Coming of the King: Week 18

Matthew 8:18-34: The Authority of the King over Nature and Demons

Counting the Cost

• 8:20 "The Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head" - counting the cost of discipleship.
• 8:21 "bury my father" - this is not talking about a funeral, but caring for an aging parent until they die, as in Genesis 11:32-12:1 (Gen 12:1 starts God had said to Abram).
• 8:22 Jesus tells him to set his priorities, "If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be My disciple. Matthew 10:37 Dr. McGee pictures the man deciding to put Jesus first, and then Jesus telling him to stay behind and care for his father, as he did the former demoniac in Mark 5:19.
  

  Authority over Nature

• 8:24 There is no safer place than in the center of the Father's will.
• 8:27 "The winds and the sea obey Him!"

  Authority over the Spirit Realm

• 8:28 Only Matthew says 2 men. In Matthew 20:30 there is a similar discrepancy. (The latter could be a pair, one of which is a loud spokeman, and the other quiet and not remembered by the other writers.)
• 8:29 The Greek work "daemon" means knowing or wise one, much like "sapient" Homo Sapiens. In paganism, they were an intermediate being between man and god. The Bible tells us nothing of their origin, but quite a bit about their nature. The following list was cribbed from Apologetics Press.
  1. Demons in the Bible were respectful of Jesus, and of Paul. (Maybe only out of fear.)
  2. Demons are spirits, with no material form."He cast out the spirits with a word" Matthew 8:16 - "a spirit does not have flesh and bones" Luke 24:39.
  3. They have volition and locomotion. "I will return.." Matthew 12:44 "And they came out and went into the swine." James 2:19
  4. They know information, "I know who Thou art..."
  5. They have religion, "You believe there is one God, the demons also believe and tremble." James 2:19
  Demon possession was a cause, not an effect. Those possessed by demons often had physical or mental symptoms caused by it - clearly distinguished from similar physical or mental symptoms with more material causes.
  
  Theories of origin have no Biblical basis, but include:
  1. Spirits of people before Adam as in the "gap" theory. Cf Scientology
  2. Offspring of angels and women in Genesis 6
  3. Fallen angels mentioned in Jude
  4. Spirits of the dead, doomed to roam the earth. (I.e. Ghosts)

  Modern demon possession is controversial. Some claim it ceased sometime after the apostles (including Apologetics Press). Clearly, much modern exorcism is theatre along the lines of other excesses like "roaring in the Spirit". Modern cases have not produced superhuman strength, but I haven't checked Medieval accounts.

• 8:34 Earlier, we saw a man choosing between Jesus and comfort, and another man choosing between Jesus and family. Before that, Jesus said, "Don't cast your pearls before swine." Now we see a whole city chose swine instead of Jesus.