The Importance of Faith, Matthew 17:14-20
We are approaching another lesson that Jesus has for the disciples. This lesson is not directed toward demon possession or demon demonism, although that is the occasion for the lesson; the lesson is about faith. It is about the fact that there has been a lack of faith on the part of the disciples in the attempt to deliver this young boy from demon possession. They have been complete failures, so Jesus is going to rebuke them, as well as the entire generation at that time for their lack of faith. The focal point of this lesson is on the importance of faith, although we have to spend some time on the issue of demonism and demon possession because lots of questions always come up about that.
What we have seen in the previous section is that Jesus, since His confrontation with Herod Antipas, has been moving around the area of Galilee. What we see at the end of chapter sixteen, starting in verse twenty-one, is a shift. That shift is to begin to prepare the disciple for His coming arrest, His crucifixion, death and resurrection. “From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day.”
Matthew 17:22, 23 NASB “And while they were gathering
together in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be
delivered into the hands of men; and they will kill Him, and He will be raised
on the third day.” And they were deeply grieved.” The reason for pointing that
out is that it shows that what happens in verse 21 is that Matthew is beginning
to show that Jesus is preparing them for what is going to happen when He is
crucified, buried and risen from the dead. And they don't get it, not even
after the crucifixion. Not until they physically see the resurrected Jesus will
they get it. So all of this is involved in training. This is how Jesus is
training these disciples and teaching them, and He is taking them through a
sort of an outdoor classroom, hands-on situation to come to understand a few
things.
Matthew 17:14 NASB “When they came to the crowd, a man came up to Jesus, falling on his knees before Him and saying...” Luke adds something to this in Luke 9:37 NASB “On the next day ...” In each of the synoptic accounts that describe Jesus going up on the mount of transfiguration with Peter, James and John, we see that on the way back they ask Him a question: “What about Elijah? What about the kingdom?” Remember that in Matthew chapter twelve Jesus casts a demon out of a man who caused him to be deaf and mute. The Pharisees said that he did it in the power of Satan. That was the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit and when Jesus announced that judgment was going to come on that generation because of their unbelief and blasphemy, and at that point He no longer offers the kingdom. The Pharisees were saying: “Give us a sign”. They had been given sign after sign after sign and they just rejected them when they were given. This is the background for understanding this event here when they come down from the mountain.
Mark gives some dramatic descriptions of what goes on. Mark sometimes is the briefer of the Gospels and here he has the longest account. Mark 9:14 NASB “When they came {back} to the disciples, they saw a large crowd around them, and {some} scribes arguing with them.” So when Jesus came down a huge crowd was seen with the disciples and they are having some sort of disputation with the scribes. Now four of them had been up on the mount of transfiguration, they have heard the voice of God, the three disciples have seen Jesus' glory as He was transfigured, they had a foretaste of the coming kingdom, they had been in an almost perfect environment on top of the mountain. They had been on the mountaintop with God; now they are in the valley with the demons. They were confronted with the young boy who was demon possessed, with religious arguments and conflicts, a huge multitude, and everything is just stirred up. We have to note that contrast between that peace and almost perfection on the mountain and now just the clutter and chaos of the world that they have come into.
Jesus has taken the disciples through these two training sessions. He has taken the honor students—Peter, James and John—for their advanced training up on the mount. The others are left without Jesus, and what happens when Jesus is gone is they are lost. They are just a failure and have forgotten everything that has happened back in chapters eight and ten. In chapter ten they were sent out and part of their mission was to cast out demons, which they did. They cast them out in the name of Jesus; they understood what the instructions were. They were to do this in Jesus' name, by His power, and not in their power and efforts. That was the contrast to what was happening in the Jewish culture at that time. Acts chapter nineteen talks about these sons of Stephen, Jewish exorcists who were incapable of casting out a demon. They were doing it through the world's systems of rituals and incantations and other things. Paul confronts them with that because they are not doing it in the name of Jesus, and that is the only name whereby a demon can be cast out.
The other thing that is important to note about that episode is
that the word exorcism is not a term for what Jesus or the disciples did. They
cast out demons; it is always the same word EK BALLO, never the word EXORKIZO. EXORKIZO in
the Bible was what the Jewish unbelieving exorcists tried to do and what the pagans do.
But these nine disciples had
been left behind and this man brought his demon possessed son to them, and they
were impotent; they couldn't cast out the demon. Apparently in this disputation
with the scribes they have fallen into the trap of trying to do it in the way
that the Jewish exorcists did. There was no faith. Jesus rebukes them because
He says, “You have no faith”. That is the failure; they are no longer trusting
in Jesus, they are trying to do it some other way.
Mark 9:15 NASB
“Immediately, when the entire crowd saw Him, they were amazed and {began}
running up to greet Him.” There is this huge multitude there, Jesus comes up
and some see Him and break away from the crowd, greet Him and expect Him to
solve the problem. What we have to remember is that this is the same kind of
crowd He has been dealing with all along and they are looking to Him for a free
lunch (feeding the 5000), looking for Him to do these miraculous things and
just kind of encourage and excite them; but they are not trusting Him as the
Messiah. They are also kind of enjoying the conflict that goes on between Jesus
and the religious leaders.
Mark 9:16 NASB “And He asked them, 'What are you discussing with them?'” He knows that the job of these scribes, like the Pharisees and the Sadducees, is to create this confrontation with His disciples.
Matthew 17:14 NASB “When they came to the crowd, a man came up to Jesus, falling [NKJV = kneeling down] on his knees before Him and saying,” Matthew isn't concerned about the conflict with the scribes, but Mark gives us more color and background. Matthew just cuts to the real issue which is this man's demon possessed boy. “Kneeling down” is the Greek word GONUPETEO. What we might expect is a different word that we normally translate as worship, but this word just refers to kneeling down; it doesn't have overtones of worship, it is just expressing what someone would do out of respect to someone who they believed was superior or maybe even just pleading to someone. Obviously he does believe that Jesus can deliver his son.
Matthew 17:15 NASB “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is a lunatic and is very ill; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water.” He pleads for mercy, but I don't believe at this point that he is a believer in Jesus as Messiah. That happens in the next verse or two. The word he used for son here is the Greek word HUIOS, which indicates an older boy. I'm making a point about that because Jesus is going to ask him when this began and he uses a different word, a word that can mean a child or even an infant. That is important for making a couple of observations about demon possession. “... for he is a lunatic”. Most translations translate the Greek word as an epileptic. We don't think of epilepsy as a specific disease that is treatable by medication, and it is. The Greek does not identify this as a disease. Epileptic is a poor translation because it is making a medical diagnosis on a circumstance where the Scriptures identify this with a medical diagnosis. The Greek word is SELENIAZOMAI. It comes from the root noun SELENE, the Greek goddess of the moon. Some translations will say that the boy was moonstruck, and that is a good translation. He doesn't have epilepsy, something is happening to him and they just say he is moonstruck. It is just a generic term. The idea of moonstruck is something related to the effect of the moon on people and it came into the English to describe a crazy person as a lunatic. The slang that developed from lunatic in England in the 19th century was that somebody was “looney”. That is essentially what was going on here. They were just saying, “This kid is crazy”.
When we look at Matthew chapter seventeen, as well as Mark chapter nine, we see that a number of things are described here. He falls into the fire, often into the water. Mark says he has a mute spirit, also whenever is seizes him it throws him down, he foams the mouth, gnashed his teeth and becomes rigid. There are ten characteristics given to describe what happened to this boy. So whenever this spirit seizes him he just falls into the fire, falls into the water; it is extremely dangerous. He is unable to talk; it is described in both passages as a mute spirit. It also caused deafness. When Jesus is addressing him Mark says He addresses the deaf and dumb spirit. When Jesus addresses him the boy can't hear Him, but the demon can. The boy has uncontrollable seizures that come on randomly. He cries out. So when this happens he will cry out, he also foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and he will become rigid. Then the demon, it says, departs with difficulty. So when it leaves there is some sort of physiological consequence.
The reason for bringing this up is that there is always a temptation among those who teach and talk about demon possession to try to identify two things. One is, what is it that is an occasion for people becoming demon possessed? What kind of things can we get involved in that may cause us to become demon possessed? One of the things we should note is that several times there are children in the Gospels who are demon possessed. With this young boy, for example, the words that are used to describe him are words that are used for a very young child, maybe just an infant just out of babyhood. He is no getting involved in playing with his Ouija board or all of these other things that we find people saying that you need to do in order to become somehow connect to the demonic. There is nothing in Scripture that ever identifies what the cause was of their demon possession, is just the fact of their demon possession that is mentioned. And in most of the cases it is in areas dominated by Gentiles and pagans, so that one element that we can clearly say as indicated by the Old Testament is those who are involved in pagan religion which is demonic would be one possible way to be open to the demonic—but not necessarily so, it is just a possibility.
At different times down through the centuries people have identified different characteristics of how you can identify someone who is demon possessed. That is the second thing: how would you know somebody is demon possessed? We hear people make statements like Adolf Hitler must have been demon possessed, or Saddam Hussein was demon possessed, or some mass murderer must have been demon possessed. That is clearly within the realm of possibility but it is not a good solution. The reason is because most people after a demonic explanation don't want to wrestle with the fact that a human being just living in the power of his own sin nature can be that evil. And yet the Bible is saying a human being without any help from Satan can be just as evil, because that sin nature, that nature of corruption that we have isn't qualitatively any different from Satan's. Quantitatively it is, and the fallen angels have greater power than we do and can give much greater, more powerful manifestation to their sinful rebellion against God than we do. But we are just as capable of rebellion against God and horrible things all on our own. We don't need any help and we don't need to go around blaming people. And really the Bible never gives us those kinds of examples of this is how you can tell if somebody is demon possessed; but it was known from certain things that were manifested.
In the third century AD there was a Jewish rabbi who said there were four characteristics of demon possession: If you walk around at night; spending the night on a grave; tearing one's clothes; destroying what one is given.
In the 1600s Puritans identified a number of characteristics of demon possession: If you thought that you were possessed; if you lead a wicked life; to be persistently ill; if you fall into a heavy sleep; if you are vomiting unusual objects—toads, serpents, worms, stones; if you blaspheme, use the Lord's name in vain; if you make a pact with the Devil; if you are troubled with spirits; if you see things; if you show a frightening and horrible countenance; to be tired of living; to be uncontrolled and violent; to make sounds or movements like animals.
Merrill Unger, professor at Dallas Theological Seminary, wrote his PhD dissertation on biblical demonology, which was excellent and had a great biblical argument. But he got so many letters from missionaries and others who were basing everything on experience that he came out with another book on what demons could do to Christians, and reversed himself—not based on exegesis or new word studies but just on experience. When my book Spiritual Warfare came out one of the book reviewers said: “This is the only book currently in print that doesn't get its information from experience, it focuses just on what the Bible says”. Unger also claimed that a possessing demon will voice opposition to Jesus Christ, and yet he wrote “No possessing demon in any of the biblical cases speaks derogatorily or blasphemously about Jesus”. In fact, most of these things that are given as characteristics are not mentioned in Scripture at all. And so people are just making it up out of their own imagination. It has a certain salacious appeal to lots of people.
But even fairly decent Bible teachers, well known radio Bible teachers like Chuck Swindoll, all fall into the experiential trap when they are studying the Scriptures. In his little book, Demonism, which he wrote back in the seventies he asks the question: Can a Christian be demonised? He said: “For a number of years a questioned this ...” Notice he didn't use the word “demon possession”, because what happens is by avoiding that word and using the word “demonise” (a perversion of the scriptural term) you can drive all kinds of trucks of bad teaching and theology through that vague term “...but now I am convinced it can occur”. What convinced him? Exegesis of Scripture or experience? That is always the question to ask. He said: “If a ground of entrance ...” That is an interesting term. What is this ground of entrance? Do we see it in the Bible? “... has been granted the power of darkness, such as trafficking in the occult ...” Do you think that the baby boy in Matthew chapter seventeen was trafficking in the occult? “.. a continuing unforgiving spirit, a habitual state of carnality?” He is a baby; he is always carnal. Babies are not Christian; they are not born again yet. The only option they have it to live according to the sin nature. “A habitual state of carnality” is every unbeliever in the country. “... I've seen it personally”. Watch this. What is your authority, the Bible or your interpretation of your own experience? “I've worked personally with troubled, anguished Christians for many years. On a few occasions I have assisted in the painful process of delivering them of demons”. Notice: delivering Christians of demons! “... While present within the body, perhaps in the region of the soul, that evil force can wreak havoc in the life”.
What I'm pointing out here is that so much of demonism and demonology is based on experiential ideas and not on what the Scripture says.
Matthew 17:16 NASB “I brought him to Your disciples, and they could not cure him.” This is the Greek word THERAPEUO from which we get our word therapy. It is just a generic term for healing someone.
Then Jesus makes a statement where He is really challenging the carnality and spiritual rebellion of this generation. It is a generalized statement, not about the disciples or about the fathers specifically but about that whole generation. Matthew 17:17 NASB “And Jesus answered and said, 'You unbelieving [faithless] and perverted generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him here to Me'.” The point that He is making is that first word, “faithless”. It means to be unbelieving. They are not trusting in Him.
Mark 9:22 NASB “It has often thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, take pity on us and help us!”
Mark23 NASB “And Jesus said to him, “ ‘If You can?’ ...” You are doubting me? You are coming to me but you are not really sure that I can do this? What do you mean, “If you can”? That is the thrust of Jesus' response there. Then Jesus says, “... All things are possible to him who believes.” So what are we talking about here? The focus isn't on the demon possession, that is the occasion. The purpose here is to say the issue is faith. This is where the disciples failed; this is where the generation failed. They are not believing the promises of God, they are nor believing the prophets of God about the Messiah; they are failing to trust in God. This man comes and he is doubting; he is not sure. He is probably not even saved. So Jesus says, “All things are possible to him who believes.”
Mark 9:24 NASB “Immediately the boy’s father cried out and said, 'I do believe; help my unbelief'.” I think at this point he trusts in Jesus as the Messiah, knowing that Jesus can deliver that child from the demon possession. So the issue is faith.
In 1 Peter 1:8 Peter is talking to his readers about how they can be delivered from the trials and testing in this life, not just waiting for eternity, and he talks about part of their spiritual life being to focus upon Jesus who “having not seen, you love” – “and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory”--believing, trusting on a day-to-day basis, the faith-rest drill. This is the focal point of the Christian life and Christian growth. What Jesus is teaching His disciples is demonstrating to all of Israel through the deliverance of this child from a demon is that if you will trust in Him He can conquer any and every problem that they have. For the nation He can deliver them from spiritual oppression. He can do the same thing for every single person who trusts in Him. He can provide spiritual deliverance from the power of the sin nature. It is understanding the sufficiency of God's grace and the need to trust Him radically and exclusively.
Matthew 17:18 NASB “And Jesus rebuked him, and the demon came out of him, and the boy was cured at once.” He just speaks to the demon. He doesn't pray; He doesn't fast. The demon came out of the child, and that is the word EXERCHOMAI. That is important to understand because people get into using the word DAIMONIZOMAI, which is a participle they want to translate as demonize, and they say, well that could just mean anything from demon influence to demon possession. And they are correct; that is a general word. But what gives specificity to was demon possession is are the other verbs. When someone is demon possessed the demon has to come out of him. What does that mean? That means there is a demon in them. It doesn't mean they are being influenced by a demon; it is that a demon has entered into their body and is controlling their body. So we see these words, that a demon goes into somebody—the Greek word EISERCHOMAI=to enter into—and then to get rid of it the word that is used is EKBALLO=to cast out, which indicates that the demon goes out, and that is described as EXERCHOMAI. Those words are very specific.
A question that always comes up is whether a Christian can be demon possessed. There are many who have taken the experiential route and said, yes, I've met with numerous Christians, and basically what they are saying is, I have enough knowledge to know they are demon possessed. The reality is, we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit. Every believer is indwelt by the Lord Jesus Christ, as well as by the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 3:16, 19).
Historically this argument was presented this way. Major premise: Every believer is indwelt by God the Holy Spirit. Minor premise: The Holy Spirit cannot dwell in the same location as a demon or Satan. Conclusion: No Christian can be demon possessed. The problem is with the minor premise. It isn't specific enough. There are examples where Satan or the “sons of God” (fallen angels) come into the presence of God, and people have used that to say: See, that minor premise doesn't work.
Here is the issue. In 1 Corinthians 3:16 where Paul says we are the temple of God, he uses a specific word. He uses the Greek word NAOS which refers to the Holy of Holies—not the whole temple precinct but the Holy of Holies. Unclean people can go into the HIEROS, the outer courtyard, but no one unclean could go into the NAOS, the inner temple, the Holy of Holies, the inner sanctum. If a priest were to go in unclean or unwashed he would die instantly. The principle is that every believer's body is transformed into a Holy of Holies for the indwelling of Jesus Christ. No evil or unclean thing can enter the Holy of Holies; no demon can enter the inner sanctum of God. Therefore no demon can indwell a believer's body. 1 John 4:4, “... greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.”
Matthew 17:19 NASB “Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, 'Why could we not drive [EKBALLO] it out?' [20' And He said to them, 'Because of the littleness of your faith ...” Notice He doesn't say, Because you didn't pray and fast. “... for truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you'.” The mustard seed is the tiniest seed that we know of. He is saying it just takes a little bit and you can move mountains. And that doesn't mean literal mountains, it is an idiom for doing something that is thought to be impossible, to be too difficult.
He is training the disciples to trust in Him during that time once He has ascended to heaven and they are leading the church. So the issue is belief.
Mark 9:29 NASB “And He said to them, 'This kind cannot come out by anything but prayer'.” That whole statement is probably not in the original. It is not in the oldest documents. Usually I go with the Majority Text; this is in the Majority Text. Some MSS added fasting there. The Mark reading says “but prayer”. There are some problems with this. Historically, by the late third century there was the rise of monasticism. They were putting this emphasis on prayer and fasting as a means to manipulate God to do anything. The center of monasticism was in North Africa. So if somebody anywhere was going to add prayer and fasting to the MSS you would think it would be North Africa. The oldest MSS that we have come out of Egypt in North Africa, which was the starting point of monasticism, and prayer and fasting is not in those manuscripts. You would expect it to be there, not in these other ones.
So historical external evidence is against it, but also internal evidence. Nowhere else is Scripture is prayer emphasized as the means of casting out a demon. In fact, when the disciples were sent out they were told to simply cast the demons out in His name. Prayer is never referred to in any of the earlier episodes in Matthew or in Mark. Fasting certainly isn't mentioned in any of them. Nobody takes this as being part of the original text.
The point here that Jesus is making is that if we are going to get anywhere in our ministry, in our spiritual life; if we are going to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, it is done by faith. It doesn't take a whole lot of faith to get started; we just have to trust what the Word of God says. The more that we trust what the Word of God says the more we are going to see God respond, fulfil His promises, and our faith will be strengthened and out faith will grow. Many times I think we have to utter a prayer like the father here: “I believe; strengthen my faith”. The way our faith becomes stronger is first of all learning the Word of God, knowing what the truth of the Word of God says, and then by walking by the Spirit.