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Out of the Tombs! (Pt. 1 of 2)
Presenter: Larry Kirkpatrick
Location: Mentone, California, United States
Delivery: 2007-07-29 00:05Z
Publication: GreatControversy.org 2007-07-29 00:05Z
Type: Sermon
URL: http://www.greatcontroversy.org/gco/ser/kir-oott1.php
Dawn. A boat approaches over the lake. Soon, Jesus and His disciples step ashore on the beach at Gergesa. Watching from the tombs, two men possessed by demons. Two persons, made in God’s image. Two persons debased, enslaved, controlled, apparently doomed. Now mere yards from Jesus.
Men are not possessed by demons at random. A man must expose himself to the possibility. A person must invite disaster. If we play with sin, we invite this condition.
It is true that our nature—our disordered human organism, our impacted, after-the Fall humanity—is without innate power to do good. Still, beside the opposition in our organism, even within fallen man, there remains the capacity to be attracted to righteousness (Ecclesiastes 3:11; Matthew 7:11; Luke 11:13; John 1:9; 12:32; Romans 2:4). Thus, we are, to put it too mildly, “conflicted.” The Gergesan demoniacs were conflicted indeed.
The event is found in three of the four gospels: Matthew 8:28-34; Mark 5:1-20; Luke 8:26-40. Matthew mentions that there are two demoniacs, Mark and Luke mention only one. In The Desire of Ages, Ellen White speaks of two, both who are restored by Christ.
Each writer records something of interest. Matthew focuses on their fierceness, Jesus’ authority to cast them out, their subtle impugning of His character (“are you going to cast us out before the time?” i.e., are you going to be even more unfair and arbitrary toward us?).
Luke adds that the duration which demon possession had been experienced by at least one of the men, was long. He also shares the history of the phenomenon in more detail, pointing out that the experience of possession was episodic (“oftentimes,” vs. 29).
But we will give most of our attention to Mark’s telling, for it is the most personal of the accounts. Remember that each gospel writer tends to have his own perspective. Matthew emphasizes Jesus’ authority; Luke dwells on Jesus’ interaction with and care for the common man; the focus of Mark is that Jesus acts in righteousness. All these perspectives are important, so that the Holy Spirit moved the inspired writers, knowing the points that would appeal to each of them personally, to write. God wanted us to see the varied facets.
Mark’s Report
The picture Mark gives is a hard one. The demoniac lives in the tombs. No man can bind him. Numerous times he has been captured and chained, but always worked at the chains until he had broken them. It takes some fierceness to destroy metal chains and fetters.
Of the demon possessed, Mark also says “neither could any man tame him.” The word “man” here is supplied, but true to the meaning of the text. Our various personality deficiencies and behaviors may be identifiable and changeable by a therapist or specialist, if they have insight and if we are willing to change what we do. But when it comes to possession by other intelligent beings bent upon our destruction, no mere man offers any cure. We need a power out of and above ourselves.
Neither is there power in even a spiritual man to achieve this (Acts 3:12, 16; 4:7-10; 9:34). The power to remove the presence of a parasitic person (for such is what a demon is, an autonomous personal being parasitically controlling and indwelling another) must come from outside oneself.
Verse five shows us what the demons will do to a man. Here are the possessed, crying out and cutting themselves, making a noise and a sensation and acting crazy. Ellen White calls them “madmen” (The Desire of Ages, p. 337).
What is the case of the madman, the demon-possessed man? His mind is darkened, his senses are dimmed. She says, “They realized dimly that One was near who could save them from the tormenting demons” (Ibid., pp. 337, 338). And here is the point of special interest. Mark 5:6: “And when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshiped Him.”
How did the demoniac learn of the presence of Jesus? Was it as simple as that he saw the boat coming across the lake? Or did the demons within him sense the approaching purity of Jesus? Either way, Jesus disembarks from the boat, and immediately the demon possessed rush up to Him. In the Desire of Ages account, the demons apparently are rushing to physically attack Jesus, but there is an intervention and they pull up short. They realize that Jesus can deliver them. Then they bow down and kneel before Him.
They opened their mouths to ask Jesus for mercy. How they desired His deliverance! But now, a terrible moment. Opening their mouths to ask mercy, they find they are not in control. Demons speak through them. Instead of asking merciful deliverance, they feel their lips form words of rebellion: What do we have to do with You Jesus? Yes, we know who You are. Have You come to torment us?
How hopeless the men must have felt in that moment. Deliverance is but a command away, but they cannot even ask it. Instead, they hear their own mouths commandeered, they experience their own free will violated. They hear a stronger controlling force that they know all too well, speaking of a moral contest in which they have been reduced almost to the animal. Anxiety fills their addled minds. Bowing before Jesus, they are helpless against the intelligences that now possess them.
Here is the picture with which so many of us are familiar. No, thank God, we may not be demon possessed, but how often our position is similar. We want to do what is right, we want to be in communion with God, but instead, we are controlled by passions we have permitted to master us. Truth be told, too many of us have played too much with sin. It has been a dangerous game, and only the mercy of Jesus has kept us back from complete self-destruction.
Insights From the Spirit of Prophecy
We will say more about Jesus in a moment. After all, the point of today’s message is that He is our Deliverer! But first, powerful insights from the Spirit of Prophecy. Listen!
The encounter with the demoniacs of Gergesa had a lesson for the disciples. It showed the depths of degradation to which Satan is seeking to drag the whole human race, and the mission of Christ to set men free from his power. Those wretched beings, dwelling in the place of graves, possessed by demons, in bondage to uncontrolled passions and loathsome lusts, represent what humanity would become if given up to satanic jurisdiction. Satan’s influence is constantly exerted upon men to distract the senses, control the mind for evil, and incite to violence and crime. He weakens the body, darkens the intellect, and debases the soul. Whenever men reject the Saviour’s invitation, they are yielding themselves to Satan. Multitudes in every department in life, in the home, in business, and even in the church, are doing this today. It is because of this that violence and crime have overspread the earth, and moral darkness, like the pall of death, enshrouds the habitations of men. Through his specious temptations Satan leads men to worse and worse evils, till utter depravity and ruin are the result. The only safeguard against his power is found in the presence of Jesus. Before men and angels Satan has been revealed as man’s enemy and destroyer; Christ, as man’s friend and deliverer. His Spirit will develop in man all that will ennoble the character and dignify the nature. It will build man up for the glory of God in body and soul and spirit. ‘For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.’ 2 Tim. 1:7. He has called us ‘to the obtaining of the glory’—character—‘of our Lord Jesus Christ;’ has called us to be ‘conformed to the image of His Son.’ 2 Thess. 2:14; Rom. 8:29 (The Desire of Ages, p. 341).
Satan seeks to drag the race down to this level. He wants to reduce us to the likeness of the demoniacs—every one of us. He is after the human race, every individual. We are all in the same boat then, all trapped in a situation where we are exposed to beings whose powers go far beyond our own and who are very goal-oriented, having our destruction in mind. Be that as it may, we are not here today to give them any glory, not to offer them any worship. Far from it. We would learn their devices and lay hold of the insight God our Deliverer has provided.
In contrast to Satan’s goal, it is “the mission of Christ to set men free from” Satan’s power. Stop and think about that. Yes, we are exposed to the attacks of these fallen angels, but even so, it is our Creator’s mission to set us free from the demonic power. One would enslave, the other, deliver. One would blot out the image of God in man entirely, the other would restore that image completely. The human race does not have a ringside seat; we are in the ring, in the very center of the battlefield.
Of the demon possessed, she says they are “in bondage to uncontrolled passions and loathsome lusts.” That is, they are no longer personally in control of their own passions. Other beings are. How do you get to that? Again,
Satan’s influence is constantly exerted upon men to distract the senses, control the mind for evil, and incite to violence and crime. He weakens the body, darkens the intellect, and debases the soul.
Demonic influence upon us is constant. It takes the forms of distraction, the attempt to remotely direct our thoughts, to incite us to immoral acts. It takes the form also of less direct attacks, attempts to lead us to engage in practices that will weaken our bodies, and to fill our minds with mundane or immoral things. He would use entertainment from the television or from the internet to lower our thoughts from spiritual themes to novelties. She warned,
Through his specious temptations Satan leads men to worse and worse evils, till utter depravity and ruin are the result.
There is a progression downward. Men do not start off addicted to evil, but through Satan’s battery of clever initiatives to destroy, demons lead us on step by step until we are far removed from Christ, until it seems our case is hopeless. This was the case of the demoniacs. They made bad decisions, spiraling deeper and deeper into the pit, until absolutely trapped.
Jesus Our Healer
So here comes Jesus. Across the sea of Galilee. He is coming tired, coming to find some solitary place for respite, retirement, refreshing. Then, the storm and the disciples’ fear of dying out on the lake, and Jesus’ calming of the waters. Then His arrival on the shores of Gadarene, only to be met by demons.
Here is something I cannot prove, but I wonder: what was the source of that storm on the lake? Why did the demoniacs immediately confront Jesus when He stepped ashore? Did Satan use his knowledge of the workings of the natural elements to manipulate the weather to try to sink Jesus? It would seem futile, and yet… Consider the attitude of the disciples during that incident. They toiled against the elements. Probably, most of them had been familiar all their lives with the lake, but they felt they were on the point of foundering. The storm was peculiar in its fury. Was it Satan at work to destroy? Might he have prevailed but for Jesus calling on the Father’s power to calm the storm?
Jesus is seeking a solitary place, an opportunity for a rest and restoration for Himself and for His disciples. But the Father knows exactly where Jesus is going. In His providences He is sending Him—straight to these hopeless and possessed men. I say to you, our Father in heaven knows exactly where we are. He knows even if we reduce ourselves to a position of helplessness, how to aid us. There is hope! There is hope because there is Jesus.
Jesus’ very name means “salvation.” but there is a problem here. Not in the Bible. It has to do with our way of thinking about what salvation means. Historically, the focus of Western Christianity has been upon the atonement in judicial terms—that is, laws, penalties, guilt, punishment. The word “atonement” has taken on a generally agreed upon (again, in the West) technical definition as meaning Jesus’ death substituting for our own death, on the cross. There certainly is truth in this aspect, but it is still far from being all that there is to say about the atonement.
Atonement means reconciliation between God and man. So yes, it includes God’s full provision to address our disobedience to His law. But it is ironic that so many who uphold the view that Jesus’ death on the cross is the atonement, also insist that God’s laws (or certain of them at least) have been done away.
We find almost every distinct reference to the atonement in the Tanach (Old Testament), with very little in the New Testament. And few of those are limited to mere legality. But it is well to remember that among the most central biblical passages are some that refer to the atonement in terms that unmistakably are centered on healing. Consider Isaiah 53:5:
But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes we are healed.
In Matthew 8:16, 17, the healing in Isaiah 53 is connected with what Jesus did for the demon possessed:
When the even was come, they brought unto Him many that were possessed with devils: And He cast out the Spirits with His word, and healed all that were sick: That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities and bare our diseases.
Finally, in Luke’s account of Jesus and the demoniacs on the shore of Gergesa, we have this:
He that was possessed of the devils was healed (Luke 8:36).
What did Jesus do? He read the situation carefully. With insight from His Father He understood that the possessed men desired release. The image of God in the men, masked by demon sway, diminished, yet remained. Jesus was within His rights in casting out the demons and releasing the men. The demons were confirmed rebels, awaiting destruction. The men, Heaven saw, were not confirmed in their rebellion. They desired release and an opportunity for manhood again. Let us never forget this truth: “Whatever may be the evil practice, the master passion which through long indulgence binds both soul body, Christ is able and longs to deliver” (The Desire of Ages, p. 203).
Deliverance from demon possession was healing, being made whole, and Isaiah 53 links Jesus’ sacrifice for us on the cross with our being healed. The “atonement” includes healing.
Trusting His Wisdom and Care
Some want to misuse this, of course, so that it is limited to physical healing and not spiritual, or, to say that the spiritual healing component comes only at the moment when our bodies are changed in glorification at the Second Coming, or, to say that we may today expect physical healing on demand. These bend what the Bible is saying.
We hold that Jesus has the authority and the capability to heal. But we dare not forget that God has the wisdom in terms of the working of His providences to know whether it is for our good to give us what we ask for, or what we need. We may think healing malady X now is the most needful. He may see that addressing malady X right now would bring temptations we are not prepared to face (1 Corinthians 10:13), or set into motion a series of complicated interactions that may be spiritually destructive for other parties. Instead of insisting that He must heal us now, we must be willing to trust the hand that was nailed to the cross for us. Jesus knows best.
Called To Obtain the Character of Jesus
What will Jesus do for us? Will He do less than He did for those demon possessed men? In The Desire of Ages, she said, “His [Jesus’] Spirit will develop in man all that will ennoble the character and dignify the nature. It will build man up for the glory of God in body and soul and spirit.” God will, through Christ and the Holy Spirit, do a work in the man who cooperates. It will lead to a spiritual healing of the person.
A rejection of Jesus is an occasion of yielding to Satan, but the safeguard against this is the presence of Jesus, man’s friend and deliverer. White’s statement is unambiguous: He has called us ‘to the obtaining of the glory’—character—‘of our Lord Jesus Christ;’ has called us to be ‘conformed to the image of His Son.’
Jesus crossed the sea of Galilee and healed demon possessed. Even those apparently ruined souls were called to obtain the glory of the character of Christ. Even those madmen were not left to destruction, but the Great Physician opened the way for them to be conformed to Jesus’ image. Surely these things serve to remind us of the great love of God for us, the non-negotiability of His desire to set men free. He is Lord. He is Healer. He is King. What good thing will He give you today if you only ask and place your will on His side? GCO
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