Matthew 8: 28-34
Out Of Business
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?” 30 Now a good way off from them there was a herd of many swine feeding. 31 So the demons begged Him, saying, “If You cast us out, permit us to go away into the herd of swine.” 32 And He said to them, “Go.” So when they had come out, they went into the herd of swine. And suddenly the whole herd of swine ran violently down the steep place into the sea, and perished in the water. 33 Then those who kept them fled; and they went away into the city and told everything, including what had happened to the demon-possessed men. 34 And behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus. And when they saw Him, they begged Him to depart from their region.
There were two other Gospels written on this incident. The disciple Mark and Luke also recorded this same situation. So, let’s see what they say and then compare all three to gather more information.
Luke 8: 26 – 39, “26 Then they sailed to the country of the Gadarenes, which is opposite Galilee. 27 And when He stepped out on the land, there met Him a certain man from the city who had demons for a long time. And he wore no clothes, nor did he live in a house but in the tombs. 28 When he saw Jesus, he cried out, fell down before Him, and with a loud voice said, “What have I to do with You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg You, do not torment me!” 29 For He had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For it had often seized him, and he was kept under guard, bound with chains and shackles; and he broke the bonds and was driven by the demon into the wilderness. 30 Jesus asked him, saying, “What is your name?”And he said, “Legion,” because many demons had entered him. 31 And they begged Him that He would not command them to go out into the abyss. 32 Now a herd of many swine was feeding there on the mountain. So they begged Him that He would permit them to enter them. And He permitted them. 33 Then the demons went out of the man and entered the swine, and the herd ran violently down the steep place into the lake and drowned. 34 When those who fed them saw what had happened, they fled and told it in the city and in the country. 35 Then they went out to see what had happened, and came to Jesus, and found the man from whom the demons had departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. 36 They also who had seen it told them by what means he who had been demon-possessed was healed. 37 Then the whole multitude of the surrounding region of the Gadarenes asked Him to depart from them, for they were seized with great fear. And He got into the boat and returned. 38 Now the man from whom the demons had departed begged Him that he might be with Him. But Jesus sent him away, saying, 39 “Return to your own house, and tell what great things God has done for you.” And he went his way and proclaimed throughout the whole city what great things Jesus had done for him.
Mark 5:1-20, “5 Then they came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gadarenes. 2 And when He had come out of the boat, immediately there met Him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, 3 who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no one could bind him, not even with chains, 4 because he had often been bound with shackles and chains. And the chains had been pulled apart by him, and the shackles broken in pieces; neither could anyone tame him. 5 And always, night and day, he was in the mountains and in the tombs, crying out and cutting himself with stones. 6 When he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and worshiped Him. 7 And he cried out with a loud voice and said, “What have I to do with You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I implore You by God that You do not torment me.” 8 For He said to him, “Come out of the man, unclean spirit!” 9 Then He asked him, “What is your name?”And he answered, saying, “My name is Legion; for we are many.” 10 Also he begged Him earnestly that He would not send them out of the country. 11 Now a large herd of swine was feeding there near the mountains. 12 So all the demons begged Him, saying, “Send us to the swine, that we may enter them.” 13 And at once Jesus gave them permission. Then the unclean spirits went out and entered the swine (there were about two thousand); and the herd ran violently down the steep place into the sea, and drowned in the sea. 14 So those who fed the swine fled, and they told it in the city and in the country. And they went out to see what it was that had happened. 15 Then they came to Jesus, and saw the one who had been demon-possessed and had the legion, sitting and clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. 16 And those who saw it told them how it happened to him who had been demon-possessed, and about the swine. 17 Then they began to plead with Him to depart from their region. 18 And when He got into the boat, he who had been demon-possessed begged Him that he might be with Him. 19 However, Jesus did not permit him, but said to him, “Go home to your friends, and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He has had compassion on you.” 20 And he departed and began to proclaim in Decapolis all that Jesus had done for him; and all marveled.
Now wait a minute, something is wrong here and it looks like Matthew is wrong. Luke and Mark say that there is one guy possessed while Matthew says there is two guys. I thought the Scripture isn’t wrong. What is going on here. Well, if you know me than you will probably know my answer to this assumed error. Yes, my answer is this, ‘all three are correct.’ I will explain as we go through this section of the Gospels of Luke, Matthew, and Mark.
All three Gospel writers agree that our Lord Jesus Christ went across the Sea of Galilee and landed in the area of the Gadarenes.
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.
Now we come up to the area where there seems to be differences on the amount of men who were demon possessed.
there met Him two demon-possessed men, coming out of the tombs, exceedingly fierce, so that no one could pass that way.
There were two men who were demon possessed. Then how do we account for the differences? Remember that both Matthew and Peter were there when this was happening. Matthew who was the first one to write down the incident gave all the details, that being that there were two men. When Peter gave Mark his version of the encounter, he focused on the main guy who wanted to come back with the Lord and follow Him. When Luke later on investigated the incident with eye witnesses, he also zeroed in on the one guy who was more the focus of attention.
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?”
The men who were possessed cried out, ‘what have we to do with You, Jehovoh Elyon – The Lord Most High.’ This title was used a lot by foreigners of the God of Israel. It may be that since this land was mostly populated by Gentiles [foreigners] they were hoping that the Messiah would leave them alone in the Gentile territory if they properly addressed Him.
Now I have a problem here in what Luke wrote that needs to be addressed. He wrote, “29 For He had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For it had often seized him, and he was kept under guard, bound with chains and shackles; and he broke the bonds and was driven by the demon into the wilderness.
Our Lord Jesus Is God. He Is All Powerful. He Is The Creator. How come the demons did not come out immediately to His command?
Please note that our Lord at first commanded ‘the unclean spirit’ to come out of the man. The word indicates that our Lord was continually commanding the spirits to come out. It was one, then another, then another, etc. Finally our Lord got to the root of the problem, so He wanted the total of all the demons who were possessing the man. He received the answer. “30 Jesus asked him, saying, “What is your name?”And he said, “Legion,” because many demons had entered him.”
The two men were possessed by some 3000 to 6000 demons. This is the amount a Roman ‘legion’ had in its group. Wow!
Now before we go on I have to go over with you this question, ‘Is there a difference between demons, evil spirits, devil(s), fallen angels?’
The chief of the fallen angels is Satan. He is known also as the ‘devil’. There is only one. What does he look like? Ezekiel tells us in chapter 28, 14 “ You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; You were on the holy mountain of God; You walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones.”
He was the ‘Anointed’ Cherub. We have discussed previously who the cherubim are. Remember that they have four faces – man, lion, ox, and an eagle. This scripture takes on new meaning then,
“8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.”
One of Satan’s four faces is that of a lion. He goes about this face in his pursuit of devouring mankind.
Notice also that he is mentioned as the ‘anointed cherub’. He is the only angel ‘anointed’ for a high position. Perhaps this is one of the major reasons why he hates our Lord Jesus Christ so much. Our Lord and savior is also known as God’s Messiah – His Anointed! God Himself took away the ‘anointed’ title.
There are various levels of angels and this applies to fallen angels as well. Then we have some known as demons, they desire to possess humans. Are they fallen angels? I say they are not. Then what are they? I believe that they are the spirits of the illegal union of angels and women. In Genesis chapter 6 it says,’1 Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, 2 that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose.3 And the LORD said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.” 4 There were giants on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.’
The spirits of these ‘Giants’ who died off are ‘demons’ You might ask then how can you tell the difference? Angels, good or bad, have the capability to appear as men. Demons on the other hand want to possess someone or something. Some people are afraid of being possessed by demon’s. If you are a Christian you cannot be possessed as our Lord informs us through His Holy Word. 1 John 4: 4 says, “4 You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.”
Please note in Luke that the demons said, 31 And they begged Him that He would not command them to go out into the abyss.”
Some of the fallen angel who left their first estate in the presence of our Great God in Heaven were so bad they have been bound and will only be released for a short time at the end. These verses are very remarkable;
Revelation 9:1-2, “9 Then the fifth angel sounded: And I saw a star fallen from heaven to the earth. To him was given the key to the bottomless pit. 2 And he opened the bottomless pit, and smoke arose out of the pit like the smoke of a great furnace. So the sun and the air were darkened because of the smoke of the pit.
Revelation 9:11, “11 And they had as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, but in Greek he has the name Apollyon.
Revelation 11:7, “7 When they finish their testimony, the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit will make war against them, overcome them, and kill them.
Revelation 17:8, “8 The beast that you saw was, and is not, and will ascend out of the bottomless pit and go to perdition. And those who dwell on the earth will marvel, whose names are not written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world, when they see the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.
Revelation 20:1-3, “20 Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. 2 He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; 3 and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while.”
1 Peter 3:19, “19 by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison.”
2 Peter 2:4, “4 For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment.”
Jude 1:6, “6 And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day;
30 Now a good way off from them there was a herd of many swine feeding. 31 So the demons begged Him, saying, “If You cast us out, permit us to go away into the herd of swine.” 31 So the demons begged Him, saying, “If You cast us out, permit us to go away into the herd of swine.”
I can see here an attempt by the demons to get away from the Lord. I believe that they felt that their ‘time was up’. I mean you have to stop and think about this, ‘The demons making a suggestion to the Lord? Like, He needs their counsel. Do you think He Is going to be surprised when the pigs run into the water?
32 And He said to them, “Go.” So when they had come out, they went into the herd of swine. And suddenly the whole herd of swine ran violently down the steep place into the sea, and perished in the water.
Here is a question to consider, ‘what happened to all those demons? You know they didn’t get destroyed with the pigs. As we have discussed previously, I believe that they roamed around looking for new victims to possess.
33 Then those who kept them fled; and they went away into the city and told everything, including what had happened to the demon-possessed men. 34 And behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus. And when they saw Him, they begged Him to depart from their region.
We have here on the east coast some businesses that market ham products, you know hot dogs, bacon, Ham filets, etc. They employee thousands of employees. Can you imagine the headlines of disaster striking these companies. Would it get a lot of attention from the press? Would it effect the economy? You bet.
The pig product production in the area of the Gadarenes was greatly affected. The people begged the Lord to leave them before all that they marketed was destroyed.
This is a good reason why the people begged the Lord to leave their area, but I have a different idea why they did so. I believe they were more afraid of the men who were formerly possessed than the dead floating pigs. Seeing these two guys sitting peacefully at the Lord’s feet was more frightening to them.
The one man who was possessed by the demons fades out of the scene. One man however, wanted to go with the One Whom He knew was God. Would you have wanted to just walk away to a new life without wanting the One Who gave you the new life. Luke writes this, “38 Now the man from whom the demons had departed begged Him that he might be with Him. But Jesus sent him away, saying, 39 “Return to your own house, and tell what great things God has done for you.” And he went his way and proclaimed throughout the whole city what great things Jesus had done for him.”
There is a man of God who I admire. His name is Chuck Smith. This man has been faithful to obey the Lord. As a result millions of men, women, boys and girls are part of God’s family because he answered God’s call.
Today’s bible passage reminds me of a situation this Pastor had with a young man who was really messed up from drugs. The young man had come from a ‘Commune’ of drop outs. One night while using drugs a person in the group fired a gun near this young man’s head and told him that he had shot off half his head. This young man showed up at this Pastor’s church. Instead of sending this insane man away, this Pastor embraced him and nurtured him in the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
After a few years the young man’s senses came back to him, and then the Pastor told him that he had to leave. The young man was heartbroken. He didn’t want to leave his new step-father in the faith. Yet the Pastor was firm in his decision. The young man went to San Diego and ultimately started his own bible study. Today the Lord Is still using this person who is no longer young but impacts men, women, and children throughout the world, just like his step-father in the faith.
The man who wanted to go with our Lord was also denied the opportunity to be with the One he now loved. Yet like the young man from San Diego, the man in this bible situation also was fruitful for the Lord because we read of his evangelistic message impact. For the next time the Lord came back to this area the people couldn’t wait to see Him.
