Trinity Baptist Church

The Book of Mark

Dominating Powers, Part 1

Mark 5:1-20

 

Let’s begin tonight by reading about one of the most bizarre incidents in the earthly ministry of the Lord. 

 

Mark 5:1-20

 

There are so many ways to go about teaching this passage that I found it difficult to settle on only one.  Several years ago I preached message from this text called “What Are You Worth?” 

 

It explored this man’s value to the world, to the devil and to the Lord.  I think I said society, Satan and the savior.  Bro. Jimmy tells me he’s preached that message all over the world.  The emphasis of that approach is primarily evangelistic. 

 

But in order to believe in Christ, you must know who He is and that He has the power to save. 

 

So it seems to me the primary focus of the story is on the power of Jesus as God the Son. If He is the true Messiah, if He is the Lord of heaven come down, He must be able to conquer Satan or He cannot bring the everlasting Kingdom.

 

And in that regard, I would suggest this display of power ranks second only to God throwing the devil out of heaven.   There has been no display like that until this.

 

 

And there won't be another display like this until the time of the Tribulation comes to an end, Christ sets up His Kingdom and binds Satan  and all the demons for a period of a thousand years, and throws them into the Lake of Fire.

 

So a part of the proof Mark offers to his hearers that Jesus is Who He claims to be is this display of power over the very power of Satan himself. 

 

Remember the original prophecy regarding the Messiah is that He would crush the head of Satan.  So whoever the Messiah must be able to deliver on that promise. 

 

And here, by way of Mark’s testimony, we get to witness that prophecy being fulfilled.  So what we have is an evangelistic presentation about a man being saved and radically changed, but even more, we are seeing a validation of the messiah-ship of Jesus through His power over Satan. 

 

That validation comes through three displays of His power.

 

The first one I want you to see is

 

 

We’ve already seen the power of Jesus displayed in a number of ways such as sickness and physical problems and most recently the natural forces of wind and waves.  Now He shows His power to subdue the supernatural world, the supernatural elements.

 

 

Now remember, when we last checked in on the disciples, they are scared out of their wits.  They were afraid of the storm, but they were exceedingly afraid when they realized God was in the boat with them. 

 

The disciples, you remember, were frightened of the storm and then they were frightened of the power of Jesus. We see the same thing here. The people are frightened by this maniac but they are even more frightened by the presence of Jesus. So those are parallel elements.

 

So we pick up the story where we left off.  Jesus and the disciples and those following Him make it across the sea, surviving this massive storm and when they arrived, the first thing they encounter is the devastating, destructive power of demons.

 

Verse 2

 

This is not the local Chamber of Commerce representative. This is not the Welcome Wagon. This is your worst nightmare. This is a man from the tombs who comes racing down the slope to the edge of the lake to meet them. He is defined as having an unclean spirit.

 

It's probably just barely dawn. They have just tied up their boats. Maybe a little dock was available there and immediately at the water's edge a man from the tombs with an unclean spirit met them. Matthew 8:28 says, "He has a companion." There are actually two men in this same condition.

 

 

But as the story goes on, that second man is left behind and all the focus of both Matthew, Mark and Luke, who all record this story, is on the one man.

 

Now it says he came from the tombs. That would be a little unusual. Jews wouldn't go near a tomb for fear of being contaminated by a dead body. But this is a Gentile area. This is obviously a Gentile man. What's he doing in the tombs?

 

Well, he lives there.

 

Verse 3

 

He's a tomb dweller. In ancient times this would be the common haunt of a deranged, insane, demon-possessed person. Burial chambers in that time and that place as in many places in the world in ancient times were carved out of the hillside.

 

Here is a man who is more comfortable with the dead than he is with the living. And by the way, the dead are more comfortable with him than the living would be as well. So it's a mutually agreed upon condition.

 

He is defined as having an unclean spirit. That's simply a term for demon-possession.  That’s exactly how he is described down in verse 18. 

 

And just to make matters worse, Luke adds that he was naked.  That means, not only was he exposed tot eh elements, but it is a likely indicator that he was a pervert.  His nakedness was very likely related to a sexual perversion. By the way, you do know the difference between being naked and nekkid, don’t you?

Naked means you ain’t got no clothes on.  Nekkid means you aint got no clothes on and you’re up to something.  This guy was nekkid. 

 

He's also characterized by supernatural strength in

 

verse 3

 

Now when the text tells us that no one was able to bind him, it is also telling us they had tried.  That was society’s only way of dealing with guys like this.  They didn’t have the drugs and treatments we do, so they would restrain them.  And they restrained them because they were dangerous.

 

They tried to chain him. How do you suppose they went about that?  I would guess they must have knocked him out with a blow to the head and got the chains on him,.  But when he came to,, he broke the chains. 

 

He is an out-of-control maniac with amazing strength who is wickedly aggressive and absolutely controlled by the power of Satan himself. 

 

And notice how verse 5 describes him

 

Verse 5

 

He exists in a living hell, completely consumed by demonic power and presence. And looking for relief, he grabs stones and unsuccessfully attempting to take his own life, hacks away at his flesh with stones meant to cut. The man makes modern, perverted monsters like Charles Manson look like Boy Scouts.

 

In fact, he's such a threat that Matthew 8:28 says, "No one would pass that way because he was so violent."

 

So on this day, when someone does pass by, it captures his attention and when he sees these boats crossing the sea and people getting out, he realizes he's got some new victims, some people who aren't from around here, and he goes racing down the hillside to terrorize them. 

 

But all of a sudden, he gets to where he can see who is there and notice what happens. 

 

verse 6

 

Whoa! He just saw somebody he had known for thousands of years.  And Luke tells us that when he saw Jesus, he began to scream and shriek in horror.  The terrorist becomes terrified!

 

And immediately, knowing the power of Jesus, he begins to beg for his life.  The word used to describe his actions is the word for worship or demonstrating submission and respect to one greater than you.

 

It’s interesting, isn’t it, that no one could make him bow. No one could restrain him, no one could control him. No one could make him submit, but the presence of the Lord Jesus cuts him to his knees. The man goes down because the demons go down. And the man goes down under their power.

 

The demons recognize Jesus as the Son of God, Lord over all principalities, all powers, all rulers of this present world, all rulers of the darkness.

 

They know He has the authority to control them. 

They know exactly who Jesus is.  In fact, until you get to the middle of the book of Mark, they're the only beings who recognize who Jesus is. They're the only ones who say, "You are the Son of the Most High God, You are the Son of God."

 

A human doesn’t make that acknowledgment until you get halfway through the book, and then it comes from the disciples.  And it’s only at the end that we hear a Gentile centurion make that confession. 

 

But these guys know! 

 

And notice what is said: 

 

Verse 7

 

There are two things to point out there. 

 

First, what do they mean by "What do I have to do with you?"

 

Do they know about their promised judgment and punishment?  I think they do.  Do they know that Jesus will be their judge? Absolutely. Do they know He has the power to bind them and send them everlastingly into hell? Yes, they know all about all of that. 

 

What they don’t understand is the timing. 

 

They are great theologians and they are right about eschatology.  They know all of this judgment and punishment is going to happen when Jesus returns to the earth to set up a kingdom.  But the timing is off. 

All of this is supposed to happen at His second coming, not His first. That’s why they ask the question, “What do we have to do with you?”  They’re asking, "What's going on here? What's happening here at this particular time?”

 

In fact, in Matthew 8:29 the demon's spokesman for the group says, "Have You come to torment us before the time?"

 

“It's not time yet. That's connected to Your Second Coming, not Your First Coming.”

 

So first, they correctly identify the timing of their final judgment and then secondly,

 

They correctly identify Jesus as Son of the Most High God.

 

That is just so right in what it says!  It is an absolutely complete statement. The Most High God is a beautiful, glorious title for God in the Old Testament.  It is usually followed with a comma and something like, “possessor of heaven and earth."

 

“Most High” means sovereign, above all others, higher than all others. And this demon's recognition is that You are the Son of the Most High God. That is to say You bear His same essence.

 

What did Gabriel say to Mary?  "He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High.”  He said, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, the power of the Most High will overshadow you and for that reason this holy child shall be called the Son of God."

 

He knows who Jesus is. He even understands the plan and the timing of the plan. He's been having free reign along with all of his fellow demons in this one life and out of that one life, wreaking havoc in the region, doing bodily harm and damage and probably even killing people.

 

But know these demons are in absolute confusion and terror because the Son of the Most High God has shown up and they weren’t expecting Him. 

 

Did you ever stop to think that these demons are voicing what millions will say one day at the second coming of Christ?  The Son of the Most High God will be on the scene and He was the farthest thing from their mind. 

 

Now back to the story in chapter 5.

 

Here is this bizarre monstrous, sociopath in a heap at the feet of Jesus, subdued. At the same time, the demons are screaming in fear.

 

Verse 7c

 

They haven’t minded tormenting this poor man, but they don’t want any of it for themselves.  Luke tells us they begged Jesus not to go to the “pit”.  That is the bottomless pit.  It’s mentioned four times in the  Revelation. Don't send me to that place of torment. 

 

Is that not a vivid picture of the reality of who Satan is and what He’s all about? It's not always this blatant. It's not always this overt. But we have enough people that show up in society like this to understand about his true colors.

 

It is picture in a man whose life is absolutely destroyed and demons who beg to not be in his presence. 

 

So the opening scene is all about the devastating, destructive power of demons.

 

But aren’t you glad that’s not all there is to the story?  Aren’t you thankful we don’t have to leave this poor man in this shape? 

 

That’s because in the next verse, we make a transition to another kind of power and that is

 

The Delivering Power of Deity

 

And that’s what we’ll look at next time. 

 

Let’s pray.