Mark 5:15-19 “Then they came to Jesus, and saw the one who had been demon-possessed and had the legion, sitting and clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. … (18) And when He got into the boat, he who had been demon-possessed begged Him that he might be with Him. (19) However, Jesus did not permit him, but said to him, "Go home to your friends, and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He has had compassion on you.”
When Satan exerts his influence on the wills of men, he does so with the intention of ultimately trying to possess them. We see that truth demonstrated to us in the above quoted passage of scripture about the man who had become demon-possessed by the demon called Legion, and how our Lord Jesus delivered him. I want you to notice from this passage that once this man had been delivered, he was once again in his right mind. And so during the time that the demon had full possession of him he no longer had any control over his will, for the demon exercised full control over his will. This account reveals to us the stark difference between the way that Satan influences the wills of men, and the way that God influences the wills of men. As we have said earlier, in this life God never overrides the free will of men. Clearly this is not the case in Satan’s kingdom. It is purely the grace of God that prevents Satan from having his full way in the world, for notice that it was the compassion of our Lord that delivered the man that was fully demon-possessed. Nevertheless even though Satan doesn’t always succeed in fully possessing men, he does very often succeed in partially possessing them, for the scriptures reveal to us that many who were demon-possessed came to the Lord Jesus for deliverance (Matthew 8:16). These were not possessed to the same degree as the man who had the legion, but nevertheless the demons that were afflicting them did exercise control over their wills to a certain extent.
1 Chronicles 21:1-4 “Now Satan stood up against Israel, and moved David to number Israel. (2) So, David said to Joab and to the leaders of the people, "Go, number Israel from Beersheba to Dan, and bring the number of them to me that I may know it." (3) And Joab answered, "May the Lord make His people a hundred times more than they are. But, my lord the king, are they not all my lord's servants? Why then does my lord require this thing? Why should he be a cause of guilt in Israel?" (4) Nevertheless, the king's word prevailed against Joab. Therefore, Joab departed and went throughout all Israel and came to Jerusalem.”
We will close off this section with one more example of Satan influencing the wills of men. In the above quoted passage of scripture we see King David being influenced by Satan to do his will. Notice that once Satan had influenced David’s thinking along this line, that the sound reasoning of Joab was not able to persuade David to change his mind. So just how does Satan influence the wills of men in the world? He does that primarily through their thought life. His demons whisper suggestions into the ears of men. Men do not realise that those words spoken did not originate from their own thinking, and continue to think on those thoughts as if they were their own. The more men think on those thoughts they eventually begin to become obsessed with that way of thinking, for the demon continues to place more and more thoughts along that line into the mind of that individual. It is at that stage that the demon is able to establish a stronghold in the mind of that individual. Although the demon has not yet possessed the man he is nevertheless able to exert strong influence over the man’s thoughts, and by that stage any sound reasoning presented to the individual is completely rejected by that individual. And so we see that before long men begin to act on those thoughts as an act of their wills, and it is in this way that Satan is able to influence the wills of men to do his will.
Michael E.B. Maher
Comments