By not paying heed to this admonition of the
apostle, many in the Church have lumped a lot of things together which the
Bible clearly distinguishes for our learning (2 Timothy 3: 16). One thing lumped together is that “CASTING OUT DEMONS” is the same thing as
“DELIVERANCE.” However, in light of our scriptural evidence, we
find this not to be so.
We are not here to prove theological prowess, but to share Grace truth that enlivens the soul and draws it out of the
sogginess that ignorance of the truth of GOD’S word causes.
Many are always confusing the expression “CASTING
OUT DEMONS” to mean DELIVERANCE. This shouldn’t be, because in doing so, we
blindfold ourselves to the truth that the privilege of “CASTING OUT DEMONS” reveals.
While many to whom the truth of Scripture means
little or nothing, because they are encumbered with religion, or with mundane
affairs, and as such too casual with the Word, never take it seriously beyond
lip service or sense knowledge level, and will be quick to wave off this
subject, taking an untidy stance in naivety to insist that both terms mean the
same thing, and therefore keep their soul hanging in ambivalence of religion.
Conversely, the joy of this post is that lovers of
New Covenant reality will revel in the truths unveiled here, that tradition has
hidden away from many for so long.
let’s look at the passages of Scripture brought
forth here in the light of this awesome truth that only the New Testament
unveils.
We will begin our study by looking at
what DELIVERANCE is not.
Many think that “casting out demons” is deliverance. But it’s not.
CASTING
OUT DEMONS ISN’T DELIVERANCE
To “cast out demons” as we understand from
scripture, is to drive out demons from having continued occupation of their
host’s or victim’s body. This is what the term means in its simplest
explanation. This is not necessarily deliverance.
The reason “casting out demons” isn’t deliverance
is because; deliverance has to do with the work of redemption that Jesus
wrought for mankind in His death and resurrection. From what Jesus explains in
John 12: 31 – 33, we understand that Jesus is talking about the defeat and dethronement
of Satan as the ruler of humanity. And then in Matthew 12: 29; Mark 3: 27; Luke
11: 21, 22, it is also clear that Jesus uses the metaphor of a “strong man”
to represent Satan and his kingdom. Jesus is pointing out that to free
humanity from the power of Satan’s evil and dominion, He must first “bind
the strong man,” He must first conquer Satan and his
kingdom of darkness, and dethrone him as the supreme ruler of humanity, thereby
emancipating humanity from his rule.
From these passages, we come to recognize clearly
what deliverance means. It speaks of the defeat of Satan, viz-a-viz the emancipation
of humanity from Satan’s rule, by his dethronement as the supreme ruler of
humanity.
This is actually what the deliverance of humanity
entails, and was actualized by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This
Paul attests to in Colossians 1: 13a; 2: 15; Hebrews 2: 14, 15.
Furthermore, before the time Jesus was born, no
human being could cast out demons in the ancient world, nor had the
Jews even seen anything like that at any time in their history. Jesus Christ
became the first man recorded by Scripture in human history, to have the
divine ability to cast out demons. To attest to this, Scripture also records
this as being the reason the Jews were always amazed (Mark 1: 21 – 28; Luke 4:
36) at the fact that Jesus Christ, a man, could easily cast out demons just with
“a word.” (Matthew 8: 16; Mark 1: 32 – 34; Luke 4: 40, 41).
We are also informed that prior to redemption, Jesus
gave His pre-redemption disciples a taste of this power when He sent them out
in pairs to go preach the Kingdom of GOD and cast out demons from those who
were demon possessed. (Matthew 10: 1; Mark 3: 13 – 15; Luke 9: 1, 2).
So we observe that the disciples of Jesus were
already casting out demons before Jesus REDEEMED or DELIVERED humanity. He
wanted them to have a taste of the power that would permanently become theirs
in the New Birth, which as at then was about to become a reality, after His
glorification and the coming of the Holy Spirit.
This simply implies that casting out demons is not actually
DELIVERANCE, because it was already taking place before the time Jesus delivered
humanity through His redemptive work at Calvary. Jesus and His disciples were
already casting out demons before redemption took place by Him, which was the
eventual deliverance of mankind. This explains why Jesus referred to what was
to happen at Calvary – Satan’s defeat and dethronement, as the TURNING POINT of
the world.
John 12:31 From this moment on,
everything in this world is about to change, for the ruler of this dark world
will be overthrown.
John 12:32 And I will do this
when I am lifted up off the ground and when I draw the hearts of people to
gather them to me.”
John
12:33 He said this to indicate that he would die by being lifted up on
the cross.
Let me make this remark here. It was because humanity was not delivered yet, that Jesus hinted about the possibility
of a demon that has been cast out of a demonized person returning with seven
other spirits more wicked than itself, to their host’s body from where they
were cast out. (Matt 12:43-45). This was possible before the
cross because Satan was yet to be conquered.
This cannot happen today because Satan has been
finally conquered, and humanity is delivered from his rulership. Today, once a demon
is cast out from an unbeliever who is demon-possessed, that demon cannot return
to live in the person, because the demon cannot alter or counter the injunction
given to it, in the name of Jesus Christ, to vacate the person’s body.
This and many more are some benefits that people have today because of Satan’s defeat by Jesus Christ.
All of that said.
Therefore, if casting out demons was deliverance,
then it implies that those who are not demon-possessed would not be needing any
deliverance afterall. And if casting out demons is the actual deliverance, the
Bible is talking about, then there was no need for Jesus dying at all to conquer
Satan for all of humanity. It would be okay to just keep “casting out demons”
like it’s a regular Tuesday activity, Jesus can come when we’re fed up with
Satan continuing to have a field day as ruler.
From this, we can realize that “CASTING OUT DEMONS”
is not the DELIVERANCE the Bible is speaking of.
THE
SIGNIFICANCE OF “CASTING OUT DEMONS”?
Have you ever wondered what CASTING OUT DEMONS
signify? What exactly is it pointing us to? Many Believers have been involved
in this activity for several years and have never realized its significance.
It is true that nowadays, under this New Covenant
age, we have lesser cases of demonic presence or activities in people, than during
the time Jesus and His disciples operated on earth. This is obvious.
I’m not saying certain people don’t have demons
living in them today. Of course, there are, and quite a number of them for that
matter. What I’m driving at is that the presence and operations of demons in
people’s lives nowadays are no more as severe as they used to be before the death
and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
If you observe from the Scripture, before
Jesus went on the cross, and His resurrection from the dead, demonic presence
and activities were rampant in the lives of people and also in the land or
nation of Israel and the surrounding nations or regions around. Satan
and his demons were having their field day. More people than not were possessed
by demons then than today.
At that time, there were overwhelming demonic
manifestations, resulting in diverse kinds of mysterious sicknesses, and
diseases too complex to be medically explained in today’s modern world, and I
must say here that many of those sicknesses and diseases that were caused by
demonic activities or presence in the bodies of the victims, have even gone
extinct today, just as we know that many animals in the past have also gone
extinct as well, as we all would agree. The following passages suggest what I
am saying. (Matthew 4: 23 – 25; 8: 16; Acts 10: 38).
However, after Jesus’ resurrection from the dead,
His ascension far above the heavens and session at the right hand of the
Father, and the Church was born, by the Holy Spirit, demons are no longer a
threat. It’s difficult for them now to possess anyone at will. Not that they
can’t if an unbeliever yields to them, but it’s totally difficult for them now,
because of the light of the Gospel message of Christ being preached today. The
Gospel has driven them aground and remands them in the crevices of the darkness
of the underworld, where they’re lurking in shame.
Demons can no longer roam the earth freely as they
used to do before Jesus went to Calvary. They are no longer possessing people
as easily as they used to, and so their activities have greatly become
minimized. This reality accounts for why not much is mentioned about demons and
demonic possession, and not much is said in the epistles about Believers
casting them out, as a major activity, except on a few occasions mentioned in the
acts of the apostles (Acts 5: 16; 8: 6, 7; 19: 11, 12; 16: 16 – 18).
The reason for this is that Satan and his demon
spirits have been conquered and dethroned, and humanity forever delivered from
Satan, and sin (John 12: 31 – 33). So their activities have become greatly
minimized. The little attention that Satan gets now is from those who by their
own volition are totally rebellious to the truth that the Gospel speaks of
about Jesus' victory over him.
The few demons operating today are mostly more of
demons of false teaching, religion, deceiving or seducing spirits that lead
people away from the truth (1 Timothy 4: 1; Revelations 16: 13, 14), and they find
their easy route in the lives of those who refuse to acknowledge the Gospel of Jesus
Christ.
By delivering humankind from sin and Satan, Jesus made
the New Birth a possibility. Jesus made Satan and his demons so powerless to
the extent that, through the New Birth, i.e. in the act of recreating a
person’s spirit, the Holy Spirit ensures that whatever demon or evil spirit the
individual may knowingly or unknowingly have residing in them, at that moment
they are confessing Christ, that demon or evil spirit is immediately evicted at
once without a fuss, and the Holy Spirit is installed in the individual at that
moment of the New Birth.
Contrary to traditional teaching, the New Birth is
not the DELIVERANCE itself, but the primary benefit of it. To understand this,
you must recognize that the DELIVERANCE (i.e. REDEMPTION) of humanity out of Satan’s
rule had to take place first. Without this taking place first, the New Birth
would not have become possible. This implies that the New Birth is a derivative
of the deliverance of humanity by Jesus Christ. It is the privilege or benefit
that accrues to humanity because of the redemptive or finished work of Jesus
Christ. There are other benefits, but space will not permit me to mention them
here.
Now let’s delve further into the significance of “CASTING
OUT DEMONS” as I mentioned earlier.
There are two ways to look at this depending on
which side of the redemption era a person is looking at it from, but both ways
of looking at it still bring us home to the same truth.
The two divides of the redemption era are;
∎The pre-redemption era
∎The post-redemption era
Irrespective of the side of the human divide (i.e.
redemption era) a person is, Jesus Himself gives us the true essence, meaning, or
significance of “CASTING OUT DEMONS”. This is drawn from the following
statement He made.
Mat 12:28 On the other hand, if I drive out demons by the power
of the Spirit of God, then the end of Satan’s kingdom has
come!
Mat
12:29 Who would dare enter the house of a mighty man and steal his
property? First he must be overpowered and tied up by one who is stronger than
he. Then his entire house can be plundered and every possession stolen. (TPT)
Notice vs. 28, Jesus makes it clear that “DRIVING
OUT DEMONS” or “CASTING
THEM OUT,” is the evidence which signifies that THE KINGDOM OF GOD has
finally come to mankind. At that time the KINGDOM OF GOD was represented and
presented to the Jews by Jesus Christ being physically present with them or in
the midst of them (Luke 17: 20, 21). But the Jews at the time never understood
what Jesus meant, even His disciples (Luke 18: 31 – 34).
The pre-redemption era:
From that passage, we
see that since the disciples of Jesus were casting out demons before Jesus finally
redeemed or provided deliverance for humanity, it means that to them as Jesus
points out “casting out demons” is the evidence/ sign that; THE END OF Satan's KINGDOM OR REIGN HAD COME, and the reign of THE KINGDOM OF GOD HAS ARRIVED, and
to come into full swing at the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and
His glorification.
This was the true essence or significance of “CASTING
OUT DEMONS” as of then. This was what that act portrayed, but the disciples
didn’t understand this.
The post-redemption
era:
In this post-redemption or Grace era, the significance of casting out demons is to still show
that; THE KINGDOM OF GOD HAS FINALLY COMMENCED AND HAS FULLY
TAKEN OVER RULERSHIP THROUGH CHRIST, AND THAT SATAN'S KINGDOM HAS LEGALLY BEEN FINALLY
BROUGHT TO AN END.
It is proof that Satan’s kingdom and its reign over
humanity have been officially or legally ended or closed by Jesus Christ. Hence,
Paul makes the statement in Col 1:13,14.
This is why everything Satan is doing in the world
today is illegal- he’s running illegal activities at present.
This explains why Jesus also speaks of “CASTING
OUT DEMONS” as one of the signs mentioned in Mark 16:17. It is a sign as he earlier said
that; THE KINGDOM OF GOD HAS FINALLY COMMENCED AND HAS FULLY TAKEN OVER
RULERSHIP THROUGH CHRIST, AND THAT SATAN’S KINGDOM FINALLY HAS LEGALLY BEEN BROUGHT TO AN END.
But the tragedy today is that the majority of Believers not
knowing the significance of “CASTING OUT DEMONS,” in the lives of unbelievers, in
our cause of proclaiming the Word or truths of Christ, remain unaware of the
sign it points us to, that WE ARE PRESENTLY LIVING IN THE AGE OF THE REIGN OF
THE GRACE KINGDOM OF CHRIST, where Satan and his demons have become totally
powerless.
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