Are You Possessed?

"And He came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and He was teaching them on the Sabbath; and they were amazed at His teaching, for His message was with authority. In the synagogue there was a man possessed by the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice, 'Let us alone! What business do we have with each other, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are—the Holy One of God!' But Jesus rebuked him, saying, 'Be quiet and come out of him!' And when the demon had thrown him down in the midst of the people, he came out of him without doing him any harm. And amazement came upon them all, and they began talking with one another saying, 'What is this message? For with authority and power He commands the unclean spirits and they come out.' And the report about Him was spreading into every locality in the surrounding district" (Luke 4:31-37).

Let's examine a little more closely the demon’s words: “I know who you are—the Holy One of God!” No sooner does the demon utter these words than Jesus tells him, "Be quiet!” Verse 41 tells us, “Demons were also coming out of many, shouting, ‘You are the Son of God!’ But rebuking them, He would not allow them to speak, because they knew Him to be the Christ.” Why was Jesus silencing these demons? Why would He tell them to be quiet? If the whole idea was to display His divine authority, then why would He object to these demons calling Him the Son of God? I think there is a very important reason why Jesus silenced these demons on the issue of His identity. I think it’s because He didn’t want them to have any part in defining who He was.

God and God alone is the only one who has the right to define who we are, and He had already defined Jesus. Remember His words when Jesus was baptized, “You are my beloved Son, in you I am well-pleased (Luke 3:22).” God defines us as well when we arise from the waters of baptism. We become His children. We are identified as Christian. And we must protect our identity by the way that we live. We must guard against identity theft.

The devil is constantly trying to define our identity. He is always trying to challenge our identity as a Christian. That is precisely what he tried to do to Jesus when he tempted Him. In Luke 4:3 the devil says to Jesus, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.” “If you are the Son of God…” One can detect a tone of mockery. Satan questions who Jesus truly is in the hope that He might do the same. Then the devil leads Jesus up to a high place and shows Him all the kingdoms of the world and says to Him, “I will give you all this domain and its glory; for it has been handed over to me, and I give it to whomever I wish” (Luke 4:6). The only catch is that Jesus must bow down and worship the devil. Once again Satan tries to steal Jesus’ identity. He attempts to redefine Him by offering Him a shortcut deal. He promises all the power with no pain. Finally Satan leads Jesus up to Jerusalem and has Him stand on the highest point of the temple. He says, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here" (Luke 4:9). The devil is prompting Jesus to put His power on display. In essence he is saying, "You won’t die prematurely and everyone will immediately accept you as the Messiah." Here again we see Satan trying to coerce Jesus into doing it his way rather than God’s way.

The devil is implying something with the words, “If you are the Son of God?” He’s questioning the identity of Jesus. At the heart of the battle is an issue of identity.
Satan challenges our identity as well. When we’re in the desert. When we feel spiritually depleted and emotionally parched. He whispers in our ear, “You’re not really a child of God. You’re not saved. If you are saved, then why don’t you feel like it? If you love God so much then why do you do so many things wrong? Why are you such a failure? Do you think God loves a failure? Don’t you think God is sick and tired of forgiving you?” The whispers increase and intensify and the more they do the more they prick at your innermost being. Eventually he pulls out the biggest tool in his arsenal—-the past. For some he zeroes in on defining moments; moments we’d like to forget. He focuses on major mistakes, regrettable decisions and dishonorable acts. He uses abuse and rejection; whatever he can to beat you to despondency because he knows that everyone has a past. He is well aware of the fact that everyone has things in their past that they are trying to move beyond. His goal is for you to define yourself by your past failures. We all know personally how disheartening it is when the devil is calling us a failure and has ample evidence with which to prove his point.

Hear something loud and clear: the devil is not authorized to define your identity. He is not the divine authority. God is! Satan may drag up the past, he may use current struggles or he may even speak a certain amount of truth to get your ear. But in the end, not only is his definition of your identity false, it’s also contrary to who the Father has called you to be. Listen to your identity according to the word of the Lord, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy” (1 Peter 2:9 & 10).

As Christians, we belong to God. We are marked as His own. We bear His identity because we were made in His image. When we made the decision to leave a life of sin, He redefined us. He gave us a new life, and He gave us a new name as well. The name Christian, which literally means "adherents of Christ" or "those who belong to Him." In Galatians 2:20 Paul writes, “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me…” Paul was possessed; not by a demon, but by Christ. He was consumed by Christ. He belonged to Christ. His identity was Christ. Are we possessed? Does our identity reflect the one who purchased us with His own blood?