Does the Devil Know Your Name?

9 August 2025  Matthew 17:14-20

“Jesus rebuked him, and the demon came out of him….” Matthew 17:18

It’s a good thing if the devil knows your name.

When they brought the demon-possessed boy to Jesus, the demon clearly was paying attention. He knew who Jesus was and then immediately did what he was told. “And the boy was cured instantly” (Matthew 17:18). The demon knew Jesus’ name.

The demon clearly didn’t care a bit about the disciples. They probably said all the right words, the same words that they had heard Jesus say. But healing isn’t a formula. It isn’t just words, and it matters who says them. It matters if the demons don’t even know who you are.

This was made emphatically clear to the sons of a certain Jewish high priest in Ephesus named Sceva (nobody knew who he was – the demons probably didn’t either). They had seen Paul cast out evil spirits, and thought all they had to do was use the same words Paul used. So, when a demon possessed man was brought to them, they said, “We command you by the same Jesus whom Paul preaches.” But the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?” (Acts 19:15). The demon-possessed man then attacked all seven of them, and “they fled out of the house, naked and wounded” (19:16).

Devils have little inclination to leave you alone if they don’t even know your name.

And devils know the names of the people who know Jesus.

Faith, you see, is the thing the devil fears. Faith means that Jesus is living in you, and that gives you power over the devil – if you say, “Go,” he has to go. It doesn’t even take that much faith – “the size of a mustard seed” is all it takes, and devils do what they are told (Matthew 17:20). Devils don’t care in the least about how much money you have, or about the friends you have, or about the education you have. Many wealthy, popular, and very smart people have been a habitation and a home for devils in every generation. That is why the devil has been very happy for people to accumulate wealth, power, and postgraduate degrees. There is nothing wrong with wealth, power or education in themselves – in fact, they can be very good and useful things. But they also make people uniquely susceptible to sneering at faith as something needed by only weak people, poor people, or numbskulls. There is a reason why calling Christians feeble-minded is the go-to slur for nearly all opponents of faith, and why people are always surprised to hear arguments for faith that are intelligent and powerful. Hell wants faith to be underestimated, and the wealthy, powerful and smart in every generation are eager to oblige.

The devil is very happy for people to be as wealthy, powerful, and smart as they want to be. He doesn’t know any of their names. He doesn’t have to. They are no danger to him.

If the devil knows who you are, that can only be because Jesus is alive in you, because you have invited Him, because you have received Him in His fullness at every Mass. The diabolical attacks get more serious then, but so also does your power to resist and defeat them. Throughout the New Testament demons howl at the presence of Jesus, and beg to be left alone(e.g. Matthew 8:28-34). Jesus never argues with the evil spirits, never engages them in any conversation. Often, he just says a single word – Go! The demons howl when Jesus lives in you, too.

It is an emergency in hell when the devil knows your name. How well does he know yours?