Freedom from Unclean Spirits at the Gadarenes
Mark 5:1-20 records Jesus meeting with the man with a Legion of unclean spirits living in him. It is interesting that first, the Legion of unclean spirits knew that Jesus was coming. When Jesus came out of the ship, the man met Him immediately. Nothing is done in secret in the spirit world. I'm sure that God could have provided obscurity to what Christ was doing if needed. But Christ had no reason to ask this. He knew He was more powerful than the greatest unclean spirit or group of unclean spirits that ever exists. This power was not His by nature as a human being, but was His through His relationship with God via the Holy Spirit. Now, of course, since He is risen, He has returned to His rightful place as God and has that power inherently.
When going up against or trying to make a difference as a Christian, know that Satan knows what you're doing. He knows whether or not you are going to be effective, and he may measure that by losing just a single soul that he had under his control. Satan fights just as hard to keep those he's corrupted as God fights to save those He wants to win. It all comes down, ultimately, to the free will of the individual. But know that if you go up against Satan's forces, they'll know you're coming. Be full of the Holy Spirit at all time, and seek a fresh infilling every day, to be able to stand in that day when the attacks come.
From scripture, it is clear that the unclean spirits gave this individual super-human strength. It says he lived apart from people in the tombs at least part of the time. He couldn't be bound with chains or ropes, and it is clear that people had tried at various times in his life. Nobody could master him. He'd just pick apart the chains or fetters.
He was also in distress. Either he was trying to kill himself of his own volition due to what was inside of him, or the unclean spirits were trying to destroy him while they had him in their grasp. At any rate, he lived a good portion of his life crying and cutting himself with stones. I'm not going to try to declare that every person who chooses to cut themselves is affected by an unclean spirit. But this is one instance where that was true. Pray for anyone who is suffering from this ailment. It could be completely physiological. It could be psychological. Or it could be something worse. Regardless, God is our healer and He is in control.
At any rate, when the man sees Jesus landing at the docks or shore, he immediately seeks Him out at a run. He worships Jesus, but the demons cry out for Jesus to leave them alone, recognizing Jesus for who He was, and not wanting to be tormented since Jesus had recognized the situation and ordered the unclean spirit to leave. When Christ asks the name of the unclean spirit, the man replies Legion for many were present. It would be bad enough to be filled with a single unclean spirit, but to suffer from many at the same time must have been horrible for the man.
The devils don't want to leave the country. This indicates that Christ had the power to order them anywhere. There were clearly many parts of the world that weren't full of people at that time. I assume that the unclean spirits have freedom to move wherever they want and torment whomever they want, unless Christ had commanded them to go to a particular place. Then they'd have to wait. Perhaps they'd even be stuck there only being able to torment people who came to that place. Are there particularly evil places in the earth today where God's light doesn't shine? I'd have to say there are. Is that because at some point in time someone forced a group of unclean spirits to be tied to a particular place? We won't know the answer to that until we get to heaven, but it seems possible.
At any rate, they asked to be allowed to enter a herd of pigs, and when Christ gave them permission, they left the man and destroyed the pigs by forcing them to run headlong into the sea where the pigs drowned. There were about 2,000 pigs affected. Whether there were that many unclean spirits or whether there was a herd effect in operation where a smaller number of unclean spirit possessed pigs drove all the rest is unknown. Regardless, many pigs died and the man was set free of the unclean spirits. Those who looked after the pigs ran and told the nearby city's inhabitants what had happened, and when they came to see, they saw the man totally in his right mind and dressed.
They urged Jesus to leave because of fear at what was going on around them. I've never understood this, unless there were more unclean spirits at work than just the Legion. Of course, the Legion of spirits didn't die when the pigs drowned. They were just free to go find something else to do. It's possible that the unclean spirits individually filled many who came to see what was happening. Regardless of how it was done, many people wanted Jesus gone.
I can understand that they might not understand how this man was now free and the pigs were destroyed. I can understand that they might not want any other animals they depended on to die. But I'd like to think that they would want Jesus around to protect them from the unclean spirits who were in the area. As I said, I just don't understand unless many more were filled with unclean spirits.
The man didn't want to be there any longer either and wanted to leave with Jesus. Jesus wouldn't let him come with them, but told him to go and testify of what Jesus had done for him. The result of the man's testimony in the region in and around Decapolis was that many men marveled at what was done. The story of this man was well know, I'd expect, if many had tried to chain him up over the years. To see his changed life and hear his testimony would get attention. Never doubt the power of your testimony. No matter what life you have come out of by accepting Christ or what God has healed or what miracles God has performed, someone knows you before and can observe you after, and needs to hear what God has done for you. Your testimony is important, always. It's yours, and Satan can't refute it - at least to those who know you.
Healing of the Woman with Issue of Blood
When Jesus returned to the other side of the sea again, the people thronged Him once again. As He was on the road to Jairus' home, in Mark 5:24-34, we have an aside where a woman who had suffered many things of physicians over the course of her life, but still had an issue of blood which plagued her, determined that if she could just touch Jesus clothing, she would be made whole. I'm not sure what it cost her in strength to brave the throngs of people and force her way through the mob until she could reach Jesus and touch Him, but she persevered and did so. Immediately, when she touched His clothes, she could feel the change in her body that she had been made whole.
Jesus, also immediately knew that a healing had happened, and asked "Who touched my clothes?". The disciples thought He was crazy asking such a question considering the mass of people pressing against Him. He stopped the procession to Jarius' house and started looking around. I kind of imagine the disciples reaction to His stopping would be similar to that of a group of bodyguards if their principal decided to stop and glad hand the crowd. The woman was afraid, since she knew what she had done and came and confessed everything that was wrong, what she had done, and the outcome. Jesus praised her faith and sent her home in peace, being made whole again.
I think two things are important to note. The first is the power of faith in Jesus. The Bible says with his stripes we are healed (Isaiah 53:5, 1 Peter 2:24). It's a promise for believers. We need to have faith in that promise. No matter what is wrong with you, if you've been saved, are living for Christ, and have made Him Lord of your life, and are following in His path, you can have healing. You just need to have faith and determine to give Him the glory, and you must decide if it is what you really want.
I don't say this last bit lightly. People came from all around because Jesus was healing people and performing miracles. I wish we had more faith as a people and more Christians filled with the Holy Spirit today and walking in God's path so the same thing was happening today at all Christian meetings and with Christians as they moved through life individually. But we have to give God the glory for what He has done. And we have to want to be healed. Remember that if you're saved, your eternity is with God in heaven - or wherever He directs you to be. You'll have a glorified body that won't fail you again. There is much to look forward to as a Christian. Maybe you have reason to want to stay and thus seek healing, but never discount just how good eternity will be if you have a terminal disease but are truly saved.
This woman probably wasn't at death's door, but her issue of blood would have kept her away from the temple as she would have probably been considered unclean. She likely didn't have a near eternity awaiting her - just many more years of suffering. So she wanted to be healed and determined that Christ could do it and she didn't let anything get in her way of reaching Him. No matter what issues we are dealing with in our lives, we too need to have a single minded focus to seek Christ and whatever He can do for our situation. And we need to press through until we get our answer.
My mom had to have a stent put into her circulatory system. There came a time when she was having heart pains again, but she didn't want to go to the doctor again. So she prayed and said she had reached the place where she was okay if God chose not to heal her or if he did. She went to sleep that night and woke up the next morning and opened her Bible randomly to Psalms 30:2. She said she didn't have any more heart pain after that time. Much later, she had a stroke and was confined to a wheelchair since she had no feeling on the left side of her body from head to toe. She couldn't balance to walk and hold onto a walker.
One night she fell getting out of bed to go to the bathroom because in her 90s she was pretty independent and didn't want help from anyone. When I woke up and got her to the bathroom and then safely back in bed, and I got to bed, she called me back in and said she could feel again. And sure enough, with the lights out, I touched her left side from head to toe. She could tell me exactly where I was touching which she couldn't before. She said as she was falling out of bed earlier, that God had told her it was going to be all right. She still struggled for the last few years, but she was able to get around with a walker at least and was no longer dependent on someone else to help her around with a wheelchair. She finally went home to be with God and her friends and relatives who had gone on before her as she had outlived all the rest of her generation. It was hard to know how to pray in the last couple of years. A complete healing for the stroke's effects would have been a great testimony. But at her age, heaven was welcome. All I could pray was ultimately for God's will to be done.
Healing is real. God is real. Maybe this testimony won't change anyone's life our outlook, but it happened and it's real. There are many other's I've seen and known about directly through the years. Trust in God. He loves you. But also decide when it's time to go, and go with grace. Heaven's better than anything we have here - especially if you've been storing up treasures there your whole life. God always wants us to live our best life. He also wants the glory that is due Him. Mom didn't do anything except love God most of her life. She didn't buy her healing with all the teaching she did or her donations to the church. And she testified as to what God had done for her. Don't just pray for your own needs. Pray for the needs of others with just as much passion. And trust in Him, always.
Resurrection of Daughter of Jairus
Mark 5:21-24 records the beginning of the story of Jarius' daughter. When Jesus arrived at the shore He was again thronged with admirers. One of the rulers of the synagogue came and fell at Jesus' feet imploring Jesus to come and heal his daughter who was at the point of death. Jesus went with him, and many followed. Nobody can say at this point in time just how uniform the opposition to Jesus was across the Jewish leadership. Certainly it grew as time went on. Whether Jarius would have paid a price among his fellow leaders by coming to Jesus or not isn't known. What's important to realize, though, is that when a problem is hurting someone you love, even if Jarius paid a cost socially or religiously in coming to Jesus, his daughter was worth far more to him. God would probably tell us that we should do for others, regardless of their relationship to us. And we should. But somehow it is always easier when someone close is in trouble.
After the healing of the woman with the issue of blood, others involved with Jarius' family come and meet them on the road to tell Jarius not to bother the Master anymore as his daughter had died (Mark 5:35-43). Again, whether their acknowledgement of Christ was genuine or just said in fear of the mob of people who had just heard the woman's testimony is unknowable. I would bet that if they were opposed to Jesus, they wouldn't want Him to have any opportunity to increase His stature in the eyes of the people. Many questions will one day be answered in heaven.
When the ruler of the synagogue heard his daughter had died, he was probably grief stricken. Jesus tells him not to be afraid but only believe. That was a hard thing to hear. It's the same thing we face today. Cancer diagnosis? AIDS? HIV? Any number of doctor reports will send us into a tailspin. Jesus answer is the same. "Be not afraid, only believe.". None of the things I mentioned are as immediately drastic as the death of his daughter, which Jarius faced.
When dealing with a health problem today, I'd say this: Pray about what God wants you to do. Doctors can do many things to arrest or reverse many diseases. Does God want you to be a witness to others who are going through the same thing - which might mean you go to doctors instead of praying for healing? Pray and listen to His answer. If you decide to go with prayer, will you give God the glory, great things He hath done? But listen to the doctors as well. If you take the doctor route and everything goes according to plan, then they have done their job. You put your trust in them and they did their work. Don't take away from what they did by saying God healed you. If the doctor says you shouldn't have made it under their care and you make it, then give God the glory. But if everything goes just like the doctors expect from treatment, you might be able to give God the glory for discovering the treatment, but some combination of doctors, nurses, lab technologists, medical device makers, and drug companies did the work.
We got suffering with Adam and Eve's choice in the garden of Eden. We were denied access to the tree of life and presumably other trees and plants that God designed to keep us healthy. It is sure that in the future, there will be trees with fruit to heal the nations. But we can't blame God for illness, regardless of how grave it is. That was mankind's choice when we rebelled. I'm also pretty sure that several of the diseases are completely due to man's design or improper interaction with God's environment s well. Ebola, for example, may have bridged from monkeys to man. There are a host of nerve agents and bio warfare diseases that have been created, perfected, or enhanced by man. There's debate whether the latest COVID-19 outbreak was a nature to man bridge or created by scientists. But in none of these cases is God to blame.
Remember that if you are a Christ follower, God wants you at your best, but just like Job, you may have to go through some tough things in your life for God to get you where He wants you to be. Don't rail against God for what is happening. Get right with God, confess your sin, and go to those with the gift of healing through the Holy Spirit's gifts. Follow God's New Testament plan, and remember to give Him the glory.
Regardless of decisions when illness strikes, make use of the things God has let doctors learn about in preparing vaccines. Eat healthy things. Try to stay fit. And trust in the Lord, always.
Getting back to the story, Jarius and his friends from home, Jesus, Peter, James, and John the brother of James go down the road to Jarius' house. The multitude stay behind, probably willingly not wanting to be around someone who has just had a child die. When the group gets near the house, there is a tumult of people wailing and grieving. Whether professional mourners or family isn't stated. Jesus asks why they are making such a fuss and crying as the damsel isn't dead but sleeping? The people there know better and laugh Him to scorn.
He puts all the people out of the house or room, and allows the group that went with Him and the damsel's mother to stay in the room with Him. He tells the damsel to arise, and Praise God, she does. He tells them to get her something to eat, and to say the mourners were amazed to see the girl walking out among them would be a huge understatement.
"Be not afraid, only believe." Such a simple statement. May we all get that same faith and belief solidly in our hearts, minds, souls, and spirit, about so many things that God has said as in John 14:12 .
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also: and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto My Father.
Christ did a lot of fantastic things. Raising Jarius' daughter from the dead was pretty awesome. But so was freeing the man from the curse of Legion and healing the woman with the issue of blood. There aren't any limits on what He can do. There aren't any limits on what a Holy Spirit filled believer can do.
Look at Peter. The believers brought people out so that the shadow of Peter would pass over them for healing (Acts 5:12-15). They wouldn't have been doing that if it didn't work! Look at Paul. People brought handkerchiefs to him to touch in order to get someone healed who couldn't reach him (Acts 19:11-12). Sometimes when imprisoned, and angel came and released them! The same power that worked through the disciples in the New Testament is the same power that God wishes to work through His followers today. Seek the filling of the Holy Spirit. And listen to the will of the Father. Jesus was always successful because He followed the will of the Father, always.