I would like to build on the foundation I have been laying and relate to Jesus before continuing. This is important because we need to see what he did and how he handled things so that we can do likewise.
The enemy often tried to kill Jesus, starting from birth and continued during His ministry, but he could not even touch Him. Certainly he tempted the Lord, but he had no power or authority over Jesus until it was time for Calvary and even then, Jesus exercised his dominion. See John 10:18 and John 19:11.
On many occasions, the devil suspected that something was going to happen but was not sure of the details and orchestrated the deaths of many innocent children trying to stop God’s plan. Innocent babies were killed to get Moses but he was spared. Joseph was warned in a dream to take the baby Jesus to safety to preserve His life.
We must believe that the devil does not possess any of the faculties of God whatsoever. He is a created being—but we are Sons! God is all knowing, present everywhere and has all power and authority. The devil can only be in one place at a time. Why would he wander throughout the earth seeking those he might be able to afflict, if he could? As for power and authority, he has none. Jesus said that all power was given to him.
Although he is a very powerful and intelligent being who hates us, the devil does not have revelation knowledge. If he did, he would not have orchestrated the execution of the Lord Jesus. Too many people give the devil credit far too many things and too many Christians do not realize the potential God has given us and hidden nothing from us, but for us if they could only grasp this fact.
Paul said-
But we speak wisdom among the perfect; but wisdom not of this world, nor of the rulers of this world, who come to nought. But we speak God’s wisdom in [a] mystery, that hidden [wisdom] which God had predetermined before the ages for our glory: which none of the princes of this age knew, (for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory;) but according as it is written, Things which eye has not seen, and ear not heard, and which have not come into man’s heart, which God has prepared for them that love him, but God has revealed to us by [his] Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. For who of men hath known the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? thus also the things of God knows no one except the Spirit of God. But we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which [is] of God, that we may know the things which have been freely given to us of God: which also we speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, communicating spiritual [things] by spiritual [means]. But [the] natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him; and he cannot know [them] because they are spiritually discerned; but the spiritual discerns all things, and he is discerned of no one. For who has known the mind of [the] Lord, who shall instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.
1 Corinthians 2:6-16 (emphasis mine).
Paul quoted Isaiah 64:4, which refers to the heathen—not to us! They are not in a covenant relationship with God as we are, so the things of God are of course a mystery to them. We however have the mind of Christ and by belonging to a completely different kingdom—the Kingdom of God, have free access to revelation knowledge and live under a completely different system. We have the bible and the Holy Spirit to bring illumination to us as Jesus promised in John 14:26, 15:15, 16:13-15. They are designed to teach us. Sickness, trials and tribulations in life may certainly give us some experience, but such conditions are not our teacher and are never to be our teacher. God is! Circumstances change and storms go, but the word of the Lord is constant at all times and the Spirit of God never changes.
We have said that the devil tried to kill Jesus before His time, but was as always unable to thwart the plan of God! Look at an incident in the life of Jesus in Mark 4:35-41. The comments are mine.
And the same day, when the even was come, he saith unto them, Let us pass over unto the other side. Jesus fully intended getting there! He said it and He did it. And when they had sent away the multitude, they took him even as he was in the ship. And there were also with him other little ships. Jesus’ ship was not alone! And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full. His ship—not the other ships! And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish? And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith? And they feared exceedingly, and said one to an other, What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?
Jesus had been teaching The Word and He expounded All Things to His Disciples! Everything He did was by the Word. He Is the word!
Sadly, there is a lot of preaching around that has very little to do with the Word of God and the truth of God is thus shrouded in hearsay, religious mystery and tradition, pomp and ceremony and religious mumbo-jumbo. This sounds critical, but it is true nevertheless. God never wants us to be ignorant of truth and never hides it from us, but we do have to glean it for ourselves from the Word.
He fully intended ministering to the man at Gadara and to open a branch of the Jesus of Nazareth Evangelistic Organization and the devil suspected something was going to happen. The devil is a schemer and a plotter, so, being a master at strategy, saw a golden opportunity to wipe them all out in one foul stroke. All the core members of this group were in one boat at the same time, so if he could kill them, he would stop Christianity before it even started! There are some key points to look at-
◦ When Jesus said, Let us pass over, He had no doubt that He was going to reach His destination. He was on an assignment that ultimately led to the salvation of a precious soul and the expansion of the Kingdom of God. The devil does not want either of those things to happen. The word Jesus used was Dierchomai, which relates to the act of travelling, but one meaning is to pierce. Jesus was in effect piercing into the devil’s territory and take over. Little wonder that storm rose up.
◦ The disciples Took Him as He was. The Greek word is Paralambano, which means association. They were in intimate association with the Son of God. Are you?
◦ The disciples who were professional fishermen accustomed to storms were afraid, because this was not a Natural Storm. It was demonic driven.
◦ The word used to describe this storm is Thyella, which means a hurricane or a cyclone, slay and wrath!
◦ The waves beat into the boat, being derived from the word Epiballo which is comprised of two other words. One is Epi, meaning cyclone, slay & wrath. This was a demoniacally driven force that was picking up waves and repeatedly hurling them At the boat with the intention of smashing it to pieces. It was like a cricket fielder grabbing the ball to throw at the bails and run the batter out, or a baseball pitcher winding up and pitching.
◦ Other little ships were also with Him but according to Mark, His was the only one affected.
◦ So much water filled the boat, it filled so much that it literally started to swell out or bulge at the seams. The Greek word used is Gemizo. Mark tells us that Jesus was sound asleep. If the boat was so full, as seen in the previous point, why didn’t Jesus get wet? Surely, that would wake anybody, but He was untouched. The waves that beat against that boat, merely rocked Him to sleep. He was at Peace!
You can have Peace in a Storm and when you have such peace, all hell can be breaking loose around you and you will come through it! After all, didn’t He promise to give us His peace? See John 14:27. The point I wish to make is that we do not ignore the problems that beset us. That would be foolish, because they are real, but we can have His peace in the midst of the storms of life when we are in the will of God. Jesus was always living in complete and utter co-operation with the mind and will of God. That produces real peace! The disciples did not yet possess that peace so woke Him. When they woke Him, Jesus did two things-
He rebuked the wind:
When Jesus stood up in the boat and spoke, the word He first used was Epitamao, which simply means stop!
It had an almost mocking tone about it, as if He was saying, Is that all you can do? Nothing can deflate a proud, vain and egotistical fool than mocking them like that. Once that ego had been dealt a blow, it lost its motivation, gave up and quit!
Jesus simply told the wind, Quit your foolishness and stop it... now, dealing with the source of the problem first!
Sometimes we neglect to deal with the root cause and merely fight against the results or the symptoms that follow.
I remember the time we had a weekly prayer and worship meeting, when a woman came for healing of a headache. We prayed and she said the headache had immediately gone. She returned some time later with the same problem, received prayer and said she was healed. This continued several times and I started to think that something was wrong. Was she merely an attention getter, or was there some other thing?
When I asked the Lord about it, He told me to stop praying for her and to tell her to start using her reading glasses! We had been praying for the results, but not addressing the cause.
Jesus dealt with the source first!
He spoke to the sea:
Having dealt with the source of the problem, He turned His attention to the results or the outcome by giving spoken instructions. The word used is Epo. That was a literal command. Jesus was on a mission and had the full approval of the Father, so had the necessary delegated authority to issue such a command. He knew the mind and will of the Father and had perfect union with Him, so out of this union of intimate relationship, he was qualified to issue such a command that simply had to be obeyed. May I remind you that Jesus told us to do likewise?
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. John 14:12.
He gave us delegated authority that is backed up with His delegated ability. I encourage you to study the words power and authority in this regard. Start with Matthew 10:1; Mark 16:Luke 9:1, 10:19; Acts 1:8, 4:33 and look for key words like Dunamis and Exousia!
In the midst of this noisy hurricane, Jesus was violently shaken awake by frightened followers, stood up in the boat, laughed at the wind and said, Stop that, then said to the waves, Now... Listen to Me! His next instructions were in the form of the word Siapao, which means hold your peace, silence, be quiet and be speechless, or as I would most likely say, Shut up!
He then said Peace to the situation, followed by a command, Be Still. Jesus used the word Phimoo, which describes the action of muzzling something, or as some folk would say, gag something.
His instructions were basically as if He said Be Silent and listen to this... Shhh.
Think right now of a situation in your own life that is like a raging storm around you and say, Shush! Many people start shadow boxing, struggling and fighting, getting on all sorts of witch-hunts and yelling at stuff and really achieve very little. They have expended their energy, grown weary and frustrated and that storm is probably still blowing. All Jesus did was put his finger to his mouth and say Shhh and The Wind Ceased! The Greek word used to describe this is Kopazō, which simply means that it just grew tired and wore itself out! Mark says that there was a Great Peace… not just peace. There are two kinds of Peace. One is Peace With God, such as what we receive at salvation. The other is the Peace Of God that we enjoy in our relationship with God.
