Even the demons know Jesus well ...

Even though it was late in the day, when people brought all those suffering from sickness and demonic possession to Jesus, He healed many suffering from various diseases and cast out demons. However, what is interesting is that Jesus did not allow the demons to speak because they knew Him well (Mark 1:32-34). 

The first interesting point is that the many people suffering from various diseases did not know Jesus well. They had only heard of Him (v. 28) and came to Him. They likely saw Jesus as someone with the power to make unclean spirits obey or to heal people possessed by unclean spirits (vv. 23-27).  From my perspective, if Christians suffering from various diseases come to know Jesus more deeply through their sickness and make precious confessions of faith about Him, that sickness can be considered a blessing to them.

The second interesting point is that the demons knew Jesus well (v. 34).  While the Jewish high priests declared that Jesus must be crucified for blasphemy because He was called the Son of God, the demons knew that Jesus was the Son of God (Mark 3:11) and the Christ (Luke 4:41).  James 2:19 says that even the demons believe that God is one and tremble.  Hokema explains: ‘Most people, including the Jewish religious leaders, did not yet know that Jesus was the Son of God, but the demons, with their sharp spiritual perception, knew very well that Jesus was the Son of God (Luke 4:41).  In fact, demons, as intellectual beings, understood the divinity of Jesus Christ (Matthew 1:24), their own fate (8:29), and the plan of salvation (James 2:19), and they had a well-developed intellectual system of their own (1 Timothy 4:1-3)’ (Hokema).

The last interesting point is that Jesus did not allow the demons to speak (Mark 1:34).  The reason was that the demons knew Him well. Hokema explains: ‘What would have happened if Jesus had allowed or ignored the words of the demons? Perhaps they would have openly shouted, as in verse 24, 'You are the Holy One of God.' Jesus knew that the demons recognized His divine nature, but He forbade them from revealing this fact to the people. In truth, Jesus wanted to first show through His words and actions what kind of Messiah He was—different from the common concept of the Messiah at that time. Furthermore, Jesus wanted His existence to be spread to the world only through the mouths of His redeemed people (Mark 16:15, Acts 1:8).  Most importantly, Jesus required silence because the time had not yet come to openly reveal His identity (Hokema).