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28 When He had come to the other side, to the country of the Gergesenes, there met Him two demon-possessed men, coming out of the tombs, exceedingly fierce, so that no one could pass that way. 29 And suddenly they cried out, saying, "What have we to do with You, Jesus, You Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the time?" ~ Matthew 8:28-29
Today, we continue our study of Matthew 8 where the Lord Jesus has been performing a few miracles which authenticated the teaching He gave in Matthew 5-7. Now that the Lord Jesus has taught the disciples and has authenticated His teaching through His healings, He is now leading them into a trial so that their faith will be bolstered even more through the trial.
In our last study, the Lord Jesus led His disciples across the Sea of Galilee in boats and while they were fretting over a sudden storm that came upon them, the Lord Jesus slept. Like the disciples, we often wonder if the Lord is aware of our plight when calamity comes upon us. We are often found asking,"Lord don't you care?" But, I have learned through many trials that if I give Him enough time, He always shows Himself to be trustworthy. There are times when we must go through the darkest of times in order to hone a clearer view of God.
In v.28 of today's passage we read, "When He had come to the other side, to the country of the Gergesenes, there met Him two demon-possessed men, coming out of the tombs, exceedingly fierce, so that no one could pass that way."
When the Lord and His disciples had come to the eastern side of the Sea of Galilee to the country of the Gergesenes, also known as the Gadarenes, they met two demon-possessed men coming out of the tombs. There are various stages and degrees to which demons or evil spirits can affect and possess or control human beings. In this incident we have an extreme case. These men lived among the unclean dead bodies in the limestone caves which lined the cliffs along the sea of Galilee. I only wonder what preceded these demons taking control of these men.
People who are possessed gave the demons at some point permission to enter into their lives. It is no accident that the rise of satanism and occultism in these last few years has coincided with the spread of pornography and obscenity throughout our society. These are always related. These evil spirits are always to be found among that which God has defined as off-limits. The demonic loves filth and obscenity, and if they gain a foothold in our lives that is where they will lead us, to the obscene and the filthy.
Matthew was careful to identify this place as "the other side." This gives a hint to why these men had been possessed by those demons. It is always our lack or our suspicion that we don't have certain things that would make us feel better. It was their lack that caused these men to go down the road that led eventually to demon-possession. I grew up on the other side of the tracks. For all of my young life I allowed myself to feel less than those on the other side of the tracks. I did this by allowing those on the other side to wrongly define me. How foolish was I to think that proximity mattered in that way. Of course, had I known what many on the other side of the tracks knew, I would not have allowed the lesser to define me. Had I a personal relationship with the Lord then, I would have been wise enough to know that He provides the best definition for our lives. And, when we walk in the way He has called us, it will be then that we will be best defined.
The country of the Gergesenes was Gentile country. The fact that pigs were there reveals the area was not all that much defined by God who in the Old Testament defined pigs as unclean animals that were off-limits. When we disobey God in one area, we will quickly disobey Him in another. Not that we will ever stop sinning this side of heaven, but when we deliberately disobey God, we will find it easier to disobey Him again and again beyond the initial decision to be defined by the lesser.
We live in a world where the will of Satan is being carried out by a host of demonic beings. In Ephesians 6, we read, "We don't wrestle against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers and spiritual rulers of darkness in high places." These demonic forces hate the Lord Jesus and thus they hate you and me. And they would love to destroy us. When we ignore God's teaching in one area, we unknowingly open ourselves up to the influence of those in the demonic realm. But, as we discover in 1 John 3:8, "The Son of God appeared to destroy the works of the Devil." Even though the believer in Christ can be oppressed by the demonic, we cannot be possessed by them.
In v.29 of today's passage we read, "And suddenly they cried out, saying, 'What have we to do with You, Jesus, You Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the time?'"
The demon possessed men knew the identity of the Lord Jesus as "the Son of God" even before the Lord Jesus addressed them. The first time the term "Son of God" is recorded in the Gospel of Matthew comes from the lips of Satan himself. It was during the temptation in Matthew 4:3-6, when Satan himself tempted the Lord Jesus. Matthew recorded the details in order to underscore the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. And, even those who thrive in the darkness are fully versed about the identity of the Lord Jesus. There are very many so-called enlightened people today that say that for us to believe the Lord Jesus Christ to be the Son of God is misdirected. In the Bible, only humans are ignorant enough to deny that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Even the devil and his demons believe that the Lord Jesus Christ is indeed the divine Son of God.
According to Mark 5, these possessed men were stark naked, cutting themselves with stones and screaming to the tops of their lungs. This is where demons will always lead anyone who has given their allegiance to them. That place always eventually arrives at the place of hatred toward self. When these two demon-possessed men saw the Lord Jesus, they worshipped Him. They knew exactly the identity of the Lord Jesus. There was a time when they were holy angels who worshipped the Lord Jesus, but when they were convinced to follow Lucifer, they lost their allegiance to the Lord. All in the spiritual realm know the Lord Jesus to be the second person of the Trinity. These two even had the right eschatology when they asked, "Have You come here to torment us before the time?" That question reveals they were pre-tribulational, pre-millennial and they knew it was not the time for their judgement.
