we have introduced as a place of spiritual warfare. Our message today presents “the casting out of demons” by Jesus as yet another example of spiritual warfare. We start with a passage from the book of Luke:
For He had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For it had often seized him, and he was kept under guard, bound with chains and shackles; and he broke the bonds and was driven by the demon into the wilderness. Jesus asked him, saying, “What is your name?” And he said, “Legion,” because many demons had entered him. And they begged Him that He would not command them to go out into the abyss. Now a herd of many swine was feeding there on the mountain. So they begged Him that He would permit them to enter them. And He permitted them. Then the demons went out of the man and entered the swine, and the herd ran violently down the steep place into the lake and drowned. When those who fed them saw what had happened, they fled and told it in the city and in the country. Then they went out to see what had happened, and came to Jesus, and found the man from whom the demons had departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. (Luke 8:29 -35)
In this case it is evident that the man is controlled by the demonic forces that lived inside of him. It is also evident that the demons knew Jesus as well as what their fate might be in the presence of His power (banishment to the abyss). For this reason they negotiated a more appealing punishment (living in pigs). Once again Jesus is victorious over the forces of evil as He demonstrated the Holy Spirit power of spiritual warfare. He left us this and the other examples so that we would know the types of victory possible when we aggressively seek Him at the Golden Altar of Incense. The Holy Spirit of Jesus is our Golden Altar of Incense who is with us when we live in the Holy Place.
Our next posting will present another example of the spiritual warfare that is possible to those who can enter into the Holy Place of the Tabernacle that is Christ Jesus.
May God bless you all.