The Authority of the King

Luke 4:31-44 - Riley Boggs

Language is always changing, always evolving. This is simply the way that language works, it changes with the changing society it exists in. Many people argue that the people who are in control of how language changes, are actually the ones who control the way that the society changes. Maybe you’ve heard the saying before, “He who controls the language, controls the world.” Now obviously God is in control of the world ultimately, but I do think that this idea is true. Let me give you an example.

Do you remember back in 2020 when there were protests taking place all over the country? There were thousands of protests taking place all over the country, some of them were peaceful and some of them were anything but peaceful. Whenever the news outlets would cover these protests, it was clear that they were trying to control the language. There were certain news outlets that would go to violent protests and report them as being “peaceful protests”. I remember one clip in particular where a news anchor is standing in from of a building that has been set on fire and said that the protest had been “mostly peaceful.”

Why would they do that? Why would they call something that wasn’t peaceful, peaceful? Well, they were trying to control the language. They know that if they can convince the public to refer to these violent riots as “peaceful protests”, then the way that the culture sees them will change. Rather than seeing them as something that should be stopped and done in a peaceful way, the public would see them as something that should be encouraged as they are. What was taking place wasn’t changing, but the language being used was. There really is the never-ending battle for language because, if you control the language, you control the society.

This same language reality exists within the church. The language that we use, as the church, impacts the direction of our church. The words and phrases and terms that we use as a body will ultimately affect, or direct, what we believe. Let me give you example. We often refer to one another as brother and sister in Christ. Why? Well we do that because it’s true and the Bible describes us in this way. But we also do this because it inherently brings us closer than just random people gathering together a few times a week. It implies a deeper relationship. It implies having the same Father. All of that helps us see one another rightly, helps us to love one another like we’ve been commanded.

And, I would bet that if we stopped using that language altogether, we might find ourselves drifting a bit apart. We might find it a bit easier to speak poorly of one another, to not help one another in times of need, and so on. This is why it is so important that we speak like the Bible speaks. The Bible has given the language of the church, a language that though might vary across the world, does not vary in its meaning. It gives us a solid and unchanging place to stand and live within the church.

The issue is that we are forgetful and neglectful. We often forget what the Bible says or how it speaks. We often neglect to spend enough time in Word to become familiar with the language. And so, as your pastor, one of my main responsibilities is to try and constantly remind you of the language of the Bible. 99% of the time I do not step into the pulpit with a new way of saying something. The vast majority of the time is simply a call to look at what the Bible says and encouraging you to speak and think in these ways, using the language of the Bible.

This morning my goal is to remind you of the kingdom language found in the Bible. When you think of kings and kingdoms, what do you think of? Lord of the Rings? Narnia? More times than not, when we think of kings and kingdoms, our minds do not immediately go the Gospel, it doesn’t go to the Bible. It goes to fantastical things, the things we see in movies and read in novels. But the Bible is overflowing with language of kings and kingdoms. From Genesis to Revelation, there is kingdom language. And in this text specifically, there is kingdom language. It’s important that we grasp it, that we understand what this language means, so that we don’t miss what is being conveyed. So that we don’t miss or misunderstand verses like the one we have in our passage today, verse 43. Jesus says, Jesus says that he, “must preach the good news of the kingdom of God…”. What does He mean by that? What is the good news of the kingdom of God? That is what I want to show you this morning from this passage.

I haven’t mentioned it much up until this point, but these past few weeks as we’ve been working through the Gospel according to Luke, specially chapter 4, there has been several hints at this idea of the kingdom of God. For example, in Luke 4:5-6, how does the devil tempt Jesus? It says that the devil took Jesus up and in a moment of time showed Him the kingdoms of the world. He shows Him everything and then he makes Him an offer. What’s the offer? The devil tells Jesus that if He will worship him, then He can have authority over it all. We know that Jesus refuses and quotes Scripture back. But, think about what is happening here. The devil is trying to tempt Jesus by offering Him a position of power, to be king of the world, to have ultimate authority over all things. Now, we know that Jesus will have all of this anyway, and so what the devil is tempting Him with isn’t something that Jesus can’t have otherwise. No, he is tempting Him to obtain it without the cross. But Jesus knows His purpose, knows He must to go the cross, and refuses. Nonetheless, there is kingdom language here.

Then, in our text last week, we get more hints at this kingdom stuff. Jesus is teaching in the temple and says that He is the fulfillment of the prophecy found in Isaiah 61. In other words, Jesus says that He has come to what? To restore kingdom of God! But the people respond with unbelief because they watched Jesus grow up and think, “There is no way this is the one who will do this.” And so Jesus respond to them and says that He has not come just for the Jews, who are responding in unbelief. No, He has come to establish a new Kingdom of both Jews and Gentiles alike. As we know, the response of this was not thanksgiving, but rage. In anger they try to throw Jesus off of a cliff, but He miraculously passes through the mob, and the text says that “He went away.”

That’s where we left off. And if you were trying to read carefully and think about all that is happening, one question that should pop in your mind is, “What kind of kingdom is this?” If you begin thinking about it, you start to realize that if Jesus must go to the cross to establish authority, and it is made up of both Jews and Gentiles, then this must be a kingdom unlike any kingdom before. And that is exactly right. This is a kingdom unlike any before it. This is the kingdom of God being established. This is a spiritual kingdom. A spiritual kingdom whose King is none other than Jesus of Nazareth.

In our text this morning, we will see these realities begin to be played out. There is authority recognized, there are demons driven out and silenced, there are people healed, and there is a promise of a kingdom that has come and is coming. Each of them pointing to what Jesus calls “the good news of the kingdom.” With all of that said, let’s look at our first point this morning.

1.) Jesus has authority over demonic powers

In verses 31-37 Luke records a story of Jesus once again teaching in the synagogue. He specifically records in verse 31 that people were astonished at His teaching because “His word possessed authority.” In other words, Jesus words have power in and of themselves. He is different than just another person teaching who has to appeal to the Scriptures to have authority. Yes, Jesus appeals to the Scriptures for authority, but His words also carry authority in and of themselves. Why? Because He is God, and God’s Word is authoritative.

It’s while Jesus is doing ministry in the synagogue that He comes across a man who had “the spirit of an unclean demon.” And Luke records the interaction between Jesus and the demon that is in this man. The demon cries out from the man and says, “Ha! What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are – the Holy one of God.” Jesus responds by rebuking him. He says, “Be silent and come out of him!” And that is exactly what happens. The demon throws down then man, comes out of him, and leaves the man unharmed. Quite the scene there in the synagogue.

Everyone who just watched this happen is amazed. They are amazed, again, with the authority that Jesus’ words carry. With just His words He had demonstrated complete authority and complete power over demonic powers. They are amazed by this and begin to talk about it among themselves. Then, like one could imagine, they tell others this story and reports of Jesus begin to spread all throughout the surrounding region.

One of the things that sort of dawned on me while I was studying for this story is the difference between the people in the synagogue we saw last week and the demon in the synagogue this week. Last week, the people questioned Jesus. Because He was in His hometown and they had watched Him grow up, they didn’t believe that He could actually be the coming King. They doubted His authority. But the demon didn’t doubt for Jesus authority for a second. The demon cries out immediately the truth about Jesus. He cries out that Jesus of Nazareth is the Holy One of God who has come to destroy the demonic powers of the world. There is no doubt there, the enemy knows for certain who Jesus is and the authority that He has.

If you read down in our passage a bit, in verse 41, you can see that this wasn’t a one-off event for Jesus either. Verse 41 tells us that Jesus cast the demons out of many people. Not only does He cast them out, but the text says that He rebukes and silences them as well. Why? What reason does the text tell us for Jesus silences them? It says that Jesus silences them because they know that He is the Christ and they are crying out that He is the Son of God. Does that strike anyone as a bit strange? I mean doesn’t Jesus want people to know that He is the Christ? Have you thought about this before? This isn’t the last time we will see Jesus do this either. We will see Him heal someone and then tell them to go and tell no one about it. Does He not want people to know He is the Christ?

Well, yes and no. Jesus is on a mission that leads to the cross, and it is all about timing. He has come with the purpose of establishing the kingdom of God not by means of showing up and immediately instilling His absolute authority over everything. He is going to do that on the cross, but not until then. But all the while leading up to the cross He demonstrates moments of authority that only the King would have, moments like this, where Jesus demonstrates His authority over demonic powers. The second point I want us to look at this morning is this.

2.) Jesus has authority over sickness and death

After leaving the synagogue Luke records that Jesus went to Simon’s house. And we read that Simon’s mother-in-law had a high fever, and they asked Jesus if He could help her. So Jesus stands over her, rebukes the fever, and it left her. Not only that, but in response, she immediately rises and begins to serve them.

This is an amazing story for many reasons, but the one that really captures my attention is the fact that Jesus simply speaks and this fever disappears. He doesn’t say let me get a cold rag for your head and I’ll start praying for it to go away. No, He simply rebukes the fever, and it’s gone. When we read this, it is obvious that Jesus’ words carry power. It is obvious that Jesus has authority over sickness. And just as we see that in reading this story, the people there and in the surrounding area realize it as well. We know this because in verse 40 it says that  people start flocking to Him, bringing sick and diseased people, of all kinds, to Him. And as they bring them to Jesus, He lays his hands on them, and He heals every single one of them. He heals them all. He heals them all by simply laying His hands on them.

One interesting thing about this interaction is the fact that Jesus rebuked the fever. Is that a bit odd to anyone else? He didn’t just make it go away, and He didn’t rebuke some personal evil force that was causing the fever. He rebuked the fever itself. But this isn’t the only example of this kind of thing. Throughout the Gospels we see Jesus rebuke people and demons multiple times, but He also rebukes things like the wind and the sea. So what does that mean, that Jesus rebuked, or maybe we could say reprimands, a fever? Well, I think the reason that might seem a bit strange to us is because we forget just how vast the effects of the fall were. When we think about Adam sinning in the garden, we sometimes forget that He didn’t just plunge humanity into sin. Yes, that is certainly the pinnacle of the curse, but the Earth and our bodies were also cursed.

Think about these words that God says to Adam in Genesis 3:17-19. This is after the fall of man, where Adam and Eve sinned, and now God is speaking to them. He says, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;18 thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field.19 By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” Do you see what He is saying? Not only are you broken spiritually, but you are broken physically, and not just you, but creation itself. The ground itself is cursed. And all of this, all the results of the fall, are the results of an evil act of disobedient to God.

Paul picks up this same idea in Romans 8. He says, “18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. 23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.”

What Paul is saying here is that our spirits, our bodies, and all of creation, are broken. Broken and yearning for the time that all things will be made new again. And see this is why Jesus rebukes the fever. He is pushing back the effects of the curse. He is reclaiming territory that has been claimed by the evil forces of the world that reign because of the fall, which includes sickness and disease and death. It’s a glorious thing.

And as we read this story of Jesus, we might begin to think, “Finally, He’s come to do away with all demonic powers and sickness! He’s come to push the boundary all the way back! The Kingdom of God is here!” Then, we read, starting in verse 42. “And when it was day, he departed and went into a desolate place. And people sought him and came to him, and would have kept him from leaving them, but he said to them, ‘I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well; for I was sent for this purpose.’ And he was preaching in the synagogues of Judea.”

I can imagine people hearing this and thinking “What? What do you mean you have to preach the good news of the Kingdom? Aren’t you here to cast out demons and heal the sick? Isn’t that the good news of the Kingdom?” Well, not entirely.

3.) The Kingdom of God has come and is coming

Just a moment ago, I mentioned that the pinnacle of the fall was what? That humans have been plunged into a sinful state, which they cannot fix themselves. There are so many problems humans face every day, that all are a result of the fall of man, but the chief one of them all is that we are sinful to our core. We are sinful, depraved, and God is Holy. That’s the greatest problem we face. And this problem, this thing we cannot fix, is the exact reason that Jesus came to this Earth. That is the good news of the Kingdom of God that He is talking about.

This is what we mean when we say that the Kingdom of God is here. Jesus is going continue to do ministry and He is going to continue to cast out demon and heal the sick, but He is ultimately going to end up on the cross. And on the cross He is doing what only He can do, as the God-man. He is bearing the sins of the world and taking on the wrath of God. He is establishing the Kingdom of God. He is establishing a spiritual Kingdom, a Kingdom that can only be entered by turning from your sins and placing your faith in King Jesus. The Kingdom has come, right now!

But there is a sense in which the Kingdom is still to come. There is still a time, in the future, where the Kingdom of God will be fully established. By fully I mean, all sin and death and evil will be totally eradicated. We get glimpse of this in Revelation 21. Turn there with me so you can see this. Starting in verse 1 it says, “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people,[b] and God himself will be with them as their God.[c] 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. 5 And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” 6 And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. 7 The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son. 8 But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”

Then skipping down to verse 22, “22 And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. 23 And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. 24 By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it,25 and its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there. 26 They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. 27 But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb's book of life.”

Do you see what this is? It is the fully established Kingdom of God where there is no evil, there is no pain, there is no death, and there is no sin. All is made entirely right. So think about this text with me now. Think about what is happening. In Jesus casting out the demons and healing the sick, we are getting a glimpse of what He will do finally on that day. His ministry is an establishing of the Kingdom of God, until ultimately on the cross where He will deal the final blow to sin, death, and the enemy. All these moments until then are like previews of what is to come for those in Christ. The Kingdom has come and is coming. What we know in part, we will one day experience in full.

This is why it is so important that we speak of salvation as more than just an individual experience. Don’t get me wrong, it is an individual experience, but it is also much more than that. Salvation is more than you simply praying to God and being saved, though it is that. Salvation is the reality that God, since the promise in Genesis 15, has been bringing about a redemption plan whereby all of Creation will be restored. All things will be made right. Heaven and Earth will meet again, they will come together, and those who entered the Kingdom of God by faith, will dwell in the eternal Kingdom of God. And there, in that Kingdom, all is right. Our souls, our bodies, and creation itself.

Until then, we labor on to win people to Christ. We spend our lives for the sake of the Gospel of the Kingdom that says Jesus died so that you might live. So that you might be forgiven of your sins and no longer fear the condemnation for your sins. We proclaim that Christ is King and that while He is a patient King, He will not wait forever. For there will be a day when He returns to judge the enemy once and for all, to usher in the Kingdom. And only those who have repented of their sins and trusted in Him will be brought into this Kingdom, all others will be cast into the lake of fire.

And so if you don’t know Christ, turn to Him. Repent of your sin and trust in King Jesus. Place your faith in Him, and He will save you. And then, you will not have to look forward to that day in fear, but you can look forward to that day with an eagerness. Why? Because you know that in that day all things will be made right and there will be complete and endless joy ahead. That is what awaits those in Christ. That is what awaits the church.