The demons knew who Jesus was. They identified him as the Son of God which Jesus understood to mean they knew he was the promised one, the Christ. We might think it strange that Jesus wanted to silence them. Surely he wanted the Jews to accept him as the Coming One. Why does he silence them and forbid them from saying who he is?
Jesus knew what we are slow to learn. It wasn’t about who he was, it was about what he was going to do. The good news is the story of the coming kingdom which Jesus taught was near. The urgency of his teaching at the beginning of his ministry was spread the news of what God is about to do not spread the good news about me. The crowds were so excited to hear him speak and see him perform miracles they did not want him to leave them.
Jesus would not stay. He understood his mission, get the word about the kingdom out to as many people as possible. Tell the world the good news that Jesus was establishing God’s kingdom. I was sent to preach the kingdom of God he said. In preaching the kingdom, the saving grace of God was made clear.
Today, churches spend a lot of time preaching their church, boosting their preacher and calling people to join their way. When Jesus gave the great commission it wasn’t to preach a church or a certain way of thinking. He wanted the disciples to continue the work he had started. The kingdom of God must be preached to other cities, countries, people, etc. I wonder what he thinks about us when we make our group THE group and so turn inwards that we lose sight of our mission which is to go into all the world and preach the good news of the kingdom of God. Our job is not to make Baptists, Presbyterians, Methodist or Church of Christers. No, our job is to spread the word about the kingdom of God and invite all men of every nation to enter in and become Christ followers without divisionary names.
Luke 4:39 “So He kept on preaching…” NASU
That’s what we need to do. Keep on preaching what he preached.
Philip Dampier's Blog 