Mark 5:1-20
This is a great story of deliverance.
We have here before us an account of extreme demonic
oppression.
As we go through this account, we are going to look at the
condition of the demon-oppressed man, the condition of the evil spirits and the
condition of those who observed the deliverance.
Jesus and His disciples crossed the Sea of Galilee and came
into the region of the Gerasenes (also known as Gergesenes or Gadarenes). This area was part of the Decapolis. The map below shows the area.
Decapolis literally means “ten cities.” This area was the center of Greek and Roman
culture in an area otherwise dominated by the Jews and other Semitic speaking
people. To the Jews, this was known as a
Gentile area, and was generally southeast of the Sea of Galilee. The fact that this was a Gentile area would
account for the large herd of pigs.
Living as they were in close proximity to the Jewish people,
the people of this area would have had some influence from a Biblical culture,
or at least would have had some familiarity with the ways of the Jews.
For our purposes today, we can assume that they are not that
much different from the unbelieving world around us. People are aware of some of what the Bible
teaches, but their knowledge is confused and mixed up at best. Often times their understanding of the Bible
is completely misconstrued and full of errors, omissions and additions, not
unlike the understanding of the Gerasenes of Jesus’s day.
As Jesus stepped out of the boat, He was met by a man with
an unclean spirit.
Now, as to the condition of this man, we will start with the
fact that no one could help this man, nor could anyone subdue or restrain him.
I will say more about the condition of this particular
person, but first I want to talk in general about the condition of those who
are lost, without Christ. Romans 6:19
explains to us that before redemption by Christ a person is a slave to sin. It says:
I am speaking in human terms,
because of your natural limitations. For
just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to
lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves
to righteousness leading to sanctification.
ESV
[ii]
This slavery to sin is spoken of in different terms in
Ephesians 2:1&2, which say:
1And you were dead in
the trespasses and sins 2in which you once walked, following the
course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit
that is now at work in the sons of disobedience… ESV
Being slaves of sin or dead in our sins and following the
course of this world, points out our inability to deliver ourselves. As much as humanity tries to solve our problems,
there is only one way of deliverance.
Acts 4:12 tells us:
And there is salvation in no one
else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must
be saved. ESV
Just as the demon possessed man could not be set free by
anyone but Jesus, so also no person can be delivered from sin, the world and
the devil except by Jesus.
However, the person in the account today was not
typical. He represents a case of extreme
demon possession. Let’s talk a little
about the condition of the demons.
When Jesus asked the unclean spirit its name, it said, “My
name is Legion, for we are many.” (Mark
5:9, ESV) A legion of soldiers consisted
of six thousand men or more, even up to twelve thousand men. Here in this context it most likely means a
very large number rather than a specific count.
There was a large enough number to send two thousand pigs rushing to
their deaths in the sea.
Whatever is in Scripture is for our instruction. While the case of this person having so many
demons dwelling in him is exceptional, it points out that our enemies are
many. Ephesians 6:11-12 says:
11Put on the whole armor
of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. 12For we do not wrestle against
flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the
cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil
in the heavenly places.
This makes it clear that people are not our enemy, but evil
spirits are. The legions that afflicted
the man in Mark 5 are still around and there are many more legions besides. Few, if any of us, will ever deal directly
with the devil, simply because, as the accuser of the believer, Scripture
speaks of him as being in the heavenly realms.
In Revelation 12:9, John saw Satan cast out of heaven:
And the great dragon was thrown
down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of
the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown
down with him. ESV
This is something that has not happened yet. In addition to this reference in Revelation,
we have examples like Job 1 where Satan is pictured as appearing before the
Lord among the sons of God. (Job 1:6, Now
there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the
LORD, and Satan also came among them.
ESV)
Although it is unlikely that any of us will deal directly
with Satan, it is not possible to go through life without dealing with his
henchmen. This has already been made
clear by Ephesians 6:11&12 where we are told who and what we struggle
against. 1 John 5:19 tells us that the
whole world lies in the power of the evil one.
In addition, 2 Corinthians 4:3-4 says:
3And even if our gospel
is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 4In their case the god of this world
has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of
the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. ESV
In this passage, we see that the devil operates in the mind of
every unbelieving person. He works by
blinding them to the truth. It is
important that we understand that demons work primarily in the mind. For example, in 1 Chronicles 21:1, Satan
worked in the mind of David, causing David to take a census of Israel. (Then Satan stood against Israel and incited
David to number Israel. ESV) This is the principal means by which Satan
works. (When I say Satan, I am referring
to his operations carried out through his subordinate demons. Since Satan is only one creature, he cannot
be everywhere present working in every person’s life. However, he has many
legions to do his work.) Satan works
principally in the mind. This is why it
is so important to follow the Scriptural principle of taking every thought
captive to obey Christ. 2 Corinthians
10:3-5 says:
3For though we walk in
the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. 4For the weapons of our warfare are
not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. 5We destroy arguments and every
lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought
captive to obey Christ, ESV
This battle for the mind is also reflected in the command to
be transformed by the renewing of our minds.
(Romans 12:2, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by
the renewal of your mind…” ESV)
Jesus told the Jews that believed in Him, “If you abide in
my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth
will set you free.” (John 8:31 ESV)
When the demon-possessed man was freed from the demons, he
was said to be “in his right mind.”
(Mark 5:15) A completely insane
man was restored simply by having the demons cast out.
So far, we have seen that the demon-possessed man could not
gain deliverance except through Jesus Christ, and we have seen that the forces
of evil work principally in the mind.
Next, let’s talk briefly about how those observing this deliverance
reacted. What was their condition?
We see first, the herdsmen fled. Of course, they would have been terrified
seeing their pigs suddenly run wildly into the sea.
These men ran and told everyone they met what had
happened. And so, naturally, people went
out to see for themselves. Mark 5:15
tells us that when they saw the man who had been possessed by demons clothed
and in his right mind, they were afraid.
In Luke 8:37 it says:
Then all the people of the
surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked him to depart from them, for they
were seized with great fear. So he got
into the boat and returned.
Here it shows the depth of their fear. They were seized with great fear.
On more than one occasion, the disciples were overcome by
fear when they saw the power of God displayed.
For example, when Peter saw the great catch of fish in Luke 5:8, he
said, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” ESV
Fear was also the reaction of Israel when God appeared to
them at the Mount Sinai. Exodus 20:18-19
tells us:
18Now when all the
people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet
and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled, and they stood
far off 19and said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen;
but do not let God speak to us, lest we die.”
ESV
When people see the power of God displayed, fear is the natural
reaction. The fear of the Lord is the
beginning of wisdom, but the kind of fear that we are speaking of keeps people
from being delivered from the power of sin and from the power of the evil one. As Moses told the Israelites:
Moses said to the people, “Do not
fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you,
that you may not sin.” Exodus 20:20, ESV
There is a difference between the fear of love and respect
and this fear. Jesus told us not to let
our hearts be troubled but to trust or believe in God. (John 14:1)
In the account before us, Jesus instructed the delivered man
to remain in the area. He said:
“Go home to your friends and tell
them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” (Mark 5:19, ESV)
The world needs to see God’s mercy. The power of God, His holiness and justice
seen next to our sins is frightening. Any
person who enters the presence of God becomes terribly and frightfully aware of
his sin and the righteous judgement of God against that sin. However, God did not send His Son into the
world to condemn the world but that the world might be saved through Him. (John 3:17)
The world needs to see that God has come to deliver us. People need to see God’s mercy.
However, fear of judgment is not the only fear. For most, deliverance also means loss. For the Gerasenes, they saw the loss of the
pigs as a threat. For many, deliverance
seems frightening because it will mean the loss of their favorite sin. Where would the adulterer be without
adultery? Where would the drunkard be
without drink? We often fear being
without our sin, and are not willing to give it up.
Jesus has come to deliver us and to set us free, and He is
able to deliver even the most extreme cases.
However, fear of judgment and fear of loss cause many to ask Him to go
away, to insist that He goes away.
Although
our condition may not be as bad as the demoniac’s, none of us can deliver our
self.
We have an
active and deceitful enemy. Every one of
us must diligently fill our minds with truth.
Each one
must go to Jesus to be delivered. We
must accept His mercy, and be willing to part with our sins.
[i]
Image copied from, http://www.bible-history.com/maps/decapolis_cities.html. Accessed August 11, 2017
[ii] Scripture
quotations marked ESV are from The ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard
Version) copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News
Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
