Mark 5:1-20
Jesus
Places Demons into Herd of
Pigs
5:1
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.
-
This
is the Word of the Lord ... It is meant to
change the way that we think, and the way that
we live.
Commentary
by Bob Pardue
Jesus and the
Demon Possessed Man
Careful who you associate
with. Do you believe demons still exist? According
to many scholars, evil spirits are still prevalent
today just as they were in Jesus' time on
earth.
And, they can still possess
people to fall away from God. This presents a
danger for all of us so we need to beware of the
force of demons and take care that we do not become
too curious about them. The devil only has power if
we allow him to influence our decisions.
James 4:7: Submit
therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee
from you.
These verses in Mark are
about control and freedom. The demons' reason for
possession is to control our lives and guide us
away from God and the cross.
Jesus offers us freedom from
sin and strength to fight the evil
forces.
Why the
Pigs?
Why did Jesus allow the
spirits to transfer out of the man and into the
pigs instead of sending them to hell? One answer
might be that judgment day has not yet come and,
according to Matthew 25:41 ...
41
"Then He will also say to those on His left,
'Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal
fire which has been prepared for the devil and his
angels;
So, once again, we see God at
work in His own way and in His own time frame, not
ours.
The Man Tells the
Story
After Jesus removed the
demons from the possessed man, He instructed him to
go and tell the people what had taken place. The
good news, the miracle of the pigs, would make him
a witness to what Jesus was capable of.
As Christians, we have had
miracles happen in our lives too. Even if just
the fact that Christ died, rose, and took away our
sin is well worth telling to others. Christ asks us
to go, serve, and tell so that others can be saved.
Maybe we should follow the
example of the demon possessed man and help bring
people to Christ now that we are forgiven.
Love in Christ
- Bob
If you have never made the
commitment to receive the love and life-changing
experience of Jesus Christ, please take a moment to
go
here and take the
first
steps to salvation.
Verses about Jesus casting demons from the
man into a herd of pigs are from the New
American Standard Bible
Study More from the book of
Mark
Mark
4:35-41 - Jesus Calms the Storm
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