Apprenticing Under the Master
Mark 5:1-20 September 25, 2005
Engaging the Enemy
The reality of the enemy
When we read stories like this one, some of our minds may do a little shift. We shift from taking the Bible at its word, trusting that Jesus said the things the Bible says he said, trusting that it is the inspired word of God, trusting that the Bible is a practical guide for my life now, to seeing Biblical stories like this as cultural oddities that explain how ancient people regarded things like mental illness. We struggle with the thought of demons and demonic possession. “That’s the stuff of horror movies, scary stories, children’s fears and medieval superstition,” we tell ourselves.
But stories of the demonic are all through the Bible, especially in the Gospels. The simple fact is that Jesus believed in demons, and so did all those who wrote the scriptures.
Some of us may go as far as saying that demons are real, but rare, and mostly in the third world, very seldom in North America – like malaria or something. But experience tells us that the devil is alive and well in Canada, and his demons are as well.
C.S. Lewis says, “There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight.”
There are also Christians who have an unhealthy interest in demons, and they see one behind every bush, attribute every hardship to demonic attack, and think every problem could be solved with a good exorcism. They too take an excessive and unhealthy interest in them.
Origin of Demons
From the Bible, it’s pretty clear that demons are fallen angels who joined Satan in his rebellion against God before our history. Satan may have taken 1/3 of the angels with him. Since these spiritual beings are eternal and do not procreate, we still outnumber them 2 to 1! Ever since their rebellion, there has been a war in the heavenly places, or the unseen realm. They do, and can have an effect here on earth.
As apprentices, lets look at how the Master, Jesus, deals with them.
Jesus never seems to go “demon hunting.” The stories of his encounters with demons are always “chance” meetings. He continues to do what he would always do, preaching and teaching, healing the sick and performing miracles. When he comes across demons, it is always the demons that respond first. They are shaken by his presence and his actions and they cry out at him.
I think that this speaks to us on how we should engage the enemy. Paul tells us that, as Christians, we are part of the war that is waging in the heavenly places. He says, “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.”
Some people take this understanding and spend a great deal of time and passion in what we call, “Warfare prayer” and in their prayers they bind every demon they can think of. Although I do not want to criticize the spiritual warfare movement to much, If we follow Jesus lead, we will be less interested in beating up the enemy and more interested in bringing in the Kingdom of God.
Jesus tells us twice in Matthew 16:19 and similarly in Matthew 18:18
“I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." I think that some people in the spiritual warfare movement actually read this promise backward – they see the work of the evil one and they begin trying to bind things in the heavenly places in order to not see their earthly effects. What the verse says is that our arena of engagement with the enemy is the earth, not the heavenly places, so when we do very practical things to bring in the Kingdom of God here on earth, a victory is also won in the heavenly places. If we bind our workplace, our family, our friends ourselves to Christ and His Kingdom they are also bound to him in the heavenly places. We engage the enemy the same way that Jesus did, by doing the work of the Kingdom – as Jesus described his mandate – to proclaim good news to the poor, to proclaim freedom for the prisoners, recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.
As we do the work of the kingdom here on earth, just like Jesus, there will be plenty of demons who are not happy with us, and like Jesus we can deal with them then.
Do not get me wrong – prayer is a key weapon that we have in bringing the Kingdom of God. Without prayer, all of our practical work for the kingdom will come to naught.
The power of Christ
That said, Jesus cast out many demons: most often when there are broad sweeping statements about Jesus healing the sick, Mark includes that Jesus cast out many demons. They were terrified of him! Mark 1:24 Jesus is teaching in the synagogue and a demonized man cries 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!”
Here, the demons see Jesus at a distance and shout out to him, What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the most High God? In God’s name don’t torture me!” This one is so terrified he even uses God’s name to beg mercy!
The picture that we have of demons in the Gospels is very different than the pictures we have out of Hollywood. Although they are great, powerful angelic beings, they cower at the sight of Jesus.
I could not help but think of this scene from the Lion King when Simba is being chased by the hyenas and Mufasa shows up.
(show clip)
Just like the hyenas, when Mufasa shows up; demons, who are dangerous and powerful beings, turn into cowering weaklings when Jesus shows up.
Here is the amazing thing – you carry Christ with you! If you have given yourself to Jesus, trusted in his death and resurrection for the forgiveness of everything that is wrong in your life and are living for Him, He lives within you by His Holy Spirit. Colossians 1:27 tells us that the hope of glory is that Christ is in us.
It is not like the clip, where Mufasa adds his enormous roar to the little pipsqueak roar of Simba. No, when we encounter the demonic, the great roar of Jesus, the Lion of Judah wells up from within us and the demons must go in his name!
I actually have been involved with very few exorcisms, but once I was working with Lynne Marsh from Danforth Baptist, who is very experienced in these things, she spoke directly to the demon and said “look into my eyes, you can see the light of Christ there can’t you!” I was thinking, “man, that’s bold!” but it is true, if you are a Christian, you have the light of Christ in your eyes, and that has to be scary for a demon.
John writes in 1 John 4:4 “You dear children are from God and you have overcome them (evil spirits), because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.” The one that is “in the world” is the devil and his demons. I learned this verse – Greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world – repeat it
Another person said it this way: Great Big Jesus, little bitty devil.”
A few weeks ago I was walking through the alley into the backyard with Benjamin. It was dark and the alley and the yard are not that well lit. Although we were holding hands, Ben didn’t want to keep going. I asked him why and he replied that he thought there might be witches back there! I told him that there weren’t likely any witches in our back yard and then I asked him if he had given his life to Jesus. He said he had. So I told him that when we give our lives to Jesus he gives us his Holy Spirit to live within us. So he had the Holy Spirit living in him and if any witch saw him coming with the Holy Spirit living in him, she’d scream and run away! He thought that was pretty cool and was quite happy to come into the back yard with me.
Jesus speaks to the demon and commands it to come out of the man. The spirit seems to be a little slow moving, so Jesus ask its name – it replies that its name is legion because there were many demons tormenting this poor man. They beg Jesus not to send them from the region, but to send them into this large herd of pigs. Jesus gives his consent and the demons enter the pigs and drive them into the sea. There was about 2,000 pigs, and if that number is close to the number of demons involved, you can understand how the man was tormented by them.
You are probably wondering why Jesus let the demons take the pigs, and just didn’t send them to the pit of hell. There aren’t a lot of easy answers to that question except to say that pigs were not highly regarded animals to Jewish people, and it may be that it was just not the demons’ time for total defeat.
The pig herders run off to tell the townspeople what happened, and they come back to find the man in his right mind.
What a huge transformation in the man! He used to be uncontrollable, not even with chains, he would mutilate himself and cry out constantly in the hills and now, free from these demons he was fully clothed and sitting down with Jesus.
I love this transition! Jesus is about freedom! You may get people trying to convince you that Jesus is about rules and control and the devil is about freedom, but you only have to look at this man to see that the opposite is true. You may not have demons in your life trying to possess you, but there are many other ways that the devil tries to control our lives – don’t let him, let Jesus set you free!
The people are not so much amazed at the transition of the man as they are upset about the mess Jesus made. Here is this man who used to torment them, whom they had cast out of their community for fear: he is completely healed and ready to be a contributing part of the community once again, and all they can see is that they lost a very large herd of pigs. It was a high price, but you would think it would be worth the returned life of this man!
They are alternately afraid of the power that Jesus has over demons, or just really ticked about the pigs and they ask Jesus to leave. Even with this great show of power and compassion, they reject Jesus.
Two weeks ago we saw how Jesus can quiet the storms of your life. Today we see how he can deal with the evil in your life, having power even over evil personified.
Here you have a choice are you going to accept him like the freed man, or are you going to say that the cost is too great like the towns people? Will you believe in Jesus and accept the gift of the Holy Spirit and have the very power of God living with in you, or will you decide that the status quo, even with the torments is better and more predictable – “better the devil you know than the savior you don’t.”
I pray that today you will choose the Savior.
