Hello, my ‘Walking with Jesus’ friends on this Tuesday,
When you hear the word RESCUE or DELIVERANCE what pictures flood your mind? I think of the Israeli hostages finally delivered from terrifying survival in those underground Hamas tunnels. Or the courageous rescue of a person crying out for help standing on the rooftop of a submerging house being swept away in a flood.
But have you ever seen a person rescued from the killing clutches of demonic forces? I have and today let’s watch Jesus rescue the man we’ve been watching these past two days. His story is found in Mark 5 & Luke 8.
You’ll remember this man had come running from the tombs toward Jesus as soon as Jesus had stepped out of the boat on the Gennesaret. shoreline of the Sea of Galilee. Screaming, the man had fallen to the ground shouting at Jesus: “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God! I beg you, don’t torture me!” (Luke 8:28) That’s both important and instructive. The demons in this man recognized and respected Jesus for who HE really is! The Son of God, Jesus the Messiah, all powerful and able to do anything to these demons that He desired. Why and how did the demons know Jesus?
Colossians 1:15-20 give us the answer:
“The Son is the image of the invisible God… in Him all things were created, things in heaven and things on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things and in Him all things hold together.”
There it is! Jesus Christ, God the Son, is the creator of all things INCLUDING the angels. Those demons are fallen or rebellious evil angels. These demons, terribly torturing this man, recognized their creator for they once were holy, God honoring angels in heaven, before they followed Satan in his rebellion against God. (Is. 14:12-15)
But Jesus is also the future JUDGE of all, and these demons knew one day Jesus would throw them into the lake of burning sulfur for all eternity! (Revelation 20:10) The demons harassing this man knew Jesus was the ONLY force powerful enough to deliver him from their torture AND the ONLY one powerful enough to control them, defeat them and do to them whatever He desired! That’s why they cried out for mercy!
Let’s join the disciples in watching very closely what happened next. Jesus, in His authority, called the demons to truthful account by saying: “What is your name?” And knowing they could not deceive Jesus they replied through the man: “Legion, for we are many.” (Mark 5:9) ‘Legion’, as you may know my friends, was a well-known Roman military term for the largest group of soldiers under one commander, normally between 3-5000 soldiers. Therefore, we conclude this man was under the harassment and control of thousands of dark kingdom demonic forces!!
Once again, the demons begged Jesus for mercy and Luke gives us this important detail: “the demons begged Jesus repeatedly not to order them to the Abyss.” (Luke 8:31) Do you know what and where the ‘Abyss‘ is my friends? Revelation 20:1-3 gives us a glimpse into this place reserved for Satan and his demons. A place only Jesus has supreme power and authority over. The place Satan will be bound for 1000 years while Jesus reigns on earth during His millennial kingdom reign. (Rev. 20:1-6) The “Abyss” is not hell, but is a specific place, created by God for temporary and inescapable bondage of Satan and his dark kingdom forces.
But rather than destroying these demons or sending them to the Abyss, Jesus saw a herd of pigs on the nearby hillside and as the demons were rebuked by Jesus out of this man they went instead into the pigs with Jesus’ permission. And notice please what happened immediately: the pigs rushed down the hillside into the lake and drowned.
The demons did to the pigs what they wanted to do to the man, but God has NOT given the dark kingdom authority over life and death. The demons were able to harass the man and convince him to harm himself, maybe even try to kill himself, but the demons did not have the authority to kill the man.
Those who had been watching this as they watched over their herd of pigs, ran into the nearby town to report what they had seen. Meanwhile, the disciples who were with Jesus evidently helped this man clean himself up and shared some clothes with him, for when the people came out from the town, they saw him as they had not seen him for a long time: dressed and in his right mind! That my friends is a great picture of what Jesus wants to do in EVERY person… deliver us from any and all influence of the dark kingdom and give us the ability to live God honoring lives under the influence of the Holy Spirit of God!
This scene calls us all to look closely, doesn’t it? Is there ANY, even the smallest, influence the dark kingdom has in your life and mine? Anything that draws us away from Jesus and leads us into the darkness making self-destructive choices? Are you ready to be fully, totally delivered from that battle? Jesus stands ready to unleash His demonic forces controlling power into your life right now, if you’ll acknowledge your need and invite Jesus to take full authority in your life, defeating those dark forces and empowering you with His HOLY SPIRIT so you can live free in Christ! (Gal. 5:1)
I urge you today, my friends, to read this powerful story found both in Mark 5 & Luke 8 carefully and attentively, several times if you need to, asking Jesus to help you see what Jesus wants to do in fully delivering you, and then invite Jesus to unleash His power in your freedom, my friends.
The “lessons learned” notes below will help you and a powerful, wonderful worship song will put an exclamation point on this as we celebrate the supremacy of Jesus. And I’ll be here waiting for you tomorrow as we learn much more from Jesus.
Today’s Scripture: Mark 5:9-16 & Luke 8:30-35.
Choose below to read or listen.
Mark 5:9-16
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Luke 8:30-35.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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