Pigs or People

Matthew 8:28-34

When he arrived at the other side in the region of the Gadarenes, two demon-possessed men coming from the tombs met him.  They were so violent that no one could pass that way.  “What do you want with us, Son of God?” they shouted.  “Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time?”

Some distance from them a large herd of pigs was feeding.  The demons begged Jesus, “If you drive us out, send us into the herd of pigs.”

He said to them, “Go!”  So they came out and went into the pigs, and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and died in the water.  Those tending the pigs ran off, went into the town and reported all this, including what had happened to the demon-possessed men.  Then the whole town went out to meet Jesus.  And when they saw him, they pleaded with him to leave their region.

t’s here!  Should we tell Mike?”  The words were spoken in hushed tones by a grief-stricken pastor’s wife to her husband as we sat around the kitchen table in a rural Kansas town.  “He’s a mature Christian.  He can handle it,” was the confident reply of that pastor.  My curiosity was greatly elevated.  Inwardly I was crying out, “Tell Mike!  I have some grave reservations concerning his maturity!”

Shortly that woman’s face distorted and her voice altered.  The words which were shortly uttered through her lips were blasphemous and vile as she raged against the True and Living God.  To say I was startled is mild understatement.  Her husband began to rebuke the demon which was even then tormenting that poor woman.  I prayed mightily and soon the woman returned to a semblance of normality.

Later, after the crisis had passed and a semblance of order was restored to the home, this couple explained to me a tragic story of demon torment.  This woman suffered from a life-threatening cancer and was referred by her doctor to the medical school where I was in training.  She was placed on an experimental regimen of drugs.  Wishing, as is so common with those afflicted such serious ailments, to take charge of her own destiny, she sought out a group who promised healing from the cancer through prayer and faith.

As she began to invest time in their services she became convinced that she needed the experience they claimed to be universal and mandatory for all Christians in order to experience the fullness of the Spirit of God if she ever hoped to be healed.  Eventually she received what they insisted was the infilling of the Holy Spirit.

At first she experienced a sense of deepest contentment each time she exercised her new “gift”.  With the passage of time, however, she discovered that she had scant control over when her “gift” would manifest itself.  In time she realised that a spiritual power was controlling her and though she experienced a degree of contentment and deep pleasure whenever she was controlled by this power, she began to speak in English and not in a “heavenly” language.  As time passed she discovered that she had not been praising the Lord, but instead she was blaspheming the Lord Christ.  She became alarmed because, though she enjoyed the pleasure which accompanied her experience, she had no control over either the timing of the experience or the words which would be uttered through her lips.  She was horrified to think that she was demonically tormented.

That woman did at last find release from her torment.  It was not the first time that I had encountered individuals whom were quite likely tormented by demonic powers, but it was one of the more dramatic instances of such encounters for me.  Demon possession, spiritual torment, is not something which is restricted to the pages of the New Testament.  It is a condition which is likely misdiagnosed or undiagnosed, even ignored in our day.  We are too sophisticated to ever imagine that such a thing could happen.

Among the people who met Jesus during His days in the flesh were two men who were demon-possessed.  Today, we would likely say they were mentally ill, emotionally distraught or socially maladjusted.  The Bible is quite clear in stating that they were demon-possessed.  Uncomfortable though we may be with such assertions, the divine diagnosis is given and their subsequent deliverance would tend to verify the accuracy of that diagnosis.  Though at least one of these men was restored and made whole and later employed to great blessing in the cities surrounding that area, the focus of Matthew’s account is the response of the townspeople to Jesus’ act of mercy.

Have you ever spoken with a demon-possessed individual?  I have, on several occasions.  The situation is disconcerting, but more disconcerting still is the response of those who are aware of the individual’s strange behaviour.  We tend to grow accustomed to aberrant behaviour and ultimately we extend a measure of acceptance.  When the individual is delivered and their behaviour is transformed, we find that we are often uncomfortable with the transition to normalcy.  We can live with a measure of chaos if we think we have some control over the chaos; we are uncomfortable with one who rules over such aberrant behaviour in a manner we cannot explain.  Chaos becomes familiar, and the familiar is comfortable; and change always threatens our ability to cope.

In fear and distress the townspeople requested Jesus to leave their vicinity.  Their reaction to the changed condition of the demon-possessed men betrayed their fear of one who possessed power over their condition.  In effect they chose pigs over people.  The pigs they kept in contradiction of Jewish law were apparently held in higher esteem than were two men who constituted a dire and continual threat to their society.  Join me in study of this incident to discover whether God has a message for us in this day.

The Account as Related in the Gospels – The parallel accounts of this incident are recorded in the Gospels of Mark and Luke [cf. Mark 5:1-20; Luke 8:26-29].  These accounts provide us with a somewhat more detailed description of the encounter between the Lord of Glory and the dark forces of spiritual wickedness.  Matthew, however, provides the unique insight that there were actually two men united in misery, and that each of the two was released from their pitiful condition.  The other Gospels, however, are focused on the fact that one of the men was not only released from his anguish of soul, but that he became a worshipper of the Lord who had set him at liberty.

What happened to the other man, the one who was released but of whom nothing more is stated either in our text or in the parallel passages?  If he was a believer in the Son of God, perhaps he testified to the Lord’s grace.  We can hope so, but the fact that nothing more is said of him would lead us to believe that though delivered from spiritual torture he was not freed from spiritual bondage.  We must understand that simply because an individual is freed from spiritual tyranny does not mean that such a one will be brought into spiritual liberty.  Freedom from immediate torment by demonic powers does not necessarily translate into freedom in Christ.

Let me explain.  On one occasion Jesus was challenged by the Pharisees and teachers of the law to provide a sign to convince them that He was the Messiah.  He cautioned them that it was a wicked and adulterous generation which asked for a miraculous sign.  Then He added this information which may speak of the second man set free of demonic torment.  When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it.  Then it says, “I will return to the house I left.”  When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order.  Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there.  And the final condition of that man is worse than the first [Matthew 12:43-45].

Now, back to the story.  A busy schedule of ministry had exhausted the Saviour; and He, together with the disciples, got into a boat to cross over the Sea of Galilee beside which they had been ministering.  Jesus promptly fell asleep, but whilst He was sleeping a violent storm arose and the boat was threatened by the waves.  The disciples at last wakened the sleeping Saviour who rebuked the storm.  Instantly, the waves ceased their boisterous assault against the tiny barque, the winds stilled, and the sea was glassy calm.

Arriving on the other side of the lake, the tiny band of evangelists was met by two demon-possessed men, violent and fierce.  One, the one which would later seek to follow Jesus as a disciple, was so fierce that he could not be bound, for he would break chains and bands of iron.  He wore no clothing and together they lived in the tombs with the dead.  As Jesus neared they began to cry out, for the demons knew Jesus.  That the demons recognised Jesus should not surprise anyone familiar with the Word of God.  James informs us that the demons believe there is one God – and shudder [James 2:19]!  The term which is translated shudder could be translated more literally to indicate that their hair stands on end.  Believing there is a God and believing God are two entirely different things, and though the demons know there is a God, they do not believe God.

The parallel passages make their recognition of the Master even more dramatic, for though both recognised Jesus as the Son of God, at least one of the men fell to his knees before Jesus, and his address was to Jesus, Son of the Most High God [Mark 5:7].  Those of our world who refuse to acknowledge Jesus as Lord reveal an ignorance more dark than that of the demons, for the demons know Him to be Son of the Most High God.

The demons which infested these two tormented men not only recognised Jesus, but they also knew that He shall at last prevail.  The demons know that they shall be thrown into the lake of fire.  Thus their terrified cry as the Master nears, Have You come to torture us before the appointed time?  All the evil powers which plague our world shall at last be removed and cast into the lake of fire.  John saw that day, and the saints of God draw encouragement that evil shall not prevail.  The Word of God encourages us to remember that death and Hades [shall be] thrown into the lake of fire [Revelation 20:14].

The demons inhabiting the bodies of these two men begged the Lord to send them into a herd of swine, to which the Master consented.  They left these two men, entered the pigs and the herd committed “hogicide”.  Listen, pigs are smarter than people; infested with demonic powers they will destroy themselves instead of permitting themselves to be degraded.  However, the herdsmen, seeing what happened both to the demonised men and to their precious hogs, rushed into the town and related the entire incident to the good burghers of that town.  The townspeople, treasuring pigs above the men who were freed from degradation, pled with Jesus to leave that area.  Who knows what industry might be destroyed next if He went around setting people free?

If the Lord were to address the evils of our day through delivering people from spiritual tyranny, most of the motion picture and television industry would collapse.  Alcohol consumption would drop so drastically that Bay Street would need to find a new darling rather than depend upon Seagram or Molson or Labatt as core portfolio holdings.  Virtually all advertising as we know it would cease; women would cease to be objects used for self-gratification and would instead be treated with respect as fellow citizens.  The transformation of society would be far-reaching and exhilarating!

Demons – Their Nefarious Origin and Evil Work – Who are these demons?  What is their purpose in the earth?  Why should they torment mankind so?  Demons were once angels of God, but they rebelled, joining with Lucifer, who is now known as the Accuser, Satan or the Devil.  You will recall no doubt from your study of the Word that Satan was once the guardian cherub, assigned to stand next to the Lord God.  We are given an insightful description in Exekiel’s prophecy.

You were the model of perfection,

full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.

You were in Eden,

the garden of God;

every precious stone adorned you:

ruby, topaz and emerald,

chrysolite, onyx and jasper,

sapphire, turquoise and beryl.

Your settings and mountings were made of gold;

on the day you were created they were prepared.

You were anointed as a guardian cherub,

for so I ordained you.

You were on the holy mount of God;

you walked among the fiery stones.

You were blameless in your ways

from the day you were created

till wickedness was found in you.

Through your widespread trade

you were filled with violence,

and you sinned.

So I drove you in disgrace from the mount of God,

and I expelled you, O guardian cherub,

from among the fiery stones.

Your heart became proud

on account of your beauty,

and you corrupted your wisdom

because of your splendour.

So I threw you to the earth;

          I made a spectacle of you

[Ezekiel 28:12-17].

But pride was found in the Morning Star, and exalting himself against the Lord God, he rebelled.  Listen to this excerpt from Isaiah’s prophecy.

How you have fallen from heaven,

O morning star, son of the dawn!

You have been cast down to the earth,

you who once laid low the nations!

You said in your heart,

“I will ascend to heaven;

I will raise my throne

above the stars of God;

I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly,

on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain.

I will ascend above the tops of the clouds;

    I will make myself like the Most High”

[Isaiah 14:12-14].

When the Accuser exalted himself he led one-third of the angels in rebellion, and they were cast out of heaven to the earth.  When the disciples returned after the Lord’s commissioning, they rejoiced that even the demons submitted to them in Jesus’ Name, only to be sobered by the words of the Master.  I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you.  However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven [Luke 10:18-20].  When the dragon, that old serpent called Satan, fell, his tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth [Revelation 12:4].  Those stars, the fallen angels of God, became the demons which plague mankind and which now stand opposed to the True and Living God.

Their work is to stand united in opposition to Christ whilst influencing men to ungodliness.  Three passages are cited to provide evidence of this evil work.  The first is Mark 1:21-26.  [Jesus and His disciples whom He had just called] went to Capernaum, and when the Sabbath came, Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach.  The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law.  Just then a man in their synagogue who was possessed by an evil spirit cried out, “What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth?  Have you come to destroy us?  I know who you are—the Holy One of God!”

 “Be quiet!” said Jesus sternly.  “Come out of him!”  The evil spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek.

The language employed implies that the demonised man was an integral part of the synagogue.  Think of that!  Even in the synagogue was a demonised man.  I have frequently marvelled at the fact that the evil one takes pains to insure that even in the house of God there are people set in opposition to the will of God and determined to perpetuate evil.  Why did not the religious people recognise the presence of a demoniac?  Why did they tolerate such influence in their midst?  Why do we tolerate spiritual opposition to holiness?  Is it not because we are prone to tolerate a little bit of evil rather than risk offending some outspoken individual?  Is it not because we too frequently attempt to substitute culture for righteousness and are thus easily led astray?

The second passage to which I direct your attention is found in Matthew 17:14-18.  When they came to the crowd, a man approached Jesus and knelt before him.  “Lord, have mercy on my son,” he said.  “He has seizures and is suffering greatly.  He often falls into the fire or into the water.  I brought him to your disciples, but they could not heal him.”

 “O unbelieving and perverse generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you?  How long shall I put up with you?  Bring the boy here to me.”  Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed from that moment.

The final passage to which I invite your attention and which speaks of the evil work of demons is found in Daniel 10:12,13,20,21.  Daniel had prayed for three weeks asking the Living God to reveal to him the meaning of a vision.  When the messenger of God at last reveals himself, Daniel is awe-struck, as are those about him.  The message the angel brings is prefaced with these words, “Do not be afraid, Daniel.  Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them.  But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days.  Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia.

The divine messenger then relates his next task and gives a brief insight into the responsibility of the holy angels.  Soon I will return to fight against the prince of Persia, and when I go, the prince of Greece will come; but first I will tell you what is written in the Book of Truth.  (No one supports me against them except Michael, your prince. And in the first year of Darius the Mede, I took my stand to support and protect him.)

Underscore in your mind that demons are set in opposition to Christ and to godliness.  Men are influenced for evil, and even nations are swayed toward unrighteousness.  Be very careful not to imagine that politics will bring in the reign of righteousness, for even in the realm of human government the evil one exercises his power as the prince of this world, influencing men for evil and not for good.

On one occasion shortly after I had immigrated to Canada I found it necessary to return to the school where I formerly taught.  It is a well-known school engaged in preparing men and women for service in the Kingdom of God.  At the time I arrived the national elections were but a few weeks away.  As I walked through the school I was accosted repeatedly by colleagues and former employees, each of whom wished to know whether I was registered to vote.  I twitted them a bit, saying, yes, I was registered as a libertarian.  “After all,” I told them, “the Word says the liberal soul shall be made fat.”

At first I was amused by their zeal, and then I grew alarmed.  At last I gathered a number of those political zealots about me and said, “Never in my time among you did I see you so enthused for the souls of men.  I have even seen some of you accosting strangers of the street to inquire of their politics and to ensure that they are registered to vote.  Which of you ever inconvenienced yourselves to stop total strangers to ask whether they had trusted Jesus as Lord?  No doubt your candidate will win the election; but when the election is over you will soon discover that he is not the Messiah.  He is a man and he will do little to advance righteousness in the nation.”  I made few friends that day.

Frankly, I believe Christians should be involved in the conduct of their civic affairs.  But I am equally frank in stating that even the affairs of the nation are influenced to a distressing degree by the wicked one, and we dare not permit ourselves to be blinded to that truth.  Our faith is in Christ the coming Lord, and not in a political messiah.

Evidence that the Dark Lord is Defeated – I must hasten back to the text.  Yes, there are evil powers loosed in our world today.  Yes, spiritual wickedness seems to abound.  Yes, we are engaged in a conflict for the souls of men.  But we are not powerless.  We face a defeated foe, who though powerful and capable of inflicting great harm on the unwary, shall at last be destroyed.

The demons encountering Jesus recognise that they are under his authority in any conflict.  They know that they shall at last be consigned to eternal torment themselves.  Listen to their demonic cries.  What do you want with us, Son of God?  Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time?  In every confrontation the fallen angels immediately cry out their miserable cries as they submit to His authority.  They even beg permission to infest swine instead of immediately confronting their own sentence of eternal death.

I do not say that the people of God need fear spiritual conflict, but I do caution that we must not permit ourselves to enter into such conflict casually.  We need not go looking for people oppressed by the dark powers of this fallen world … such cases are all about us if we but have spiritual eyes to see.  When we do encounter such instances, we must remember that we are to show compassion and gentleness whilst boldly confronting the enemy in the power of the Risen Son of God.

Two truths which will stand us in good stead are these.  First, I ask each of you who name the Name of Christ to remember that our God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline [2 Timothy 1:7].  We need not fear spiritual conflict, but we do need to ensure that we are controlled by a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.  The power is that which God supplies, as is equally true of His love which must be demonstrated in every spiritual encounter.  The self-discipline comes from time spent alone with the Master as we listen to His voice in the Word and as we invest time in prayer with Him.  When the conflict comes, and it shall come if we are walking with Him, let prayer be a familiar weapon to be employed against the enemy.

The second truth is that found in Ephesians 6:10-18.  Listen to the Apostle’s word.  Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.  Put on the full armour of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.  For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.  Therefore put on the full armour of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.  Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.  In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.  Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.  And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.  With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.

Our job is not to take new territory, it is to stand firm on territory already conquered by the Master.  Our responsibility is to resist evil and to oppose wickedness, standing firm in the knowledge that Christ has already secured the victory.  These forces of darkness are already conquered, and though for this moment we are aliens in this world, the day shall soon be revealed when we will be seen as those who served as occupying forces.  Wickedness shall be put down and Christ shall reign and the saints of God shall be revealed as those who held the ground for Him who purchased it.  Amen.

A Mirror for Modern Souls – The response of the townspeople to Jesus actions mirrors the response we would expect from our contemporaries.  The townspeople were agitated at the thought that they had lost what they saw as a valuable commodity.  Of course, no Jew could eat pork since God had declared pigs unclean.  What were these people doing keeping swine?  They were profiting from the Gentiles living in the region of the Decapolis.  There were many Greeks and Romans living in the area, and the people of God had discovered that though they would not themselves disobey the law, they had no compunction against violating the law just a little to their own material benefit.

When their material wealth was threatened they were angered.  By their reaction they revealed that they were as spiritually darkened as were the demonic men.  They had sacrificed the permanent on the altar of the temporary.  Do we not do the same thing?  Despite our protestations to the contrary we are so caught up in the moment that we often surrender the holy for the common and mundane associated with this fallen world.

We believe in the sanctity of marriage, but we watch men and women degrade their bodies on videos, in movies and on television.  We call it entertainment.  Should Christ challenge us we respond that we are not really condoning what goes on but simply amusing ourselves.  We speak of the shows which we watch as entertainment, even if there is blasphemy and even though we see violence exalted and thus become just a little more tolerant of violent acts.  We believe in the sanctity of life, yet we will defend a woman’s right of choice even if it means the slaughter her unborn child; and we rationalise that the sick should have the right to end their suffering.  Perhaps those who are incapable of speaking for themselves should even have the right to die if their physician or family members who are so terribly inconvenienced should so decide.

No one would speak against the holiness of God, but we elevate tolerance to the level of a virtue even though we are led to tolerate wickedness.  We say we like the beat and that we really don’t listen to the words of contemporary songs.  Nevertheless, the message of unrighteousness contaminates and makes us ever more tolerant of just a little bit of sin.  We confess Christ as Master and say that His Word rules in our lives.  Yet we are unwilling to inconvenience ourselves to obey His last command to evangelise and to disciple the lost.  Though we know we should be diligent to worship, we are so tired that we need to get away to refresh ourselves on Sunday.  Surely God understands.

Our greatest need is to provide for our family, so our investments occupy more of our time than does reading the Word of God.  We work so hard and need refreshment, so we spend more time in pursuit of our own pleasures than we do in pursuit of spiritual refreshment.  We can justify these pursuits because God would not want us to become jaded or dull.  Whenever the power of God challenges our culture, we are uncomfortable.  Christians must insure that culture is submitted to Christ and that His will prevails.

Ours is a fallen world and the powers of hell are arrayed against the Lord God.  All that is good and noble is assaulted and degraded by twisted souls who are utterly unaware of the source of their rage.  In the June 15th issue of US News and World Report is a column by John Leo which details one area of assault against the Christian Faith.  An off-Broadway play entitled Corpus Christi is scheduled.  The play presents Jesus as a homosexual who engages in repeated sex both with his disciples and with casual strangers.  The draft of the play ends with the frank admission: “If we have offended, so be it.  He belongs to us as well as you.”  Leo documents a rather long list of Christian ridicule which is unanswered either in the press or by politicians.

The column concludes in this fashion.

“Question: In the current age of hypersensitivity, what other group in America has to put up with vilification like this?  No religion should expect immunity from criticism.  But these aren’t arguments about sexual policy or dogma.  They are attempts to degrade and enrage.  The technical term for this is bigotry.  Sensitivity mongers, please note.”

Perhaps the demons which degrade are more active in our world than we dare admit.

There is another side of this story of deliverance which does not appear in our text; it is a side which encourages me even though spiritual darkness seems to prevail.  When one of these demonised men was set free, he attempted to follow Jesus.  The Lord, however, instructed him to return to his family and tell them how much the Lord had done.  Mark’s Gospel concludes the account in this manner.  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 5:20].  The people of the region, at first angered by their perceived loss, grew to be awed of God’s power because of the testimony of one transformed man.

Jesus again came into this same region, and His reception the second time was quite different.  Beginning in Mark 7:31 we are given an account of Jesus’ second journey to the Decapolis.  The sick were brought to Him and a large crowd gathered to hear Him.  He had a great ministry evangelising and preaching in that region.  The only difference we can discover is the presence of one man willing to tell what Jesus had done in his life.  If indifference to spiritual reality is characteristic of the inhabitants of this present world, we must not think that they will not respond to a clear witness of Christ’s deliverance.

When I was saved, I was set free from the tyranny of sin.  I found that I could not be silent about my faith.  Zealous for Christ, I was cautioned by older Christians that it would soon pass.  Don’t ever say such a thing to a young believer.  That zealous young saint is the one who is right and you whose ardour has cooled are the ones who are in error.  By and large, that desire to speak of Christ’s conquest of evil has never left me.  Neither has it utterly left you who are members of His Body by faith in Him.  Perhaps you have stifled the witness of His Spirit because of fear or through censure by the more vocal among us, but you need not remain silent.  Just as Jesus counselled the one man set free to go to his family and tell how much the Lord had done, so He counsels us to go to our own loved ones to tell how much He has done for us.  It is a starting place.

Some of us present this day need to do business with the Lord.  We need to repent of our silence and ask that the Lord restore us to the zeal of first faith.  I have no doubt that some among us need to humble ourselves before God and before man to ask that He might again fill us with His love and with the wonder of our first love.  We need today to come to an old fashioned altar to ask that He loose our tongues to speak His glories and to witness to His grace.

Perhaps others among us have need to first seek freedom from the tyranny of evil.  We need His salvation, for we can have no peace with God not ever hope to see with eyes of love until we are born new into His family.  The message today concludes with an invitation to trust Christ as Master of life.  However He should be speaking to you, won’t you submit to His rule today?  To confess Him as Lord, to renew our most holy vows of love for Him, to seek His strength that we might serve Him powerfully once more, come today to this altar that He might provide our need.  Amen.