HOLY ONE OF GOD

Today, we see the Lord Jesus in the synagogue at Capernaum. This was His adopted home for most of the three years of His public service. Earlier that day He had been back to Nazareth for a visit. The people had been angry at His assertion that God had blessed Gentile people in the past when the Jews had been so full of unbelief that God could not bless them. They would have murdered the Lord Jesus but His time had not yet come and so He walked through their midst and made His way to Capernaum.

The Lord again enters a synagogue, but this time He is faced with uncleanness instead of unbelief. A demon-possessed man is in the synagogue. Where men fail to recognise the Lord, the demons never fail. They are most uncomfortable in His presence, so they cry, ‘let us alone’. The holiness of the Lord is so great that they recoil. How privileged we are to have been cleansed from sin and fitted for the presence of God.

The demons know that their ultimate end is to be destroyed. Neither is there mercy available for the fallen spirits, who are ‘reserved … unto the judgement’, Jude 6. However, we have an offer of mercy but how many of our neighbours refuse to believe?

The demons knew that ‘Jesus of Nazareth’ was none other than’the Holy One of God’. The people of Nazareth had failed to acknowledge this fact although He was brought up amongst them and had lived the longest period of His life there. They too had observed the perfection of His life over many years. The ancients of Israel would have recognised this title of the coming Messiah. The psalmist had prophesied about Christ, ‘neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption’, Ps. 16.10.

The Lord Jesus, as the Holy One, speaks with power. His words, unlike ours, always produced results. We can see His words in action when He rebuked the unclean spirit and commanded him to come out of the man. It happened!

What confidence this gives believers in our day. The Lord is in heaven, He is still the Holy One of God and He only needs to speak the word and miraculous things still happen!