The Gospel of Luke 8:26-39 A demoniac freed & swine drowned

Good morning. I have to confess with this, this is actually one of my favorite passages in the Bible. And you might think, what? Anyway, I'll explain that a little bit later, but let's go ahead and dive into it here. As you may recall last week, here Jesus told the disciples, go ahead and go across the Sea of Galilee here and as they were going across they encountered a fierce storm and the disciples you know woke Jesus up and said we're perishing you know and Jesus you know calms it down and it says where's your faith which probably puzzled them but at any rate did calm things down they got across to the other side and we're coming up against the shore there. One of the things we've included in your handout is kind of a map, and this is over on the east side of the Sea of Galilee. As a matter of fact, the location is right about where Courtney pulled off to put gas in our car. That's about the location right there. And right up above are the cliffs that it talks about. So anyway, that's the spot, most likely.

Luke 8.26 says, Then they sailed to the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. That is, it's on the other side of the Sea of Galilee from the region known as Galilee. So you have that here on page one of your handout.

And then Luke 8.27, and when he, that is Jesus, came out onto the land, he was met by a man from the city who was possessed with demons and who had not put on any clothing for a long time.

Woo! Okay. And was not living in a house, but in the tombs. That's quite a fellow, isn't it? So, this fellow lives differently. That's more than counterculture, right? Now, the precise location of the tombs and where this took place is debated, but most likely it fits on that area, the geography shown there on the east side of Galilee, across from Magdala. And that seems to be the best fit in terms of having a city nearby. It was right south of Bethsaida, which is a place where Courtney and Ingrid and Nancy and I visited. And that appears to be the spot.

Matthew, Mark, and Luke all have this account immediately following Jesus' calming of the storm. Each gospel, however, including Luke, provides some different details about this demon-possessed man. So here's this man immediately presenting himself as soon as Jesus comes there with the boat and steps onto land. This guy is coming right up to him and we'll talk about why that is.

But first we need to talk about angels and demons. So we got four slides on angels and demons to get an orientation. Angels were first created either early in the creation described in Genesis chapter 1 or more likely before the creation of this physical world.

Job 38 and 1-7 that we make reference to there talks about the creation of the world and it talks about the angels singing at God's creation of things. And so that's a really key verse. That's one of a number of verses in Job that's very insightful. So that's the thing.

Angels were created before human beings were created, and likely even before this physical earth was created. They were given a freedom, it's like a time window if you will, to choose for or against the Lord. And about a third of the angels chose against the Lord. We have that revelation from the book of Revelation, chapter 12, verses 3 and 4. And so here is this one-time window when all the angels get a chance to pick. And after that, their wills are fixed, their eternal destiny is fixed. It's very interesting that the Lord created angels all at one time and, like with human beings, give us a chance to make a choice.

Now, there are some differences though, however, and that's that we are not aware of any plan of salvation for any of the angels. So whatever path they chose determined their eternal destiny. No plan of salvation whatsoever. The other thing is that the lake of fire was prepared, that's perfect tense, as Jesus says it in Matthew 25, verse 41, prepared for Satan and other fallen angels at that time. It is as if the Lord said, okay, here's where you're going to spend eternity. You make your choice. Here's where you're going to spend eternity. You make your choice. If you want to spend eternity here, then this is the right thing for you. And so it takes a kind of spiritual insanity to imagine a creature making that choice.

Angels and demons too. The angels who serve the Lord are often called angels of heaven or angels in heaven or similar terms. We've got some examples out of Matthew, but there are actually others in other Bible books. So frequently the difference in designation has to do with where these angels are spending eternity. Then, angels are basically genderless, but very interesting thing, they always appear masculine when you see them in the Bible. And one other thing, we only have two angels who are actually named in the Bible, and one is Michael and the other is Gabriel.

So they have two masculine names. So a very interesting pattern that the Lord has chosen. Angels appear as masculine where, for example, Abraham does not know that he's entertaining angels. He sees them as masculine guests. And again, where we'll only have two names of the angels, Michael and Gabriel, they're both masculine. So, interesting choice the Lord has made here. Angel Gabriel is the one speaking to Mary as she tells Mary, you're going to have a son and you'll name him Jesus. Some of the fallen angels embodied themselves as men before the flood.

There are others who think otherwise, but we have a supplemental handout if you'd like to take a look at that. The three views on who are these sons of God in Genesis chapter 6 are the angelic creatures fallen angels, and then apostate Sethites and ambitious despots. So anyway, you can dig into that. I'd be glad to discuss it more if you like. The descendants of them are the Nephilim giants. So you can look into that.

The spirits of these are bound in the abyss. And one of the things we'll see in this passage is that the demons in this demon-possessed man are terrified of going to the abyss. They're terrified, don't do it, no not that, not that, right? They don't want that, because that's a very bad thing. In 2 Peter, it is also called Tartarus, but typically the abyss, the Greek word is the Abyssos, and it means bottomless, the bottomless. Now, Angels and Demons 3, Satan is the god of this world, lowercase g, the prince of the power of the air, and there are other names given, actually done in clear summary in the book of Revelation more than once.

Chapter 20 is one place where that's done. He has access to heaven for now, which is a very interesting thing. It doesn't appear that the other fallen angels do, but he has access to heaven. He is the accuser, the Bible says, of the brethren. That's you and me. He goes and accuses and God says, wait a minute, Christ died for that. Demons, that is fallen angels who are not bound in the abyss now, roam the earth and are behind what we see here, especially in this passage, as demon possession. So you have fallen angels, some of whom are here, You have Satan, who is the head of the fallen angels, who still has access to heaven.

There will come a time when he loses that. And there will even come a time when he is bound. And then you have those fallen angels who are right now in the abyss. It is locked up except for a five-month period of time during the tribulation. They will be embodied in scorpion-like bodies, only able to sting unbelievers. Don't worry, you and I won't be there. The demons are also behind the pagan idols.

That's clear from Deuteronomy 32.17 and 1 Corinthians 10.14-22 and there are other passages as well. But the demons are behind the pagan idols that you see. What you have pictured here is the god Molech where they would make sacrifices of infants burning the infants to the god Molech.

A really disgusting and horrible thing. The Jews were forbidden to follow that and that's why. It's demonic. Next, Angels and Demons 4. Satan will also be bound in the abyss for a thousand years. There are people who go around now, Christians, who go around now claiming to bind Satan. That's not happening. That's not happening.

There will be a time when he will be bound, and do you know how many angels it will take to bind Satan? One. Just one. One angel will bind him, put him in the abyss for a thousand years, only to be released shortly, and then committed to the lake of fire. But just one angel will be all it takes. People sometimes go about blaming things on Satan, or getting really concerned and worried about Satan's power. When God gives the command, and at the right time, Satan will be bound by one angel for a thousand years. Just one. That's all it will take. And it won't be because any person on earth said so. It'll be because God said so.

In the end, Satan and his angels will be in the lake of fire forever. It was prepared initially for them. Both the demons roaming the earth and the ones in the abyss will end up in the lake of fire. Are there demons now? On the earth, yes. There are some free, and there are some that are bound in the lake of fire. All of them will end up in, excuse me, bound in the abyss, and all of them will end up in the lake of fire.

Our second son, Ed, is a prison guard with Nevada State Prisons, and at times he has to deal with some pretty nasty people. And he actually believes in demon possession. He says he's seen it. Ordinarily, they'll have prison guards, you know, they'll tase a prisoner who's misbehaving, and they'll have several prison guards at times using a taser, and just one shot of the taser and most people are just completely disabled. He says, there are some, however, where multiple tasings by multiple guards will not faze them, other than a quick jolt and they keep going. And he believes that's an instance of demon possession, where there's something beyond just normal physiology that is controlling them. And they do disgusting things I don't describe. It's not clear that we will judge these fallen angels.

1 Corinthians 6.3 says that we will judge the angels. It's not clear, however, that we will judge these fallen angels.

One thing is Satan will not be in charge of the lake of fire as the common mythology goes, right? Commonly people will have the idea that Satan's in charge of hell or some nonsense such as that. Actually Christ will be. Revelation 14, 9 and 10. Christ will be in charge of the lake of fire. Alright, now, let's talk about demon possession, which is obviously relevant to this particular case. Demon possession was apparently fairly common in New Testament times.

And others tried, aside from Jesus, tried to cast out demons, sometimes with success. Christ gave the apostles, for example, the power to cast out demons. Paul in Philippi cast out a demon from a young lady. But others tried it and sometimes were unsuccessful and got beat up in the process.

So it's not a guaranteed thing. Demon possession often meant that a person, one, didn't have control of his or her actions and words. And secondly, it was often lacking in clothing, not always. And breaking attempted restraints, people trying to restrain them, to control them, didn't work. And that's essentially what our son Ed has experienced. Attempts at restraining them oftentimes are unsuccessful. and the usual things that stop them and control them don't work.

And then harming his or her body. I say her because Mary Magdalene, for example, was one who had seven demons that were controlling her and the Lord cast those out. So we have that as an example. Often they lived among the dead rather than among the living. very interesting. Rather than living with people in a house and having clothing, they'd go out often, not always, often naked and often living in out-of-the-way places and tombs being one of them.

So here's Luke 8.28.

Seeing Jesus, he cried out and fell before him and said in a loud voice, What business do we have with each other, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me." Wow. So is this demon holy because he says, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? Not so much.

One of the things we see here is recognition, even a recognition of authority. The demons in this man immediately recognized Jesus and His authority over them. He immediately sees that. As a matter of fact, Jesus steps out of the boat and he comes running up to Jesus and immediately and instantly recognizes who he is and what authority he has. The demons know that their time is limited and that their ultimate fate is the lake of fire. They know that Jesus has the authority to send them out, to put them into the abyss. They know that Jesus has the authority to put them in the lake of fire. They know that that's their ultimate fate and they are scared of that outcome. They are very afraid of that outcome. They dread it.

The disciples had previously asked when Jesus calmed the storm, who then is this? The demons knew exactly who Christ was. and they dreaded the abyss. Imagine this, these demons at one point in time resided in heaven with Jesus as their head. They know exactly who he is. And they know exactly who he is going to be in their future. It's a spiritual insanity that caused them to make this choice, to choose this outcome. as much as they now dreaded. They dreaded the abyss, they dreaded Christ's authority near term, and they dreaded the lake of fire. What's interesting when it comes to who Christ is, they tell the truth. They tell the truth. Does that do them any good? No. It doesn't.

Here's Luke 8.29, for he, that is Jesus, had commanded the unclean spirit, and that's another thing for us to look at, is the words demons, unclean spirit, evil spirit, different terms are used, to come out of the man.

For it had seized him many times, and he was bound with chains and shackles and kept under guard, and yet he would break his bonds and be driven by the demon into the desert. People had tried to control this guy. Trying to shackle the man had not worked. He broke loose of the shackles and trying to have someone stand guard over him hadn't worked either. Apparently he would take them and break the bonds, smash them against the rocks, do whatever it took to break from control of these shackles. They even have someone standing guard over him and that didn't do any good either. What do you do with this guy when several people cannot control him?

As we saw before, this man would live in the tombs, rather like a wild animal, even be driven out into the desert, as we saw there, and live without clothing, and not in the house, and not in the cities and towns. This man was uncontrollable. He wasn't even under his own control.

Here's Luke 8, 30-31, and Jesus asked him, what is your name? And he said, Legion. for many demons had entered him. They were imploring him not to command them to go away into the abyss. We don't want the abyss! Please don't send us into the abyss! So Jesus asked, what's your name?

So these demons talk in group speak instead of thousands of them, and there are apparently thousands, instead of thousands of them speaking different things, they talk with one voice, kind of like the Borg, right? Though there are many in number, and a legion of Roman soldiers would be about 6,000 men, the demons speak as one, and they group-think too. Group-speak, group-think.

They dread going into the abyss. Why? They dread going to the abyss because there they will have no liberty to possess people, or animals, or an idol, or have any earthly interaction at all. They dread that. They implored Jesus, no abyss! No abyss! I don't want to go there! Or, we don't want to go there.

So here's Luke 8, 32 and 33. Now there was a herd of many swine feeding there on the mountain. and the demons implored him to permit them to enter the swine. And he gave them permission, and the demons came out of the man and entered the swine, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned." Okay, now this is where it gets very interesting. Jesus had commanded the demons to leave the man, and so the demons are asking, can we go into the swine?

So he says, go! The demons likely thought they would possess the swine at least, right? Well, it didn't work out that way. That's not how it turns out. The pigs on entry of the demons rushed into the Sea of Galilee and drowned themselves. Probably a couple hundred yards from where Courtney was filling up the gas tank, right? And Mark says there were 2,000 of them. Now I have a question for you. What are 2,000 pigs doing in Israel.

We were never, never offered anything from a pig when we were over there. As a matter of fact, you couldn't go to a restaurant and get both meat and dairy at the same restaurant. If you want to have some meat and have some cream in your coffee, good luck. You can't get it. Amazing. So there's 2,000 of these pigs. What on earth is anybody doing with 2,000 pigs in Israel? Incomprehensible.

Now, looking at the pigs here, I tried to get a picture of 2,000 pigs. Couldn't find any pictures of 2,000 pigs. So it's 33 of the amount of pigs that are in here. That's about 2,000. So you imagine, I just put up all kinds of screens and screens and more screens, you know, and that's how many 2,000 pigs is. That's a lot of pigs. Now it so happens, I wouldn't want to brag about this too much, but I spent some time around pigs. But never 2,000 of them. Never 2,000.

So they have two problems solved and one created. As of this event, the man who had been demon-possessed was now free of the demons. And the swine, which were forbidden by the Law of Moses, were all dead. So, that's great. Now we finally have compliance with the Law of Moses, sort of.

But 2,000 dead pigs floating on the east shore of the Sea of Galilee was now a really big problem. A really pig problem. Can you imagine what 2,000 dead pigs look like? And especially what they smell like a few days later. It's really raunchy. Okay, so we let them rot, prepare as many as possible to sell, and then get them to where they have, you know, there's no refrigeration, right? And most of the time the Sea of Galilee is kind of warm. So, oh boy.

This is a really big problem. You know, on the farm we would occasionally, you know, slaughter a pig, but we would do one at a time. I cannot imagine doing 2,000. I cannot imagine doing 200 of them. And 20 would be crazy. So this is a serious problem. How do we get the carcasses out of the sea? Well, we've got to get some boats. And by the way, you have to touch the pigs. Right?

Which is forbidden. So anybody who is observant is not going to help you with this process. Right? They're going to stay away from it. You guys got your own problem. Right? So now, Luke 8, 34 and 35. When the herdsmen saw what had happened, they ran away and reported it in the city and out in the country. Right?

Telling everybody, I'm sure. The people went out to see what had happened, and they came to Jesus and found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting down at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind, and they became frightened." I imagine that's at least what they were feeling. Oh, what a mess!

Who's going to clean this stuff up? Right? I'm not touching it, would be the answer of any observant Jew. So they weren't rejoicing, oh, this guy who we've had problems with for years, and we can't restrain him, he lives with no clothes and runs around and breaks any bonds, we put somebody to guard him and that doesn't work, now he's free.

But rather than rejoicing that this guy is free, instead, the people were frightened. What a mess! What a problem! How could this disaster happen? Jesus, how could you do this? Who are you anyway? What were they going to do with 2,000 carcasses floating around? Oh boy, what a terrible disaster. Who caused this problem?

How would they replace the swine? By the way, I checked into it. There are varying prices for pigs if you go out and try to buy new pigs. But if you were to try in our culture today to buy about 2,000 live pigs, that would run you about $200,000 or $300,000.

So this was quite a loss for somebody and a loss of employment for those who were the keepers. Here's Luke 8, 36 and 37. Those who had seen it reported to them how the man who was demon-possessed had been made well. And all the people of the country of the Gerasenes and the surrounding district asked him to leave them for they were gripped with great fear and he got into a boat and returned back from where he came. So they ran to tell about the man and the pigs.

The picture shows the two men here. in this picture I've got have been managing 2,000 pigs, not very likely. We would have somewhere between 6 and 12 pigs and we'd keep them in some kind of a corral and we found that it didn't matter how thick the corral was, that if they wanted to, they could get through it. We had one instance where we had a stack of 4x4s and then pig wire nailed to that and another stack of 4x4s and some guest of ours came and snagged one of the piglets and the mama pig came right through both layers of 4x4s and the pig wire and busted open easily. So, managing 2,000 pigs with two guys, nah, not happening. Probably more like 20, somewhere around that number. Managing these 2,000 pigs would be a more realistic number. Matter of fact, we had trouble with somebody left the gate open and just getting seven of them back into the place where we had them was really a lot of fun.

Chasing them, I remember my brother chased a little piglet that was only about 60 pounds. chasing him and he grabbed hold of him and was dragged all over the farmyard. And so I ran and grabbed hold of my brother and he dragged both of us all over the farmyard. So anyway, 20 men managing 2,000 pigs is more realistic.

Okay. These men would be able to spread the news about what happened far more quickly than just the two men. Because one thing is Jesus is still there. The man is just still, you know, by the shore of the Sea of Galilee, just having recovered. and all of a sudden a crowd of people comes out. So to get that kind of a crowd, probably you did have a larger number of people, not just two. So a lot of people came to this scene really fast.

Now you imagine it. One is just to look at this, this is a fascinating scene. Here's this guy that we've all known about and has been way out of control, and then there's 2,000 pigs floating around. That's just really impressive, right? Okay. So there's great fear that suddenly 2,000 of them drown. It was so stunning that these people, it says, have great fear. What happened? How could this possibly happen? What other horribly inconvenient and costly event might Jesus bring about quite unexpectedly? What else is going to happen with this Jesus guy here?

And so they're just saying, look, you've just got to go. You've got to get out of here. Even if we're all up for days working to handle the pork, we cannot catch up with 2,000 of them. It is a lot of work. So this is going to be a mess no matter what happens. And for days we're going to be working trying to recover and we're not going to be able to do it. This is just a great mess. So here are the last verses of the passage, Luke 8, 38 and 39. But the man from whom the demons had gone out was begging him that he might accompany him, but he sent him away, saying..."

That's very interesting. "...return to your house and describe what great things God has done for you." So he went away, proclaiming throughout the whole city what great things Jesus had done for him. Interesting that Jesus didn't say, yeah, come along and join us, but not, you go and tell people what God's done for you. So this formerly demon-possessed man wanted to come along with Jesus. Instead, Jesus instead told the man to go and tell others what God had done for him that day. Now, did he tell others what God had done for him that day? Did he do that? He told what great things Jesus had done for him. Is Jesus deity? Yes. So the man did go back to proclaim to others what Jesus had done for him. And the man had quite a story to tell, didn't he?

Hey, I used to run around. Remember me? I used to run around. No clothes. People tried to bind me. People tried to set a guard over me. I used to live in the tombs. It was terrible. I didn't have control over my own life. Thousands of demons possessed me. What a story to tell, right? What a story to tell. It was an intense bad news, good news day. Imagine going around and telling what God did for you. Oh, and by the way, there was 2,000 dead pigs floating in the Sea of Galilee. And these guys that were herdsmen, they're out of a job right now.

Some things to ponder here about this passage, we live among dead people too. As we go about our lives, we live among people who are spiritually dead. They go about their lives as if they were living, but in fact they are walking dead ones, as the book of Ephesians puts it. In Ephesians 2, 1 and 2, and you are dead in your trespasses and sins, death meaning separation from God, that's what death means, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.

We too were among them, and we live now among people who are spiritually separated from God. But you know what? Christ died for whom? The sins of the Just a few of us? The sins of those who go to church? Christ died for the sins of the whole world. We walk among dead people, but because Christ died for the sins of the whole world, everybody is savable. Isn't that amazing? Because Christ died for the sins of the whole world, everybody is savable.

It's even possible that not everyone is happy with what God has done in your life. There may be those who are unhappy with what God's done in your life or is doing in your life. That could be. Being saved could disappoint some people and may puzzle others or even make them mad. Make them angry at you. That could happen.

Just like these townspeople were not all delighted and happy that this man was freed. The whole set of circumstances, a lot of them were just very afraid. There are even quite a few Christians who don't get grace. It may be Christians who are upset that you don't go for their list of favorite laws.

And just like this man who had been radically, spiritually delivered and saved, we too have been radically changed. This man had become demon-possessed by a large number of demons. I'm assuming from the number of pigs that we're talking thousands of demons. And Jesus cast out the demons so this man was saved and could testify what God, or as he put it, Jesus, had done in his life.

We too have been spiritually changed and radically so. Radically so. We are in Christ and Christ is in us. The New Testament makes that clear. And we saw in Romans chapter 8 some time back, we're in the Spirit and the Spirit is in us. And those don't mean the same thing. Does it sound like the same thing? Yes. But those don't mean the same thing.

We have a new spiritual history in Christ that will last forever. People will go around telling their life story of things that they did, and things they didn't do, and things that were done to them, and things that weren't done to them. And all of us have those kinds of stories we could tell. But do you know what's going to matter forever? It's the new history that we have in Christ. We have a new history. We were crucified and died with Him. We were buried with Him and raised with Him, ascended and seated with Him. And it's that new history that's going to matter forever. Just like with this man who was demon-possessed. The fact that he was in the past possessed by demons is now no longer going to define who he is. Because Christ freed him. And he freed you and me too.

Let's pray. Lord, we thank you as we look at this. What an amazing story. Really astounding. And as we look at it, we see this man was radically changed. We thank you that we've been radically changed. Our eternity is radically changed. We thank you for that. We thank you for your immense love and mercy and grace. that has brought that about. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.