Last week we looked at Jesus and the disciples, after a particularly exhausting day, crossing the Sea of Galilee in a boat in the evening, when they were overtaken by an extremely powerful storm. The boat they were on almost was sunk and their lives potentially lost, but Jesus, who had to be awakened from a deep sleep, stilled the storm and caused it to be completely calm.
There was in ancient times a popular superstition that such powerful storms were caused by the devil. Sometimes I am tempted to believe that the devil does have some control over the wind and the weather. But I cannot be dogmatic about that. However, the Ephesians 2:2 does call the devil the “prince of the power of the air.” Now that may allude to his power in the spirit world, but I think it may also refer to his power over the wind and the weather. I’ve always thought it ironic that natural disasters are called “an act of God.” I think they are more correctly attributed to an act of Satan. Satan’s purpose is to steal, kill and destroy. If you remember when Job’s children were killed, it says that Satan had received permission from God to attack Job. And a great wind came from across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young people and they died. So I don’t know that all wind and weather is of the devil, but I do think there is Biblical evidence to support the idea that Satan has a certain degree of power over it.
Now I say all that to try to show a correlation between the storm on the sea, and the situation that meets Jesus and the disciples when they cross over the sea in the darkness and arrive the next morning. Because when they arrive, they are met with another fierce outburst of satanic activity.
You know, it’s difficult enough in our modern society to get people to believe in the existence of God. But there seems to be an added reluctance to really believe in the devil. I mean really believe in his existence and to attribute some circumstance that happens to the power of the devil. I think a lot of people tend to think that’s superstitious, that it’s not rational to attribute anything to the work of the devil. People want to explain it away as just unlucky circumstances, or that someone has psychological problems, or anything to try to put distance between them and the idea that there is some sort of evil power in the world. But I think the kind of sick violence and unholy terror that is dominating the news headlines with greater and greater frequency should be convincing people otherwise. I think part of the problem is we do not understand how the devil works.
In the event we are studying today, we see the extreme result of demonic influence. I think it’s easy to see the origin of this behavior as demonic, but I think there is much more activity in our world that is of demonic influence that is not so easily discerned. And I think that’s a danger for us as Christians. As Paul tells us in Eph 6:12 “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual [forces] of wickedness in the heavenly [places.]”. These demonic forces are real, but most of the time go unnoticed. But as the great military strategist Sun Tzu said, you need to know your enemy.
A couple of things that we should take note of about satanic power. First, the devil doesn’t always like to reveal himself as he appears in this episode with the demoniac. He prefers to go undetected, or even disguised. Paul said in 2 Cor. 11:14 that Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. That is, he pretends to be a minister of God. And thus he is able to deceive more effectively.
Another thing to note is according to Peter, is that your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Satan’s actively seeking your destruction. And if you give him any opening, he will exploit it and devour you through it. That’s why Paul said in Eph. 6:11 “Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.” But if you let down your guard, or worse, if you open up a piece of your armor, then the devil will take full advantage of that weakness and use it to destroy you.
Now as we consider this story, first of all, let’s take note of where Jesus and the disciples landed. Mark calls it the country of the Gerasenes. Each of the three gospel accounts of this event use a different name for the area. I think the short answer to that is Gerasenes refers to the people of the region and the other names are either of a town or a region. It was in the greater region called Decapolis, which was a Gentile region. But it would seem that some Jews were living there also. And Jesus has purposed to preach the gospel to these people as well.
But these Jews were living in a pagan culture. The Gentiles of that region worshipped idols, which the Bible tells us actually represented demons. And as we will see, the native Jews living there were raising pigs, which was prohibited under Jewish law, and yet they were undoubtedly selling them to the Gentiles. So they were profiting by something that was unlawful, engaged in business with a demonically influenced pagan culture.
Vs 2 “When He (that isJesus) got out of the boat, immediately a man from the tombs with an unclean spirit met Him, and he had his dwelling among the tombs. And no one was able to bind him anymore, even with a chain; because he had often been bound with shackles and chains, and the chains had been torn apart by him and the shackles broken in pieces, and no one was strong enough to subdue him. Constantly, night and day, he was screaming among the tombs and in the mountains, and gashing himself with stones.”
Now as I said, what we see here is the extremity of demonic possession or influence. This is someone who has been given over completely to demonic control. There are a lot of debates among Christian commentators as to whether or not there is such a thing as being possessed, and whether or not a Christian can be possessed. I know for a fact that a Christian can be attacked by a demon, or influenced by a demon. But whether or not he can be possessed or not I cannot say, because I don’t know where the line is before being influenced changes to being possessed. I suggest it might be like having a couple of drinks. At that point you think you’re fine. Have a couple of more drinks and now you’re under the influence. But if you continue to drink, at what point are you drunk? I don’t know. But I suppose it was probably a lot earlier than you realized.
I do know that in Matthew 16, after Peter had just confessed that Jesus was Lord, the Son of God, Jesus said to Peter, “get behind Me Satan.” So I know that Satan’s influence can be pretty extensive, even for a Christian.
But as I said, this guy is experiencing the extreme affects of demon control. And I can’t help but wonder how he got that way. He certainly wasn’t born that way. Something happened in his life. I would guess that there was some sort of progression in his life towards satanic power. Perhaps at one point in his life he had an interest in spiritual things. But rejecting God, he sought spiritual enlightenment from evil spirits - maybe not even knowing they were evil spirits. Maybe he thought they were angels, or he sought out some sort of white magic arts. Maybe he got involved in using some sort of drug. Did you know a lot of witch doctors and sorcerers and so forth in many pagan religions used drugs to induce hallucinations and dreams and visions? The old folk tales that pictured witches mixing up and stirring a magic brew in their pots weren’t far from the truth. So maybe this guy had been using some ancient drug that opened him up to demonic control.
I don’t want to camp out here too long, but I will tell you that drugs and alcohol are a gateway for demonic influence and control. If you look up the word sorcery in the Bible, you will find that the Greek word is pharmakeia, where we get the word pharmacy from. Revelation 9:21 speaking of the end of days says, “and they did not repent of their murders nor of their sorceries nor of their immorality nor of their thefts.” There is a connection between demonic influence and control and drugs, and I also think the same is true of alcohol. In many respects, I believe alcohol is probably a worse drug than heroin. But it doesn’t have the same stigma in our society and so people tend to accept it more, and consequently, it causes more destruction in our society.
Well, we don’t know what happened to this guy. But at this point, he is basically insane. He is living in the tombs, in the caves near the beach where they buried the dead. He is an outcast from society. He is supernaturally strong. Remember in Acts the seven sons of Sceva? They were claiming to be exorcists and they tried to cast out a demon from a man by using Jesus’ and Paul’s name. And the demons in the man said, "I recognize Jesus, and I know about Paul, but who are you?" And the man, in whom was the evil spirit, leaped on them and subdued all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.” One against seven, and the one demon possessed man wins. So demons can give supernatural strength.
Mark says that the demoniac could break chains and shackles. Furthermore he says that the man was cutting himself. I think one of the most troubling things I hear about today is the “trend” of what is usually young girls in cutting themselves. I’m not a psychologist, but I suppose it comes from a some sort of self image problem. I’m not suggesting that these young people are demon possessed, but I do think it’s possible that they are under demonic attack.The devil is a liar and the father of lies, and if he can convince you that you are undesirable, or ugly, or unwanted, then it suits his purpose and his long range goal to destroy you. There are so many ways that the devil is attacking our young people today through a poor self image, and self loathing, that is resulting in what is no less that self mutilation in order to try to find some peace with themselves.
Well, look at what this man does. He sees Jesus and the disciples about to land their boat and he comes shrieking down from the hillside, screaming and acting insane, and then runs up to Jesus and prostrates himself on the ground before Him. Vs6 “Seeing Jesus from a distance, he ran up and bowed down before Him; and shouting with a loud voice, he said, "What business do we have with each other, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I implore You by God, do not torment me!" For He had been saying to him, "Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!”
I want you to notice something in this; the demons in this man recognize Jesus as the Son of the Most High God. They don’t see Jesus of Nazareth, a man who looked just like any ordinary man. But I believe they recognize His Spirit. It should not be surprising that spirits can see spirits. But of course we cannot see spirits. I’m always amused by people claiming to be Christians who say they have seen the Holy Spirit. You can’t see a spirit. But spirits can recognize one another.
One question that arises though is why are the demons afraid that Jesus will torment them? In Luke’s account we may get a clue to what they mean. Luke says in chapter 8 vs 31 “They were imploring Him not to command them to go away into the abyss.” I think what they were afraid of was that Jesus would command them to be thrown into hell, chained in what is sometimes referred to as the lowest pit in hell which is reserved for the demons who did not keep their domain in Genesis 6. You can read about it in Jude 1:6 and 1 Peter 3:19.
So in vs 9 Jesus was asking him, "What is your name?" And he said to Him, "My name is Legion; for we are many." And he [began] to implore Him earnestly not to send them out of the country. Now there was a large herd of swine feeding nearby on the mountain. [The demons] implored Him, saying, "Send us into the swine so that we may enter them." Jesus gave them permission. And coming out, the unclean spirits entered the swine; and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea, about two thousand [of them;] and they were drowned in the sea.”
A legion was the name for as many as 6000 Roman soldiers. It would seem that this man was inhabited with thousands of demons. That’s kind of hard to imagine, but it explains perhaps his superhuman strength. It would seem that it was at least 2000 demons since that was the number of the swine. I’ve seen some things written by people claiming to be exorcists, saying that one of the ways you get power over the demons is by asking their name, as if to say that’s why Jesus asked him his name. But don’t think that’s the reason at all. I think Jesus asked them their name because He wanted to reveal that it was not one demon, but thousands of demons. And that He had authority over thousands of demons.
And the demons asked not to be sent out of the country. I suppose that as much as they wanted a body to host them, they also liked the spiritual climate, if you will, of this region. They found the population hospitable to doctrines of demons. So they wanted to stay there.
So the demons ask to be sent into the bodies of the pigs. And Jesus permits them. There was a book that was pretty popular in religious circles a number of years ago. And this writer claimed that demons were basically under every bush, could be in your house, even in your pets. I’m not going to mention the name of the book because I think for the most part it was a lot of hogwash and I don’t want to publicize it. But I will say that other than the serpent in the garden, there is no example that I can think of that indicated a demon occupied an animal. And I would suspect that at the fall, God restricted that possibility by cursing the snake and cursing Satan. So that’s why Jesus had to give permission to them to enter the swine. Otherwise they could have entered the swines bodies on their own. So I don’t think we have to worry about our dog being demon possessed. Though sometimes I do wonder about mine.
But the pigs response to being inhabited with evil spirits was to commit wholesale suicide. They rushed head long into the sea. Mark says they ran down a steep embankment and drowned that way. Because pigs can swim. I remember reading a story about a surfer in Indonesia and a pig swam past him in the lineup headed straight out to sea. True story. But these pigs were probably caught in the surf breaking against this steep embankment and were drowned.
Vs.14 Their herdsmen ran away and reported it in the city and in the country. And [the people] came to see what it was that had happened. They came to Jesus and observed the man who had been demon-possessed sitting down, clothed and in his right mind, the very man who had had the "legion"; and they became frightened. Those who had seen it described to them how it had happened to the demon-possessed man, and [all] about the swine. And they began to implore Him to leave their region.” You talk about hard hearts. These people are more afraid of Jesus than they were of demons.
I think it was because the pigs represented a lot of money to the native population. And they weren’t happy about losing their source of income. Seeing the demoniac delivered from demonic possession didn’t seem to impress them enough to repent of selling pigs to the Gentiles. They would rather deal with the demons and still have their herd of pigs. Money was more important than spiritual deliverance.
I would point out something else here. Jesus had compassion on the demoniac. No one in that town had showed compassion towards him. They had only tried to have him locked up. But Jesus showed compassion. You might say that Jesus made a special trip across the Sea of Galilee through a terrible storm just to deliver this one guy from demonic possession. I wonder how many of us would have compassion on someone that looked and acted like that guy?
I remember one day walking in Rehoboth and seeing a couple that looked absolutely demonic. I’m not sure they were, maybe there were really nice people once you got to know them. But they had implants in the top of their heads to make horns. They had surgery to split their tongues. And they had their ears cut to make them pointed. And then of course all the other tats and piercings to go finish their look. I remember that I was completely shocked by their appearance. And I had no intention of having anything to do with them. I stayed as far away from them as possible. But I wonder what Jesus’s response would be if he met someone like that? I think He might show compassion towards them. I suppose I should work on doing that as well.
Not only did Jesus show compassion on the demoniac, but He shows compassion on the townspeople who reject Him and ask Him to leave their town. Vs 18 “As He was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed was imploring Him that he might accompany Him. And He did not let him, but He said to him, "Go home to your people and report to them what great things the Lord has done for you, and [how] He had mercy on you." And he went away and began to proclaim in Decapolis what great things Jesus had done for him; and everyone was amazed.”
Jesus had compassion on the townspeople who rejected Him, because He instructed the demoniac to go back home and be a witness and a testimony to the power of Christ to save. Jesus could have wiped out their swine herd, shook the dust off His feet and allowed the demoniac to become one of HIs followers - leaving the townspeople to be left without a witness to the gospel. But instead, Jesus had the former demoniac go back home and be a witness to the saving power of Christ.
As I said earlier in my message, demonic control, or demonic influence can be exhibited in a myriad of ways. The demoniac was an extreme example, showing that the power of Jesus was greater than even thousands of demons. Yet Satan also works in ways much more subtle than that. For one, Satan is the perpetrator of false doctrine. The demonic influence you may be suffering from is that you have been deceived by false doctrine, maybe even to the point of worshipping false gods. The power of Jesus Christ can deliver you from being decieved and set you free by the truth of the gospel.
Or maybe the demonic influence you are suffering from is that you are held captive by addiction. Whether it is by drugs, or alcohol, or some sexual addiction or any other way the devil has held you captive to sin, Jesus Christ can set you free from that. There is no power, no addiction, no evil, that Jesus cannot save from. Jesus Christ came to save sinners. If you will recognize you are a sinner, then you might say He has made a special appointment this morning to show compassion on you, if you will just turn to Him and ask Him to deliver you.
Or maybe you are more like the townspeople, who found the gospel disruptive of their financial ambitions. Perhaps your career, or your wealth is standing between you and surrendering to the Lord. I would ask you this, “what will it profit a man, if he gains the whole world, and loses his soul?" I urge you to confess Jesus as Lord, and ask Him to make you a new creation, that you might have treasure in heaven.
Finally, for those who are saved, if we are to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ, then should we not follow His model in showing compassion to those who have been held captive to Satan by his deceit and lies? Let us go home and be a witness to our family and friends of the saving power of Jesus Christ, that they may come to their senses and be saved.
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