Casting Out The Devil and Raising The Dead – Mark 5
There was a demon-possessed man who lived in the region of the Gadarenes. This was an area populated by Gentiles. This account of the demon possessed man in the Gadarenes is the most descriptive and graphic account in the Bible of someone tormented by demons. Here was a man with a legion of demons. Those demons drove the man crazy. He lived among the tombs and cut himself with stones. He did not wear any clothes and could not be restrained by neighbors. We don't know how the man got into this situation but we know how he escaped.
The Lord Jesus showed up and immediately the man ran to meet him. The demons knew the name of the Lord Jesus and they knew he was the Son of the most high God. They pleaded with him not to torment them or send them away. The demons recognized the Lord and pleaded with him that he would not send them into the abyss. The abyss was where evil spirits were confined. They suggested that he allow them to go into a herd of pigs nearby. I don't think the Lord Jesus showed mercy to these demons by sending them into the pigs. The Lord cast the demons out of the man and they went into the pigs which then turned around and threw themselves off a cliff and into the sea. Not even the pigs could tolerate the demons.
The man was set free from what could have been as many as 6,000 demons. A Roman legion was 6,000 soldiers, so we can assume that was the number of demons which possessed the man. The demons tortured and tried to obliterate the image of God in the man.
Once the man was free he wanted to follow the Lord Jesus. He begged the Lord Jesus to allow him to go with Him. The Lord Jesus did not permit him but instead told him to go home and tell his family what the Lord had done for him.
Perhaps the Lord Jesus knew this man was a father and his children needed him. Maybe he had a wife who needed him. Maybe he had aging parents who needed him. Perhaps the proof of divine intervention in his life would be a testimony to his family and bring them to God. Or perhaps, after being tormented for so long the man was simply unable physically or mentally to deal with the stress of discipleship.
I can relate to this account in a lot of ways. The Lord interrupted my life when I was a young man in a similar manner. I don't think I was as far gone as this man but certainly I was headed in the same direction. The Lord stopped me and delivered me from demons of drug addiction, alcoholism, and all manner of evil in my life.
I know I was set free from demons just like this man because I changed immediately when the Lord touched me. When the Lord filled me with the Holy Spirit I changed instantly like someone had turned on a light switch. I still had plenty of emotional issues to work through for years, but the immediate transformation in my life was profound. The devil will stunt a man's maturity so he can't learn and grow and mature. It took several years of catching up before I could stand on my own two feet in life. Perhaps this was why the Lord told this man to just go home and share with others his testimony.
Another important thing to notice here is that the Lord Jesus exposed the name and activity of these demons. The Holy Spirit taught me a lesson about names and numbers. The world system works by creating a name and bringing numbers underneath it to produce power, prestige, and position. This is how evil spirits in the world system operate.
This was how these demons worked to destroy this man. When the Lord exposed the name and numbers of these evil spirits it reminds me of the account of the tower of Babel in Genesis 11. Those people at the tower of Babel said that they wanted to make a name for themselves. Instead of scattering all over the earth they wanted to concentrate their numbers in one place. By concentrating their numbers under a name they created power, position, provision, and protection.
This is exactly the same method which every corporation and business and government uses today. They create a name. Then they build power under a name through numbers of people.
When the Lord Jesus exposed these demons he exposed the work of the principalities and powers of darkness and how they operate. (See also Ephesians chapter 6).
When the Lord Jesus returned across the lake he was approached by a synagogue ruler whose daughter was dying. He asked Jesus to come and heal her. As the Lord Jesus was on his way to help this synagogue ruler another woman touched the Lord's garment and was immediately healed from her sickness of bleeding.
By the time he arrived the girl appeared to be dead but the Lord Jesus said she was only sleeping. When Jesus raised the girl he took with him Peter, James, and John and the girl's parents.
Mark 5:41-42, "And he took the damsel by the hand, and said unto her, Talitha cumi; which is, being interpreted, Damsel, I say unto thee, arise. And straightway the damsel arose, and walked; for she was of the age of twelve years. And they were astonished with a great astonishment."
Notice that when the Lord Jesus spoke his word that the dead girl rose immediately from the dead. The results were immediate and profound.
We know from other scripture that death for Christians is often referred to as sleeping because it is not a permanent situation. This is how the Lord works in those he raises from spiritual death.
This reminds me of another scripture: "But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)" (Ephesians 2:4-5) We are made alive by the Holy Spirit of God. We are raised from being dead in sins, and made alive with Christ!
