Authority Over Nature

Summary

There is fierce hostility to the reign of the king in both the natural and spiritual world. We see in these verses that this hostility can make lives dangerous as storms rage, difficult and destructive as demon possessed men block passage and terrorize a region, and debilitating as broken body and sin leaves a man physically paralyzed and spiritually empty. These forces appear overwhelmingly strong and insurmountable. Jesus shows that his power over these things is exceedingly greater than their ability to harm people or even pigs. Jesus rebukes the storm into calm, cast the demons into swine, and both forgives and heals the paralytic. All those who witness Jesus’ divine power in these incidents respond with great fear and awe. For some the fear meant reverent worship and for others it meant rejection and terror. We are hopeless to stand against the storms, spirits, sin, and situation that seek to overcome us but none of these can resist the saving words of Jesus.

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