Mark 1:24 Saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with you, you Jesus of Nazareth? are you come to destroy us? I know you who you are… I. THE FEELINGS THE QUESTION BETRAYED. 1. A sense of inevitable relation. His presence at once discovers them; there is no escape when he is near. Their true character is more strongly and unmistakably manifested, as darkness is revealed by light. A positive sense of relation to his person and work is called forth. How far may this have been a witness within themselves personally - in their own individual consciousness? how far a merely constitutional instinct? how far due to connection with the personality of the possessed? That it was beyond their own control is evident. They were unwilling witnesses to his power, and their obedience was not due to loyalty or attachment. So whenever the truth is manifested, it addresses an instinct in intelligent nature which cannot be wholly indifferent to it. 2. Conscious unlikeness and antagonism. Being what they were, they could not acquiesce in what he was or did. His presence was judgment and torture to them. They had the keenest perception of his purity and sinlessness, without being attracted by it; on the contrary, their opposition was only the more excited and extreme. The opposition was that of hell and heaven in their essential principles. 3. Fear and apprehension. A moral awe and dread attended the consciousness of such holiness, the awe which moral authority inspires. It is akin to what is felt towards God. But there was also "a fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation." Their empire was not only in jeopardy, it was already doomed. And they must stand or fall together "Art thou come to destroy us? " How? By dismissing them to Hades. "But even in Hades Christ does not leave their empire to the demons. Thus it was by the destruction of their empire generally. Certainly it was by dismissing them to the Gehenna of torment (according to which the expression in Matthew [Matthew 8:29], the Hades of torment, is to be explained)" (Meyer). In this the sinner is one with the demon. II. THE ANSWER IT IMPLIED. The possessed one who asked the question knew it had but one answer. Christ had nothing whatever to do with the demons, and they had nothing whatever to do with him. They had nothing to do with him: 1. As agents and representative of evil. At a later date he could say, "The prince of the world cometh: and he hath nothing in me" (John 14:30). None had ever convinced him of evil. So from the mouth of the demons themselves was the great calumny, afterwards so diligently promulgated, "He hath Beelzebub, and, By the prince of the devils casteth he out the devils" (Mark 3:22), answered by anticipation. There is no key that will unlock the mystery of his devoted life save that of simplicity of purpose and infinite love. 2. As moral beings. There was the clearest knowledge of his character and dignity. "The demons who were in those possessed seem to have perceived sooner than the rest who Jesus was (yea, sooner even than most of the men with whom he walked at that time)" (Bengel). "The Holy One of God (cf. Psalm 16.) was Christ's concealed designation," a Messianic identification which implied spiritual insight or knowledge (John 6:69; John 10:36; Revelation 3:7). Knowledge without love How fruitless! They knew him as the Holy One of God, but not as their Saviour. Belief and obedience, but no salvation! So near, yet so far! How was this? (1) Because there was no inward loving acceptance of him as their moral ruler. (2) This was probably due to the utter corruption of their moral nature. They had become wholly evil, even whilst they perceived the uselessness and misery of sin. They knew the good, but had lost the power to will it. Even to this may any moral being come who continues in sin, or rather continues out of Christ. There is no tenderness in Christ's tone to the demons, only rebuke. A day is coming when the blasphemer, the hypocrite, the liar too, will be silenced. It is from such a fate that Christ would save us whilst yet it might be said of us, "And this is life eternal, that they should know thee, the only true God, and him whom thou didst send, even Jesus Christ" (John 17:3). - M. Parallel Verses KJV: 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. |
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