These are symbolic actions, a kind of prophetic message in and of themselves. Yeshua also engaged in symbolic actions and what I call kingdom enactments.

Symbolic Actions Declaring High Authority

• The Triumphal Entry (Mk 11:1-11; Mt 21:1-11; Lk 19:29-44; Jn 12:12-19) – Riding deliberately into the city as per Zechariah 9 with crowds hailing him, Yeshua is making a claim of messianic identity.
• The Temple Cleansing (Mk 11:15-17; Mt 21:12-13; Lk 19:45-46; Jn 2:13-17) – Perhaps Malachi 3:1 is in the background (after the messenger — Elijah, John the Baptist) the Lord comes suddenly to his Temple. Yeshua quotes Isaiah 56 and Jeremiah 7. This action largely contributed to his arrest and execution.
• Forgiving Sins (Mk 2:5; Mt 9:2; Lk 5:20 and another incident in Lk 7:48) – In even the most skeptical interpretation, Yeshua is claiming to know when God forgives a sinner. Since he says in Mk 2:10; Mt 9:6; Lk 5:24 that the Son of Man has authority to forgive, evidence is strong Yeshua is claiming more. He is claiming to be the divine Son of Man with authority in such matters as per Daniel 7 and the dominion given him by the Ancient of Days.
• Sending the Twelve (Mk 6:7-13; Mt 10:5-42; Lk 9:1-6) and Sending the Seventy (Lk 10:1-16) – Even more so that Yeshua’s own mission of proclaiming the kingdom (Mk 1:15; Mt 4:17), sending disciples to proclaim it suggests starting a renewal movement (a prophetic or even messianic role).

Symbolic Actions as Identity Stories

• The Baptism of Yeshua (Mk 1:9-11; Mt 3:13-17; Lk 3:21-22) – Yeshua’s participation in John’s movement already connects him to the role of prophet. The heavenly voice affirms Yeshua’s identity.
• The Temptation of Yeshua (Mk 1:12-13; Mt 4:1-11; Lk 4:1-13) – Yeshua is tested for worthiness for a role of high authority (prophet, messiah). Satan affirms Yeshua’s identity in an ironic manner.
• The Transfiguration (Mk 9:2-10; Mt 17:1-9; Lk 9:28-36) – Yeshua ascends a mountain with three as witnesses and experiences a prefiguring of coming glory and a visit from Moses and Elijah. A heavenly voice affirms his identity.

Kingdom Enactments
In these Yeshua demonstrates that he has partially brought the kingdom with him (the rest to come later).

• Healings, for in the world to come there will be no illness, disability, or death.
• Exorcisms, for the forces of spiritual evil are due to be defeated by God.
• Banquets, which foreshadow the banquet to come, a messianic promise.

• Water to wine – Jn 2:9
• Catch of fish – Lk 5:6
• Calming the storm – Mk 4:39, Mt 8:26, Lk 8:24
• Feeding five thousand – Mk 6:41, Mt 14:15, Lk 9:12, Jn 6:5
• Walking on water – Mk 6:49, Mt 14:25, Jn 6:19
• Feeding four thousand – Mk 8:8, Mt 15:32
• Coin from the fish – Mt 17:27
• Cursing the fig tree – Mt 21:19
• Second catch of fish – Jn 21:6

• The Man in the Capernaum Synagogue, Mark 1:23-27 (Lk 4:33-36).
• The Gerasene Demoniac, Mark 5:1-20 (Mt 8:28-34; Lk 8:26-39).
• The Syro-Phoenician Woman’s Daughter, Mark 7:25-30 (Mt 15:21-28).
• The Deaf and Mute Spirit, Mark 9:14-29 (Mt 17:14-20; Lk 9:37-43).
• The Blind and Mute Man, Matthew 12:22-24.
• The Bent Woman, Luke 13:10-16.

• Royal official’s son – Jn 4:46
• Exorcism in Capernaum synagogue – Mk 1:26, Lk 3:35
• Peter’s mother-in-law – Mk 1:31, Mt 8:14, Lk 4:38
• Leper Cleansed – Mk 1:41, Mt 8:3, Lk 5:13
• The paralytic – Mk 2:3, Mt 9:2, Lk 5:18
• Lame man Bethesda pool – Jn 5:5
• Man with withered hand – Mk 3:1, Mt 12:10, Lk 6:6
• Centurion’s servant – Mt 8:5, Lk 7:2
• Raising a widow’s son – Lk 7:11
• Exorcism of a blind, mute man – Mt 12:22, Lk 11:14
• Gadarene/Gerasene Demoniac(s) – Mk 5:1, Mt 8:28, Lk 8:26
• Raising Jairus’ daughter – Mk 5:42, Mt 9:18, Lk 8:41
• Woman with bleeding – Mk 5:25, Mt 9:20, Lk 8:43
• Two blind men – Mt 9:27
• Exorcism of a mute man – Mt 9:32
• Daughter of Canaanite / Tyrian Woman – Mk 7:25, Mt 15:22
• A deaf and speech impaired man – Mk 7:33
• Blind man at Bethsaida – Mk 8:23
• Son with Seizures – Mk 9:26, Mt 17:14, Lk 9:37
• Ten Lepers – Lk 17:12
• Man blind from birth – Jn 9:1
• Raising Lazarus – Jn 11
• Exorcism of a disabled woman – Lk 13:11
• A man swollen with fluid (dropsy) – Lk 14:2
• Two blind men near Jericho – Mk 10:46, Mt 20:30
• Servant of High Priest – Lk 22:51

A few centuries before Yeshua, some unknown circles of apocalyptic scribes wrote some texts that are now known as part of 1 Enoch (which is really five books written at different times). The early part of 1 Enoch is the Book of the Watchers. Who are the watchers? The answer is found in Daniel 4:10 (4:13 in Christian Bibles; see also 4:14, 20 (4:17, 23)) :

In the vision of my mind in bed, I looked and saw a holy Watcher coming down from heaven.

Watchers are angelic beings who watch the earth, doing God’s bidding. In 1 Enoch 6-10 an elaborate story is told, drawing heavily on Genesis 6:1-4, the account of the “sons of God” who took “daughters of men” as wives. These Watchers saw the beauty of human women and two hundred of them took human wives. They taught their wives sorcery and the children born to them were giants and Nephilim. Eventually God dispatched powerful angelic beings to imprison some of the Watchers.

This interpretation of Genesis 6, and the notion of unclean spirits in Jewish thought, seems to have been common. The New Testament writers speak of the story of the Watchers in 1 Enoch with acceptance:

And the angels that did not keep their own position but left their proper dwelling have been kept by him in eternal chains in the nether gloom until the judgment of the great day.
-Jude 6

. . . in which he went and preached to the spirits in prison.
-1 Peter 3:19

For if God did not spare the angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of nether gloom to be kept until the judgment . . .
-2 Peter 3:4

Unclean spirits are fallen angels, perhaps not the ones who married human women, but others who similarly existed in rebellion against heaven. In Mark 1:23, a demonic spirit is called “unclean.” We are more used to thinking of spirits as evil than unclean, which is a technical category from Leviticus and Numbers. Of all the causes of impurity in the Torah, what association with uncleanness would fall on demonic spirits? Almost certainly they were associated with death, which rendered unclean (Numbers 19).

In Yeshua in Context, chapter 4, I relate a story from Josephus in which Solomon (allegedly) discovered roots and herbs which could draw demons out through a person’s nose. A few stray tales of exorcism in the time of Yeshua involve performers with an audience doing what looks like a “magic show.” Similarly, in the apocryphal book of Tobit, demons are expelled by a sort of magical incantation involving burning fish parts.

There is no precedent for what Yeshua did: expelling demons by verbal command. No biblical figure before Yeshua did this. No demon spoke in the manner of the demons in the gospels. The clash between Son of God and fallen “sons of God” in the gospels is unique.

The theology behind the gospels and their view of demons is that of a hidden conspiracy of evil. Much of the evil that is in the world has been helped along through the influence of these fallen angels or demons. Just enough is said in the Bible about the Serpent in the Garden, about false deities and lying spirits, to make the idea credible.

New Testament writers agree. As John says, “The Son of God appeared for this purpose, that he might destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8). And as Paul said, “We are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12).

And Yeshua said, “Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I finish my course” (Luke 13:32). The resurrection, the defeat of death, is the ultimate victory over unclean spirits and all they represent. Satan is fallen. God’s kingdom is overtaking.

YESHUA COMMENTS ON FAITH DURING THE ENCOUNTER
John 4:46-54. The royal official in Cana. Inexplicably, when asked to heal, Yeshua rebukes the official (and people in general) for requiring signs in order to believe.

Matthew 8:5-13; Luke 7:1-10. The centurion in Capernaum. Yeshua comments that he has not seen such faith in Israel (the centurion is a Roman, not a Jew).

Mark 2:1-12; Matthew 9:1-8; Luke 5:17-26. Yeshua doesn’t say it, but Mark (and Matthew and Luke follow him in this) says that the faith of those who brought the paralytic was the reason he forgave the man’s sins and then healed him.

Mark 5:25-34; Matthew 9:20-22; Luke 8:43-48. The woman with the bleeding. The word for save is the same as heal, leading to further connection between faith and healing in this story (“your faith has saved/healed you”).

Mark 6:5-6. Yeshua does not heal in his hometown. While Yeshua does not say anything about faith, Mark records that he could not heal here due to lack of faith and that Yeshua was amazed by their unbelief.

Mark 9:23-24 (also in Matthew 17:14-20; Luke 9:37-43, but without the dialogue between Yeshua and the father). The boy with a demon who causes seizures. Yeshua says all things are possible to the one who believes. The man says, “help my unbelief.”

Mark 10:46-52 (also in Matthew 20:29-34, but without the comment about faith). Blind Bartimaeus, near Jericho.

YESHUA COMMANDS SECRECY
Mark 1:25; Luke 4:35. The demon in the synagogue.

Mark 1:40-45; Matthew 8:2-4; Luke 5:12-16. The leper in Galilee.

Matthew 9:30. The mute demoniac.

Mark 7:36. The deaf man in the Decapolis.

YESHUA GOES OUT OF HIS WAY TO HEAL ON THE SABBATH
Mark 3:1-6; Matthew 12:9-14; Luke 6:6-11. The man with the withered hand.

Luke 13:10-17. The disabled woman in the synagogue.

Luke 14:1-6. The man with swelling (dropsy).

John 5:2-24. The lame man at the Bethesda pool.

YESHUA USES SALIVA IN HIS HEALING
Mark 7:31-37. The deaf man in the Decapolis. Yeshua spits on his tongue and puts his fingers in his ears.

Mark 8:22-26. The blind man at Bethsaida. Yeshua makes mud with saliva and applies it to his eyes.

John 9. The man blind from birth.

YESHUA WEEPS RIGHT BEFORE RAISING THE DEAD
John 11:1-44. Lazarus. Why weep when he knows Lazarus will be alive again momentarily?