Exposition of the Gospel of Matthew (Matthew 8:28-34)

November 10, 2020

(The Miracles of Jesus)

Questions to be answered in this study

1. What are the three realms in which Jesus has control?
2. When Jesus cast out the Demon’s into a heard of swine, why did the swine immediately run into the sea a perish?
3. Are Demons real today? What are they and from whence did they come?
4. What are the three ways Satan, the enemy, and his emissaries, the demons, involved to hinder Christians as well as unbelievers?
5. How do believers win against Demons?
6. How do we see Satan working today even in the church?
7. There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall concerning devils. What are they?

Introduction

“Whether we realize it or not, there’s a demonic world that’s real and vicious. We dare not be misinformed, uninformed, or disinterested. We can’t avoid dealing with the demonic. Although the child of God cannot be possessed, we can be oppressed. We must learn how to deal with our enemy,” – Adrien Rogers.

Today we finally come to the end of Chapter 8. We now focus our attention on one of the most interesting and little understood subjects of the Bible, which is demonic influence and possession. First, let’s look at where we have been so far in this chapter. Jesus is at the beginning of His Galenian ministry. He has been teaching and performing miracles, of which ten are listed in chapters 8 and 9, to prove who he is, the Messiah. As we have seen so far in chapter 8, Jesus has demonstrated His power and authority over the body, His power over heaven and earth, and this age, and the age to come. Today we see His power over the spiritual realm; this is Jesus’ second miracle in the second group, which again shows His absolute control over all things. The three groups present Jesus’ full range of supernatural power. So, today’s study at the end of chapter 8 is Jesus’ second miracle of the second group, Jesus’ control over the spiritual realm.

Matthew 8:28-34, “And when he was come to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes, there met him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way. 29And, behold, they cried out, saying, what have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time? 30And there was a good way off from them a herd of many swine feeding. 31So the devils besought him, saying, If thou cast us out, suffer us to go away into the herd of swine. 32And he said unto them, Go. And when they were come out, they went into the herd of swine: and, behold, the whole herd of swine ran violently down a steep place into the sea, and perished in the waters. 33And they that kept them fled, and went their ways into the city, and told everything, and what was befallen to the possessed of the devils. ₃₄And, behold, the whole town came out to meet Jesus: and when they saw him, they besought him that he would depart out of their coasts.”

Last week, our study concerned Jesus rescuing His disciples. They had entered into a violent storm as they journeyed across the Sea of Galilee to the northeastern top of Galilee to the place called Gadara. This area goes by two different names. Sometimes it is referred to as the Gerasenes and other times as the land of the Gadarenes. The entire region on the east side of the Sea of Galilee was called Gadara. Also, the whole area is inhabited by Gentiles, occupying three-quarters of the Galilee lakefront from Bethsaida to Tiberias. After the storm at sea, when Jesus and His disciples landed in Gadara, they were met by two men coming out of the tombs. Matthew says these men were possessed by demonic spirits and were extremely violent, and they were restricted to the tombs and often chained. Because of them, people were fearful to even passing that way.

Luke and Mark also record this miracle, and they give more detail but only choose to mention one man. When these two men met Jesus, they cried out to Him, asking Him two questions. The Demons within the men were asking the questions: “What business do we have with one another, Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the time?” They knew who Jesus was and that He had power over them. They thought Jesus had come to judge them before the time of judgment. They knew they would face judgment in the end time. Knowing Jesus would cast them out, but before Jesus could answer their questions, they asked Him to send them into a herd of swine nearby. Jesus agreed to their request and ordered the demons out of the men by saying, “Go!” At which point, the swine runs down the steep hillside into the water and drown. You may wonder why the swine ran into the sea and drowned. It was the demon’s plan since they were only freed when the body they occupied was dead; so, this feeds them to go search for another more suitable host.

Let’s take a closer look at the details of this story. First, Demons are real. They are mentioned several times in Scripture. According to Ezekiel 28, when Satan was cast out of heaven because of his rebellion against God, a third part of the angels were cast out with him because they cited Satan; they are the demons that follow Satan. We also find the record of Satan’s fall along with the angels in Revelation chapter 12:7-9 (KJV): “Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. 8But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. 9The great dragon has hurled down that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth and his angels with him.”

Satan, the enemy, and his emissaries, the Demons, are involved in three primary ways to hinder Christians as well as unbelievers:

1. Oppression: Satan harasses, and his Demons oppress.
2. Obsession: Satan is a master enticer who can stir up insatiable desires that are ungodly and harmful.   
3. Possession: Satan, through his Demons, can take over a person’s body and mind (This is unbelievers). He then controls the mind, will, and emotions, causing a person to become evil and destructive.

The Bible says there is a spiritual battle raging in the world: “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places,” Ephesians 6:12 (KJV).

Adrian Rogers said, “Unless you are living with God, filled with the Holy Spirit, claiming the power of Jesus Christ in your life, you don’t understand the power of our enemy.” On the other hand, when we are walking with God, we need not fear Satan and demons because Christ our Lord has already defeated Him and has authority over him. Nevertheless, we are to be aware of them and their activities. Satan and his demons recognize that we are empowered by our heavenly Father and are fearful of us. However, they would like to trip us up and cause us to stumble and dishonor God. Even though we will conflict with the enemy, we have God on our side. Satan has no power to threaten us, lure us into temptation, or entrap us in sin. His control over us has been broken when we are trusting in the Lord.

So, the angels that followed Satan are the Demons spoken of in the Bible. Because of their alliance with Satan, they became evil adversaries of God. The angels of heaven serve the saints, whereas the Demons of Satan disrupt the lives of the saints. They don’t indwell saints, but they, along with Satan, try to entice saints to sin against God and interfere with God’s purpose in their lives. According to these verses, demons have the power to indwell the body of unbelievers, and I think we see the evidence of it by the actions and evil deeds of people today. Jesus encountered demon processed people on several occasions in the New Testament and cast them out. Believers are protected from demon procession because the Holy Spirit of God indwells them. When the Holy Spirit moves in, a no vacancy sign goes up, baring demons from entry.

When Christians are compromising with the world, they are in jeopardy of struggling with demonic forces. God demands that we keep ourselves separate from the world. We are in the world but not of it. We read in 2 Corinthians 6:14-18 (KJV), “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? 15And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? 16And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye is the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk-in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 17Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the LORD, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you. 18And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the LORD Almighty.”

God within us is stronger than Satan and the world with all its evil. John says, “Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world,” 1 John 4:4 (KJV). Another promise of God’s word is that once we receive Jesus, we are sealed. Satan no longer has power over us and can never steal us away from God: “Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us is God, who also sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge,” 2 Corinthians 1:21-22 (KJV). Once sealed by God’s Holy Spirit, it would take a power stronger than God to steal us away, and there is no such power. His power ensures us that we can never again belong to the enemy. We are safe and secure in the arms of God forever.

Nevertheless, we should not underestimate the power of Demons to affect us in various ways. They can never indwell us, but they can disrupt our plans for serving the Lord, entice us and tempt us to sin. It is not by standing up to them that we win; it is by submitting to God and resisting them according to the Bible: “Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you,” James 4:7 (KJV). When we are submitting to God, surrendering our all to Him, Satan and his emissaries flee. Satan realizes he has no chance with a believer who is wholly committed to God.

When Demons possess the bodies of unbelievers, they have a dramatic effect on their lives, bringing torment and sorrow, as these verses in Matthew reveal. They dominate their lives even become their voices, as we see in the text. In Mark and Luke, we see that Demons cause men to commit bizarre acts, attacking people, exposing their necked bodies in public, and committing hideous crimes. Satan’s objective on this earth is to steal, kill, and to destroy: “The thief [Satan] cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy:” John 10:10 (KJV). We read about Satan’s activity in the world every day, stealing, killing, and destroying.

Demon processed people are responsible for many of the great tragedies of today. 911 comes to mind, along with many others. Demon procession makes people do things that are crazy and unexplainable, like mass shootings, crimes against children, sex crimes, murder, etc. Demons drive people to commit crimes that go beyond explanation, which is sometimes blamed on mental illness.

The Holy Spirit of the Lord enters a believer’s body to equip them to serve the Lord, but Demons enter into some unbelievers to compel them to do ungodly things that disrupt the world. Demons have the power to increase intelligence, charm, charisma that entices others to follow them as if their endeavor was for the good of man and was according to God. Does that describe radical Islem? “They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killed you will think that he doeth God service,” John 16:2 (KJV). Is this not true of the radical Islamists who think they are doing God’s will by killing those who disagree with them? In the end-time events, Satan will equip the Antichrist to accomplish great things during the tribulation and will deceive many.

Satan wants to use every means to draw people away from God, believers as well as unbelievers. Not only is Satan busy in the world, but today he is allowed into many churches who are influenced by him, consequently drawing the church into the world, aligning itself with the world and the same practices of the world. Sometimes the church is deceived into thinking if they become more like the world, they can win the world, which results in being led away from the Lord and His word. The world, in general, remains ignorant of the role Satan has in the events that plague us, but we, as believers, have the Word of God that reveals the truth.

The great Christian and author, C.S. Lewis, had an enlightening statement concerning Demons in his book “Screwtape Letters” that I read years ago as one of my college requirements: “There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight.” While we must recognize the reality of demons who have real power, we must also refuse to give them undue attention.

The next thing we notice from today’s text is that these Demons recognize Jesus and His power and authority over them. Notice, they addressed Jesus as the Son of God. They had the power of perception to Identify God in the fleshly form of Jesus. Many today reject Jesus for who He is, but one day, they all will stand before Jesus in a spiritual state, and at that time, they will, as the Demons, see Jesus for the first time as almighty God. And they will know then that He has power over them to judge them and condemn them to eternal hell. Then will they confess Him but it will be too late as Paul writes in Philippians: “Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: 10That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; 11And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is LORD, to the glory of God the Father,” Philippians: 2:9-11 (KJV).

We as believers understand Scripture because we have the Holy Spirit to teach us, but Satan and the Demons don’t because they don’t have that help. Still, they know that God has power over them, and one day, they will stand before Him to be judged and then be cast into hell to be bound there for eternity. The Demons thought Jesus might be going to judge them on this occasion, so they requested to be sent into the swine. As I asked earlier, once again, why do you suppose they did this? Apparently, once Demons enter a body, they can’t free themselves as long as that body is alive. The swine did not run down into the sea on their own accord; they did so because the demons forced them to do so to free themselves to roam the earth again.

According to the Bible, God does hold some but not all Demons in confinement in darkness: “And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day,” Jude 1:62 (KJV). “For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast [them] down to hell, and delivered [them] into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;” Peter 2:4 (KJV). 

On this occasion in Matthew, the Demons were imploring Jesus not to send them to the abyss. As we read in Luke 8:31 (KJV), “They were imploring Him not to command them to go away into the abyss.” Here they would await their final judgment when they are cast into hell along with Satan, never to be free again. We are not sure where the abyss is; perhaps it is in the center of the earth. In Luke 8:31 (KJV), we read, “And they besought him that he would not command them to go out into the deep.” The demons were imploring Jesus not to send them into the abyss. They knew it wasn’t time for their final judgment, and they, therefore, assumed Jesus was about to confine them to the abyss, so they tried to negotiate with Jesus to send them into the swine.

Five takeaways from this story of Demon possession in Matthew’s gospel:

1. Demons are real, powerful, and dangerous.
2. They cannot leave a body until they are cast out, or the body dies.
3. Only God has authority over Demons and the power to cast demons out of the body other than the apostles with whom He shared that power.
4. We are not to fear Satan and his Demons but rather God, who has power over them.
5. We who believe in Christ are safe from being indwelled by Demons, but we are to understand that they are enemies set to disrupt our service to the Lord, but the Lord is on our side to strengthen us: “He Who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.”

So, what are we to do with our newfound knowledge of Demons? We are to follow the instructions of Scripture: “Submit to God, so that we might resist the devil and he will flee from us.” Stay away from people who seem to be demon-possessed. Finally, although we live in a world where Demons stir fear and mayhem, we must not allow the enemy to discourage us and cause us to fear and live in despair. We are God’s children, which have the hope of glory and the indwelling Holy Spirit, which produces love, joy, and peace in our life.