We have a two-sided situation here. One side leads to being delivered, having victory, and receiving a new life. The other leads to lust for material gain, bondage, and death for all eternity. Looking at the narrative in this manner can alter our overall viewpoint.
“…they arrived at the country of the Gadarenes, which is over against Galilee. And when he went forth to land, there met him out of the city a certain man, which had devils long time, and ware no clothes, neither abode in any house, but in the tombs.
When he saw Jesus, he cried out, and fell down before him, and with a loud voice said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God most high? I beseech [beg] thee, torment me not. (For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For oftentimes it had caught him: and he was kept bound with chains and in fetters; and he brake the bands, and was driven of the devil into the wilderness.)
And Jesus asked him, saying, What is thy name? And he said, Legion: because many devils were entered into him. And they besought him that he would not command them to go out into the deep. And there was there an herd of many swine feeding on the mountain: and they besought [begged] him that he would suffer [command] them to enter into them. And he suffered them. Then went the devils out of the man, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the lake, and were choked.
When they that fed them saw what was done, they fled, and went and told it in the city and in the country. Then they went out to see what was done; and came to Jesus, and found the man, out of whom the devils were departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid. They also which saw it told them by what means he that was possessed of the devils was healed.
Then the whole multitude of the country of the Gadarenes round about besought him to depart from them; for they were taken with great fear: and he went up into the ship, and returned back again. Now the man out of whom the devils were departed besought him that he might be with him: but Jesus sent him away, saying, Return to thine own house, and shew how great things God hath done unto thee. And he went his way, and published throughout the whole city how great things Jesus had done unto him.”
Luke 8:26-39
Jesus had just crossed over from the west side of the Sea of Galilee with His disciples. They had battled it out with a storm of near-hurricane proportions and were delivered byJesus because of their unbelief. No sooner had they come ashore than a man possessed by possibly six thousand demons (an incomprehensible amount, to say the least!) approached them in all of his devilish might.
This man may have sought to be delivered unknowingly from some minor situation but now he was in real bondage. He had no home, no clothes, no control over his own body. He lived in a graveyard among the dead and was compelled by the devil to go into the wilderness, which was also devoid of any real life. He had been bound by demons a long time.
The Devil Doesn’t Want You Delivered
Such are the results when we allow the devil to have his way in our lives. He will not take over just our left hand, nor will he be satisfied with just our left hand and our legs. He will not even quit with just our left hand, our legs and our stomach. If you let him into your life, he will take over all of you—from the hairs on your head to the soles of your feet. And he just might bring along a few thousand more of his devils to help keep you under his control.
Rather than being delivered he was just bound even more. Yet the demons broke all of man’s physical restraints as if they were just made of paper.
The only human help this man received was chains and fetters or shackles. That primitive solution was rather useless in his day, nor has it improved in this age. We just give the “chains and fetters” more appealing names. Rather than being delivered he was just bound even more. Yet the demons broke all of man’s physical restraints as if they were just made of paper. Man’s help did no good, since he was suffering from a spiritual problem, not a physical one.
It takes a spiritual solution to solve a situation like this—which is why we must let Jesus take care of the problem. We cannot expect a physical solution to cause us to be delivered from what is basically a spiritual problem, like addiction to drugs (legal or not), alcohol, lust, pornography, or pride, adultery, demon possession, etc. Man’s solutions try to control the problems; God’s solutions solve the problems.
Jesus is the Deliverer
Jesus was not deterred the least bit by these demons, because He had authority over the situation. In fact, they knew who He was before He opened His mouth. How sad when demon spirits acknowledge what the religious leaders would and could not! The leaders had studied the Bible most of their lives, yet they refused to acknowledge that Jesus was the promised Deliverer (even after His death and resurrection).
The demons possessing this man were truly terrified when Jesus appeared on the scene. They thought He was going to order them to their prison in the bottomless pit. So they begged Him to be delivered into some swine nearby instead. Jesus granted their request, and then the whole herd rushed into a nearby lake and drowned.
[The Demons] thought He was going to order them to their prison in the bottomless pit. So they begged Him to be delivered into some swine nearby instead.
Some may see this as odd and may even sympathize with the pigs. The reason Jesus allowed this lies in God’s laws given long ago when the children of Israel were in the wilderness. “And the swine, though he divide the hoof, and be clovenfooted, yet he cheweth not the cud; he is unclean to you” (Leviticus 11:7). Pigs were considered unclean for the Jews and were forbidden in the land. These swine owners were violating God’s law, and even making a living off of it.
The World’s Livelihood is Made Off the Bondage of Another
Now read of the real irony: “…the whole multitude of the country of the Gadarenes round about besought him to depart from them; for they were taken with great fear: and he went up into the ship, and returned back again.” A man had just been delivered from thousands of demons by Jesus. Yet the locals wanted Jesus to leave, because their livelihood had been ruined! They cared not one bit about this man. As long as he remained in demonic bondage and never delivered, no strangers would dare to venture through that area (and discover the illegal swine being raised there).
Are you like this demon-possessed man, struggling to be free, desiring to be delivered, yet receiving nothing but more bondage? You may not have thousands of demons raging inside of you, but you are still under the devil’s control. Or are you like the locals whose livelihood was derived from something directly against God’s law? They had no concern about the horrible agony, torture, and bondage the demon-possessed man was going through.
Yet the locals reacted with great fear over what Jesus had done for him. They did not want their sinful livelihood exposed. They valued material gain more than victory over bondage, sin, and death. They rejected the Savior of the world for a multitude of swine. In the end, Jesus left. The Bible never mentions Him returning to that region.
Jesus Can Make You Genuinely Delivered
When Jesus freed this man from all of those demons, he was truly delivered and made free. The next mention of him, he was “sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed, and in his right mind…” (v. 35). No follow-up treatment, no prescriptions, no therapy, and no long-term counseling. He eventually went back to his home city (the city of the swine owners), proclaiming what wonderful things Jesus had done for him. Jesus is also able to make you free, if you will only come to Him. And “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed” (John 8:36).
Jesus was led by His Father (through the Holy Spirit) to cross a raging sea in order to set one person in desperate need free. Jesus could have remained on the opposite shore and left him that way. But Jesus loved him so much that He was willing to endure a treacherous journey for one man to be delivered from demonic control. The swine owners and all who came with them to meet Jesus could have been delivered from their bondages that day as well, but they refused, and told Jesus to leave.
Jesus also came for you to be delivered from the bondage of the devil. Which will you choose: the Savior, or the swine?
For more information about giving your life to Jesus, please visit our page on The Way To God.
[Additional image credits: Opening image by Marion Streiff from Pixabay]