Legions of Demons

And no one was able to bind him anymore, even with a chain; because he had often been bound with shackles and chains, and the chains had been torn apart by him and the shackles broken in pieces, and no one was strong enough to subdue him. Constantly, night and day, he was screaming among the tombs and in the mountains, and gashing himself with stones. (NASB) Mark 5:3-5

Today some might say these men had psychological issues and have them admitted to a psychiatric ward for treatment. But these men did not have psychological problems. They had a spiritual problem. They were demon possessed, and Jesus knew it. The gospels tell us that the lead man ran up to Jesus, bowed down, and loudly shouting asked why Jesus had come. What a scene! I wish I had been there to see this man run up to Jesus, bow down, making demands of Jesus, and all the time Jesus is commanding the demon to leave.

Seeing Jesus from a distance, he ran up and bowed down before Him; and shouting with a loud voice, he said, “What business do we have with each other, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I implore You by God, do not torment me!” For He had been saying to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!” (NASB) Mark 5:6-8

Did you notice what the demon called Jesus? He called him “Son of the Most High God.” The phrase meant that he considered Jesus to be God (see John 10:36). The demons knew more than the religious leaders, the people, and the disciples. They understood even if the religious leaders did not. Just imagine how the disciples reacted as they watched these events.

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. (NASB) Luke 8:30-31

The demon was speaking for many other demons. Some have claimed that there were over 6,000 demons inside the man who said that their name was Legion. This conclusion is reached because Roman legions were composed of about 6,826 men. But that seems unlikely. Rather, it appears that the demon only wanted to communicate the thought that there were many demons living in the man. This man had real troubles. We may think that we have real trouble on occasions, but most of us do not have problems like this man had. It was Jesus against many demons and not just one-on-one. Yet, Jesus had the advantage, and the evil spirits knew it and were afraid. It did not matter how many demons were in the man. When you fight with God, you will lose. Just one Jesus was all that was required.

Did you notice that they asked Jesus to not send them into the abyss? This is a reference to a place where some evil angels are already dwelling because they had sinned in the days of Noah (Gen. 6:1-2). 1 Peter 3:18-20 and 2 Peter 2:4-5 tell us that some evil spirits or evil angels sinned in the days of Noah and Jude 6-7 says that they went after strange flesh. That is, the angels cohabited with the human women in some way. As a result they were confined to a prison called the abyss. Revelation 9:1-2, 11 reveals that they will be allowed to escape in the final moments of the world before it is destroyed. Eventually, all of the angels will be confined to the abyss (Rev. 20:1-2) before the universe is destroyed and men and women are sentenced to an eternity in the Lake of Fire or to an eternity in heaven. For more information, the reader should visit the study Angels - Good & Evil. So these demons were afraid of Jesus - our God.

But the most startling part about their request is that they knew Jesus had the power to send them into the abyss. The abyss exists in a spiritual world and not in our world. Jesus had power in both the spiritual and non-spiritual worlds. Wouldn’t the Jewish leaders have been surprised!

And he began to implore Him earnestly not to send them out of the country. Now there was a large herd of swine feeding nearby on the mountain. The demons implored Him, saying, “Send us into the swine so that we may enter them.” Jesus gave them permission. And coming out, the unclean spirits entered the swine; and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea, about two thousand of them; and they were drowned in the sea. (NASB) Mark 5:10-13

Jesus gave them permission; and as soon as the demons entered into the pigs, they ran into the Sea of Galilee and drowned. The pigs were smarter than the two demon-possessed men. The pigs would rather die than live with those supernatural creatures living inside them. These pigs were smart!

When the herdsmen saw what had happened, they ran away and reported it in the city and out in the country. 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. 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. (NASB) Luke 8:34-37