Ebenezer Baptist Church Ebenezer Baptist Church
Ebenezer Baptist Church is live
Wednesday Bible Study
Rev. Dr. Howard L. Woods, Jr.
Rev. Dr. Howard L. Woods, Jr.
Wednesday, May 11, 2022
Chat
Notes
Playlist
Loading chat...

Demons are Cast into Swine

Luke 8:26 Then they sailed to the country of the Gadarenes, which is opposite Galilee. :27 And when He stepped out on the land, there met Him a certain man from the city who had demons for a long time. And he wore no clothes, nor did he live in a house but in the tombs.

When Jesus and His disciples reached shore, they were in the district of the Gadarenes. There they met a certain man possessed with demons. Matthew mentions two demoniacs, while Mark and Luke speak of only one. Such seeming discrepancies might indicate that they were actually two different occasions, or that one writer gave a fuller account than the others.

This particular case of demon-possession caused the victim to discard his clothes, shun society, and live in the tombs.

Luke 8:28 When he saw Jesus, he cried out, fell down before Him, and with a loud voice said, “What have I to do with You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg You, do not torment me!” :29 For He had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For it had often seized him, and he was kept under guard, bound with chains and shackles; and he broke the bonds and was driven by the demon into the wilderness.

When he saw Jesus, he begged Him to let him alone. Of course, it was the unclean spirit who spoke through the pitiful man.

Demon-possession is real. These demons were not mere influences. They were supernatural beings who indwelt the man, controlling his thoughts, speech, and behavior.

These particular demons caused the man to be extremely violent—so much so that when he had one of these violent convulsions, he broke the chains that were intended to restrain him and ran off into the wilderness. This is not surprising when we realize that cooped up within this one man were enough demons to destroy about two thousand pigs (see Mark 5:13).

Luke 8:30 Jesus asked him, saying, “What is your name?” And he said, “Legion,” because many demons had entered him. :31 And they begged Him that He would not command them to go out into the abyss. 

The man’s name was Legion because he was possessed by a legion of demons. These demons recognized Jesus as the Son of the Most High God. They knew too that their doom was inevitable, and that He would bring it to pass. But they sought a reprieve, begging Him that He would not command them to depart at once into the abyss.

Luke 8:32 Now a herd of many swine was feeding there on the mountain. So they begged Him that He would permit them to enter them. And He permitted them. :33 Then the demons went out of the man and entered the swine, and the herd ran violently down the steep place into the lake and drowned.

They sought permission, when cast out of the man, to enter a herd of many swine nearby on the mountain. This permission was granted, with the result that the pigs ran headlong down the steep place into the lake and drowned.

Luke 8:34 When those who fed them saw what had happened, they fled and told it in the city and in the country. :35 Then they went out to see what had happened, and came to Jesus, and found the man from whom the demons had departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. :36 They also who had seen it told them by what means he who had been demon-possessed was healed.

Luke 8:37 Then the whole multitude of the surrounding region of the Gadarenes asked Him to depart from them, for they were seized with great fear. And He got into the boat and returned.

Darby observes: The world beseeches Jesus to depart, desiring their own ease, which is more disturbed by the presence and power of God than by a legion of devils. He goes away. The man who was healed … would fain be with Him; but the Lord sends him back … to be a witness of the grace and power of which he had been the subject.

Luke 8:38 Now the man from whom the demons had departed begged Him that he might be with Him. But Jesus sent him away, saying, :39 “Return to your own house, and tell what great things God has done for you.” And he went his way and proclaimed throughout the whole city what great things Jesus had done for him.

Luke 8:40 So it was, when Jesus returned, that the multitude welcomed Him, for they were all waiting for Him.

A Woman is Healed

Luke 8:41 And behold, there came a man named Jairus, and he was a ruler of the synagogue. And he fell down at Jesus’ feet and begged Him to come to his house, :42 for he had an only daughter about twelve years of age, and she was dying. But as He went, the multitudes thronged Him. 

Jairus, a ruler of the synagogue, was especially anxious to see Him because he had a twelve year old daughter who was dying. He urgently begged Jesus to go with him quickly. But the multitudes thronged Him, hindering His progress.

Luke 8:43 Now a woman, having a flow of blood for twelve years, who had spent all her livelihood on physicians and could not be healed by any, 

In the crowd was a timid, yet desperate woman, who had been afflicted with a flow of blood for twelve years

Luke the physician admits that she had spent all her life-savings and her income on physicians without getting any help. (Mark adds the unprofessional touch that she actually got worse!)

Luke 8:44 came from behind and touched the border of His garment. And immediately her flow of blood stopped. 

Numbers 15:38 “Speak to the children of Israel: Tell them to make tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and to put a blue thread in the tassels of the corners.

Luke 8:45 And Jesus said, “Who touched Me?” When all denied it, Peter and those with him said, “Master, the multitudes throng and press You, and You say, ‘Who touched Me?’ ” 

Luke 8:46 But Jesus said, “Somebody touched Me, for I perceived power going out from Me.” 

But Jesus recognized a touch that was different. As someone has said, “The flesh throngs, but faith touches.” 

He knew that faith had touched Him, because He sensed an outflow of power—the power to heal the woman. 

He perceived that power had gone forth from Him. Not, of course, that He was any less powerful than He had been before, but simply that it cost Him something to heal. There was expenditure.

Luke 8:47 Now when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling; and falling down before Him, she declared to Him in the presence of all the people the reason she had touched Him and how she was healed immediately. 

Luke 8:48 And He said to her, “Daughter, be of good cheer; your faith has made you well. Go in peace.” 

Her public confession was rewarded with a public commendation of her faith by Jesus, and a public pronouncement of His peace upon her.

No one ever touches Jesus by faith without His knowing it, and without receiving a blessing.

No one ever confesses Him openly without being strengthened in assurance of salvation.

Jairus’s Daughter is Raised

Luke 8:49 While He was still speaking, someone came from the ruler of the synagogue’s house, saying to him, “Your daughter is dead. Do not trouble the Teacher.” 

The healing of the woman with the issue of blood probably did not delay Jesus very long, but it was long enough for a messenger to arrive with the news that Jairus’ daughter was dead, and that therefore the Teacher’s services would no longer be needed. 

There was faith that He could heal, but none that He could raise the dead.

Luke 8:50 But when Jesus heard it, He answered him, saying, “Do not be afraid; only believe, and she will be made well.” 

Luke 8:51 When He came into the house, He permitted no one to go in except Peter, James, and John, and the father and mother of the girl. 

Luke 8:52 Now all wept and mourned for her; but He said, “Do not weep; she is not dead, but sleeping.” 

Luke 8:53 And they ridiculed Him, knowing that she was dead. 

Luke 8:54 But He put them all outside, took her by the hand and called, saying, “Little girl, arise.” 

Luke 8:55 Then her spirit returned, and she arose immediately. And He commanded that she be given something to eat. 

Luke 8:56 And her parents were astonished, but He charged them to tell no one what had happened.

Hinson, E. E., & Kroll, W. M. (Eds.). (1994). KJV Bible Commentary (p. 121). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
MacArthur, J. F., Jr., MacDonald, Farstad, Believers Bible; Hinson, E. E., & Kroll, W. M. (Eds.). (1994). KJV Bible Commentary (p. 2195). Nashville: Thomas Nelson