If Jesus had mercy for demons, can I experience his mercy?

Mark 5:9
Jesus asked “What is your name?”
So the possessed man said, “My name is Legion; for we are many.”

1 Kings 16:30
Ahab was more evil in the eyes of God than all the other kings before him.

1 Kings 16:33
Ahab made God angrier than all the other kings before him.

1 Kings 21:25-26
There was no other who did evil like Ahab.
He gave himself over completely to be wholly wicked,
also worshiping the gods of the Amorites that the Lord hated.

If you are a good person, this devotional isn’t for you.

If you think you’re not “that bad”… If you can easily list off a great many people who are worse than you… If you can brush off the greatest of your guilts the way someone could brush dandruff off their shoulder… If you’ve never known what’s it’s like to loath yourself… if you’ve never thought your birth was a mistake… if you’ve never known for sure that there will never be hope for you… if you’ve never thought yourself a demon, this devotional is not for you.

However, perhaps… you look at liars and thieves, adulterers and fornicators, the arrogant and foolish…and scoff, because you know their failings don’t even scratch the surface of how bad a person can be. You at times wish you could be at least a person as good as they are.

I won’t specify examples or reasons. It’s not necessary. You know them, and you are sure they are beneath what is lowest, worse than what is worst. You have relented and embraced what you are, because there is no climbing out of this hole you have dug yourself down into, and there will be no one who will rescue you…pulling you out.

A hole…a deep one…is exactly where you belong.

This devotional is for you. Here, I am going to tell you something of utmost importance. I will start by first agreeing with you: there are those who have never dared to look inward to gaze on the evil within their own heart. They exist who have no true understanding of the awful nature of that darkness humans can all to easily succumb to. They have no way of empathizing with the deep self-condemnation of those who admit that they both have, and know it.

They are simply so far away from it they do not understand the awful depth of evil.

I tell you now, this problem is reversible.

Have you ever considered that if it is true that it’s possible for some people not to understand evil, that they may also exist who simply do not truly comprehend good?

Could you be such a person?

I present the issue like this…

I imagine a mountain, and on the one side is darkness, and on the other is light. They that live in the light side don’t understand how dark darkness can be…they are too far removed from it. So it would be rational to also believe that those on the shadowed side of the mountain, would not comprehend how bright the light can be.

“All the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light of a single candle.” – Saint Francis of Assisi

“To see the cowardice of the dark, only light a candle, and watch how it flees.” – Me

1 John 1:5b
God is light. Darkness cannot exist with God.

 1 John 4:8b
God is love.

Light is infinitely greater than darkness. Love is infinitely more powerful than evil. If your worst was as all the darkness of the universe, it could not overcome even the smallest spark popping out of a tiny fire. It’s not a matter of you not being lovable because of your darkness, it’s a matter of you not being able to not be loved. It’s impossible for you not to be forgiven. It’s impossible for you to be unreachable by God grace.

It’s true. You may just not understand the absolute power of light, of love, of God.

Let’s go back to the verses that opened this study. Let’s take another look at King Ahab. It says rather bluntly that there was no one worse. No one made God Angier than Ahab. He did more evil, and no one did evil as Ahab did. The bible says that quite bluntly. It got to the point where God finally sent a prophet to Ahab to tell him, well, in short, that God was going to “end” him. Everything would fail and fall; his reign, his entire lineage, his entire line would cease, never again to be a part of Israel.

Then this happened…

1 Kings 21:27-29
After hearing what was going to happen to him, Ahab ripped apart his royal clothes, and wore cloth used to make sacks instead. He stopped eating, and did nothing but weep. So God spoke to the prophet Elijah and said, “Look, do you see how much Ahab has humbled himself in front of Me? Because he has done so, he will not need to live through my judgment. He will not need to witness the fall of his family. Nothing will begin to happen until after he has died.”

Ahab, the worst king of all the bad kings, even he was able to elicit mercy from God. It’s important to know that Ahab was able to do this before, without, Jesus and the salvation He bought for us with His blood, being on Ahab’s side. Not like we do…

1 John 2:1b
If anyone sins, we now have Jesus who speaks to the Father on our behalf.

Just what is it that you think Jesus will do for you? Well, let’s go back and revisit the other verse I started this off with. Jesus had just asked a demon to identify itself, and it had just announced that its name was “legion”. This is because, at minimum, there were more than a thousand of them. So, then this happened…

Mark 5:10-13a
Then they begged Jesus not to command them to the abyss,
and begged Jesus passionately, saying, “Send us just to the pigs!”
Then Jesus gave them permission.

 …

 Demons…
begged Jesus for mercy…
…and they received it.

…

If Jesus would do that for thousands of true demons, how much more do you think He will plead for you before the Father, despite your sins? How well do you think the Father will receive the pleadings of His only Son, who shed His blood and died on the cross for you, now that He has risen, and ascended into Heaven for just such a purpose as that?

Be thankful, and rest assured that the God of love has more than enough mercy for you.

He even has mercy for demons.

Mark Vincent Vicari †

#777arkV

______________________

I have recorded audio versions of this, and my other devotionals, in formats that both do, and do not have background music. They can be listened to at…

SoundCloud.com/777arkV

I am an author, theologian and philosopher
I hope to be a teacher and a public speaker.
You can find information about me, my 1st book,
and much more that I’ve written at my website…

777arkV.com

Please note – If Bible verses are not specifically noted as being taken directly from the King James Version, I paraphrase all Bible verses that I use. The primary reason for this is in putting a verse into my own words I clearly expose how I read and understood the verse myself. Please always take the time to compare my understanding of a verse with the verse itself from your preferred translation of the Bible.

© 2015 Mark Vicari – All Rights Reserved