Lesson for January 15, 2025
The Doctrine of Angelology
Lesson 3
Demonism
Demon is the Greek word “daimon,” meaning evil spirit. Since angels are spirit beings and fallen angels are those who followed Satan in the rebellion against God, the word demon in Scripture refers to fallen angels. If a person has believed in Christ for salvation, they can never be possessed by a demon. All believers are permanently indwelt by God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit and no demon could coexist with the Godhead in a believer. However, fallen angels are powerful beings and able to influence believers in negative ways. Unbelievers, on the other hand, can be possessed by demons and there are a number of types of demons mentioned in the Bible. The number of demons is unknown, but it is certainly a very large number.
Demon Possession
Mark 5 is a well-known story of Jesus confronting a demon-possessed man in the region called Gerasenes (a region in modern day Jordan on the shore of the Sea of Galilee). This story gives us great insight into how demons operate when they are possessing a person. The story begins when Jesus travelled by boat across the Sea of Galilee to the region of Gerasenes, and is confronted by a man who was demon-possessed.
Mark 5:1-5, “They came to the other side of the sea, into the region of the Gerasenes. When He got out of the boat, immediately a man from the tombs with an unclean spirit met Him. He lived among the tombs; and no one was able to bind him anymore, not 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 cutting himself with stones.”
One of the key elements of this story is often overlooked. Remember, the Bible must be interpreted in the time in which it was written. Jesus lived during the Age of Israel and one of the dietary laws from the Law of Moses was to abstain from eating pork. This will be meaningful as the story continues.
So, let’s examine the description of this man who was demon-possessed. First, we see he lived among the dead (the tombs). Second, he had an unclean spirit living in him. Third, he had super-human strength. Fourth, he needed to be subdued with chains and shackles from time to time, which never worked. Fifth, he continually screamed out from self-mutilation. Sixth, he went about unclothed. Seventh, he was considered to be out of his mind. Eighth, we could not speak for himself. Since this man was demon-possessed, we know he was an unbeliever.
However, this story should be a warning to not only unbelievers, but believers alike. Though a believer cannot be possessed by a demon, they can certainly come under the influence of one. Rejecting God, as a believer, can result in black out of the soul and lead to similar circumstance and state of mind, as we see in this story.
Mark 5:6-10, “Seeing Jesus from a distance, he ran up and bowed down before Him; and shouting with a loud voice, he said, ‘What business do You have with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I implore You by God, do not torment me!’ For He had already been saying to him, ‘Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!’ And He was asking him, ‘What is your name?’ And he said to Him, ‘My name is Legion, for we are many.’ And he begged Him earnestly not to send them out of the region.”
When this man confronted Jesus, the demon who possessed him did the speaking. We call this type of demon an “eggastrimuthos” (ventriloquist) demon. It also seems that the demon controlled this man’s mind to the point of making decisions for him. Approaching Jesus, the demon revealed the fact that he knew who Jesus was and wanted Him to leave him alone. It is interesting to note that this demon knew Jesus was both divine and human. We know this from how the demon addressed Jesus. First, the demon called Jesus by his human name and added the phrase “Son of the Most High God,” acknowledging His deity.
The demon’s request to Jesus was to leave him alone and stop tormenting him. We see from the Scripture that Jesus had already been speaking to this demon and telling him to come out of the possessed man. Jesus was also asking the demon for his name, when it was revealed that there were a multitude of demons possessing this man. The word legion was a reference to the Roman army. A legion in the Roman army was comprised of several thousand men. Now, we realize that the spokesman for the legion was one demon and most likely there were other demons who gave this man superhuman strength and others that caused him to mutilate himself.
Mark 5:11-12, “Now there was a large herd of pigs feeding nearby on the mountain. And the demons begged Him, saying, ‘Send us into the pigs so that we may enter them.’ Jesus gave them permission. And coming out, the unclean spirits entered the pigs; and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea, about two thousand of them; and they were drowned in the sea.”
Since a demon likes a “host” to possess, this “spokesman” demon asked Jesus to send them into a herd of swine. Jesus agreed and sent the demons into two thousand pigs, confirming the large number of demons who possessed this man. The rush with which the pigs ran, before they ran into the sea and drowned, tells us the type of affect they must have had on this demon-possessed man.
Mark 5:14-17, “Their herdsmen ran away and reported it in the city and in the countryside. And the people came to see what it was that had happened. And then they came to Jesus and saw the man who had been demon-possessed sitting down, clothed and in his right mind, the very man who had previously had the ‘legion’; and they became frightened. Those who had seen it described to them how it had happened to the demon-possessed man, and all about the pigs. And they began to beg Him to leave their region.”
Now the prohibition of eating pork in the Law of Moses becomes a part of the story. “The herdsmen” tells us this was a business. Begging Jesus to leave and the fact that it was being conducted in this remote area tells us this was perhaps an illegal business of raising and selling pork to the Jews.
When the word spread that the demon-possessed man had been cleansed of the unclean spirits, everyone had to come and see for themselves. What they saw should have convinced them that Jesus was the Messiah, but that does not seem to be the case. Instead, they became frightened. There fright was triggered, thinking their illegal enterprise might be exposed or that Jesus might retaliate against them.
Mark 5:18-20, “And as He was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed was begging Him that he might accompany Him. And He did not let him, but He said to him, ‘Go home to your people and report to them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He had mercy on you.’ And he went away and began to proclaim in Decapolis what great things Jesus had done for him; and everyone was amazed.”
The conclusion of the story is that the demon-possessed man became a believer in Christ, as we conclude from the fact that he returned to his people and proclaimed all that Jesus had done for him.