Reasoning Through the Bible
Taking a cue from Paul, Reasoning Through the Bible is an expository style walk through the Scriptures that tells you what the Bible says. Reviewing both Old and New Testament books, as well as topical subjects, we methodically teach verse by verse, even phrase by phrase.
We have completed many books of the Bible and offer free lesson plans for teachers. If you want to browse our entire library by book or topic, see our website www.ReasoningThroughTheBible.com.
We primarily do expository teaching but also include a good bit of theology and apologetics. Just like Paul on Mars Hill, Christianity must address both the ancient truths and the questions of the people today. Join Glenn and Steve every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday as they reason with you through the Bible.
Reasoning Through the Bible
S14 || Unchained: The Power of Jesus Over Demons || Mark 5:1-20 || Session 14 || Verse by Verse Bible Study
Step into a powerful narrative as we explore the captivating account of the demoniac from Mark chapter 5 in our latest episode. This biblical story depicts a man tormented by evil spirits, living among the tombs, and how a single encounter with Jesus leads to radical transformation. As the power of Jesus is displayed, the story raises critical questions about our own lives and the complexities of spiritual struggles that permeate today’s society. Listen in, share your thoughts, and be encouraged to embrace the transformative power of Jesus.
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May God Bless you!! - Glenn and Steve
Demonic activity is something that people inside the church tend to be somewhat afraid of. People outside the church tend to either brush it aside or, in some dark corners of the world, they may be promoting demonic activity. We have that, but today we're going to see what Jesus thinks of demonic activity, because we're going to be in Mark, chapter 5, where he meets the demoniac on the other side of the Galilean Sea. Hi, my name is Glenn. I'm here with Steve. We are Reasoning Through the Bible and if you have your copy of the Word of God, open it to Mark, chapter 5, where we're going to see the demoniac that's among the gravestones and how Jesus reacts to him. So, steve, can you read the first 20 verses of Mark, chapter 5?
Speaker 2:They came to the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gerasene, when he had 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. 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. And he 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.
Speaker 2: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. Their herdsmen ran away and reported it in the city and in the country and the people came out to see what it was that had happened. They came to Jesus and observed the man who had been demon-possessed sitting down and in his right mind, the very man who had had the legion, and they became frightened.
Speaker 2: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. 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 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 In this story.
Speaker 1:Just a summary, and then we'll go through and talk about specifics. Jesus goes to the says the other side it's the east side of the Sea of Galilee, the east side of the Jordan River to the land of and in different accounts the different gospels will use different words garrisons or gatherings, garrisons, specific towns or regions. There on the east side of the sea, he goes and finds this demoniac that was living amongst the graveyards and the gravestones. Jesus cast out the demon into the pigs and they drowned themselves. And then the people react to Jesus.
Speaker 1:Many of the times in the Gospel of Mark, what we're seeing is the reaction of different people to what Jesus do is oftentimes the point of many of these accounts. With this we have this very interesting story. What I think of Steve is that this demoniac, where is he? He's in the gravestones, he's amongst the graves, he's amongst the dead things. I'm always reminded that the world is a graveyard full of dead people focusing on dead things, and the world also has a lot of demons and pigs in it. There's a lot of filth in the world, just like there's a lot of filth in this man here. What happens when Jesus comes in? He cleans things up. He does.
Speaker 2:This is all happening on the same day that the leadership has rejected Jesus as being the Messiah, and not just rejected him, but rejected him in a way that said he's possessed by Satan himself. We're now seeing what an actual possessed man looks like. It says he's running around without clothes, that he's cutting himself with stones, he's screaming out in the night. We don't see Jesus acting that way at all. We see him acting very much the opposite of being in control of not only himself, but in control of nature and illness and other things. So it's a diametrically opposed view of what somebody who is actually possessed by Satan or demons versus Jesus Christ, who is God himself.
Speaker 1:The symbolism and the imagery here align with the reality of what's going on, in the sense that where is this occurring? It's in a graveyard. There's a demoniac, a demon-possessed man, in a graveyard. The demons are focused on dead things. Demons are of the dead. Satan is of the dead. Satan is of the dead.
Speaker 1:Satan focuses on death, whereas the contrast is God focuses on life. God is of life and is life and promotes life. Satan promotes death. So if we're around dead things, we know that the devil is there, and if we're around live things, then we know God is at work. If we want life, we need to be near God. If we're not near God, then we're going to be around death. There's really a contrast between the two.
Speaker 1:What happens in the Bible? God gives life. What happened in the Garden of Eden? God created life and it was good. He said the day that you disobey, the day that you eat of the fruit and go against me, is the day you will die. So we have here Satan and his demons that are among the dead. Jesus, who is God, shows up and gets rid of the demons and promotes life. If we want life, we need to get near God. In verse 4, the people in the community prior to Jesus arriving had tried to chain this demoniac, but he kept breaking the chains. So, steve, what happens when we try to chain up our old sin nature?
Speaker 2:If we try and control it ourselves without the help of the Holy Spirit who is dwelling with us when we become a believer, then it very much might be like this that it will break free through the chains or shackles, symbolically, that we're trying to keep it bound on our own power. I think it takes the Holy Spirit to help us to be able to keep some of those sins that we have under control.
Speaker 1:This man was demon possessed and the locals had no ability to keep him chained up. Likewise, we have no ability to chain up Satan, but God does. We have no ability to chain up the old sin nature, but God does. Notice here what happens. Jesus had said let's cross over to the other side. In the end of chapter four he went over there specifically to go to this man and solve this problem.
Speaker 1:In the graveyard was death, in the graveyard was demons. In the graveyard is a lot of mess. Jesus went to seek that out and clean it up. When Jesus comes to the problem, he cleans it up. Jesus is always seeking cleanliness. He's seeking holiness. He's seeking the destruction of sin. He's seeking the banishment of Satan and his demons. He's seeking to make people clothed and in their right minds. Jesus is seeking you out because he wants to clean up the mess that is in your life and is in my life. Jesus comes to us and in about 10 minutes it's all cleaned up, the demons are gone and all the filthy pigs are gone. To understand really the significance of what's going on here from a big biblical picture, we have to go back to the tribes of Israel In the Old Testament book of Joshua.
Speaker 1:Joshua was supposed to take the 12 tribes of Israel across the Jordan River to the west side, into the promised land. But in Numbers, chapter 32, some of the tribes of Israel stayed on the east side of the Jordan and didn't want to go into the Promised Land, into God's best. They settled on the east side of the Jordan. Imagine they got up to the edge of God's best and decided not to go into God's best. In fact, they even went in to help Joshua and decided not to go into God's best. In fact, they even went in to help Joshua conquer the land and then went back out of it again. They went on the promised land on God's best, saw it and then decided well, we want to stay outside of God's best.
Speaker 1:Here we have, hundreds of years later. What are they doing? They're raising pigs that they weren't supposed to raise pigs and they had demons running around that they couldn't control. As soon as we get outside of God's best, then we're going to have problems Almost immediately. They see these things happening. So what happens? Jesus shows up and in about 10 minutes the demons are gone and the pigs are gone. Steve, there it says there were 2,000 pigs. Pigs are just filthy animals. They wallow in the mud and they wallow in their own manure and they just stink. They smell bad. I can't imagine 2,000 pigs what that would smell like. Besides this demon-possessed man that was running around, probably naked and screaming, it's just a big mess that these people were living in and around.
Speaker 2:There's been some archaeological digs and finds in the area that have noted that there was a Roman encampment that was not far from this area and a legion is between 5,000 and 6,000 troops. So it's thought that possibly these pigs were being raised and sold to the Roman legion that was there for food and that kind of in a way makes sense, because why else would you have that many pigs around that? They're not used so much for clothing, like with sheep or some of the other animals, and they're certainly not used for sacrifice by the Jewish people because they're unclean animals, as you pointed out. That's a good indication, or a likely indication, of why they were there. But yeah, pigs are just. They waller around in slop, they're happy with doing that, feeding them and the excrement that they have 2,000 is quite a bit they have to deal with on a continuing basis.
Speaker 1:If we look down at verse 17, once the pigs had been destroyed and the demons were gone, the locals come out and they see what happened. And what do they do in verse 17?
Speaker 2:They implore Jesus to leave the region. He has disrupted their commerce. If they were raising them for the Roman legion that was around or for food. He has put a big monkey wrench in this whole business and affected their livelihood. Big monkey wrench in this whole business and affected their livelihood. They're not happy about the man that is now free from the demons. They're not happy that the demons themselves are gone. They're upset because their commerce, their livelihood has been affected and so they want Jesus to leave. Much like we see the Pharisees whenever the healing takes place, with place that Jesus Christ, the Messiah, is there and he's doing these miracles, but people keep missing it for the practical things of the worldly ways and life in general.
Speaker 1:This was a demon-possessed man that was creating havoc. People couldn't go through that region without having to deal with this crazy person Again, 2,000 pigs wallowing in their own manure. It stunk to high heaven. Jesus comes in and gets rid of all that and they ask him to leave. They were more attached to the filth than they were to the Lord who cleaned it up. Jesus was at the edge of where the Jewish people would live, so it's not completely crystal clear whether these were Gentiles or Jews, or possibly some Jews that had intermarried. It was what was originally Jewish people living there, but time had gone on and they'd gone off to captivity and come back things like that. Nevertheless, jesus comes in and cleans it up and solves the problem, and they ask him to leave. I just find that tremendous of a lesson. People were so attached to the filth that they didn't want somebody coming in and cleaning it up. Is it ever the case today, steve, that there's people that are so attached to their sin that they really don't want Jesus to take it away?
Speaker 2:I think, glenn, that a lesson that some believers encounter is that when they become a believer and Jesus straightens up and cleans up their life, that the people that they have formerly been running around with they don't want to have anything to do with the new believer because they want to stay in the filth, they want to stay in the dirt of sin.
Speaker 2:They don't want the person that's been cleaned up to be with them anymore. That's much like what we're seeing here and what you're describing. Those people who don't want to have anything with being cleaned up want to stay in their sin. They sometimes will ask the believers I don't want to associate with you anymore. Now that you're a believer, there's things that you won't like that I'm doing and you won't participate in anymore. Therefore, we can't be friends anymore. I think that's a practical lesson within our lives that whenever we become believers, it might be something that we encounter, that we lose friends, that we lose family, but what we should keep in mind is just like this it's because they want to stay around the filth of sin and they don't want to see and be reminded that they can be cleaned up and their lives can be changed and you, being a believer is going to be a reminder to them of that.
Speaker 1:They were so comfortable in the filth, they had forgotten what it's like to be clean, and when Jesus come by and started cleaning things up, they got uncomfortable. I find that just a tremendous picture of our sin today. Sometimes we get so comfortable in the filth of our sin that we really don't understand what it would be like to have it gone. So when Jesus comes in, we get a little uncomfortable. The other thing I see here, steve, is that society, the local townspeople, had come in and chained this man up, but he kept breaking the chains and getting loose, but it didn't work. And they couldn't work.
Speaker 1:The reason was because it was a spiritual problem and society, apart from God, does not have the ability to solve a spiritual problem. If we apply that to our day, is it the case today that our culture, our world, has what is at the root of it a spiritual problem, and society is trying to fix it with the tools that they have? But the tools of the world are totally insufficient to solve the problems that they're trying to solve because they're spiritual problems. Is that the case today? I think it is the case.
Speaker 2:What did these people do? They just gave up, they quit trying to control him and they just turned him over to himself. And that's what happens many times with society. And that's what happens many times with society. They lack the discipline to keep trying to keep it under control, so then they just end up letting it run wild and don't do anything to try and control it. It's a parallel of what these people here, the citizenry, did with this demoniac.
Speaker 1:What do we have in our society today? We have high crime rates. We have our prisons are full, we have drug addictions, we have all kinds of issues around families and marriages, and just go on and on and on. We have leaders that are incapable of leading, that are totally incapacitated with the ability to lead. We try to fix these things with human solutions. Well, if we just educate them or we just try to chain up this sin over here, then it'll go away.
Speaker 1:But society is incapable of solving these problems. The reason they get worse and worse is because at the root of it, it's a spiritual problem. They get worse and worse is because at the root of it, it's a spiritual problem and society doesn't know how. They don't have the tools to deal with it. If we just look at God's Word, then we'll see the tools. Each of us must ask ourselves have I been guilty of trying to solve a spiritual problem with a worldly means, or have I looked at God's Word and submitted myself to the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ and let him come in and fix it? Now the other thing I hear, steve, is that this demoniac had been running around and doing all these insane things, cutting himself and doing all these insane things, cutting himself, breaking the shackles that they would put him up against? Verse 10 and 12,.
Speaker 1:Immediately, when Jesus is present, the demons cannot act without permission. They immediately submit to him, not after a few minutes. Jesus doesn't have to go through some ceremony, he doesn't have to command they just immediately. They cannot do anything without permission from Jesus. They have to ask permission to go into the pigs. He has to grant them permission and he is in complete and total control, immediately when he shows up. It is not the case that there's some sort of a power struggle between God and Satan. There's not a power struggle between Jesus and these demons, as we've seen with the other demoniacs in the Gospels. They are immediately subject to him. At his presence, they have to fall down and cannot do anything without his permission. There's no power struggle here. Jesus is in charge, and I find that to be a great lesson in not only the spirit world, but in who Jesus is. When Jesus is immediately the authority figure over all demonic activity, complete and total control. What does that tell us about the Lord Jesus Christ?
Speaker 2:It tells us that he is God himself and in verse 6, it says, seeing him from a distance, he, being the demonic man, ran and bowed down to Jesus and then, shouting with a loud voice, the demon said what business do we have with each other? Jesus, son of the most high God, to your point. They implore him to not torment me. Meaning the demon saying don't torment me, they're recognizing that he is God and that he has the ability to pass them out. Send them somewhere else, one of the other gospels. They are asking him don't send us to the abyss. So you get this picture of they know what their ultimate destination is going to be. They know that Jesus has the power to do it. They acknowledge him as being the Son of God of the Most High and they bow down to him in a form of worship.
Speaker 2:Another thing to look at here is that these demons controlled this man to this point to control his actions, to have him run to Jesus, control his voice box, to have him talk to Jesus through this man. This is not a case of. There is a sickness or illness, that is, the demon possession, and that is something that's often taught Glenn in these days and time that people that have sicknesses or illnesses is actually an unclean spirit. There's no sickness or illness here at all. This man is being completely controlled by these demons and it's not a illness or sickness that's going on. They have complete control of this man. His actions, his voice and his reasoning back and forth with Jesus at this time is completely done by these demons.
Speaker 1:I think that can give us a little peek behind the curtain into the demonic world, enough of a peek that we see more than we really want to see. But we can tell some things about the demonic world from what we just said and what you just said, steve. Demonic world, from what we just said and what you just said, steve, when Jesus asked him his name, notice the response he says my name is Legion, for we are many. My is singular, we is plural. So it would seem that in the spirit world, in this case the demonic spirit world, it's possible to have this singular being with plural persons in the sense of. I've seen people deny the Trinity simply because the Trinity says you have three persons and one God, and they say well, that doesn't make sense. Well, here we have multiple persons and one being in this demonic activity. My name ision, for we are many. It would seem that outside of humans it's possible, both in a demonic side and at least in the case of God, to have multiple persons in one being, and those that deny the Trinity have additional hurdles they have to jump through. I also notice here, steve, when Jesus gets rid of the mess, he gets rid of the demons and the pigs, the people. When they first see this at the end of verse 15, it says they become frightened. They became frightened. People that love Jesus will rejoice when he comes. People that don't love Jesus will be afraid when he comes. People that love Jesus will welcome his presence. People that don't love Jesus will be frightened at his presence.
Speaker 1:I think that's one of the things here, steve, that gives us an idea of where these people's hearts were. They were afraid of Jesus showing up and they asked him to leave. This man that was demon-possessed was the other way around. The man that was demon-possessed wanted to be around Jesus and the townspeople didn't want to be around Jesus. Is it the case, steve, that today Jesus is going to come into people that don't want him there? I see people all around me that ask Jesus to leave and guess what he does? He goes away. If you don't want him, he won't be there. One of the philosophical apologetic problems is called the hiddenness of God. Well, I think one of the reasons why God is so hidden is because so many people have asked him to leave. That.
Speaker 2:Greek word Glenn. Behind what was translated as frightened is the same Greek word that was used of the disciples in the boat Once they saw Jesus calm the sea, and then it says they were afraid. It's the same Greek word behind, both translated afraid there with the disciples and frightened here with the people. In our last session we noted that this afraid that the disciples were experiencing was one of awe, one of respect, because of what they had just witnessed Jesus doing. When it's used here of these people, they came up and they're coming out from the city and they're seeing this man who they've had problem with for most likely a long period of time, so long that they gave up trying to help him. He's sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, meaning he's his old self again. He has his person. It's not the demon speaking through them.
Speaker 2:So now they're frightened, they're awed, because they're seeing someone that has been completely and thoroughly transformed back into themselves. They're awestruck. But yet what is their reaction? Their reaction is you need to leave, you need to get out of here. Their reaction isn't to, oh, to implore Jesus to come into the city. We got other people that we need to help us with. You need to come into the city. No, they're imploring him to leave, to get out. As you mentioned, some people say where is God? But yet when God shows up, they don't want to have anything to do with him. God has done something in their midst and taken care of multiple problems that they've been experiencing, and yet they don't want to have anything to do with God. They want God to leave. These people that say where are God, what might be their reaction whenever God really does show up?
Speaker 1:RC Sproul wrote a book on the holiness of God and one of the things he pointed out in talking about the holiness of God is passages such as this when people get near holiness, it makes them uncomfortable. They don't like it. They want Jesus to leave because Jesus is holy. Remember Peter, when Peter first realized who Jesus was? When he was calling Peter with the fish and he had shown Peter, he caught all these fish business tremendously by giving him a whole boatload of fish. And what did Peter say? Depart from me, for I am a sinner. Once they realize who Jesus was, they say it makes me uncomfortable. I want you to leave.
Speaker 1:Sproul's message with the holiness of God is that if we were going to invent a God, then we would have invented a God like the Greek gods, that was closer to a human. We would not have invented a God that's holy. That makes us uncomfortable. God, once we realize who he is, makes us uncomfortable because we know we are not holy. So, my friend, if you would just embrace God, fall at his feet and beg him, then he will wash you and the uncomfort will go away. It also says here, steve, that this man, once the demons were gone, was clothed and in his right mind. A couple of things there Dramatic change, very dramatic change. When Jesus comes into our lives, we should see a very dramatic change. Has there been a radical transformation? Then, my friend, we need to ask whether we've really met Jesus, because when Jesus comes, all the mess will go away and we won't want to be around the demons and the pigs anymore. We will want to be around the Lord Jesus.
Speaker 1:The other thing I draw out of this, steve, when it says clothed and in his right mind, it implies that he was naked before and it just seems interesting to me no rocket science, I guess is that when people get more spiritual, they put on more clothes, and when they get less spiritual, they put on less clothes and get more naked and more nudity. What do we have in our societies today? As they get further and further away from God, we have an increasingly sex-saturated society with more and more nudity. When we get close to Jesus, we will be clothed and in our right minds, and until then, we will have insanity and nakedness running around our nation and our countryside.
Speaker 1:At the last part of this, verse 20, jesus spoke in a place called the Decapolis, and the Decapolis was a group of cities east of the Jordan. Remember, most of Israel had settled west of the Jordan. Jesus is out here on the outer limits, the edge of where the Jewish people were interacting with some Jews, some Gentiles. We're not exactly sure what this demoniac was, but we know he wanted to follow Jesus and Jesus said no, you stay back here and be a witness to your people and you'll be a greater witness here, and I just find that very interesting, steve.
Speaker 2:While we don't know for sure whether he was Jewish or Gentile, it is a little bit of an indication that he's possibly Gentile Don't know for sure In the reaction here of one that he wanted to follow Jesus, become a follower, and Jesus said no, you need to stay behind.
Speaker 2:He tells them in 19, go home and tell your people, report to them what I've done, what's happened here and how the Lord has had mercy on you, which is not what he has done with some of his other miracles. With the ones that we do know are Jewish people, he's told them don't go out and tell anybody what has happened to you, that who has done this to you. Of course they go out and tell anyway, but you get a sense of he's telling them not to do it. In fact, even on some of the Gospels it says because Jesus doesn't want them to tell, because it's not his time yet for them to be recognized as the Messiah. Here he's doing just the exact opposite. He says, no, go and tell your people. So there's a little bit of an indication there that he could be Gentile, but again, we don't know for sure whether or not he truly was or not.
Speaker 1:Well then, today, with this note, I submit to you Mark 5, 19. Today, with this note, I submit to you Mark 5, 19. My friends out there that are now radically changed, that are now clothed and in your right minds, I leave you with a message that our Lord gives to us and he says go home to your people and report to them what great things the Lord has done for you, how he had mercy on you. That is what all of us should do, all of us that have been touched by the Lord Jesus Christ. Such a great message it is a great message.
Speaker 2:I was just going to say that, as always, we want to thank you so much for watching and listening to our sessions here, and may God bless you and keep you until our next time that we meet together.
