Demons more enlightened than the lost?

21 And they went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath he entered the synagogue and was teaching. 22And they were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes. 23And immediately there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit. And he cried out, 24 "What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are— the Holy One of God." 25But Jesus rebuked him, saying, "Be silent, and come out of him!" 26And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying out with a loud voice, came out of him. 27And they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, "What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him." (Mark 1:21-27)



To my astonishment I made the following observations about this passage.

1. The demon recognized the true identity of Jesus
2. The demon was not self-deceived. He knew exactly where he stood in relation to Jesus. He was an enemy.
3. He knew the power of Jesus and that Jesus had authority over him and therefore subject to Him.
4. The demon was obedient to Jesus' command to "be silent, and come out of him!"

This demon seems to do better in some respects in contrast to the lost. The lost do not know the true identity of Jesus and therefore this ignorance serves as the root cause of all the other points. They do not truly know where they stand in relationship to Jesus. They don’t recognize His authority and therefore do not obey. Jesus says to demons “come out” and they do, but to the lost he utters, “repent” and they say “no.” Where do you stand?