206
The Desire of Ages
hopeful subjects for His kingdom. When the truth, plainly spoken,
touched some cherished idol, He marked the change of countenance,
the cold, forbidding look, which told that the light was unwelcome.
When He saw men refuse the message of peace, His heart was pierced
to the very depths.
Jesus in the synagogue spoke of the kingdom He had come to
establish, and of His mission to set free the captives of Satan. He
was interrupted by a shriek of terror. A madman rushed forward from
among the people, crying out, “Let us alone; what have we to do with
Thee, Thou Jesus of Nazareth? art Thou come to destroy us? I know
Thee who Thou art; the Holy One of God.”
All was now confusion and alarm. The attention of the people was
diverted from Christ, and His words were unheeded. This was Satan’s
purpose in leading his victim to the synagogue. But Jesus rebuked the
demon, saying, “Hold thy peace, and come out of him. And when the
devil had thrown him in the midst, he came out of him, and hurt him
not.”
The mind of this wretched sufferer had been darkened by Satan,
but in the Saviour’s presence a ray of light had pierced the gloom. He
was roused to long for freedom from Satan’s control; but the demon
resisted the power of Christ. When the man tried to appeal to Jesus for
help, the evil spirit put words into his mouth, and he cried out in an
agony of fear. The demoniac partially comprehended that he was in
the presence of One who could set him free; but when he tried to come
within reach of that mighty hand, another’s will held him, another’s
words found utterance through him. The conflict between the power
of Satan and his own desire for freedom was terrible.
[256]
He who had conquered Satan in the wilderness of temptation was
again brought face to face with His enemy. The demon exerted all his
power to retain control of his victim. To lose ground here would be to
give Jesus a victory. It seemed that the tortured man must lose his life
in the struggle with the foe that had been the ruin of his manhood. But
the Saviour spoke with authority, and set the captive free. The man
who had been possessed stood before the wondering people happy in
the freedom of self-possession. Even the demon had testified to the
divine power of the Saviour.
The man praised God for his deliverance. The eye that had so lately
glared with the fire of insanity, now beamed with intelligence, and