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Matthew 8:28-34

Jesus had set sail with His disciples from the region of Capernaum. The sudden storm that arose gave the
disciples needed practice in trusting in Jesus, for His protection.

They witnessed the power that Jesus wielded, over that great tempest, with authority to command the forces
of nature, just by His word. It was a testimony to the deity of Jesus - which they were beginning to
apprehend, by personal experience.

The voyage continued on calm water to the other side of the lake - which is where the account in Matthew
picks up.

[Matthew 8:28-34]

v. 28 So Jesus and His disciples had crossed the Sea of Galilee, and pulled up to the shore of a region
known as Decapolis, a confederation of ten cities - with mostly Gentile populations.

The manuscript used for this Bible calls the specific place the country or district of Gergesenes; others will
read the region of Gadarenes, which we find in Mark and Luke, of this translation (Mk 5:1, Lk 8:26).

There were two cities which correspond to these names, at that time: Gerasa was a notable city, thirty miles
southeast of the lake - which puts it too far away for this account.

But the city of Gadara was only six miles southeast of the lake, and according to Josephus, controlled the
territory reaching the shore of the lake. This is most likely the region that Matthew was indicating, and
Gadarenes is in the oldest manuscripts.

When Jesus and His disciples disembarked from the boat, Matthew indicates there met Him two demon-
possessed men. Now, if you’ve been able to read the corresponding accounts in Mark and Luke this week,
you may have noted at this point one significant difference between them and Matthew’s account.

Did you notice the difference? Matthew’s account mentions two demon possessed men; Mark and Luke
indicate only one. But clearly, they are all describing the same encounter. So what may account for this
discrepancy?

There are two strong possibilities. Mark was not an eye-witness during most of the ministry of Jesus; he
became a convert later, through Peter. Mark’s gospel is thought to be derived from Peter’s account, which
became an oral narrative in the early church. Luke was not an eye-witness either; his gospel is also
believed to be derived from this oral narrative.

It may be that there were two demon-possessed men, but only one who was prominent in the exchanges
with Jesus - and he became the focal point of the story. Matthew’s focus is especially on the encounter with
Jesus, but as an actual eye-witness, he remembers personally that there were two men who were possessed.

The other possibility has to do with Matthew himself; we’ll call it the accountant, in him. You may
remember at the beginning of Matthew’s gospel, where he records the genealogy of Jesus, that he
condensed the ancestors of Jesus through Joseph into three groups of fourteen - some creative accounting.
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We believe Matthew did this as a means of reaching his Jewish audience, who would likely be aware of
fourteen being the mystical number of David. Matthew was pointing out the Jesus was a perfect fit, as
Israel’s Messiah.

Matthew may once again be using some creative accounting, here. Some commentators call it Matthew’s
tendency to see double, at times! Matthew indicates that there were two demon-possessed men.

What does the number two represent, in Scripture? That’s the number for witness. It is interesting that
each of these few times when Matthew doubles up the single person involved, there is a notable revelation
being made, of Jesus; especially notable for Matthew’s Jewish audience (Matt 9:27-31, 20:30-34). We will
look at each of these revelations of Jesus as we encounter them, in Matthew’s gospel.

But does that mean that Matthew’s record is inaccurate? Not at all - according to method of writing
historical biography, in that day. Certainly Jesus really did heal more than one demon-possessed man,
throughout His ministry. It would be as if Matthew “borrowed” from one incident, and “added” it to
another. The result is still accurate accounting, but it emphasizes a particular point in Matthew’s narrative.

The possibilities mentioned are both speculative, but they give you some thoughts on how the gospel
accounts mesh together. And the fact that the accounts do have differences actually validates their
authenticity. If the accounts were identical, it would not reflect them being generated by different
individuals, with different perspectives and experiences.

So upon disembarking, Jesus encountered two demon-possessed men - Mark adds this happened
immediately (5:2). The KJV uses the term “devil” instead of demon, but in contemporary usage, the devil
refers only to Satan. What are Satan and demons? They are evil spirits; more specifically, they are angels
who chose to rebel against the LORD.

God created the angelic realm before He created the heavens and the earth - the material universe. We can
know this because the book of Job tells us that when God laid the foundations of the earth, the angels sang
together; they shouted for joy (Job 38:7), praising God as He brought the material heavens and earth into
existence.

The angels were created before that time in order to serve God as ministering spirits, for His new creation;
they were to administer God’s government over the earth; carrying out God’s purposes - in particular, His
purposes for man (Heb 1:14).

To accomplish this, God created angelic beings with a soul, a consciousness by which they had awareness
of the material realm of man, and also a spirit, by which they had awareness of God.

Angels are souls of spirit life - eternal beings - but unlike men, they were created without a body - for their
habitation in the invisible, spiritual realm.

We know from the prophets Isaiah (14:12-15) and Ezekiel (28:12-19) that one angel, a cherub appointed to
guard over the holiness of God’s throne, came to covet that throne instead - for himself. Who was that?
Satan.

His actual name is Lucifer, meaning “day star” or “shining one”. The angels were called the morning stars
(Job 38:7), which speaks of the outshining of God’s glory which emanated from them, as well as their
creation at the beginning of time.
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Lucifer had been appointed by God to a prominent role, among the angelic host - but it wasn’t prominent
enough, for him. In his pride, Lucifer aspired to be like the Most High God - the possessor of heaven and
earth (Gen 14:19, 22). Upon witnessing the creation of God, Lucifer desired to possess that creation, for
himself.

But God found the iniquity - the pride - in Lucifer’s heart (Eze 38:15), and cast him as a profane thing out
of the mountain of God - the highest heaven - spiritual heaven, the home of God (Eze 28:16).

So Lucifer took up residence in the created heavens, which became his base of operations as Satan -
meaning adversary - for he had chosen to oppose God, and His plans - seeking instead to have his own will
done, for himself.

We learn from the book of Revelation that a third of the angelic beings were drawn to follow Satan, in his
rebellion against God (Rev 12:4). They were drawn to Satan because they, too, did not want to submit to
their Creator God.

This coalition of evil angelic beings constantly seeks to thwart God’s plans, if possible. They also engage
in spoiling or perverting God’s work; what He accomplishes, on the earth. Jesus called them the devil and
his angels (Mt 25:41); demonic angels, or demons.

So how do we see this opposition to God, in the Scriptures? We see them operating within certain
limitations. First, Satan is just one being - a created being, with limited power and abilities - for instance,
unlike God, Satan can only be in one place at a time.

The Scriptures show Satan dealing particularly with people of power or status, such as prominent men (Job
1-2); and kings (Is 14, Eze 28, 1 Chr 21:1). Satan is also seen to involve himself personally at pivotal
moments in history, as God is working to accomplish His plans for man - such as the temptation in the
garden of Eden (Gen 3); the temptation of Jesus (Mt 4:1-11); the betrayal of Jesus by Judas Iscariot (Lk
22:3); and the establishment of the church (Acts 5:1-11).

But Satan can’t be everywhere at once; so what he did was to build up a system on the face of God’s earth
that is designed to prevent the sons of Adam from becoming sons of God, as God has intended for them.
Satan does this by keeping men occupied with his system - known in Scripture simply as the world - that
political, economic, religious system which feeds men’s lusts and desires, for self. As long as men remain
engaged in Satan’s virtual kingdom, their eyes are blind to seeing the one and only entrance into the
kingdom of God - through His Son, Jesus.

But God allows that system to remain on His earth because it provides an alternative, so that men always
have freedom of choice. And the world system actually serves God’s purposes by revealing to men the
self-will in their hearts; and the lack of soul-satisfaction to be found in that system. So for some, the
system can serve to drive them to God.

The apostle John wrote that the whole world lies in the evil one (1 Jn 5:19); it belongs to him, and is under
his influence. That influence is circulated in the world system by the devil’s angels, who promote Satan’s
thinking throughout the system (Eph 6:11-12).

Satan’s thinking is brought into the world by those men who open their minds to that influence; this is how
Satan “works” in the sons of disobedience; he works his thinking in. And then, of course, men share it with
each other - think social media! Paul aptly called Satan the prince of the power of the air (Eph 2:2) - air is
the medium through which so many of our communications travel.
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Beside their involvement with building up and maintaining of the world system, we also see the devil’s
angels somewhat involved with the world of men, on an individual basis. These are the cases of
possessions, that we see in Scripture - such as we read of here in Matthew.

How does a demonic spirit come to possess a man? It can’t happen too readily, or we would see more
possessions. And in fact in certain societies, particularly those in which a religion involves contact with the
spirit world - such as through meditation, or drugs, or trances - possessions are more common.

It appears from this that when there is a significant suppression of the conscious mind - not necessarily
through religion - this suppression of the conscious mind provides opportunity for a demon to take
possession.

What exactly do demons possess? Not the mind or spirit, but the body. And since demonic spirit beings
are more powerful than human beings, they have their way, in that body; the person no longer has control
of it - as long as the demon chooses to control it. They can force the body into actions - sometimes with
supernatural power - or they can sicken or disable the body.

And the brain, which is a physical organ of the body, is also subject to the demon - which means that the
demon can cause the brain to malfunction, or commandeer it - which can have the appearance of some
mental illnesses.

All of which is terribly frightening. And people wonder, can that possibly happen to me? Not if you’re a
Christ One. For the Christ One, He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world (1 Jn 4:4) - that
one being Satan.

Christ now dwells in us, through His Spirit (Eph 3:17, Rm 8:9-10); we’ve been sealed with the Holy Spirit
(Eph 1:13), and belong to God - spirit, soul and body. Belonging to God, we cannot be taken by another.

But that is not to say that we cannot take in the devil’s thinking; believers can be deceived or oppressed by
the devil through those in the world system, and therefore believers are capable of being influenced by
God’s enemy. And believers are also capable of being tempted through Satan’s world system, enslaving
ourselves again through selfish desires; self-love.

Our protection is in the Lord; but we are also responsible to build ourselves up on our most holy faith, pray
in the Holy Spirit, and keep ourselves in the love of God (Jude 20-21).

Now, what would be the reason for demonic spirits possessing men? Why might they do that? Certainly, it
would keep the possessed individual from God; of course, that just affects one individual.

But the individual’s body gives the demon certain advantages that he would not ordinarily have; he can
speak and act directly through the individual. So possession allows the demon to have a more intimate and
tangible point of contact with rest of the human race - to influence; to deceive; to incite to fear.

There is also some evidence in the Scriptures that demons like to inhabit bodies. Why might that be? Well,
consider that these demonic angels have lost their habitation with God, having rebelled against His plan for
them. They are without home and without purpose. That would tend to render them restless and
dissatisfied; an unfulfilled creation.
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The demonic spirits are said to seek rest (Lk 11:24). And we can see this restlessness in Satan, who
describes himself as going to and fro on the earth (Job 1:7); he walks about, seeking whom he may devour
(1 Pet 5:8), because he is never satisfied.

How can he - or the other demonic spirits - be satisfied, apart from God? They can’t be; yet that is what
they have chosen - forever chosen - for themselves. Perhaps bodies give demons some perverse sense of an
abode, to rest in - but for the person who is possessed, they are tormenting intruders.

As we return to our passage, we don’t know how it was that these two men opened themselves up to
become possessed by demons, but we understand that the men were unbelieving Gentiles, from that region
- and therefore, pagan rituals could certainly have created opportunity, for the demons (1 Cor 10:19-21,
12:1-3).

Mark speaks of this possessing evil spirit as unclean (Mk 5:2). And where does Matthew say the men came
from, in verse 28? From out of the tombs - a place where dead bodies were buried.

Tombs were always put outside of the cities where the living dwelt - in groves or mountain areas desolate
places. It was not unusual for the insane and demon-possessed to seek a place of shelter there. Tombs,
containing dead bodies, were considered an unclean place - very fitting, for these unclean spirits.

Matthew indicates that the demon-possessed men were exceedingly fierce - violent. Both Mark and Luke
indicate a supernatural strength, to break any bond or chain or shackle (Mk 5:3-4; Luke 8:29). It seems that
these men reigned in terror over the inhabitants who lived in proximity to this area of the lake.

When these two men, possessed by demons, saw Jesus, they immediately came to Him - and spoke to Him.

v. 29 Suddenly they cried out loudly - who cried out? The men did; but we can tell by the content of what
was said that the demons are speaking, through the men. They have commandeered their brains, their
mouths, to speak to Jesus.

And what do they call Him? The Son of God. We have just seen in Matthew’s account that it was only
beginning to dawn on the disciples that Jesus truly was God. But these demons? They know exactly who
He is.

In fact, the account in Mark and Luke indicates there was a bowing down to Jesus - the demons, forcing the
body into a position of obeisance (Mk 5:6, Lk 8:28). This does not indicate that the demons honor or
reverence Jesus. But it seems they cannot deny His authority over them; this was an acknowledgement of
that authority; a most unwilling subjugation.

Unmentioned in Matthew’s abbreviated account is the full title they used for Jesus - Son of the Most High
God. Do you remember that this was the title for God by which Lucifer had proclaimed his personal
ambition? - to be like the Most High (Is 14:14). The Most High is El Elyon, the possessor of heaven and
earth (Gen 14:19).

Despite Lucifer’s ambitions, these demons were acknowledging the title of Most High to belong to God -
and as Son of the Most High God, the demons recognized Jesus to be the heir, of heaven and earth - the
heir of all things (Heb 1:2).
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Through the men, the demons also voiced their fear, that Jesus had come to torment them before the time.
Before what time? The word for “time” in the Greek refers to an appointed time. At what appointed time
will the demons be tormented? At the time appointed for their judgment.

The apostle John was given a revelation by Jesus, which included this time of judgment. It will occur after
the seven-year period of Tribulation on the earth, by which time the Lord will have defeated His enemies,
and Satan’s world system will be destroyed. First turn to Revelation chapter 18.

[Revelation 18:1-3] So an angel proclaimed the pending destruction of Satan’s world system - known in
the Revelation as Babylon the great. When that system goes down, it will entrap all of the demon spirits
who inhabited it. This will be their prison for a thousand years.

At that same time, Satan will also be bound. Turn now to Revelation chapter 20.

[Revelation 20:1-3] The “bottomless pit” in the Greek is more literally, “the pit of the abyss”. Satan will
be bound there for a thousand years.

So the devil and his angels will be bound - separately - during the entire reign of Christ, on the earth. There
will be no one deceiving the nations; only the truth will be taught.

But men will continue to be born, during this time, with their self-will. Those who do not submit
themselves to King Jesus, believing in Him, will retain that rebellion in their hearts. If it is expressed
outwardly, they will be immediately put to death; there will be no lawlessness permitted to disturb the
righteousness and peace, of the Kingdom Age (Is 66:24).

At the end of the thousand years, Satan will be released, and those men that still harbor rebellion will enlist
in his cause of trying to take Jerusalem. God will destroy these rebellious men with fire from heaven (Rev
20:7-9).

At that time, the devil will be cast into the lake of fire - hell. We can assume that Satan’s angels rejoin him
there at that time, as Jesus indicated that hell was prepared for the devil and his angels (Matt 25:41). That
is their final judgment - bound forever in that place of torment.

[Return to Matthew 8]

So the demons know that they will be judged by Jesus, and consigned to a place of torment. But what we
just read is in the NT - not recorded at this time. How could the demons know about their judgment?

There are references to it in Isaiah and the psalms (Isa 27:1; Ps 21:8-9), as well as the record that God
placed in the stars, on the fourth day of creation (Ara, Draco). These demons would have seen the plan of
God laid out, from beginning to end before they ever rebelled - and therefore, they had a general
knowledge of how it will end for them.

Torment, for a demon, will be coming into this judgment, in which they’ll be bound; they will no longer be
able to pursue their rebellion. But perhaps the demons even view a milder form of that torment as having
to leave the abode they’ve made for themselves, in the two men - for the other accounts record that Jesus
had commanded the demons to come out (Mk 5:8, Lk 8:29).
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It would seem the demons find it tormenting to leave their abode, in the men. But the manifestation of the
demon spirits through the men, is horrible torment; Mark and Luke record at least one of the men
completely unclothed, wandering around the mountain and tombs, and constantly screaming and cutting
himself with stones (Mk 5:5, Lk 8:27). This is the manifestation of a demon spirit in a place which he
considers relatively restful. Relatively, indeed! These demon spirits are terrifying.

And it turns out that there were a lot of them. The other accounts indicate that Jesus inquired as to the
demons’ name, and he said, “Legion”, because there were so many of them (Mk 5:9; Lk 8:30). A Roman
legion is 6000 soldiers! There may not have been that many demons, but what happens next supports the
idea that there were many, many of them.

v. 30-32 So the demons, speaking through the men, ask permission of Jesus that they should enter into a
herd of swine - pigs. Pigs are considered unclean animals - another appropriate place, for these unclean
spirits. This can be their new place of “rest”. Mark indicates that there were about 2000 pigs (Mk 5:13).
As a side note, this confirms that the region was Gentile - Jews would have nothing to do with herding pigs.

So the demons ask permission of Jesus, and He gives it - He grants their request. Now, from the other
accounts we know that Jesus has already told the demons to come out, and it is apparent that the demons
must obey Him.

These powerful supernatural spirit beings, and there are many, many of them - to inhabit 2000 pigs - they
must do what Jesus commands them to do. And they must ask His permission, to do anything further.
Jesus is completely in control of the situation.

This is the power of the Creator, over His creation. As it has been from the beginning - He spoke, and it
was so. Not that the demons willingly obeyed Jesus; when He commanded them, they simply had no
choice.

And who was right there, listening to all of this - and watching it unfold? The disciples. Here was another
manifestation they were witnessing of Jesus - as God.

But you might wonder, why did Jesus give the demons permission to enter the swine? Well, if Jesus merely
cast them out, there would have been scant evidence that He had done so - after all, it would be somewhat
easy to explain away the seeming “recovery” of the two men. They were just terribly sick; but now they
were well. People can get well, right?

But how do you explain two thousand pigs that were grazing suddenly stampeding, hurtling themselves
into the lake and all drowning? And by the way, pigs can swim. It is hard to recognize mere natural forces
at work, in such a circumstance.

And there would also have been the eyewitness accounts of the herdsmen - and the disciples’ witness to the
words of Jesus, and to those of the possessed men. This was an incredible miracle, requiring supernatural
power - authority over the forces of the spirit world, which mere men cannot control. Clearly, Jesus is no
mere man!

Well, the herdsmen ran off to tell those in Gadara what had just happened. And the whole city turned out to
meet Jesus.
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v. 33-34 We might think the whole city would have gone out to meet Jesus because they were amazed by
the account of what happened, and would want to find out more about this One who had such power. Or
that they would have gone out to thank Jesus, for freeing their citizens of demon possession - and freeing
their community from that reign of terror.

But no. The citizens go out to meet Jesus, in order to ask Him to depart from their region. Really? Yes.
Why? They’re terrified of Him - according to all three gospel accounts.

They were used to dealing with the two demon-possessed men; that had been going on for a long time,
according to Luke (8:27). But this sudden, mighty display of power, far greater than that of the demons?

The Gentiles, who had so long ago turned away from the true and living God, had left themselves with only
dumb idols to turn to, in their need. They regarded themselves as being at the mercy of fate, and of their
capricious gods.

But here was One with authority over the spiritual realm - One who had the power and the desire to deliver
their own people - Gentiles! - from great evil. Yet to the eye, what did they see? A poor itinerant Jewish
teacher. They could not make sense of what they were taking in - and it terrified them.

Let’s visit Mark’s account to get a little more detail.

[Mark 5:15-19]

v. 15-17 Think of them, seeing this man, now completely normal - he’s just sitting at the feet of Jesus (Lk
8:35) - and all those carcasses of the pigs, in the lake - all, evidence of the supernatural forces that had been
unleashed.

Did you wonder at all what caused the pigs to cast themselves into the lake? It certainly would not have
been Jesus, as if He were trying to destroy the demons. Demons are spirit beings; they would not have
been harmed by the death of the pigs - they would simply have searched for other bodies to possess.

And Jesus had the authority to confine these evil spirits, if He desired to, at this time - Luke records that the
demons specifically asked Jesus not to command them to go out into the abyss (Lk 8:31), where other
demons are currently confined (2 Pet 2:4, Jude 6). Jesus could have done this, but didn’t. No, Jesus would
wait until the appointed time, to judge these demons.

Now, it is possible that the pigs were simply confused, when the demons entered into them, and stampeded
into the lake - although this would not account for them all drowning.

But it could also be that the demons drove the pigs into the lake - intentionally. Why might they have done
that? It might have been an attempt to spoil this first overture that Jesus was making among the Gentiles.

The enemy would consider the Gentiles his territory; so his minions would try to ruin any effort to reach
them. The death of a large herd of swine was a great economic loss; and the sight of all those dead
carcasses would tend to evoke fear.

If this is indeed what happened, it would seem that the demons were at least partly successful. They would
have to search for a new abode, but because of the catastrophe, the people were greatly afraid, and they
wound up pleading with Jesus to leave.
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But the enemy really never thwarts God’s plans.

v. 18-20 Jesus left behind the perfect witness - that Gentile (or was it two?) whom He had delivered from
the demons. And the man went through the entire region of Decapolis, sharing the Good News among his
fellow Gentiles, telling them about Jesus - the One who had saved him by His mighty power from a legion
of demons. Jesus could save to the uttermost every Gentile who would come to God through Him (Heb
7:25).

Reading: Matthew 9:1-8; Mark 2:1-12; Luke 5:17-26; Col 1:13-20.