Updated: May 24, 2021
Matthew 8:28-31 And when he was come to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes, there met him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way And behold they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee Jesus thou Son Of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time? And there was a good way off from them an herd of many swine feeding. So the devils besought him saying, If thou cast us out, suffer us to go away into the herd of swine.
As we look at these verses of scripture, I want us to realize and call to attention that Christ never blamed a person for being diseased or demon possessed. It’s a very significant and sobering fact wouldn’t you say.
Christ recognized, as must we when dealing with those trapped in sin, are victims of powers beyond their control. Yes beloved they needed deliverance, not self-righteous judgments, condemnation or exhortation. It’s easy to see those as a slave to sin as being less than worthy of the gospel message, especially in areas where no man might pass that way. Yet as we see from scripture, and Christs example, He deliberately went to where He was needed to minister to those who needed him most.
Yet for Jesus to be able to redeem mankind and deliver us from the curse of Adams fall, He would need to have and display absolute power and authority over Satan and His demons.
In order to deliver mankind from physical, mental and spiritual bondage, He would have had to been able to overpower those evil forces which hold men captive and in bondage.
In fact if we look at history through the eyes of a believer, we can see that it can be recorded as a battle of evil vs good. A battle of holiness vs un-holiness. A battle of righteousness vs un-righteousness
Make no doubts about it, Satan is a fearful foe, that is dedicated to alienating man from God. 1 Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour: Satan desires to separate you from the love of the father, not because the father doesn’t love you, but to make us feel as if we are unworthy of the Fathers love. It’s no wonder that the possessed men lived in the tombs. Sin and its effects take you farther than you would ever be willing to go, and cost you so much more than you would ever be willing to pay.
The treacherousness of the enemy exerting his will over us can never be cast to the side or ignored. His desire after you are born- again is to keep you out of the will of God. Since you are redeemed, he knows you are beyond his power concerning your position in Christ and your eternal home. Keeping you out of God’s will for your life, will keep you powerless and less effective for the cause of Christ.
Now as we read the sister portions of scripture in Mark 5 and Luke 8 respectively, we see something that may in fact strike us as odd, but rest assured it isn’t. Matthew places the location of this event as being in Gergesenes, whereas Mark and Luke refer to the location as Gadara. Both are correct.
Now Gergesenes was a small port town on the north-east shore of the sea of Galilee about 6 miles across from Capernaum. Its steep cliffs are a perfect match to setting described in our text. The town of Gadara was just a bit further south. Gadara was more heavily populated- and was often referred to as the country of Gadaranes. The name difference in our texts has nothing to do with discrepancy of scripture, but rather what a local person would call a region. I grew up in a blue-collar town in Northern Illinois called Romeoville. Yet our neighborhood was often referred to as Acthley Park, or Lockport township.
We also see from reading Marks and Luke’s text that they only speak of one man ie The maniac of Gadara. Yet we also read that they never say that only one was present. They only referred to the one man.
Now the word in our text having to deal with one possessed with devils is Daimonizoma- which simply means to be demonized, to be under the control of a demonic spirit without any regard to the amount of control or degree of demonization.
Throughout scripture- those who are demonized act in a multitude of ways and scripture does not distinguish between being possessed, oppressed, or obsessed with the enemy.
Now we can see in Mark 5:6-9 the brief reception and recognition of the demons. Notice how the demon possessed man ran from afar off and worshiped Christ. The demons also cried with a acknowledging who Christ was and His authority to cast them out. We also notice that the demon possessed man answered Christ by saying my name is Legion for we are many.
Now let’s not get to far ahead of ourselves and overtly complicate and over spiritualize the situation. What we notice very simply is that the actions of the demon overpowered the will of the one who was possessed.
And we see it all too often with those who are possessed, they are being controlled by an inside influence- affecting the outward actions. And even those who are a slave to sin, we must see them as being in a spiritual battle. Eliminate the western Christianity philosophy from your mindset and begin to see that we are in a spiritual battle.
We know that these men weren’t in their right spiritual mindset because they were living the burial chambers. Now as Jews, touching and being amongst the dead bodies was the greatest of all defilement's, worse than sodomy and worship of false idols.
We also learn from the other accounts of this situation of deliverance by Christ, of the nakedness of the men. These men should have been utterly humiliated and disgusted with themselves, yet they were so maddeningly fierce, that no man could pass by them.
And we see it today, and we label it as a lifestyle choice, or an addiction, or a sickness, or a disease. But the Bible calls it sin and demon possession. What is it that you call it? Where does your thoughts lie, either biblically or not is the only answer. There cannot be any room for a grey area.
By recognizing Christ as mentioned earlier, and calling Him Jesus thou son of God, this is complete proof that they were once in heaven beholding all the glory of the Son of God. In Mark5:6 We see how they humbled themselves and bowed before the Messiah.
Yes it is true that Satan and his fallen angels, the demons, loathe and despise everything about Christ. Yet they are completely powerless in His presence, or those who are position ally in Christ.
Isn’t it ironic that even demons bow themselves and submit themselves to the son of God, yet many of the unsaved will actually mock and ridicule the believer while scoffing at God. What is even sadder is the fact that many believers choose whenever they desire to worship Him, or only seek Him during the hard times.
The demons knew Christ as both the victor and the divine antagonist. However, look at the question they posed to Him. Jesus thou Son of God, art thou come hither to torment us before the time.
They knew there was a divinely appointed time-not yet to come- in which He alone would punish their rebellion with eternal damnation. We should be swift to take notice that unlike many of the leaders in Christianity today, the demons had proper theology and eschatology as well. James 2:18 tells us the devils also believe and tremble.
Now as looking at James 2:18 we are forced to look at the thought of how wicked those who claim that there is no God are. Atheism is not from hell, but the wicked desires and influences of wicked men.
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