I want to get us started with some observations and an illustration by Neil T. Anderson, the president of Freedom in Christ Ministries. He says, “Psychologists and psychiatrists routinely see patients who are hearing voices: chemical imbalance is the standard diagnosis . . . But how can a chemical produce a personal thought? And how can our neurotransmitters involuntarily and randomly fire in such a way that they create thoughts that we are opposed to thinking?”(1) As a Christian counsellor, having a biblical worldview, his opinion is as follows: “Much of what is being passed off today as mental illness is nothing more than a battle for our minds.”(2)
He continues to share an experience he had counselling a child. He says, “A committed Christian couple adopted a young boy and received him into their home with open arms. Their little innocent baby turned into a monster before he was five. Their home was in turmoil when I was asked to talk to him. After some friendly chatting, I asked him if it ever seemed like someone was talking to him in his head. ‘Yes,’ he said, ‘all the time.’ ‘What are they saying?’ ‘They’re telling me that I’m no good.’ I then asked him if he had ever invited Jesus into his life. He replied, ‘Yes, but I didn’t mean it.’ I told him if he really did ask Jesus to come into his life, he could tell those voices to leave him. Realizing that, he gave his heart to Christ”(3) – and the voices stopped.
This morning, as we continue with our exposition of Matthew, we come to a passage that forces us to confront a subject matter that many Christians find troubling: demon-possession and demonic influence. Let us get started by standing in honor of God’s Word, as we read through Matthew 8:28-34:
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.
Demon-Possessed or Demonized Men (v. 28)
The scene that unfolds here occurs on “the other side” of the Sea of Galilee, according to verse 28, which is the eastern side,(4) and the phrase “the country of the Gergesenes” has been connected to the towns of Kersa or Gersa, which are both located on the eastern shore.(5) When Jesus arrived there, He met two fierce men who came rushing out of the tombs. In Mark’s account, He encountered only one man; and the text describes him as being “in the mountains and in the tombs, crying out and cutting himself with stones” (Mark 5:5). The tombs were chambers cut into the mountainside, common in ancient Palestine. On the eastern side of the sea, the high cliffs are comprised of limestone and full of tombs and other manmade caves. People shunned the region as dangerous because of the madmen.(6)
According to Matthew, the two men who were standing in the way were “demon-possessed” (v. 28). The term “demon-possessed” makes a lot of people uncomfortable. The secular world thinks the notion is crazy and the church finds it embarrassing. We live in a world of scientific and rational thought, where the kind of behavior demonstrated by these two men could be explained as a severe mental disorder or a chemical imbalance. The notion that someone could be under the influence of a demon is ludicrous to the secular mind and cringe-worthy to believers who lack a biblical worldview. Maybe if we better understood demon-possession, we would more likely acknowledge its reality, and be able to identify it when we see it.
Did you know that the word “possessed” does not exist in the Greek texts? “This translation is unfortunate, because the word ‘possession’ conjures up images of demons owning and being in absolute control of people at all times.”(7) “The term ‘demon-possessed’ is the English translation for only one word – daimonizomai (verb) or daimonizomenos (participle) – which is best transliterated ‘demonized’.”(8) This term, used by Matthew in the Greek text, “means to be influenced, afflicted, or tormented in some way by demonic power.”(9) Demonized “refers to people who are in varying degrees, or levels, of demonic bondage. In all instances of bondage, people are subject to periodic attacks by one or more demons that may affect them physically, mentally, and spiritually.”(10)
Maybe we are not fond of the term, or we find ourselves struggling with the notion of demons being at the heart of “some” illnesses, but I doubt very many believers would deny that Satan is at work to make us miserable. The Bible says, “Your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8). Commentator William Barclay notes that in the time of Jesus, all Illness was ascribed to demons; that “they were held to be responsible, not only for diseases like epilepsy and mental illness, but also for physical illness.” He notes that even the Egyptians held this view, adding how they believed “that the body had thirty-six different parts, and that every one could be occupied by a demon.”(11) Demons were a reality then, and demons are a reality today; and there are some illnesses – mental, physical, or spiritual – that can only be cured by speaking the name of Jesus, the Son of God (v. 29).
I have already noted how Mark’s account speaks of only one man, instead of two, yet his account contains more detail; and so, I want to share some of it with you. We read in Mark 5:2-5, “Immediately, there met Him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no one could bind him, not even with chains, 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. And always, night and day, he was in the mountains and in the tombs, crying out and cutting himself with stones.”
If we look at both accounts together, here is what we learn about both the devil and society’s influence over a man’s life: Satan “robs him of sanity and self-control; fills him with fears; robs him of the joys of home and friends; and (if possible) condemns him to an eternity of judgement. It also reveals what society does for a man in need: [It] restrains him, isolates him, [and] threatens him, but society is unable to change him.”(12) Tying someone to a bed in a mental institution or drugging them is just a patch and not a fix. Jesus is the only one who could save these men, and He had just braved the wind and waves to find them in their desperate condition.
They Wanted Nothing to Do with Jesus (v. 29)
In verse 29, the demons inside the men asked Him, “What have we to do with You? This “is a Jewish phrase, which often occurs in the Old Testament, signifying an abrupt refusal of some request, or a wish not to be troubled with the company or importunity of others.”(13) This question is better translated, “What have we to do with one another?” It meant something like, “How can we even be in the same room together?” How can light and darkness associate with one another? These demons knew that there was nothing in common between them and the Son of God.(14) They could not occupy the same space, and their only option was to flee! They were probably thinking, “We need to get the heck out of Dodge, because there is a new sheriff in town!”
If a person is indwelled by the Holy Spirit, then there is no room for Satan. Jesus has filled and permeated every nook and cranny of our being; and neither the devil nor his demons can occupy the space. But, without Jesus, there is an empty void just asking to be filled. Commentator David Garland says that it was the “belief in the first century that evil spirits were not content to wander aimlessly about. They abhor a vacuum and want to inhabit something. A human host is best; [but without] that, a bunch of pigs will do.”(15)
In Matthew 12:43-45, Jesus said, “When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none. Then he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order. Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first.” Allow me to share a scenario to help us understand these verses. If one of the disciples were to have cast out a demon from someone; if that individual did not immediately confess Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord and allow the Hoy Spirit to come inside, then the devil would jump at the opportunity to refill that empty vessel.
Now, let us apply this to believers. I am in no way suggesting that Christians can have a demon, but we can still fall prey to temptation and sin. Temptation comes when we have lowered our guard. We begin having worldly thoughts, instead of spiritual ones. When this happens, it creates a small crack in the door, which the devil will use to gain a foothold. There is now a tiny space in the recesses of our mind waiting to be filled. This is when one of Satan’s minions will whisper to us and say, “Go ahead and do this. No one will ever know. And because God is full of grace, He will forgive you.” We need to make sure that there are no empty spaces in our mind or heart; and a good safeguard is to always meditate on the Word of God. We must never forget that we have the Holy Spirit inside, and we can send the devil running!
Note how the demons knew who Jesus was. In James 2:19, we read this: “You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe – and tremble!” The demons believe in God. They know He exists; and in our text, they also recognized Jesus as the Son of God – but they are still demons. Even though they believe in God and know who Jesus is, they will still be confined to hell and tormented for all eternity (v. 29). Maybe you believe in God. That is awesome! Congratulations! But if a belief in God is your only substance of faith, you are no better off than the demons! There are numerous religions that acknowledge a Creator God; but not all roads lead to heaven. Jesus tells us that He is the only way to heaven (John 14:6).
Now, you might say, “I grew up in church and I heard about Jesus. I believe He was a real person.” That is great! But do you know Him? The demons recognized Jesus; but there is a huge difference between recognizing Him and knowing Him. I believe the governor of Kentucky exists, but I do not know him. We are not best friends! To know someone means having a personal relationship with that individual; you spend time together and have an intimate knowledge of each other’s thoughts and passions. Jesus calls us to know Him and have a relationship with Him. We must know Him as our personal Savior and Lord to be forgiven of our sins and receive eternal life. If we do not know Jesus, we will be unable to abide in the same space with Him in eternity. Righteousness and unrighteousness; holiness and sin; they cannot occupy the same space.
When Pigs Fly and Demons Die (vv. 30-32)
In verses 30-32, we see a rather strange thing happen. Since the demons needed to flee from the presence of Jesus, they sought permission to inhabit a herd of pigs, rather than the two men. Jesus told them to “Go,” and after they entered the pigs, those swine did “a superman” off the cliff, plunged into the sea, and died. Mark tells us that there were two-thousand pigs that took the plunge (Mark 5:13). “The destructive power of the seas that almost sank the disciples’ boat now swallows up the pigs. Jesus, who has just demonstrated His dominion over the sea,”(16) now demonstrates His power over unclean spirits.
This account portrays a miracle, but unfortunately, people get caught up in discussing the destruction of the pigs. They want to try and make a case that Jesus had no regard for the personal property of others. They might say that what happened was cruelty to animals. Barclay observes, “Surely, we could never compare the value of a herd of swine with the value of a man’s immortal soul. It is unlikely that we refuse to eat bacon for breakfast or pork for dinner. Our sympathy with the pigs does not extend far enough to prevent us from eating them. Are we then to complain if Jesus did restore sanity to two men’s minds at the cost of a herd of pigs?”(17)
“Many have found it strange and have considered it heartless that Jesus should destroy a herd of animals like this. But it almost certain that Jesus did not in fact deliberately destroy the pigs.”(18) What happened was that the demons alarmed the herd of pigs; and in their terror, the pigs took flight and plunged into the sea.(19) Garland says, “These demons create fits of frenzy in whatever they inhabit, and the very thing they want to avert happens.”(20) With these kamikaze pigs, “the demons fall victim to their own designs and tumble headlong into chaos. The joke is on them. [And] from a Jewish [reader’s] perspective, the scene is a joke: unclean spirits and unclean animals are both wiped out in one fell swoop, and a human being is cleansed.”(21)
The People Also Fled from Jesus (vv. 33-34)
In verse 33, we see that those who kept the pigs fled. At first glance, we might say they were just afraid. But remember, the demons fled because their darkness could not occupy the same space as the light of Christ. Perhaps the keepers of the pigs fled for that same reason. They had darkness in their hearts and wanted nothing to do with Him. Jesus said in John 3:19-20, “And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.”
If you are running from the light, it leads to condemnation. The Bible says, “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). But Jesus wants to save you from condemnation. Back up just a few verses in that same chapter, to John 3:16-17, and Jesus said this: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” My hope for you today is that you would stop running from the light and come to Jesus and be saved from condemnation.
In verse 34, the people of the town came out to meet Jesus and begged Him to leave them alone. Note how the demons earlier had the same response? “Leave us alone! Do not torment us!” Commentator A. T. Robertson notes here that the people of the city “cared more for hogs than for human souls, as often happens today.”(22) “Here is human selfishness at its worst. It did not matter to these people that two men had been given back their reason [and sanity]; all that mattered to them was that their pigs had perished. It is so often the case that people in effect say, ‘I don’t care what happens to anyone else, if my profits and my comfort and my ease are preserved’.”(23) “People can tolerate religion as long as it does not affect business and profits.”(24)
In Mark’s version of the account, he does not conclude (as Matthew does) with the townsmen telling Jesus to leave; but rather, he goes on to share more of the interaction between Jesus and the one restored. Mark says, “And when He got into the boat, he who had been demon-possessed begged Him that he might be with Him. 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’” (Mark 5:18-19). “The interest of Mark is in one man freed and restored. Matthew’s interest is in the overcoming of the demons and the failure of the townsmen to accept a salvation which had drawn near, choosing [instead] to live in the tyranny of fear rather than in the freedom of faith.”(25)
The people of the town “are more comfortable with the malevolent forces that take captive human beings and destroy animals than they are with the One who can expel them. They can cope with the odd demon-possessed wild man who terrorizes the neighborhood with random acts of violence. But they want to keep someone [like] Jesus . . . at lake’s length – on the other side of the sea.”(26) “They do not recognize the help that Jesus offers and do not invite Him to stay or bring their sick and demonized to Him. They chase off the source of their deliverance and salvation,” and “Jesus “grants the request of the community to leave them.”(27) I would not wish that on anyone today. I would not want to see anyone deny Christ and push Him away; as you never know how long it will be – if ever – that they will be given another chance to know Him.
Time of Reflection
Allow me to apply this account to your average, everyday sinner – if there is such a thing. The man in our account “has been written off by others as a hopeless [cause]. Others have so brutalized him that when he sees Jesus, he sees only another who comes to torment him . . . Evil has so completely taken over his life that it assumes a personality of its own. It distorts his perception of reality. The man has no sense of self-identity; he does not know who he is.”(28) This describes many who are lost in sin without Christ. But notice that when the man “meets with Jesus’ powerful mercy, he is restored to wholeness. His encounter with Jesus makes him fully human again, with a family, a home, and a mission in life. He no longer is a beast whom people thought needed to be tamed, but a human being called to proclaim” what great things the Lord had done for him, and how Jesus had showed him compassion (Mark 5:19).(29)
Just as this man’s life was restored, Jesus can transform your life as well. We read in 2 Corinthians 5:17 and 21, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new . . . For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” Jesus, who knew no sin, died for our sin as He hung on the cross. Romans 6:23 says, “The wages of sin is death” – spiritual death, which is eternal separation from God. If left in our sin, God would look at us and say, “What have I to do with you?” But, Jesus took our punishment on Himself, so that we could be set free from death, be seen as righteous and abide in the presence of the heavenly Father forevermore. And so, I invite you to come confess Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord today.
NOTES
(1) Neil T. Anderson, The Bondage Breaker (Eugene, OR: Harvest House, 2000), p. 65.
(2) Ibid., p. 69.
(3) Ibid., p. 70.
(4) Frank Stagg, “Matthew,” The Broadman Bible Commentary, vol. 8 (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1969), p. 127.
(5) Ibid., p. 127.
(6) A.T. Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1930), p. 69.
(7) John Wimber, Power Healing (San Francisco: Harper, 1991), p. 109.
(8) Neil T. Anderson, The Bondage Breaker (Eugene, OR: Harvest House, 2000), p. 186.
(9) Wimber, p. 109.
(10) Ibid., pp. 109-110.
(11) William Barclay, “The Gospel of Matthew,” The Daily Study Bible, vol. 1 (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1958), p. 327.
(12) Warren Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, vol. 1 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1989), p. 34.
(13) Adam Clarke, “Matthew,” Clarke’s Commentary, vol. 5 (Nashville: Abingdon), p. 106.
(14) Robertson, p. 70.
(15) David Garland, “Mark,” The NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996), p. 204.
(16) Ibid., p. 205.
(17) Barclay, p. 330.
(18) Ibid., p. 329.
(19) Ibid., p. 329.
(20) Garland, p. 204.
(21) Ibid., p. 205.
(22) Robertson, p. 70.
(23) Barclay, p. 330.
(24) Garland, p. 206.
(25) Stagg, p. 128.
(26) Garland, p. 206.
(27) Ibid., p. 206.
(28) Ibid., p. 212.
(29) Ibid., p. 212.
