The Seven Sons of Sceva underestimate a demon possessed man and come to realize a world much larger than they’ve known.
Acts 19:11-15; Matthew 16:24-28; John 3:18-21; Colossians 1:11-14; James 5:13-16
Adrenaline relentlessly courses through his veins, as Harim labors to slow his breathing. Refusing to take his eyes off of the lone, darkened figure fidgeting in front of him, Harim’s mind transports him back to an unsuspecting moment. A vision of himself as a much younger boy seated at a table with his father who stares deeply into his eyes.
While the threat directly in front of him does not move, Harim cannot get his mind off of his own father’s pupils peering back at him from just inches away. Feeling the air from his father’s breath, he tries to erase the moment. But it lingers, and it haunts him.“
Harim shakes his head so as to jolt the moment away. “Why this vision?” He wonders to himself. “Why here? Why now?”
But the memory does not go away, as he sees his father open his larger palm to reveal a pentagram etched ring. “You think you’re ready for this moment, boy?” He pushes the ring closer to Harim’s young face and taunts him. “You think you can possess the power of this ring and use it as a force for good?” As if removed from his own body, Harim looks back at his younger face and sees a frightened boy mustering whatever courage possible so as to not back down from his father’s judgmental gaze. “You have no idea what you’re up against, boy.” He utters. “The demons you pose to wrestle with will eat you alive.” Suddenly clenching his fist in front of his face, his father looks back into Harim’s fear stricken eyes and says, “You aren’t ready for this, boy… And you never will be!”
“Why are you here?” A menacingly gravel voice haunts.
Jarred from his vision, Harim stands feet away from the figure.
The man… or… whatever it is slowly raises its gashed and bloodstained head upon seeing movement from behind Harim.
Stepping out from behind his older brother, Immer doesn’t see the fragmented pottery pieces strewn across the floor and stumbles to the ground. Catching himself before his face hits the floor, his right hand comes in contact with a pottery shard and cuts open. Undeterred, Immer continues to plank over something foul, something putrid. Unable to identify the smell and unwilling to stay in that position, Immer quickly pushes himself up from the floor, stands and comes into full view of the naked man. Watching him slowly rise from his seat, Immer notices the man’s body begin to tremor as if betraying an ominous agitation… as if his presence has awakened it.
The room’s rancid stench no longer registers, as Yedaiah also courageously steps into the naked man’s direct line of sight. Mustering whatever bravery he has and forcefully burying any internal drive that would otherwise run in the opposite direction, Yedaiah begins to shake uncontrollably. And yet, he finds some semblance of a voice and calls out. “Who… are you?”
Shifting his gaze upon Yedaiah, the man’s lips curl upwards ever so slightly. He then crouches forward and salivates like a predator before pouncing upon its soft, fleshy prey. “I am of no concern to you if you turn around and leave… right… now.” He whispers condescendingly.
Surprising even himself with a new found boldness, Yehaiah exclaims. “No! We will not leave you here to…” He begins to shake uncontrollably but wills himself to go on. “To… devour this man.”
With a cat-like response, the man perches himself on the tips of his toes and leans forward on his mangled fingers.
Seeing their adversary poised for an attack, Immer slowly walks towards the man with arms raised peacefully. “In the name of Jesus, of whom Paul preaches.” He states.
As if confused, the man tilts his head to one side.
Emboldened by the mere fact that the man has not learched at him, Immer takes one step closer. “I order you in the name of Jesus, of whom Paul preaches to come out from this man.” He says more forcefully.
Still crouched, the man reveals a disfigured looking hand. Rolling his fingers tipped with sharpened nails that are caked with dirt, he then peers at the young men and calmly asks. “You what?”
“I order you in the name of Jesus, of whom Paul preaches to come out from him.” Immer states again.
A smile registers across the man’s face. He then gazes at the others for several moments and finally centers upon Immer once more. He then spits in Immer’s direction and says, “Jesus, I know. Paul, I know.” His smile suddenly turns into a look of purpose. “But… who… are… you?”
Without waiting for a response, the man lunges at Immer and levels him to the ground.
…
Hearing a cacophony of violent thuds drumming from one of the upper apartments, the older women from earlier gather in the front courtyard, craning upwards to get a glimpse of what might be happening.
“You showed them the hallway?” One of the women asks another who is holding a broom.
“I did.” She responds. “All seven of them went down the dark hallway. I led them as far as the stairwell.” She shrugs. “But that’s as far as I was going. From that point, they were on their own.”
“You should go up there and see.” Another hints.
The woman holding the broom turns to her neighbor, and shakes her head. “I wasn’t born yesterday.” She wryly shoots back. “I have a better idea… Why don’t you go up and check things out. I’ll keep watch down here.”
Disturbed by relentless bass-ladened pounding coming from way upstairs, others begin to pour out of their apartments and into the courtyard, asking one another what’s happening. Before long a steady stream of neighbors exit the building and courtyard and fan out into the street.
Finally, the pounding shifts to heavy footsteps that stomp across an upper hallway to the stairwell. While nothing is seen from the courtyard or the street, heads curiously follow the direction of the racing footsteps towards what is presumed to be the exit.
“Here they come!” An indiscernible voice cries out. “Get out of their way!”
A flurry of young, dark haired men stumble out of the apartment, bruised and bloodied with deep penetrating scratch marks running in every direction across their torsos, limbs and backs.
Watching them frantically limp through the spontaneously formed parade route, the woman with a broom leans over and asks a neighbor. “Do you think they know they’re naked?”
The neighbor guffaws with a loud snort, which sets off an eruption of laughter along the parade route. Pointing at the physically wounded brothers, the crowd lets out a concert of jeers to generously humiliate them.
Both physically and emotionally wounded, a newly limping Harim fiercely smacks Immer across the shoulder.
With the sudden sting of Harim’s fist, Immer forgets his other wounds and looks back at his scolding brother. “What the heck was that for?”
Harim looks back at the laughing crowd and replies. “Are you that dumb? Figure it out!”
…
The afternoon wanes, as Paul, Sosthanes, Priscilla and Aquila continue to teach in their breakout groups scattered throughout the larger hall.
Priscilla takes a few moments to stretch and cannot help but notice how the size of her women’s group is larger than other groups combined. She chuckles while wondering if women simply have a greater interest in spiritual matters than men. “Or maybe…” She continues to think. “The guys are too distracted by earning a living.” She then looks over at Aquila who is actively teaching his own group of men and shakes her head. “Nope.” She continues to wonder. “I don’t think that’s it. He did his work this morning, and now he’s here this afternoon. But… maybe he’s just a dreamy exception.”
She turns back and realizes that all eyes are looking directly at her, smiling as if they know something she doesn’t. “What?” She asks.
The women laugh.
Priscilla sighs and grows redder with each passing moment. “Okay… Let’s focus, ladies.” She blurts out.
“Yes.” A nearby woman replies. “Let’s.”
The women laugh even harder.
Priscilla lets out a deep breath, shakes her head, and announces. “Alright… get it out of your systems.”
Hearing the roar of laughter, the other groups stop and turn their heads to learn what has just happened. Aquila then turns his head to see an embarrassed Priscilla looking directly at him. He raises an eyebrow and suddenly looks down at his garments to see if there’s anything amiss, which of course causes the women to laugh that much harder.
He looks over at Sosthanes who shrugs back at him.
Priscilla starts laughing herself and begins to explain, which causes even more laughter. Placing her hand over her mouth, she catches herself and waves Aquila off to resume what he was doing.
Aquila shrugs at the whole exchange and mutters. “I’ll never understand them.”
Suddenly, the door to the hall swings wide to reveal two disheveled young men. Instantaneously, the room grows serious, as the groups of men and women look over at the young men and then back at Paul.
Immer winces as he takes a step and stops to scan the room. Seeing Paul, he nudges Yedaiah to walk with him over to the man standing on the other side of the room. The men and women alike watch, as some recognize the two from synagogue. Nudging one another, they ask, “That’s Immer, right? Aren’t they Sceva’s sons?”
Watching them hobble towards him, Paul patiently awaits what might happen next.
Aquila winks at his group and quips. “Guess this is just one of those days when I am completely clueless.”
In front of the four groups of men and women, Immer approaches Paul, lowers himself down to his knees and bows in reverence. Yedaiah sees this as his cue to also give homage to the puzzled man in front of them.
The crowd marvels at the scene. Whispers of curiosity swarm like scouting bees throughout the room. Sosthanes and Aquila both grow wide-eyed at the sight, wondering what Paul will do with this breach of etiquette.
Paul breathes a heavy sigh and says. “Gentlemen, I don’t know what is happening here, but I’m not one to receive any sort of reverence. You shall worship the Lord your God alone with your heart, your mind and your will. Get up, my friends, and tell… well, I guess all of us here what this might be all about.”
…
We’re going to stop here for today
Things don’t quite go as planned for the seven sons of Sceva, as they barely escape with their lives from a demon possessed individual who seemed to appreciate neither their message nor their approach. With their tails between their legs, the sons are humiliated before a crowd of people after failing to exorcise a demon, or many, out of a man in his home.
Curiously, the demon did not seem intimidated by the posturing young men. It did not recognize these inexperienced exorcists as any sort of serious threat. Whatever chants, rituals, or adjurings these brothers used to confront said demon(s) were seen as inconsequential. Jesus, the demon knew him. The demon also knew of Paul by reputation. But, these guys? Who did they think they were, coming onto his claimed turf and bullying him out?
Jesus and Paul? The Demon knew of them and even seemed to have a healthy fear of them. But these yahoos? Nope. Nothing. Not a threat. Of course, this begs us to question… “Why”? Why were Jesus and Paul feared and these guys… well, not?
This takes us down an important road, a road of having a right relationship with God. There are a number of passages we can look at that speak to this idea. Yes, the weeds get thick here, insomuch as not only identifying the characteristics of a righteous person but also separating genuine Godliness from… well… imposter syndrome. To be fair, it gets quite tricky in this arena. Furthermore, we can give only a little glimpse into this world here in our time together. That said, let’s get into it.
First, believing that the Kingdom of Heaven exists and is as real as the empirical world we live in is key. Jesus spoke of the Kingdom of Heaven more than anyone. In fact, the entire Gospel of Matthew is thematically shaped by the Kingdom of Heaven. Here’s a snippet:
Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul? For the Son of Man will come with his angels in the glory of his Father and will judge all people according to their deeds. And I tell you the truth, some standing here right now will not die before they see the Son of Man coming in his Kingdom.”
— Matthew 16:24-28
Along with the Kingdom of Heaven is another reality called the Kingdom of Darkness that continues to obstruct the world around us to the things of God. If we’re cool with the Kingdom of Heaven, then we need to address the “elephant in the room” that speaks to a false kingdom of darkness. Jesus spoke much about this false kingdom, so if we believe him about the Kingdom of Heaven, why shouldn’t we believe him about the false kingdom of darkness as well?
“There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son. And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed. But those who do what is right come to the light so others can see that they are doing what God wants.
— John 3:18-21
There are many passages that address the false kingdom of darkness, but we would do well to describe what this kingdom is like, which brings us to our second truth.
This false Kingdom of Darkness is pervasive and unyielding. It stops at nothing to ensnare humanity and keep it from knowing God. For those who seek God out, they will experience an emotional and challenging set of obstacles as they aim to break free from their blindness amongst a dark world. While Jesus, Peter and Paul alike describe the nature of this difficult and alternative journey–there are many passages that describe how challenging this really is–Paul describes a persistent focus on gratitude for those who have been transferred out of the Kingdom of Darkness and into the Kingdom of Heaven (God) as a reminder of what God has done for the people he rescued.
May you be filled with joy, always thanking the Father. He has enabled you to share in the inheritance that belongs to his people, who live in the light. For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins.
— Colossians 1:11-14
There is so much backstory needed here, right? Yet, this backstory gives us the framework of those who operate within the false Kingdom of Darkness and why it’s so difficult to get out of it. Which brings us to our next point:
Third, yes, there are demons. No, they are not nice. These angelic beings are bent on one thing: carrying out the agenda of Satan himself, the ruler of this false kingdom. So many questions likely will flood out of your minds when we talk about this other world. Yet, this other world dwells within our world and works behind the scenes to influence our world’s outcomes.
Paul speaks of this other world and describes it as a world that influences and shapes even the empirical world in which we know and live.
A final word: Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.
— Ephesians 6:10-12
With the understanding that there are demons lurking about and influencing humanity, we then might be wondering… how does one overcome a demon? Well, in the passage I just read, Paul just described the need to “put on” all of the armor of God so as to withstand the strategies of the worldly principles that attack the agenda of God.
Those who know God, understand His agenda, and want what He wants will be best suited to stand up against these forces of evil. But, please note that while these things in and of themselves do not make an individual righteous, they are an indicator that God is near to the person who highly regards them. God hasn’t necessarily placed his stamp of approval on these people and will not necessarily empower them accordingly. But it’s a good start.
That said, it is the “righteous person” who contains a capacity to carry out the agenda of God, simply because God has placed his stamp of approval upon him or her. This person is the real deal.
James gives us a glimpse into how this works:
Are any of you suffering hardships? You should pray. Are any of you happy? You should sing praises. Are any of you sick? You should call for the elders of the church to come and pray over you, anointing you with oil in the name of the Lord. Such a prayer offered in faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will make you well. And if you have committed any sins, you will be forgiven.
Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.
— James 5:13-16
So the larger issue at hand then… drumroll please… is how does one transmit the power of God? How does one become righteous before God so as to be granted both His stamp of approval as well as the authority of wielding His power?
I think this is the mother of all spiritual questions, and I’m fairly sure that the demon who felt threatened by the likes of Jesus and Paul and not the sons of Sceva was very clear about this subject matter as well.
In a word… Faith. Faith that begins with belief in the person as well as the activities of Jesus. Being made right (righteous) before God requires a work of trust (faith) in Jesus and what He has accomplished on our behalf. Paul points to a “divine transaction” that was made possible when God offered Jesus to be the sin-substitute for humanity. In Romans, Paul describes humanity as “positionally” or “transactionally” righteous with God when people believe in Jesus.
We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are. For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past, for he was looking ahead and including them in what he would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate his righteousness, for he himself is fair and just, and he declares sinners to be right in his sight when they believe in Jesus.
— Romans 3:22-26
In this divine transaction, God awakens us to the Kingdom of Heaven and his overarching agenda for good to prevail. He also ushers us out from the false Kingdom of Darkness and into the Kingdom of Heaven, in which our entrance is only made possible through the self-sacrificing work of Jesus who would bear the punishment of God on behalf of humanity. There is sooooo much more here, but we have to move on.
I need to point out, however, that faith does not end with this divine transaction. While it begins here, our right standing with God that is made possible by faith goes much deeper than this and begins to take root in all aspects of our lives. Paul describes the faith journey as follows:
And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord (through faith), you must continue to follow him. Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.
— Colossians 2:6-7
Living a life based on faith also shapes everyday decision making. Choices made today are based upon the trust, the faith, the belief (all the same word in the original language) we possess at any given moment. When we trust God’s ways to be best, we make choices based upon that trust.
It is this life of faith made through our decisions, our responses to whatever might be happening, our interactions with others, our concerns about situations, etc, that shapes not only who we are becoming but our ability to be used by God.
Faith continues on without end… to discover and absorb the character and desires of God himself with the goal of becoming one with God. Jesus described this process in John 17.
“I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message. I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me.”
“I have given them the glory you gave me, so they may be one as we are one. I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me. Father, I want these whom you have given me to be with me where I am. Then they can see all the glory you gave me because you loved me even before the world began!”
— John 17:20-24
So who is able to wield the power of God? It is those who are fully one with God. Those who live fully by faith are the ones God uses to shape and change the world for good. Those who are united with God are the righteous ones of God who benefit the Kingdom of Heaven.
Let’s wrap this up by going back to James 5:16. James gives us a glimpse of those who are right standing with God–those who are righteous before God himself because of their consistent faith–as the ones who bear the power of God and usher in the Kingdom of Heaven within their spheres of influence.
The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.
— James 5:16
May you be a person of consistent faith–faith in not only the work of God in Jesus, but faith in the evershaping work of God… in you. With that… let’s move forward… together.