Focus:
kjv@Revelation:14:12 @ Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.
(
FaithOfJesus thread begun by r
RandyP )
Today's Verse:
kjv@Mark:5:1-20
kjv@Mark:5:1 @ And they came over unto the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes.
kjv@Mark:5:2 @ And when he was come out of the ship, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit,
kjv@Mark:5:3 @ Who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no man could bind him, no, not with chains:
kjv@Mark:5:4 @ Because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces: neither could any man tame him.
kjv@Mark:5:5 @ And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones.
kjv@Mark:5:6 @ But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped him,
kjv@Mark:5:7 @ And cried with a loud voice, and said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the most high God? I adjure thee by God, that thou torment me not.
kjv@Mark:5:8 @ For he said unto him, Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit.
kjv@Mark:5:9 @ And he asked him, What is thy name? And he answered, saying, My name is Legion: for we are many.
kjv@Mark:5:10 @ And he besought him much that he would not send them away out of the country.
kjv@Mark:5:11 @ Now there was there nigh unto the mountains a great herd of swine feeding.
kjv@Mark:5:12 @ And all the devils besought him, saying, Send us into the swine, that we may enter into them.
kjv@Mark:5:13 @ And forthwith Jesus gave them leave. And the unclean spirits went out, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea, (they were about two thousand;) and were choked in the sea.
kjv@Mark:5:14 @ And they that fed the swine fled, and told it in the city, and in the country. And they went out to see what it was that was done.
kjv@Mark:5:15 @ And they come to Jesus, and see him that was possessed with the devil, and had the legion, sitting, and clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid.
kjv@Mark:5:16 @ And they that saw it told them how it befell to him that was possessed with the devil, and also concerning the swine.
kjv@Mark:5:17 @ And they began to pray him to depart out of their coasts.
kjv@Mark:5:18 @ And when he was come into the ship, he that had been possessed with the devil prayed him that he might be with him.
kjv@Mark:5:19 @ Howbeit Jesus suffered him not, but saith unto him, Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee.
kjv@Mark:5:20 @ And he departed, and began to publish in Decapolis how great things Jesus had done for him: and all men did marvel.
Today's notes:
Context:
- Before - Calming the tempest
- After - Raising of the rulers daughter
Key Concepts:
slide:kjv@torment
What is God's righteousness observed doing?:
- Being deliverer for a man stricken with many devils.
- Commanding the devils to come out of the man. Sending the devils wherever HE determined best, whether to torment, out of country or into a large herd of swine.
- Revealing the unclean spirit to His disciples by way of conversation with them.
- Sending the devils into a herd of swine who scurried into the sea.
- Leaving the coast at the townsfolk's insistence.
- leaving the man to go his way as testimony to those in Syria
What does this tell us about God's righteousness?:
- Righteousness is a deliverer for all. The strength of a legion of devils often compares little to the strength of a hardened and entrenched heart. Both maladies are beyond what common religion can itself fix. Note that it is coming to the deliverance of an individual man and not to rid the planet of all possession at once. Mankind is rid of this and all evil just one heart at a time as should be, only upon the God sent work of Jesus the Christ as need be, that man never again be as is righteous.
- Righteousness does not compromise with wickedness, it always does what best fulfills all righteousness. While the storyline can be read suggesting that Jesus entertained the spirit's request and lessened their torment, it can also be read that that the demons spent the next foreseeable month or more in the rotting corpses of a thousand swine at the bottom of the sea.
- Jesus asks the questions that would tell His men the most about these devils nature. The know that the man suffered a long time crying and cutting himself with rocks, that there was enough of himself still conscious that he would bring himself to fall in reverence before Jesus, that not even the townsfolk could contain him in chains when demonically moved. Now they know that they can travel in packs/legions, speak through men as clear as you and I, that they know their end, know Jesus, know that their final torment is not yet.
- Jesus trusted the Father what the swine would do once possessed. He could have had a herd of demoniac pigs chasing them all about.
- Righteousness typically at this point will not stay where it is not welcomed, at least not in person. Righteousness however will linger in the persona of a most unforgettable/undeniable controversial event and a remembrance of how they miserably reacted unanimously.
- The man's testimony will serve much better purpose in Syria his homeland than on the outskirts of a multitude following Jesus.
How is man reacting?:
- herdsmen running from the scene to get others
- others imploring Jesus to leave their coasts
- man formally possessed wanting to join Jesus' followers.
Notes:
The man somehow had the power to move toward and fall before Jesus, I believe this despite the resistance of the legion of devils within him. Where he seemingly had no other power against what was happening to him, he still had the power to do just this. Perhaps we should all note that we've the power still if not any other to do this very thing.
The story of how it just now befell him would certainly be of interest to the people. The story though is much larger and that we cannot know. There is the story of how the possession began, did the people and their idolatry have anything to do with it? There is the story of how he then was treated, did the people behave badly? There is the story of how now he would be treated had the man stayed in the area, would the people have come to accept what had happened and what their part was it it and how they themselves are just as likely to be possessed for their hardness towards Jesus?
There is something unsettling about the townsfolk, that they would so readily and unanimously reject Jesus as if their hand was caught in the till. Only they and Jesus would know for sure. One theory is that they were receiving benefit from the known demonic presence that thieves would stay away from the swine grazing near the tombs (two thousand swine is a unusually large herd to openly graze). The other is that the satanic was being worshiped and that the demons were encouraged over their dead as some type of honor or protector. This foreign man may or may not have known of this when he originally entered.
Devils are frequently worshiped as deity and have been constant cause for much of God's anger filter:OT devils . There seems to be a sizable link between where devils seems to reside and death and or the dead as that is where man's fear and therefore devils power play together most. Should we be surprised then that these people are might not be as innocent as the verse may read? Where might they play in this day and age?
Jesus likely came this way for this one thing and probably would have continued back into Galilee anyway; He did come for the House of Israel first. However, neither petition man's nor devil's was to be a compromise for Him. Both received from Him as they asked because it coincidentally agreed with God's righteous plan, but for much different motive and objective. There is almost a humor to the devils receiving what they wanted while a great sadness for the others considering the increased hardness of their hearts as a result.
Key Messages:
What does this say about our present condition?
- One act of God's righteousness has the power to upset so many other people. From outside we look in on these stories and we see it as so. From inside the story we see things pretty much as everyone else within the story; righteousness as an immediate threat. Why is that?
- The presence of one very good is more fearful to most than the presence of many evils. It is more likely that we would demand the miracle worker off our shores than receive Him into our town.
- Which is of greater value? two thousand pigs? or one man's release from torment? Such an answer is to suggest one's priorities.
Further Resources:
Comment Board:Mark:5:1-20
index:FAITHOFJESUSDEVOTION - Devotional Index
strkjv@Mark:5:1-20 rwp@Mark:5:1-20 mhcc@Mark:5:1-20
FaithOfJesus2 - Devotion Index
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