As we continue to consider the nature of the demonic realm through the lens of Mark’s gospel, one of the more interesting moments is when the demons enter the herd of swine and they all rush into the water and drown. Mark tells us that after Jesus commanded the demons to leave, they began to plead for mercy. Demons don’t always leave at our first command and some will try to talk you out of the deliverance. Typically they are feigning boldness but are actually terrified of losing their place. Once given permission to enter the herd, destruction quickly followed. If demons look for some kind of body to inhabit, then destroying their hosts seems counter productive because they would be left to wander through arid places again. This suggests what we already know…it is the nature of Satan and his demons to kill, steal, and destroy. They can’t help themselves even if it means looking for another residence. If you expect anything else from them, you will be mistaken.
They may feign friendship for a while, but in the end they will destroy you. Demons are glad to bide their time and slowly but progressively take over more of a person’s life. They often pretend friendship in the beginning and even provide what the host would consider a blessing and a path to happiness – the relationship he or she wanted, financial gain, fame, healing, the promotion, or even the removal of an enemy. Those who follow demons or worship them as false God’s would not continue to do so unless there were some payoffs in that relationship. Ultimately, however, those spirits will come to collect on the bill and destruction will follow.
The next thing revealed in the account is the immediate change in the man who had been tormented. Suddenly – within minutes – he is clothed and in his right mind. His problem was not mental illness, but demonic infestation. All the therapy and drugs in the world would not have set him free. I’m not saying that all mental illness is demonic but much is and will not bow except to divine weapons. By the way, where did they get the clothes for the formerly naked demoniac. Some commentators believed that Jesus brought them with him as he already knew the man’s needs. Mark records that while they were terrified of the storm as they crossed Galilee, Jesus was asleep resting on a pillow or a cushion. It is possible that the pillow was simply a bag full of clothing that he was carrying for the man that would soon be set free. Jesus knows every need and can meet every need when suddenly we are separated from the demonic who sometimes has been our provider.
Next we see the response of the people to the healing and restoration of the man. We might have expected them to be excited for the man whose sanity had been restored or to beg Jesus to stay. Surely they had their share of sick and demonized people who needed his touch. Instead, they asked in a demanding way for Jesus to leave immediately.
People fear what they don’t understand and that fear makes them blind to the good they are witnessing. If you are not used to supernatural moves of God, your response may be fear rather than wonder. Some people get excited when they see a miracle while others simply get very uncomfortable. They may even ask (or insist) that those who brought the supernatural goodness of God into their midst leave or even declare that the healings or deliverance they are witnessing are of the devil rather than God. That was the response of the Pharisees.
Religious people tend to define what God can do or not do based on their understanding of scripture so that anything outside the fences they have erected is distrusted and dismissed. God certainly will not contradict his word but he doesn’t mind contradicting our understanding of his word. Freedom ministries are not wide spread because they tend to be planted outside of traditional denominational fences even though healing and deliverance helped define the very ministry of Jesus. Our “God in a box” mentality has kept much of the church in bondage for centuries. I wonder what God will have to say to those who so zealously protected their box while his sheep remained in bondage?
Finally, as you would expect, the man who had been freed from his bondage by Jesus did not want to leave his side. I don’t blame him. I would have been afraid that the former tenants would be looking to return at their first opportunity and I would have assumed that only the presence of Jesus could have kept me free. Jesus, however, would not let the man get in the boat but simply told him to go and tell others what God had done for him. We discover the power of testimony in this story.
First, his testimony prepared the soil for Jesus to return at a later time. On his return to Decapolis months later, crowds would be waiting for him. The former demoniac did not have a degree in theology but he had a testimony. But even more than that, the testimony of the man seamed to seal his deliverance. For those set free from Satan, his first attack is nearly always an attempt to persuade the individual that nothing really changed and that the freedom he or she “thought” they had experienced was a deception. If Satan can convince the newly freed believer that he or she is still under his power, then that person will quickly relapse into believing the lies of the enemy and be oppressed again. Testimony not only honors God, but establishes faith in those who hear the testimony as well as in the one who is giving the testimony.
Many churches have a few individuals or couples who minister deliverance in their home or a back room of the church, but their ministry is not mentioned from the pulpit. Indeed, when is the last time you heard a sermon on demons and deliverance? I know we want to avoid looking weird but the demonic realm, the need for deliverance, and the power of Jesus is not weird…it is a reality that needs to be talked about and testimonies given. Otherwise, thousands of God’s children will never know the freedom Jesus purchased for them.
The question is often asked as to whether we should deliver unbelievers from the power of Satan. After all, there is some risk involved if the person delivered does not give his life to Jesus. Remember that Jesus said a demon that had been cast out would return to see if the house (the host) was vacant. If so, he would return and bring seven others with him more wicked than he was. (Jesus’ words reveal that there are not only levels of authority among demons, but also degrees of wickedness.) This question is probably best decided on a case-by-case basis and the leading of the Spirit. Not everyone who is delivered will become a follower. Matthew’s gospel says that there were two demoniacs that Jesus encountered after the storm, but the other gospels mention only one. I believe that only one was mentioned in the other gospels because that one was known by the church. He had become a follower of Jesus while the other did not become a follower and simply disappeared into history. It might be fair to share the benefits and risks of deliverance to an unbeliever before ministering freedom and let him or her decide. Even believers need to be warned to fill up the space left after deliverance with the Spirit of God or they also may be subject to the return of the enemy.
Hopefully, our walk through this account has given you some additional insights into deliverance and the demonic realm or confirmed some things you were already thinking. Dealing with the demonic should be an everyday event in the life of every church as it was with Jesus. We do not want to become obsessed with the enemy because our obsession should be Jesus. However, we do need to know his schemes and know how to deal with him as he afflicts those around us.
