Mark 6

Chapter 6. The Master Workman and the Power of SatanThey saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons, sitting there, dressed and in his right mind. (Mark 5:15)As we have already pointed out in a previous chapter, the Christian worker is called to deal not merely with depraved human nature but with the powers of hell. Therefore, the Lord Jesus, our great Example, appears in this story of service in constant and victorious conflict with Satanic power. One of the first pictures in this graphic panorama is the temptation in the wilderness, where the Lord Jesus met the devil alone and defeated him in single combat, and then went forth to renew the battle on a wider field for the deliverance of captive men and women. Immediately afterwards we read the story of the first of these battles in the synagogue of Capernaum (Mark 1:23). There we find Him challenging the unclean spirit, who had recognized the Lord in the public assembly, and driving him out with such authority and power that the spectators were amazed, and “they asked each other, ‘What is this? A new teaching—and with authority! He even gives orders to evil spirits and they obey him’” (Mark 1:27). And now in the fifth chapter of Mark the conflict is renewed again, and the incident gathers about it the most intense dramatic force and interest and reveals to us a flood of lurid light concerning the malign powers of the demon world, and the awful forces with which we have to contend in our ministry in the Master’s name. The Demoniac What an awful picture we have here of the wreck of a human life and of the power of Satan! The first dark shade in the picture is the dwelling of the demoniac among the tombs. How it suggests to us the close connection between sin, Satan and death. How dreary, how dark, and how hopeless is the atmosphere of evil! Sin is indeed a living death, and the sinner is always dwelling in the valley and shadow of death. “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23). Next we notice the fearful power of evil in a human subject. When possessed by the evil spirit no force could restrain this man. “No one could bind him any more, not even with a chain. For he had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet. No one was strong enough to subdue him” (Mark 5:3-4). The world is beginning to learn that power is not a matter of physical organism. A live wire is mightier than 100 men. Spirit force may be either good or evil, but surely if the power of Satan could so augment the natural energy of one human frame, the power of the Holy Spirit can much more endue a weak and suffering body with health and energy for life and service. This was the source of Samson’s supernatural strength. It was the moving of the Spirit of God in the frame of an ordinary man that made him mightier than multitudes of armed men. Again we note the awful tendency of evil to self-destruction. “Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones” (Mark 5:5). This was a little section of hell let loose on earth to give us a glimpse of the world of darkness and despair. He that has ever seen that awful spectacle of wrecked humanity furnished by an insane asylum cannot fail to realize the reality and the fearfulness of the work of sin and Satan, and flee from the wrath to come. It is not only in the insane asylum that the devil shows his work. The streets and saloons and sometimes the desolate homes of our own city and country are full of parallel scenes. The drunkard is a specimen of the work of Satan and of the possession of evil spirits as real and terrible, if not quite as helpless, as the Gerasene demoniac. Oh, if men would only realize when they begin to play with the fires of drink that they have started on the downgrade that leads to a world from whence there can be no return and where there can be no hope, they would shrink back with horror from the awful peril. We see in this man a strange contradiction. There were two men in that one human form. One was the spirit of the demon which answered back to Christ, recognizing Him as the Lord who had supreme authority even over the evil spirits and adjuring His mercy and indulgence. And the other was the spirit of the man himself, cowed and crushed and yet not wholly suppressed, but instinctively feeling that his only hope and help were to be found in Jesus and, in spite of the power within him leading him to run, throw himself at the feet of Jesus and worship Him. There are two men in every drunkard and every sinner. The one is the strong will of Satan, but the other is that mighty thing with which God has endowed every human being—his own will, the power of choosing or refusing. You may be swayed and controlled by the spirit of evil, but you are not obliged as yet to obey it implicitly and forever. You have not the power to throw it off, but you have the power to cry out against it and to ask deliverance of One who is able to overcome it and set you free. This man could not cast out the demon that raged within him, but he could flee to the feet of Jesus and throw himself upon His mercy. Oh, that your lingering power of choice would lead you likewise not to try to save yourself, not to fight against your tempter and tyrant, but to go to Christ and ask Him to set you free. Let us remember this as Christian workers. There is something in every man, no matter how lost, that may be wrought into a link that will bind him to the Savior. Let us not deceive ourselves or our fellow beings with anything less than God’s supreme remedy for sin. Let us bring men to Jesus and we will find that even the most lost and helpless has something in him that will respond to that call and recognize the Master’s voice. The Demon Power What a fearful glimpse we get in this story of the myriads of those principalities and powers that have been cast down from heaven to work in the children of disobedience. In this single man there was an army of evil spirits, as much as a Roman legion, numbering several thousand persons. What vast capacity there must be in a human soul when it is able to offer a satisfying home to such powerful and numerous spirits! What a picture it gives us of the supremacy of man above nature and creation. When these demons entered into the herd of swine, although there were 2,000 of them, they were not able to stand the pressure which one human being had endured for years, and, driven mad by the awful sensation produced through the entrance of the demons, they rushed headlong into the sea and were immediately destroyed. And what a dark and desolate conception the cry of these demons gives us of their dreadful existence. They besought the Lord that He would not send them out of the country. In a parallel gospel they are represented as beseeching Him that He would not send them into the abyss. This word represents that dark abode where the evil spirits are kept in prison. They would rather dwell in the bodies of filthy and unclean swine than be reincarcerated in their dismal dungeons. The powers of evil seem to have a plenary indulgence to visit this fallen world and find temporary respite in the souls and bodies of men. They are no doubt able so to unite themselves with our human nature that they can enjoy our conscious pleasure and share the gross and sensual lusts, appetites and passions of the men whom they control. It is not the sinner’s own spirit that is made happy with a temporary thrill of sinful passion, but it is a demon within him that is drinking up his life and quaffing the cup of sensuality once more before he returns to the devouring flames and everlasting burnings. This and this alone explains the awful depths of human weakness and the fierce and fearful passions which sometimes break loose in the worst of men and fill the world with horror. It is very obviously suggested here that the ferocity of the lower animals may be inspired to a great extent by evil spirits. The serpent, the lion, the tiger and the vulture are but embodiments for the time of fiercer natures and more awful forces. “We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth” (Romans 8:22) since the fall of man. The creatures that yielded to Adam’s dominion have now been turned loose on humanity under Satan’s control, and when once more Satan shall be driven out of this world and bound with chains in the bottomless pit, again it shall be true, The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant will play near the hole of the cobra, and the young child put his hand into the viper’s nest. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain. (Isaiah 11:6-9) The DelivererThe evil spirits recognize without question the authority of the Master and they instantly obey His supreme command, “Come out of this man, you evil spirit!” (Mark 5:8). Fellow worker, have you understood the Master Workman’s words to you, “I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy: nothing will harm you” (Luke 10:19)? Have you recognized this authority, and are you going forth in the Master’s name not merely to instruct and counsel and plead with men to live better lives, but to bring them the message of victory and power and bid them rise up and claim their deliverance as in the days of old? How simple and sublime is the next picture. “When they came to Jesus, they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons, sitting there, dressed and in his right mind” (Mark 5:15). The wretched being that had ranged the mountains and the tombs, naked and mutilated, is now sitting down like a quiet child at the feet of Jesus, clothed with decency and modesty, looking up with a rational, intelligent and peaceful face. And so vast was the transformation that we do not wonder “they were afraid” (Mark 5:15). We do not need to go back to Gerasa to see this picture to repeat it. How often it has filled our hearts with joy and wonder! How many of those who are reading these lines have themselves furnished the materials for both pictures! How Jesus can tame the savage breast, can refine the coarse and brutal nature, and can transform the victim of passion, cruelty and lust into a life of sweetness and gentleness, love and holy usefulness! The gospel has no nobler evidences of its divinity than these triumphs of grace in the lives of the profligate, the harlot and the savage. Oh, let us accept them! Let us multiply them until the wildernesses of sin shall blossom as the rose. The Redeemed One As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with him. Jesus did not let him, but said, “Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord had done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” So the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed. (Mark 5:18-20) We can all sympathize with the longing of this new convert to be with Jesus. It is the old, old story of a soul in its earliest love. Thank God, we can still be with Him even though we may not go on the boat with Him. The Lord knew that this man would be stronger to be at once thrown upon his own feet and sent back to his own people. The new convert will get a great deal more out of his testimony than anybody else. You can be with Jesus still, not as a weak and suckling infant fed with a spoon and petted by a lot of sentimental women, but as a robust man stepping out in faith and telling the story to others of what He has done for you. This man needed no very elaborate pulpit or letter of introduction. His own personality was sufficient advertisement. The Lord knew how often the children had to run at his approach, and his own family had rushed in to lock the doors against him; and when he came back the same man, but not the same, to tell of the wondrous stranger who had set him free, the Lord Jesus had a press agent a good deal better than our modern newspapers. We do not wonder that when Jesus came back through this great and populous region a little later, the people crowded around Him by tens of thousands to hear with their own ears the story of His love and power. It was the country of Decapolis, which means, “the 10 cities.” It was full of people who formed a kind of link between the Jew and the Gentile world. It was new territory, and it brought a mighty harvest. Oh, saved men and women, are you doing your best to make known to others the Savior you have found? Christian workers, are you wisely following the Master’s example and getting saved men and women busy for their own sake and the world’s sake in witnessing for Jesus? The World’s Hate The picture closes with a very sinister touch, a very dark and ugly shade. It was not long till the herdsmen of that flock of swine went back to their masters and told them of the tragedy which had destroyed so much valuable property, and also of the man that had been saved. What a lifelike picture it is! They took no interest in the story of the saved man, but they were greatly stirred at the loss of their hogs, and with a sarcastic touch Mark adds, “Then the people began to plead with Jesus to leave their region” (Mark 5:17). This was too expensive a religion for these people. Was it not rather a hard and questionable thing for the Lord to destroy so much valuable property? In answering this it is enough to remember that they had no business having swine. It was contrary to the Hebrew law to raise them and to eat them, and to ask anybody else to eat them. It was a righteous judgment on these men and probably they knew it. They were much more willing to give up the Lord than the world, and they asked Him if He would not please excuse them; and He did. He answered their prayer. He left them to their swine and those awful powers which no doubt soon found a place of refuge in the hearts of the men who had turned out the Master. We can have our choice. If you want to reject Christ, you may. If you want to crucify Him, you can now; but another day is coming soon, and what then? Which shall it be, your Savior or your swine?