11 A large herd of pigs was feeding on a hill near there. 12 The demons begged Jesus, “Send us into the pigs; let us go into them.” 13 So Jesus allowed them to do this. The evil spirits left the man and went into the pigs. Then the herd of pigs—about two thousand of them—rushed down the hill into the lake and were drowned. 14 The herdsmen ran away and went to the town and to the countryside, telling everyone about this. So people went out to see what had happened. 15 They came to Jesus and saw the man who used to have the many evil spirits, sitting, clothed, and in his right mind. And they were frightened. 16 The people who saw this told the others what had happened to the man who had the demons living in him, and they told about the pigs. 17 Then the people began to beg Jesus to leave their area. ~ Mark 5:11-17
Today, we return to our study of Mark 5 where the Lord Jesus and His disciples are on the eastside of the Sea of Galilee in a gentile area known as the area of the Gerasene people. Among the Gerasenes, faith in the God of the Bible was lacking. As a result, the demonic activity there was high because there was low impact of the truth. The people there had long rejected the truth, and so, the work of the enemy was heightened.
After arriving in this area, a demon possessed man ran down to meet the Lord Jesus and His disciples. After a short discussion the Lord Jesus commanded the demons to leave the man. And, this is where we pick up the story.
In v.14-15 of today's passage we read, "14 The herdsmen ran away and went to the town and to the countryside, telling everyone about this. So people went out to see what had happened. 15 They came to Jesus and saw the man who used to have the many evil spirits, sitting, clothed, and in his right mind. And they were frightened."
Here in Mark 5, we see the parables of Mark 4 being played out in the life of this once demon enslaved man. After meeting the Lord Jesus, his heart was now characterized by the good soil in the parables of the sower and of the seed. No longer was he enslaved to evil, now, he was enslaved to good, bearing good fruit a hundredfold. And the people in the town were the opposite, they remained dead to God because of their unforgiven sin.
In v.11-13 of today's passage we read, "11 A large herd of pigs was feeding on a hill near there. 12 The demons begged Jesus, “Send us into the pigs; let us go into them.” 13 So Jesus allowed them to do this. The evil spirits left the man and went into the pigs. Then the herd of pigs—about two thousand of them—rushed down the hill into the lake and were drowned."
When the demons were cast out of this man, they entered into a large herd of pigs. And, all two thousand pigs rushed down the mountainside and drowned in the sea. Unable to destroy this man, the demons destroyed the pigs. The pigs' death was a testimony to this man and a to all who looked on that this once bound man had been freed from the demons. The Lord Jesus allowed the demons to overtake the pigs because it provided proof that they had left the man. The demons did not want to leave the man, but they had to because the Lord Jesus was there to bring deliverance to him. This was the Lord Jesus' way of making visible His ability to free a person from the stronghold of satanic deception.
In v.14-15 of today's passage we read, "14 The herdsmen ran away and went to the town and to the countryside, telling everyone about this. So people went out to see what had happened. 15 They came to Jesus and saw the man who used to have the many evil spirits, sitting, clothed, and in his right mind. And they were frightened."
All of the people of the area came to see what had happened that day. And, when they arrived on the scene of the miracle, they saw the man who was once uncontrollable and out of his mind, sitting with a sane mind at the feet of the Lord Jesus. These deceived people saw what the Lord could do in a person's life. It was obvious that the once bound man had been set free and the people had no more reason to fear him as they had before.
But, all of this frightened the people of the Lord Jesus. They lacked the ability to recognize God in their midst. So trained were they by the deceptive powers of darkness, they could not see the light. Before, they were frightened by the demon-possessed man, but now, they are frightened of the Lord. This man who was so violent, was made obviously harmless, yet the people were frightened more by his deliverance than they were of his bondage. This story describes the trauma of holiness that we see throughout the Bible from those who come into the presence of God and are at odds to Him.
When the truth came to this people, they were so defined by error that they could not recognize the truth. We see this in Romans 1 where the Apostle Paul informs us that the God of the Bible who was invisible and unknowable to sinful man, made Himself visible and knowable. He has given us visible proof of His existence in the creation and through our conscience to apprehend His existence.
Sinful people who love their sin more than the truth deliberately refuse to acknowledge the revelation of God. As a result man's moral capacities are darkened and they turn off the revelation of God. Then they do something so detrimental to their souls, they cease to be thankful to God. All of this has a deadening effect upon our ability to respond to truth. This is the deceptive work of the enemy. Compounded deception is very hard to undo.
In Romans 1:21 we read, "Nor were they thankful but became futile or empty in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools."
Those who reject knowledge of God end up as "fools." As I am sure that you know, the temperature of the sun is 12,000 degrees Fahrenheit and the Earth is 93 million miles away from the sun giving us the temperatures that we enjoy on this earth. If the Earth were the slightest bit closer, we would all burn up. If we were the slightest bit farther away, we would freeze to death. And, add to that, the Earth spins on its axis 365 and 1/3 times as it makes its journey around the sun. As a result, we enjoy the four seasons that we have. Otherwise, life, as we know it, could not be sustained on this planet. The alternate freezing and burning would be too much. This is why the Earth is tilted on its axis 23 degrees, which contributes to the four seasons that we do enjoy.
One would have to be a "fool" to say all of this is a product of time plus chance plus nothing. As described by the Apostle Paul further in Romans 1, the progressive nature of rejecting the truth leads to senselessness. This is the nature of Satan's way, degeneration.
In Mark 5:16-17 we read, "16 The people who saw this told the others what had happened to the man who had the demons living in him, and they told about the pigs. 17 Then the people began to beg Jesus to leave their area."
One would think that this kind of miracle would cause a revival in that whole area, but it sadly did not. The people begged the Lord Jesus to leave. Instead of wanting to hear more, they were motivated by their fear more than the potential birth of faith in the God of the Bible. These people were more afraid of God's presence in their lives than they were of the demons that once possessed the cave dwelling man. Rather than rejoicing over the deliverance of the man from demonic possession, the people begged the Lord Jesus to leave because they loved money more than the rule of God in their lives.
Here in Mark 5, we see the parables of Mark 4 being played out in the life of this once demon enslaved man. After meeting the Lord Jesus, his heart was now characterized by the good soil in the parables of the sower and of the seed. No longer was he enslaved to evil, now, he was enslaved to good, bearing good fruit a hundredfold. And the people in the town were the opposite, they remained dead to God because of their unforgiven sin.
