GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
LUKE 4:34
34 “Ah! What do you want with us, Jesus the Nazarene? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are: the Holy One of God!”
The first word, “Ah!,” is ea (ἔα) in Greek. It’s rare in the Bible, and is used only here in the New Testament.
How carefully shall we pay attention to the words of a demon? The Holy Spirit has not included the words of a demon to teach us anything new about Jesus. As my son Eric said to me, “I wouldn’t be comfortable taking the word of a demon.” On the one hand. anything spoken here by the demon is said elsewhere in faith by others. For example, Jesus is called “the Holy One of God” by Peter in John 6:68 after the Feeding of the Five Thousand. But on the other hand, no demon is the author of the Scriptures, even when their words are quoted. The evil spirit’s words are recorded for us by the Holy Spirit, and his decision to put the words there for us is for our good, because “all Scripture is God-breathed, and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16).
What we learn here is about the fear and terror of those who are damned. The demon calls Jesus by name and uses his title; otherwise it only asks questions of the Lord. Fallen though it is, the demon is subservient to God. Neither the Devil nor any demon is master over God, nor even a match for God.
The first question is either, “What do you want with us?” (NIV) or “What have you to do with us?” (EHV). The difference is in what the translator supplies. Since the demon’s grammar is quite good; it speaks the first question without a verb in a form known as a nominal sentence. But either way, the question is foolish (good grammar is not always a window into a good heart). The Holy One of God has already spoken his judgment on the demons by fashioning hell as their eternal prison.
The second question, “Have you come to destroy us,” shows the depth of this demon’s terror. A spirit, evil or good, cannot be destroyed. It will go on existing forever, either in the pit of hell or in the palace of heaven. The demon’s question about being destroyed must not sway anyone to imagine that there is a kind of annihilation of the damned—never trust the words of a demon. Some church bodies teach such an annihilation, but God’s judgment is clear. Your soul, O Believer, will be transported to heaven along with your body on the Last Day. The souls and bodies of unbelievers will also be thrown into the lake of fire. “The lake of fire is the second death” (Revelation 20:14). For any human, the solution to the fear of hell is simply faith in Jesus. We put our trust in him, not in ourselves, and believe his promises. And he will bring us into the joy of eternal life.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
Archives by Wisconsin Lutheran Chapel: http://www.wlchapel.org/worship/daily-devotion/
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minnesota