Luke Chapter 8 Continued
Luke 8:16 “No man, when he hath lighted a candle, covereth it with a vessel, or putteth [it] under a bed; but setteth [it] on a candlestick, that they which enter in may see the light."
“Under a bed”:
The fact that Christ taught mysteries in parables was not to suggest that His message was meant for elite disciples or that it should be kept secret.
A lamp is not lit to be hidden, but must be put on a lampstand, where its light will reach furthest.
Still, only those with eyes to see will see it.
The purpose in lighting a candle is to brighten a darkened room.
If you light a candle and cover it up with a vessel or hide it under a bed, you would defeat the whole purpose of lighting it.
Jesus is the Light of the world.
His Light does away with darkness.
To hide the gospel of Jesus Christ would be like denying His Light to do away with the darkness of Satan.
Luke 8:17 "For nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest; neither [any thing] hid, that shall not be known and come abroad."
“Nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest”:
All truth will be manifest in the judgment
Satan deals in darkness.
When the Light of Jesus is applied, it does away with Satan's work of darkness. Nothing can hide from the Light of Jesus.
2 Peter 1:19 speaks of this Light that shines in a dark place.
2 Peter 1:19 "We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:"
Luke 8:18 "Take heed therefore how ye hear: for whosoever hath, to him shall be given; and whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have."
“Take heed therefore how ye hear”:
One’s response to the light in this life is crucial, because at the throne of judgment there will be no opportunity to embrace truth that was formerly spurned (Rev.
Those who scorn the light of the gospel now will have all light removed from them in eternity (19:26; Matt. 25:29).
Jesus is talking primarily to His disciples and close friends who are traveling with Him.
He tells them that those who diligently seek the Scriptures for truth shall increase in knowledge, but those who do not take their Christianity seriously will eventually even forget the truth that He has already taught them.
A Christian is constantly on the move.
If he or she is not going forward, growing constantly in the Lord, then they are going backwards and losing what they already learned.
Luke 8:19 “Then came to him [his] mother and his brethren, and could not come at him for the press."
“Brethren”:
These are actual siblings
Matthew explicitly connects them with Mary, indicating that they were not cousins or Joseph’s sons from a previous marriage, as some of the church fathers imagined.
They are mentioned in all the gospel (Mark 3:31; Luke
Matthew and Mark give the names of 4 of Jesus’s brothers, and mentions that He had sisters as well (13:55; Mark 6:3).
Most expositors believe that this visit by Mary and Jesus'
Mary certainly must have believed Him, but His
By this time, probably thousands of people were following Him and these brothers and Mother couldn't get to Jesus for them.
Luke 8:20 "And it was told him [by certain] which said, Thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to see thee."
“Thy mother and thy brethren”: Jesus’ earthly family.
We don't read who brought the message.
Whoever brought it was thinking of brothers in the flesh.
Jesus really is not a flesh man.
He is a God man.
Luke 8:21 "And he answered and said unto them, My mother and my brethren are these which hear the word of God, and do it."
Jesus speaks here, about the spiritual family of God.
All believers in Christ are members of the family of God.
This is what Jesus is speaking of here.
Jesus always speaks of His Spirit relation to man, not His physical.
Luke 8:22 “Now it came to pass on a certain day, that he went into a ship with his disciples: and he said unto them, Let us go over unto the other side of the lake. And they launched forth."
To go by ship out into the lake was one way that Jesus had of getting free from the great multitude of people who thronged Him.
His body would get tired, and He needed to rest.
This was the Sea of Galilee, and Peter's boat and James' and John's boat was always near.
They could have used either for this trip.
Luke 8:23 "But as they sailed he fell asleep: and there came down a storm of wind on the lake; and they were filled [with water], and were in jeopardy."
The Sea of Galilee is well known for the sudden storms that come up, and many ships have been caught and gone down in the storm.
As I said, Jesus was tired and was taking a nap.
This storm had gotten really severe, and the disciples feared for their lives.
Luke 8:24 "And they came to him, and awoke him, saying, Master, master, we perish. Then he arose, and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water: and they ceased, and there was a calm."
“There arose a great tempest in the sea”:
The Sea of Galilee is more than 690 feet below sea level.
To the north, Mt Hermon rises 9,200 feet, and from May to Oct. strong winds often sweep through the narrow surrounding gorges into this valley, thus causing extremely sudden and violent storms.
“He was asleep”:
Just before the disciples saw one of the most awesome displays of His deity, they were given a touching picture of His humanity.
He was so weary that not even the violent tossing of the boat awakened Him, even though the disciples feared they would.
These disciples as you remember, had been professional fishermen and they had weathered many a storm.
This had to be a worse than ordinary storm.
The disciples knew where to go for help.
Jesus has control of everything including the elements of the wind and waves.
When Jesus speaks, they must obey.
The wind ceased and the waves stopped building up and became calm.
Luke 8:25 "And he said unto them, Where is your faith? And they being afraid wondered, saying one to another, What manner of man is this! for he commandeth even the winds and water, and they obey him."
You see first a reprimand of the disciples was for lacking enough faith for them to pray and believe for a miracle.
The problem with the disciples is that they are still looking at Jesus as a man. This is God the Son in the body of a man.
Jesus had created the wind and the waves, and He had complete control of them, because they were His creation.
They must obey their creator.
Read (in John 1), the first few verses and you will see that Jesus was Creator God.
Luke 8:26 “And they arrived at the country of the Gadarenes, which is over against Galilee."
Wherever this country of the Gadarenes is, it was near the Sea of Galilee. Location is really not the important message here.
It is the miracle Jesus does.
Luke 8:27 "And when he went forth to land, there met him out of the city a certain man, which had devils long time, and ware no clothes, neither abode in [any] house, but in the tombs."
“A certain man”:
Matthew reveals there were actually two men.
Only one did the talking.
Demon spirits would be more prevalent around graveyards, because they departed the dead and looked for another body to dwell in.
This man near the tombs has received inside himself many of these disembodied spirits.
His torment from these evil spirits has been so great that probably somewhere along the way he tore his clothes from his body.
A person this tormented could not stay in a house.
In these days when Jesus met this man, there was no one who tried to cure people who were thought to be insane.
They just drove them off, and they lived wherever they could.
Luke 8:28 "When he saw Jesus, he cried out, and fell down before him, and with a loud voice said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, [thou] Son of God most high? I beseech thee, torment me not."
As we said in a previous lesson, these demons recognized Jesus because they had lived in heaven with Him before their fall when they followed Lucifer.
They know they have a terrible fate awaiting them at the end.
This is really not the man speaking to Jesus, but these terrible spirits in the man.
You see these spirits call Jesus, Son of God.
Luke 8:29 "(For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For oftentimes it had caught him: and he was kept bound with chains and in fetters; and he brake the bands, and was driven of the devil into the wilderness.)"
This man had been so tormented that the town's people had chained him.
He had broken the chains and run to the tombs in the wilderness.
Now Jesus commands this evil spirit to come out of him.
A fetter is a shackle for the feet.
Luke 8:30 "And Jesus asked him, saying, What is thy name? And he said, Legion: because many devils were entered into him."
A legion is 2,000 or a whole regiment.
Jesus was speaking to the head demon in this man, not the man.
Luke 8:31 "And they besought him that he would not command them to go out into the deep."
“The devils besought him”:
Luke 8:31, relates they pleaded not to be sent into the abyss, meaning the pit, the underworld, the prison of bound demons who disobeyed.
They knew Jesus had the power and authority to send them there if He desired.
The one place these demon spirits do not want to go is into the deep (meaning the abyss). Jesus can command them to go wherever He wants to, and they must obey.
Luke 8:32 "And there was there a herd of many swine feeding on the mountain: and they besought him that he would suffer them to enter into them. And he suffered them."
A demon's first choice of a body to dwell in is a man's.
If they cannot inhabit a man, their next choice is an animal.
They do not want to be sent to the bottom of the sea.
Luke 8:33 "Then went the devils out of the man, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the lake, and were choked."
These swine (hogs) became mad too, when these demon spirits went into them, and they ran into the sea and drowned themselves.
Luke 8:34 "When they that fed [them] saw what was done, they fled, and went and told [it] in the city and in the country."
If these hog herdsmen were Hebrews, they were raising unclean animals to sell for meat. At this time, hog meat was forbidden for Hebrews to eat.
They were so shocked that they told everyone they saw of this strange miracle.
Luke
This was literally the talk of the town.
This man had been a terror to all of them, and now he is completely sane, fully dressed, sitting at the Master's feet.
Don't you know his love and gratitude were beyond measure toward Jesus who had delivered him from these evil spirits?
The people were afraid, because none of their holy men were at all capable of doing this type of miracle that was done.
They have realized that Jesus is no mere man.
Luke 8:37 “Then the whole multitude of the country of the Gadarenes round about besought him to depart from them; for they were taken with great fear: and he went up into the ship, and returned back again."
This fear that gripped this whole area was fear of their sins being found out. There were many of them owners of herds of swine.
They also were afraid Jesus might convert them to Christianity. He had more power than they were prepared to face.
If a person then or now does not want salvation, Jesus will not force Himself upon them. He left again by ship.
Luke
The natural thing for this man to want to do was to be near the Great One who has set him free.
Jesus tells him to go to the ones who had seen him in his terrible state of insanity and show them the wonderful miracle God has done for him.
He must be a living witness of the greatness of God.
Perhaps, he will lead his family and friends by his wonderful testimony to Jesus so they too, may be set free to live for Jesus.
Luke Chapter 8 Continued Questions
1.When a man lights a candle, where does he put it?
2.What is the purpose of lighting a candle?
3.Who is the Light of the world?
4.Whose work is darkness?
5.Jesus tells them to take heed what they__________.
6.Who is Jesus primarily speaking to when He tells them that whosoever hath, to him shall be given?
7.What is this speaking of?
8.What members of Jesus' physical family came to seek Him?
9.Why could they not get to Him?
10.Why did Jesus'
11.What question did Jesus ask when He was told of His relatives being there to see Him?
12.Who did Jesus say were His mother and brethren?
13.Which family is Jesus speaking of?
14.Where did Jesus go to get away from the mob?
15.What did Jesus do while they were going to the other side of the sea?
16.What happened that frightened the disciples?
17.When the disciples woke Jesus, what did He do?
18.What reprimand did Jesus have for them?
19.What did the disciples wonder?
20.When Jesus arrived in the country of the Gadarenes, who came to meet Him?
21.How was he dressed?
22.Where did he live?
23.When he saw Jesus, what did he do and say?
24.Who was really doing the talking?
25.What is a fetter?
26.Where had the devil driven this man?
27.What question did Jesus ask him?
28.What did he answer?
29.How many demons did he have?
30.What did the demons go into?
31.What happened then?
32.What happened to those who had been feeding the swine?
33.When the people of the town came out, where and in what condition did they find the man who had been delivered?
34.Why did the people ask Jesus to leave?
35.The man wanted to stay with Jesus, but where did Jesus send him?