Mark 5:1-20, “Jesus Casts A Legion Of Demons Out Of The Demoniac Among The Tombs”

 

By

Jim Bomkamp

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1.                  INTRO:

 

2.                  In our last study, we looked at verses 35-41 of chapter 4, and the story of Jesus’ first calming of the sea to spare His disciples.

 

3.                  In our study today, we are going to look at verses 1-20 of chapter 5 of Mark, and Jesus’ casting the demons out of the demoniac among the tombs who was possessed by a legion of demons.

 

3.1.            We will see that this man’s life is an illustration of what sin does to a person, and also why people need Christ. 

 

3.2.            We will discuss society’s inability to transform a truly transform a life, for Jesus is the only one who can do this.

 

3.3.            We will talk about demon possession and being demonized and see what we might learn and speculate about on this issue.

 

3.3.1.      Actually, the word that is translated “demon possessed” in the New Testament means “demonized”.  There apparently are differing levels of demonic involvement that a person can have in their life, and we will look at where this man who is possessed in our story ranks in comparison.  Certainly, we would expect that a Christian could not be so heavily influenced by demons as those we see Jesus cast demons out of in the gospels.  However, a Christian can be harassed by demons if he opens a door in his life that encourages that.  We will discuss this more.

 

3.4.            We will discuss the various ways in which Christ changes a person’s life.

 

4.                  Our text, Mark 5:1-20:

 

1 They came to the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gerasenes. 2 When He got out of the boat, immediately a man from the tombs with an unclean spirit met Him, 3 and he had his dwelling among the tombs. And no one was able to bind him anymore, even with a chain; 4 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. 5 Constantly, night and day, he was screaming among the tombs and in the mountains, and gashing himself with stones. 6 Seeing Jesus from a distance, he ran up and bowed down before Him; 7 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!” 8 For He had been saying to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!” 9 And He was asking him, “What is your name?” And he said to Him, “My name is Legion; for we are many.” 10 And he began to implore Him earnestly not to send them out of the country. 11 Now there was a large herd of swine feeding nearby on the mountain. 12 The demons implored Him, saying, “Send us into the swine so that we may enter them.” 13 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. 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. 15 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. 16 Those who had seen it described to them how it had happened to the demon-possessed man, and all about the swine. 17 And they began to implore Him to leave their region. 18 As He was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed was imploring Him that he might accompany Him. 19 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.” 20 And he went away and began to proclaim in Decapolis what great things Jesus had done for him; and everyone was amazed.

 

5.                  In our last study, we looked at Jesus incredible miracle of the calming of the wind and the waves as He and the disciples had come into a life and death struggle when crossing the Sea of Galilee because a huge storm had come upon them and the wind and the waves had threatened to sink their boat and cause them to perish.  However, in this story today we are going to see what I believe is an even bigger miracle, that of a changed life.  Jesus casts a legion of demons out of a man and the man is brought into his right mind.

 

6.                  Before we begin our study, let me ask this question.  What would you suppose would be true of 1 out of every 132 people in the United States?  They are incarcerated.  Do the people of this world have the ability to change people’s lives?

 

7.                  This particular story has the best description of demon possession that we find in the New Testament.  If we look at the range of control that the Devil or a demon might have over a person’s life on a scale from 1 to 10, this man is a 13.  He is off the scales as a demoniac.  Thus, this is a very interesting story.

 

8.                  Jesus and His disciples had crossed now over to the southeast side of the Sea of Galilee to the area known as Gerasa or the Gadarerens.  The Pulpit Commentary tells us that the ruins of this place have now been discovered and that a Dr. Farrar had stated that Eusebius and Jerome knew the location of the steep place where a mountain jutted up above the sea where this story had occurred. 

 

9.                  This same story is also told by Matthew and Luke, and they add some additional details to it. 

 

9.1.            Matthew, in 8:28 of his gospel, tells us that there were actually two demoniacs that met Jesus at this time.  However, the story still centers around this man because he is the more sensational of the two, and he is converted and his life is radically changed.

 

9.2.            In 8:28, Matthew also tells us that no one was able to travel by the road that was there because the two demoniacs there were so violent.

 

9.3.            Luke also tells us that this man had not put on clothes for a very long time and that he had just been living among the tombs.

 

10.              Mark writes here that this man was ‘seeing Jesus from a distance.’  It is very possible that this demon possessed man had been watching out over the lake and saw the storm that had come up and Jesus’ stilling of the wind and the waves, and then that he had watched and waited as the boat they were in came right to where he was. 

 

11.              It is important to realize that Jesus knew the exact location of this demoniac and that He intentionally caused the boat to go right to this man so that He could cast the demon out of the man.

 

12.              It must have been frightening for Jesus’ disciples to see this naked man possessed of a legion of demons jump out at them in the dark of night when they got out of their boat at the other side of the lake.  Jesus was never frightened however!

 

13.              This man was a “cutter” in that Mark tells us here that he was constantly ‘gashing himself with stones’.  Today, there are many kids in our world, as well as some adults, who often harm themselves by cutting themselves.  I wonder if many times today when people are diagnosed with various psychological problems if because we outright dismiss any possibility of demonic activity that those in the healing profession are unable to get to the root of the person’s problems.  

 

14.              There is no doubt that this was a case of demon possession, and not just some psychological condition for this man.  This man was possessed with superhuman strength because of the demons that possessed him, and it says that people had tried unsuccessfully many times to restrain and subdue him, and ‘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’. 

 

15.              It is hard to understate how far out there this man was, for it says here that ‘constantly, night and day, he was screaming among the tombs and in the mountains, and gashing himself with stones’.

 

16.              Now, what this story illustrates is the fact that in our modern world that is in rebellion against God we are not able to really change a person’s life.  Today, we attempt to restrain people and limit their destructive behaviors, but we really can’t change a person’s life.

 

16.1.        Crime has not been reduced, including violent crimes.  A survey taken last year showed 2,310,984 million Americans were incarcerated.  This means that of the mid-2008 U.S. census population of 304.06 million, 1 out of every 131 people in America are incarcerated.  This figure includes babies and children.

 

16.2.        Prisons don’t rehabilitate people who have committed crimes against humanity.  They simply restrain them for a time and attempt to limit prisoner’s ability to harm others.  Prisons do sometimes help people to learn trades, and prisoners do get some medical and psychological treatment, but statistics prove that the vast majority of those who get out prison will return.  Prisons cannot change people’s lives.

 

16.3.        Knowledge itself doesn’t change people’s lives as is evidenced by the fact that many who are educated are very unhealthy psychologically and commit horrible crimes.  The United States ranks high among educated countries and yet we have more people in prison per capita than any nation.

 

16.4.        Mental hospitals would not be full across our world if those in the field of Psychology could have accurately identified the source of people’s psychological problems so as to cure them.  Psychiatrists and Psychologists can simply restrain people, they cannot change their lives.

 

16.4.1.  One of the things that I read in the last few months is that all forms of counseling have been reduced greatly in recent years because of the prescription of anti-depressants and neurotransmitter drugs.

 

16.4.2.  One of the reasons for the rise in the number of people in prisons in the U.S. is that many mental health facilities have closed or cut back and so many people who could be detained in mental health facilities are now in prisons.  In prison they do not get much treatment if any for their mental health issues.  But, there are still many people who are detained in mental health facilities.

 

17.              Only Jesus Christ can change people’s lives, and He does this because He is able to get to the root of their problems. 

 

17.1.        He frees people from the power of the Devil over their lives and then removes the desire to sin from His people.  He removes anger and hatred, lust, greed, pride, etc.  Plus, He delivers His people from their addictions to alcohol, drugs, lust, etc. 

 

17.2.        The apostle Paul wrote in 2 Cor. 5:17 about the work that Christ performs in a person’s life, “If any man is in Christ he is a new creature and all things are become new.”  When Christ comes into a person’s life He changes everything in their life making them into a brand new person.  He gives us:

 

17.2.1.  A new heart

 

Ezekiel 11:19, 26, “19 And I will give them one heart, and put a new spirit within them. And I will take the heart of stone out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh…26 Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.”

 

17.2.2.  A renewed mind (Rom. 12:1-2).

 

Romans 12:1-2, “1 Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”

 

17.2.3.  A sound mind.

 

2 Timothy 1:7, “7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”

 

17.2.4.  A regenerated spirit.

 

Titus 3:5, “5 He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to is mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit.”

 

17.2.5.  A cleansed conscience.

 

Hebrews 9:14, “14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?”

 

1 John 1:9, “9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

 

17.2.6.  A new will.

 

17.2.6.1.The love of God constrains us and we do what we do for God because we love Him and want to please Him.

 

17.2.7.  Etc., etc.   

 

18.              Notice here what Mark tells us that this man possessed by demons does when he sees Jesus, he comes and bows down before Jesus and then says, ‘“What business do we have with each other, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I implore You by God, do not torment me!”’

 

19.              Here we see that the demons request from Jesus to be sent from the man into the body of another creature, in this case a large herd of swine nearby.  For some reason, demons hate to be disembodied and it is extremely uncomfortable to them.  In Matthew 12:43, Jesus mentioned what they go through when they are cast out of a person, “43 Now when the unclean spirit goes out of a man, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and does not find it.”  Does this not indicate that demons once had an angelic type of body however that now they are disembodied spirits, and this disembodiment is very uncomfortable and unsatisfying for them.  Dwelling in any host is better than none.

 

20.              Note here that Jesus asks the demon what its name is, and by doing this He was able to make this story even more of a testimony and a point of teaching for His disciples, who were looking on:  “What is your name?” And he said to Him, “My name is Legion; for we are many.”

 

21.              The people in Galilee flocked to hear Jesus speak so much that they pressed upon Him and He had to sit in a boat and teach them.  Then, many even followed Him and the disciples in boats across the Sea of Galilee.  However, a vastly different response occurred amongst the people of the Gadarenes.  They see His great work of changing a man’s life, and then they ask Him immediately to leave their area.

 

22.              We have to ask the question of why Jesus allowed the demons to enter the swine since He knew that they would crash into the sea and drown bringing financial disaster to their owners?  Some have stated that He allowed this because Jews were not allowed to eat swine (remember not all of the people of Samaria were Jewish though because during the exile the king of Persia (or Babylon) relocated people to Samaria to keep down Jewish rebellion).  We would then have to ask if this loss of swine came about as punishment to them from Jesus?  But, I think that when we see that it was because that they lost their pigs that they asked Jesus to depart from them, that in spite of the fact that they saw that Jesus had truly changed this demoniac’s life, then we see that Jesus did this because He knew that the people’s greatest love was their own money.  They were more concerned about financial gain than the fact that Jesus had done what had never been done before, that of changing a person’s life.  This loss of the swine brought to the head what was the real state of the people’s hearts towards God. 

 

1.                  Notice here that Jesus does not force Himself upon any man.  A mere word from the people of the Gadarenes asking Him to depart causes Him to immediately leave.  Such a tragic end.

 

2.                  Why was this man among the tombs possessed by demons when others were not?  Why was he possessed so thoroughly?  I think that we ought to consider these questions.  What leads to demon possession, if anything? 

 

2.1.            During the time of Jesus, demons were often encountered by Jesus.  Many of the people that Jesus encountered who were possessed by demons actually exhibited many of the traits that people today possess who have been diagnosed by Psychiatrists and Psychologists with various mental illnesses.  I don’t believe that there is a demon under every rock, however I think that when people appear to have certain mental illnesses that we ought to consider that there could be a demonic element involved in their personalities.  Some time back Wikipedia.org posted the following list of over 300 classified mental illnesses (today’s list there has 400 on it):

 

 

The DSM-IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual), the U.S. standard reference for psychiatry, includes over 300 different manifestations of mental illness. Psychiatrists themselves are in dispute over how common some of these conditions are, or whether they should be listed as 'mental illnesses', and each version of the DSM is slightly different from the previous ones. The DSM is currently being revised and updated, and the next version will include new and refined diagnostic criteria and information. This is a portion of the currently recognised list of mental illnesses.

 

Aberration
Acute stress disorder
Adjustment disorder
Affective disorder
Agoraphobia
Alcohol and substance abuse
Alcohol and substance dependence
Amnesia
Androphobia
Anxiety disorder
Anorexia nervosa
Antisocial personality disorder
Asperger syndrome, also known as Asperger's disorder
Attention deficit disorder, abbreviated as ADD.
Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, abbreviated as ADHD.
Autism
Avoidant personality disorder

Bereavement
Bibliomania { hoarding of books }
Binge eating disorder (proposed)

Boanthropy { think you’re a pig }
Bipolar disorder
Body dysmorphic disorder
Borderline personality disorder
Brief psychotic disorder
Bulimia nervosa

Cataplexy
Chronic tic disorder
Childhood Disorder
Circadian rhythm sleep disorder
Conduct disorder
Conversion disorder
Conversion hysteria
Cyclothymia (or Cyclothymic disorder)
Compulsive overeating

Delerium
Delusional disorder
Dependent personality disorder
Depersonalization disorder
Depression
Disorder of written expression
Disruptive behavior disorder
Dissociative amnesia
Dissociative disorder
Dissociative fugue
Dissociative identity disorder
Dyspareunia
Dysthymic disorder
Down syndrome

Emotional disorder
Encopresis
Enuresis (bedwetting)
Epilepsy
Exhibitionism
Expressive language disorder
Echolalia
Echopraxia

Factitious disorder
Female and male orgasmic disorders
Female sexual arousal disorder
Fetishism
Folie a deux
Frotteurism

Ganser syndrome
Gender identity disorder
Generalized anxiety disorder
General adaptation syndrome

Hallucinogen related disorder
Histrionic personality disorder
Hyperactivity disorder
Primary hypersomnia
Hypoactive sexual desire disorder
Hypochondriasis
Hyperkinetic syndrome
Hysteria

Impulse control disorder
Intermittent explosive disorder
Insomnia

Joubert syndrome

Kleptomania

Learning disorders

Mania
Male erectile disorder
Munchausen's syndrome
Munchausen by proxy
Mathematics disorder
Mental retardation/Learning disability (strictly speaking, these are not mental illnesses)

Narcissistic personality disorder
Narcolepsy
Neurosis
Neuroticism
Nightmare disorder

Obsessive-compulsive disorder
Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder
Oneirophrenia
Oppositional defiant disorder

Pain disorder
Panic attacks
Panic disorder
Paranoid personality disorder
Paraphilias
Parasomnia
Pathological gambling
Pervasive Developmental Disorder
Pica
Posttraumatic stress disorder
Postpartum depression
Premature ejaculation
Primary insomnia
Psychoneurosis
Psychotic disorder
Pyromania

Reading disorder
Retts disorder
Rumination disorder

Schizoaffective disorder
Schizoid personality disorder
Schizophrenia
Schizophreniform disorder
Schizothymia
Schizotypal personality disorder
Seasonal affective disorder
Separation anxiety disorder
Sexual Frustration disorder
Shared psychotic disorder
Sleep disorder
Sleep terror disorder
Sleepwalking disorder
Social phobia
Somatization disorder
Specific developmental disorder
Specific phobias
Stereotypic movement disorder

Tourette syndrome
Transient tic disorder
Transvestic Fetishism
Trichotillomania

Vaginismus

 

2.2.            I think that when people let sin take control of their life, that this can in some cases have drastic effects in their lives over time, and set them up to be heavily influenced by demons (again though we would expect that a Christian would only be influenced by a demon to a certain degree).  For instance:

 

2.2.1.      Lets say that a person lets anger take control of them at times (we have all known people like this), and we know that being angry is akin to committing murder.  This person lets his anger take him over more and more often, and each time he gets more and more angry and out of control.  Soon, the anger within him begins to take over without him even thinking about it, and he blows up and any and every little thing.  Demons begin to inhabit that man and control him via that sin of anger that he has allowed to take over his life.

 

2.2.2.      Or, it could be the lustful passions that a person begins to let take over their life.  Eventually, they no longer have control over themselves, and their passions control every aspect of their life.  They become a demonized sex addict.

 

2.2.3.      It could be alcohol and substance abuse that a person begins.  He drinks the bottle, then the bottle drinks the bottle, and then the bottle drinks him, so to speak.

 

2.2.4.      Bitterness and unforgiveness that is allowed to reign in a person’s life can begin to control them and take over and characterize every aspect of their life.  I have seen a person’s bitterness and anger be the only thing in life that they hold closely to, and then it characterizes everything that they do.  The demons begin to poison their mind and memories and drive them to such extremes that their entire personality disintegrates and fragments and they turn into a mad lunatic.

 

2.2.5.      Dabbling in the occult, metaphysics, and false religions, I believe can cause some people to be opened up to being influenced by demons.

 

2.3.            I believe that even the sinning of parents can have an influence on a child and cause him/her to be susceptible to demonic influence.

 

3.                  We can’t blame the Devil for the choices we make, and certain our own flesh is sinful and causes us to give in to many temptations.

 

4.                  After having the demons cast out of him and having his life changed and his mind made sound, the man did not want to leave Jesus’ side.  He asks Jesus if he may follow Him and go wherever He goes.  However, Jesus disallows this and instead calls the man to be an evangelist to his own people, and He says to the man:  ‘“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.” 20 And he went away and began to proclaim in Decapolis what great things Jesus had done for him; and everyone was amazed.’

 

5.                  There may have been many reasons (some perhaps even practical considerations) for which Jesus forbid the man from following Him at this time.

 

6.                  CONCLUSIONS:

 

6.1.            Only Christ can change a person’s life.  Has He changed your life?  Do you know him?  Has He made you a new creation and given you a new heart, mind, will, conscience, etc.?

 

6.2.            It is important to consider what things we can do that will keep us from having demonic involvement in our life…  We need to spend time with God in His word every day, and be committed to being obedient to all of the things He shows us.  We need to stay in fellowship with other believers, and attend church regularly.  We need to be committed to praying about all of the things that we do.  If we will do these things then we need have no fear of the Devil and demons influencing our lives.

 

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