THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO

LUKE

Chapter 4

"The Temptation of the Lord. [1 - 14]"
"The Lord's four fold ministry; Proclamation of
the Kingdom. [14 - 30]"
"Proclamation from the Prophecy Read from Isaiah 58:6. [15 - 27]"
"Prophecy Application. [23 - 27]"
"Miracles at Capernaum. Jesus Rebuked the Demonic. [31 - 44]"

This Bible Study is written by Roger Christopherson, and it's transcription/ location
is provided by
http://www.theseason.org/ 

 Luke 4:1 "And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost [Spirit] returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness,"

It is important for us to note that Jesus was led from the river Jordan by the Holy Spirit of God as He went into the wilderness. The use of "Ghost" here is a mistranslation for there is nothing unknown and negative in the Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit of God led Jesus in the path He was to take, just as He leads each of us in following His Word. Satan is coming upon the earth shortly, and it will only be by the leading and protection of God's Spirit that will keep you during that time of Satan's deception or tribulation here on earth. So this will be an example to each of us in our life time as to what Satan will do to you, if you allow him to do it. Jesus Christ told us that we have power of Satan and can order him out of our lives, and can choose the course for our own life. Jesus continually had the Spirit of God with Him, and you can also have the Spirit with you at all times, as you are tempted in the ways of this world. Without the Holy Spirit, you will lose to Satan. No flesh without God's Spirit can overcome the things of this world.

Luke 4:2 "Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days He did eat nothing: and when they were ended, He afterward hungered."

We closed in the prior chapter with the verse that stated that Adam was the son of God by creation. So here we have the second Son of God, Jesus the Christ; only Jesus was the only begotten of God. The difference of course is Adam was made of the dust of the earth, and created, where as Jesus was conceived, and begotten of the Father God. Adam was tempted by Satan and fell to those temptations and sinned. Jesus was also tempted of Satan, however He had the Holy Spirit within Him and did not fall to Satan's temptations. So within this chapter, Christ is going to give us the example as to how we should handle Satan and his demonics when they come to tempt us. When we are in Christ, then His Way is our way. There is only one way, and Jesus told us in John 14:6; "I am the way the truth and the life, no man cometh to the Father but by me." Just as the Holy Spirit was in Christ, God's Spirit is in you also when you are in Christ.

In biblical numerics "forty" signifies probation, a trial period. Forty years in the bible is a generation, and in that time within our lives is a trial period for these flesh body. Forty years was the time the Israelites were in the wilderness, and that entire generation that came out of Egypt failed the tests that God gave them. So here Jesus has not eaten for forty days, and the demands of His flesh body of course were demanding food. So we see that it will require discipline by Jesus take command over His flesh nature to feed His stomach. However notice that He did it.

Luke 4:3 "And the devil said unto Him, "If Thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread."

Note here that Satan is called the king and prince of Tyre, or stone in Ezekiel 28. Tyrus in the Hebrew tongue means rock or stone. In that "bread" is given in this verse, we know from the communion that Christ is the bread of our lives. So the living Word, Jesus Christ is being tempted by the stone, the devil. Satan wants Jesus to command that the devil be made bread, or as Christ. It just will not happen. In the physical nature, Jesus could have turned stones to bread, but in the spiritual, Satan being the stone has already judged to death. The Will of God is what is important in our lives and prayers.

Sure God and His Spirit can do anything, but they will not go against the Word, and the Will of God. Think of that when you ask the Lord for your prayer request. Is my prayer within the will of God? Paul prayed for a healing three times that did not come. God used that physical problem for a positive part of Paul's ministry, and He may be using some problem in our lives for use in your ministry in the body of Christ. You are not to use any gift that God has given you to boast your own pride amongst people. God's gifts are to be used in the spreading of the Gospel of Christ. It is not you that is good, but the gift that is good. If God has allowed you the gift of healing or what ever, that gift is to be used only to the glory of God. Be careful how you allow the glory from a gift God has placed in you to be given.

Luke 4:4 "And Jesus answered him, saying, "It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God."  

Notice Jesus' reply to Satan, for as Satan would misquote Scripture, Jesus' would quote the writings of the Prophets accurately. In Deuteronomy 8:3 we read; "And He humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that He might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live." The subject in this verse was manna that was provided by God for the children of Israel while wandering in the wilderness. Those Israelites were not forty days in the wilderness, but forty years. Satan took the entire passage out of contest, misquoting to get Jesus to do what he wanted Jesus to do. Jesus knew the truth and quoted it accurately.

Luke 4:5 "And the devil, taking Him up into an high mountain, shewed unto Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time."

Remember that both Jesus and Satan are supernatural, and Satan took Jesus into another dimension that would allow them to view all the nations of this world age of flesh man that will ever exist. Remember that heaven is not mentioned here, and for this earth age Satan had the authority to do that. This earth age is Satan's domain, and that domain will end at the return of Jesus Christ, when Satan is locked away in the pit for the thousand year period of Jesus Christ's kingdom here on earth.

Luke 4:6 "And the devil said unto Him, "All this power will I give Thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it."

What the devil is saying here is true, the power over all the kingdoms of this age of flesh man are given to Satan, and God will not interfere in your choice of choosing Christ or Satan. However when you are one of God's children, He gives you power over Satan. When you stop and think of what this is saying: the power and glory Satan had to give was virtually nothing, in comparison to the eternal wealth of God everlasting kingdom. Would you exchange a moment in time of fame and wealth for the eternal bliss and blessing that God has promised to those that love and trust Him. Of course you wouldn't. Satan has no control over heaven, only this earth age of a few thousand years.

Had Christ accepted this offer of Satan's, then where would our salvation be? Jesus came to this earth age to crush the head of Satan [Genesis 3:15], and set our souls free from the bondage of sin. Jesus Will was to do the Will of the Father, and the Father's Will was to have a sacrifice in Jesus that would be the covering for one and all times. Hebrews 10:3-10 records the reason that Jesus came to this earth born of a virgin. There was absolutely no chance that our Lord would weaken toward Satan's offer of fame and fortune. Though Satan did have some control of this earth age, why would Jesus weaken when He created and controlled both Heaven and this earth, and the entire universe. Satan was over the evil part of this earth age only, and those people that will in ignorance give Satan the control over their lives.

Luke 4:7 "If Thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be Thine."

To worship is to idolize something. It becomes an idol to you. It could be fame or your business, or a person that is very talented in some area of his or her life. Sure, it is important to tend to your business to make it a success, or your family which is your responsibility; but never allow thing to come between you and the Father. Remember that it is His blessings that allowed you to become successful in the first place. Even in the case of your house or car, or some other thing of wealth, see to it that nothing comes between you and our Lord. The way something becomes an idol is by your worshipping it in the first place.

Luke 4:8 "And Jesus answered and said unto him, "Get thee behind Me, Satan: for it is written, `Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve.' "

Jesus is quoting here from Deuteronomy 6:13 "Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and serve Him, and shalt swear by His name." This instruction for our worship of the Lord continues down through the nineteenth verse. Go back and read all of this passage in Deuteronomy and pay attention to the subject and object being referred to. The Father and the Father only is what you worship, for all blessings and salvation comes from Him. Sure Satan wants you to worship him, but Satan wants your soul dead.

Luke 4:9 "And he brought Him to Jerusalem, and set Him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said unto Him, "If Thou be the Son of God, cast Thyself down from hence:"

Notice that it is Satan that brought Jesus to Jerusalem, to the high point of the Temple.

Luke 4:10 "For it is written, `He shall give His angels charge over thee, to keep thee:"

Satan is now doing what he does best, misquoting Scripture, and taking things out of context. There are very few Christians that could catch Satan in his lies. One thing that you can always count on, and that is when he or one of his children quote Scripture, it will be twisted a bit. When a person is biblically illiterate, they just will not know the truth from a lie. So before you come to rely on a quotation, know who is quoting it, and discern for yourself if it is true or not. What Satan has just said is an outright lie. Satan was quoting from Psalms 91:11, 12. Let's take a look at what was written.

Psalms 91:11, 12 "For He shall give His angels charge over thee, To keep thee in all thy ways." [11] "They shall bear thee up in their hands, Lest thou dash thy foot against a stone." [12]

Sure it might look like it is a correct quote from the start, but take a closer look.

Luke 4:11 "And in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.' "

Satan sort of left out part of what was written that changed the entire thought. So don't take Satan's word in Luke 4, or in Matthew 4, for he is lying to you. Did you catch the change: "To keep thee in all thy ways"; Satan left this out of his quote, then he added: "at any time". Do you see what was added and what was taken out of Scripture by Satan. God's ways are not the ways of the devil which vary with each passing day. God's ways are not challenged for the sake of proving something like jumping off a temple to show off. They are set and sure ways that do not change from His written Word. If Jesus was out of the way, even He might have fallen, but He was in the Way every moment of every day of His life. Yes, the old stone was standing there, old tyrus, the wicked stone that fell from God's grace.

Psalms 91:13 "Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet."

An "adder" is an asp, a snake. The "dragon" is another name for Satan, as Satan was the dragon from the first earth age, and called a snake in his role in the garden of Eden. When you follow the Word of God and His ways, you will have power over Satan and his realm in this earth age. However it is you that must order him out of your life, "in the name of Jesus Christ" the Messiah. Were the angels required to catch Jesus if He had jumped? Why should they, for it is not in the Word? Even the thought of it was from Satan. A person that would do that would be stupid, and show his lack of common sense. Don't ever call an act promoted by the devil a way of God. It's not. So don't let pride take over where your common sense leaves off.

Pay attention to what your mission in this life is, and that is to plant the seeds of truth from the Word of God into the minds of men [women]. Your duty is to use the gifts that God gave you to the glory of God, not yourself. When you go fishing you fish where the fish are, and use the right bait; and when you fish for men, you go where the lost men are, and use the right bait from the Word of God. You tempt them with the right bait, and bring them along slowly with the right speed in mind. Those fish must think your bait is the best thing in the world for them, just as a man must think that your words are the best thing in the world for him. That is the way you teach from God's Word. You bring that person along at his rate of understanding from the Word.

Satan is a fisher of men also, and he knows what gets to you, and where your weakness are. Don't let your pride get in the way for Satan will use that to bring you down.

Luke 4:12 "And Jesus answering said unto him, "It is said, `Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God' "

This is Jesus answer to any one that tries to deceive you. This is from Deuteronomy 6:16 "Ye shall not tempt the Lord your God, as ye tempted Him in Massah." Don't tempt God, for your stupidity and lack of common sense could get you in a lot of trouble.

Luke 4:13 "And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from Him for a season."

Why did the devil leave? Because Jesus told him to get behind him. Matthew 4:10 "Then saith Jesus unto him, "Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, `Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve.' " Sure Satan left our Lord, but he did not end his mission until he crucified the Lord.

Today our Lord Jesus Christ is on the right hand of the Father, sitting on His throne, with Satan being held there by Michael. However there is a war going on there now, and in time, at the sixth trump, Satan and his fallen angels will be booted out of heaven and on to the earth. Revelation 12:7; "And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels," This vision was seen by John from the day of the Lord, looking back to the time of the tribulation of deception by Satan. To us living today, it is future, however it is not far off.

Revelation 12:8 "And prevailed not neither was there place found any more in heaven."

Revelation 12:9 "And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him." Jesus told us that we are to seal the Word in our mind [foreheads] so that we will not be taken by Satan when he comes in person [Revelation 9:4].

Luke 4:14 "And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: and there went out a fame of Him through all the region round about."

When Jesus started His ministry, He was in the Holy Spirit, and led by God's Spirit in all that He did. Jesus was on the earth to do the will of the Father, and all the supernatural things that Jesus did was in and by the Spirit of God.

Luke 4:15 "And He taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all."

Jesus knew the Word and could teach it at the level where people understood it. As the Word was made known, the honor given to Jesus and His name was magnified greatly. When you hear teachers teach in circles, you can't wait to get away from him, however a skilled teacher makes you want to come back for more.

Luke 4:16 "And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up: and, as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read."

So now after Jesus had been tested and teaching a while, He came back to Nazareth where he lived his early life. When He went to the synagogue all the people knew who Jesus was. Matthew 4:23 tells us "And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people." Of course Jesus fame was spread all over the land for all the good deeds that He did, and preaching that was done. However, back in Jesus' home town He was just the kid down the street.

Matthew 13:54-56 "And when He was come into His own country, He taught the in their synagogue insomuch that they were astonished, and said, "Whence hath this man this wisdom, and these mighty works?" [54] "Is not This the the carpenter's son? Is not His mother called Mary? and His brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon and Judas? [55] "And His sisters, are they not all with us? Whence then has this Man these things."

The prophet is without honor among his own. This was so true in Jesus case, for the people knew his family from their many years of worship with them, so now he comes back home to teach in the family church. So Jesus stood up in the synagogue and started to read from the Scriptures.

Luke 4:17 "And there was delivered unto Him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written,"

The book of Esaias is the book of Isaiah. They brough Jesus the scroll and Jesus opened it up and started to read.

Luke 4:18 " "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He hath anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He hath sent Me to heal the broken hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,"

Luke 4:19 "To preach the acceptable year of the Lord."  

First notice that at the end of verse 19 there is a period, yet in Isaiah there is no period, but it continues on into the day of vengeance. This then is what is known as the "gap theory" to many, and it comes out of Isaiah 61:1, 2. Each of these items that is spoken of here deals with the salvation that Jesus brought in His first advent, living His live and preaching the gospel. Then when Jesus gets so far in the reading, He shuts the scroll and sits down. Lets review those verses.

Isaiah 61:1 "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me; because the Lord hath anointed Me to preach good tidings unto the meek [humble]; He hath send Me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;"

You can really bind yourself up in the ways of this world if you are not careful.

Isaiah 61:2 "To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that morn;"

The place where Jesus stopped was fulfilled at the time when Jesus read this Scripture. "The day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that morn;" will not happen until Jesus returns at the seventh trump.

Luke 4:20 "And He closed the book, and He gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on Him."

Luke 4:21 "And He began to say unto them, "This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears."

You could hear the dead silence as all the people were looking straight at Jesus, so Jesus told them that this part of Isaiah was fulfilled, completed. Jesus is telling the folks back home that He was the Messiah, for that portion in Isaiah 61:1, 2 is prophecy of those things that Messiah would say. Jesus is declaring that this prophecy was fulfilled in Him.

Isaiah 61:3 "To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He might be glorified."

From the last half of verse two and including this verse will not happen until Jesus returns at the seventh trump. When Jesus return He will give vengeance to those that have did evil to His own, and He will comfort to all those that do mourn. This is the place in God's word where it documents two advents of our Lord to this earth. The first is when Jesus came as Savior to mankind. He did that when He went to the cross. While the second advent is this day of vengeance when Jesus will come with a rod of iron to make all things right. It will be the payday for all the evil and wickedness that has been done in this time of flesh man. No Jesus won't be riding in Jerusalem on the back of donkey, but on a heavenly white horse.

Luke 4:22 "And all bare Him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth. And they said, "Is not This Joseph's Son?"

The people sat there astonished, sure they thought they knew Jesus and His family, but these words that Jesus spoke left them dazed. Joseph the carpenter was well known in the community, and this man speaking was his boy. Your own people have already made their minds up about you, and they just will not listen to you.

Luke 4:23 "And He said unto them, "Ye will surely say unto Me this proverb, `Physician, heal Thy self:' whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in Thy country."

The people in the synagogue then told Jesus, we heard the miracles that you did over in Capernaum, let's see you do them here in Nazareth.

Luke 4:24 "And He said unto them, "Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country."

It just doesn't happen, a prophet is not believed back home in his own land.

Luke 4:25 "But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land;"

Jesus is now telling these people how it was back in the days of Elijah. When the famine was on the land for three and a half years, there were many widows in Israel. There is a spiritual lesson that Jesus is teaching here. This can be applied to our day also for Amos 8:11 tells us of another famine. "Behold the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord;" The famine coming on us in these end times is for the hearing of the Word of God.

Luke 4:26 "But unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow."

"Sarepta" means "smelting place, that place where the impurities are separated from the pure metal. When the famine came to Israel, Elijah was sent to Sidon, a city of Hamath, just a little ways from Tyre. So connect this teaching with the last three and a half years of this earth age [shortened to five months]; old sister Babylon, that heathen religious order said, "I sit a queen, not a widow" [Revelation 18:7] In other words, when the false Christ walks this earth there will be many married to this old harlot church. They will think that they have attended the marriage supper of the lamb; but they ran to the wrong lamb. They just got a little confused by what their teachers have told them.

Sure Satan looks like the Lamb, Christ, and he talks like the Lamb. But God is going to give Satan the power to make war with the saints, and over all the peoples of the earth. Revelation 13:8 tells us that "all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." You are either going to be saved with the Word secured and sealed in your mind before Satan arrives, or you will be taken by Him.

Revelation 13:9 "If any man have an ear, let him here."

In the end times that is right before us, it will be only the widow, those not taken in marriage by the false Christ, that Elijah will come to and give direction for these final moments in this earth age. Elijah did not go to the crowds, no, Elijah went to one widow in a foreign land. This world will be a foreign land to those that have the Word of God sealed in their mind, and not following the one world Babylonian system that is taking a hold on our world today. You will be in this world, but you will not be part of this world. The rest of the world, even the Christian world will not have eyes to see, nor ears to hear the truth, and they will be taken by Satan. If you are one of the Elect, you will have the spiritual eyes to see the truth. So this was a hint of a spiritual lesson that Jesus was giving to those with their eyes open.

Luke 4:27 "And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian."

Jesus is now talking about the prophet Elisha. This story is from 2 Kings 5; when This Captain of the army of the king of Syria came to Elisha, fought against Israel, and took a little slave girl to be a servant in his home. When Naaman came down with leprosy, she told Naaman that there was a prophet named Elisha back home that can heal you. Naaman came and became very angry that Elisha would not come out to see him, but sent a servant. He became very angry when Elisha told him to go to the rivers Abana and Pharpar and bathe. After Naaman settled down, his servant convince him that that was not a difficult thing to do, so why not. We read:

2 Kings 5:13 "And his servants came near and spake unto him, and said, "My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? how much rather then, when he saith to thee, `Wash, and be clean?' "

Sometimes we are asked to do things that we consider stupid in our lives, as was Naaman, but when it was thought over, he did it.

2 Kings 5:14 "Then went he down, and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God: and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean."

When you want something by God, you had better follow the instruction given by the man of God.

Luke 4:28 "And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath,"

Keep in mind that this is in church, not the bar down the street. When Jesus preached to them about the things written in the Old Testament by the Prophets, were mad.

Luke 4:29 "And rose up and thrust Him out of the city, and led Him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was build, that they might cast Him down headlong."

They were so angry that they grabbed Jesus by the hair, and led Him out of their city. They took Jesus to the edge of a cliff that their town was build on, and were going to kill him for what He had taught. This is the same people that Jesus had known and were friends of His family, and they wanted to murder Jesus.

If you go into may churches today, these religious folk will do the same thing today if you try to disturb their traditions, and direct them in the truths of God's Word. Expect it to happen in these final days of this earth age. It is not far away, as the world is being groomed to fit into Satan new religious order. They would rather have some one verse reverend stroke them with his lies and fairy-tales than hear the truth from God's Word. You know who is teaching the Word Chapter by chapter and verse by verse. If your in a good church, than support pastor and value the teaching. If the Pastor is lead by the Spirit of God, and teaches as it was written, you will know it when you ask God for His wisdom. Jesus' family's church was going to kill him after He had just read these great Scriptures. Jesus gave His friends some of the best lessons in the bible, and in return they accepted it as trash.

Luke 4:30 "But He passing through the midst of them went His way,"

The Holy Spirit of God protected Jesus, and He walked right through their midst, and didn't lay a hand on Him. The Holy Spirit closed their spiritual eyes to Jesus teaching, and closed their physical eyes to allow Jesus to go on with His ministry.

Luke 4:31 "And came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and taught them on the sabbath days."

Jesus is now ready to teach in another church, but away from his home town. Capernaum was the place where Jesus did most of His teaching.

Luke 4:32 "And they were astonished at His doctrine: for His word was with power."

What ever Jesus said to someone, came to pass. If Jesus said, you are healed, that person was healed immediately. Every thing that Jesus did was with authority and power, in other words, God made it happen immediately.

Luke 4:33 "And in the synagogue there was a man, which had a spirit of an unclean devil, and cried out with a loud voice,"

We are not talking about a demon down in the beer joint, but a devil spirit that was within a man sitting right there in the church. This demonic is the one that cried out, not the man, he was in their church being very vocal. It could have even been the preacher.

Luke 4:34 "Saying, "Let us alone; what have we to do with Thee, Thou Jesus of Nazareth: art Thou come to destroy us? I know Thee Who Thou art; the Holy One of God."

This is the demonic speaking here. Demons know exactly who Jesus was, and they call Him by name. They knew exactly that Jesus was the Holy One send by God, and they knew what the purpose for Jesus coming was. They even knew that Jesus had the power to destroy them, and they knew that that was what was going to happen to them in the end. Jesus was Immanuel, God with us, they are in the spirit realm, and so was Jesus Spirit. When you have seen the Son, you have seen the Father, for the two are One. They are an image of each Other. Friend, if you have Christ, and the Holy Spirit in your church, you don't have to worry about the demonics. They just won't come around; they don't like to be manhandled. When the Word is taught chapter by chapter and verse by verse correctly interpreted, evil spirits stay away.

Luke 4:35 "And Jesus rebuked him, saying, "Hold thy peace, and come out of him." And when the devil had thrown him in the midst, he came out of him, and hurt him not."

Jesus told the man that had the evil spirit to keep his mouth shut and come out of him. It wasn't time for these people to know who Jesus was. The devil didn't leave without putting on his last show, but the man was not hurt. This documented the power that Jesus had over evil spirits, and the people could see that power.

Luke 4:36 "And they were all amazed, and spake among themselves, saying, "What a word is this! for with the authority and power He commandeth the unclean spirits, and they come out."

I suppose that these religious leaders had prayed many times over this fellow, and with no results. Then Jesus comes in, speaks with authority and it is done immediately.

Luke 4:37 "And the fame of Him went out into every place of the country round about."

Jesus taught with authority and was bold, and there was no church playing and religious frills when He taught. Jesus did not mess with unclean spirits, but taught from the prophets of the Old Testament. His teachings were not something new, but by the Words as they were written. Jesus was the Living Word.

Luke 4:38 "And He arose out of the synagogue, and entered into Simon's house. And Simon's wife's mother was taken with a great fever; and they besought Him for her."

Jesus then left the synagogue and went to Simon Peter's house. So from this we know that Simon Peter was married, and his mother in law was living with them. It was a large place for this is where there were many meetings.

Luke 4:39 "And He stood over her, and rebuked the fever; and it left her: and immediately she arose and ministered unto them."

Jesus stood over her, as a doctor would and rebuked the fever, and she became well. Instantly she arose and went to fix supper. She cared for the people that were there in the house. Earlier we saw where the power of Jesus could drive out evil spirits, but here His power drove out a fever, sickness. I doubt that an evil spirit would be in Simon's house. Never confuse illness of demonic forces with illness of the flesh. Christ can heal both, but learn to discern between the two. Though some preachers say epilepsy is spiritual illness, however it is known for a fact that this illness is caused by some physical damage to the mind and brain. Learn to know the difference between spiritual sickness and physical sickness. Don't let people degrade you over things that just are not so.

Luke 4:40 "Now when the sun was setting, all they that had any sick with divers diseases brought them unto him; and He laid His hands on every one of them, and healed them."

In the evening house, the people in town knew where Jesus was and they brought their sick to Him.

Luke 4:41 "And devils also came out of many, crying out, and saying, "Thou art Christ the Son of God.". And He rebuking them suffered them not to speak: for they knew that He was Christ."

This is a second witness that devils and evil spirits knew who Jesus the Son of God is, and they run at His command. These demons knew that Jesus was the Anointed one that had come on a mission, and that mission was the Cross. Today we use the olive Oil in anointing, for it isn't the oil that heals, but the obedience in following the instructions from the Word.

Luke 4:42 "And when it was day, He departed and went into a desert place: and the people sought Him, and came unto Him, and stayed Him, that He should not depart from them."

The next morning Jesus went out into the country side, but the people followed him into the wilderness. The people knew that Jesus was a real positive in the community, a doctor and preacher all rolled into one. They saw a man of authority when He was with them, and they wanted Jesus to stay. However Jesus knew the mission that He was on, and He had to be about His Father duty.

Luke 4:43 "And He said unto them, "I must preach the kingdom of God to other cities also: for therefore am I sent."

Jesus preached the kingdom of God in this community, and they were blessed. However now Jesus had other town to go to, and missions to accomplish.

Luke 4:44 "And He preached in the synagogues of Galilee."

Here Jesus headed right back into Galilee to preach the Word in other synagogues. He didn't go back to preach in Nazareth, but there are many other churches to preach in. If Christ is with you, then there can be no one against you, for they just don't matter. With Christ with you, you will have the victory.

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