If others recognized him for who he was, why wouldn't Jesus want them to tell. He did this with people he healed as well. Don't tell.
This just bugs me so this morning, since this came up in my devotional reading I thought I'd do some research on it.
Why not let the demons speak of who he was?
1. They aren't exactly pro-God. Seriously they aren't. So why let them talk and perhaps cause problems for him? If you allow the evil guys to testify for you, it associates you with them.... not such a good thing eh?
2. They revealed him as the son of God and that caused folks to want to kill him, and his time was not yet upon him for that to occur.
3. Satan and his minions lie. It's what they do. Letting folks listen to them would open up the doors to further listening.
So there was a reason.
Jesus wanted people to see him.
Jesus needed people to listen to his words and not just see the miracles he performed.
Jesus wanted people to see the love of God for them.
Having demons speak didn't help that ministry at all.
Having people focus only on the healing he did put his life in jeopardy. We see this in the chapter as well... Jesus had to go into a boat in order to talk to the people as they pressed in sore around him.
So that's why Jesus forbade the demons to speak.
Sources:
Rational Chrisitanity.
Christianity.
Reasoning from the scriptures.
Why not let people do tell of the miracles he performed?
1. prevents sensationalism
2. allows him to concentrate on his teaching/preaching
3. allows him space to move and work.
4. prevents the religious leaders having something else to be angry at him about.
Sources.
Christianity.
Got questions.
pastor's Blog.
Anyways, doing this has helped me understand why Jesus would say Don't Tell.