Editor’s note: This is a transcript of an audio talk, lightly edited by Claude AI. Misspellings have been corrected, paragraphs and sentences have been shaped for readability, scripture quotations have been highlighted, and conversational interjections have been marked. The speaker’s voice, style, and content remain unchanged.
The Gadarene Demoniac — Luke 8:26–39
Luke 8:26–27
We are here at Luke 8 again. We are picking up at verse 26 onwards — this is the Gadarene Demoniac.
“And they arrived at the country of the Gadarenes, which is over against Galilee.”
Again, we have the delightful storytelling of Luke, which is very precise: names, people, and places, where one place is in relation to another place. It struck me, when watching more than one episode of Expedition Bible, that you are able, from the Bible, from the accounts, to relate one time to another time. This is the nature of the literature. This is the nature of the Bible. This is the nature of the Holy Spirit, the Word of God — that things do not happen in heavenly abstractions. Things are specific.
There is a hostility in academia — which extends to the seminary — against the concrete. What we have is something called theology, which floats in the air. But what do we have when we approach Luke, who is writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, with particular people in particular places? This was the Gadarene Demoniac in this country, which is over against this other country. All this matters. Place matters. People matter.
That abstractionist tendency, when it works itself out in a person, gives them a desire — as it does in the world, so in the church — to somehow float above people, float above places, and to concern themselves with speculation, theological speculation. That is where the real meat is, supposedly — if you are not talking about theological abstractions.
“And when he went forth to land, there met him out of a city a certain man, which had devils a long time, and wore no clothes, neither abode in any house, but in the tombs.”
[Interjection — phone interruption: “Now, I had — what is this? Is that me? Is that you? Hello there, this is Nathan. Oh, didn’t stop the recording. Okay.”]
Something similar happened to me, but it was in Africa. I was stepping out of a dugout canoe and met a tall, strong, well-built African man who had a very notable fetish — not only on his upper arm or shoulder, which is normal, but he had a pronounced fetish of a bee on his face, which is very uncommon. He, trying to intimidate me, I expect — inspired by the devil — just came up to me and put his tongue out. And I was so calm. I was like, not today. I got on with my business. I was with the Jola in the Casamance.
But anyway — what happens here? What about this man? Again, we reject that abstractionist idea, this rationalistic idea that rejects people and place for abstractions on the one hand, but also denies the supernatural on the other. What we have here is a man who was really demon-possessed for a really long time. We must deal with this.
On the Man Himself
What a picture is painted in the first verse in which he is introduced. What happens if you are possessed by the devil for a long time? Well, you are stripped of your clothes. You are naked. It is right to be naked in the shower, or in the bedroom — but here we have a man who is naked all the time. And he does not live with men. He lives in the tombs. He is marked by his association with death.
We were in Newcastle the other day. We were at a children’s play park — innocent enough. And whether it was stupidity or design, it was a pirate-themed park. But pirates were, amongst other things, famous sodomites, lawbreakers, outlaws. Why associate children with this childish idea of pirates? But what was noticeable was that on one hut was the skull and crossbones displayed. A symbol of death. A flag of death.
And do we not see this symbol — symbols of death — on people’s T-shirts, on businesses, in tattoos, on album covers? Why do people gravitate towards those symbols? They are not doing it because they are stupid. No, they desire power. They desire to align themselves with that which is seen as — ironically — vivacious. Vivacious means full of life. And somehow death is seen as the key to life. People go to the grave, as it were — to death — for life. Whether it is Eddie, the undead demon of Iron Maiden, ghosts, skeletons, or whatever have you, there is a desire to associate yourself with death in order to associate yourself with power. To charge yourself with power.
On the Desire for Power
Of course, there is a need for power in anybody’s life. You need power. And part of the Christian response to this desire for power is to say, “Oh, I relinquish all power. I am not interested in power.” Where does that lead? It leads to a doctrine called kenosis — the idea that virtue is seen as lying down in front of evil. That has worked itself out in certain civilisations to mean exactly that: you lie down before evil and consider it a great virtue to be stepped on. The heretical doctrine of kenosis says that Jesus Christ emptied Himself of everything, including His divinity, including His power.
So one answer to the desire for power is to say, “I relinquish power.” Or to give the idea that the Christian life is, by definition, quintessentially the powerless life. What have you accomplished there? You have closed off the divine and righteous path to power. You have said that door does not exist.
This is true of the individual as it is of the society, of the Christian community. You say, “We are totally helpless now.” There are various permutations of this. One says: we are totally helpless now, but when Jesus returns He will rule the world and we will be part of His bureaucracy. Another — the amillennialist take — says: we have no power until time ends and eternity begins. In both cases, you have succeeded in saying there is no door unless Jesus returns. There is no door except death.
God has power theologically, but He does not communicate that to His people. Even articulating that, you think — this is seriously wrong. You just know it. And it is. It is really very wrong.
So what is the answer? Yes, we need power. It is called grace, amongst other things, in the Bible. We need that power. We need the power spoken of in a hated scripture:
Deuteronomy 8:18 — “But thou shalt remember the LORD thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant.”
“Oh, that is the Old Testament.” Yes — the Old Testament is in the Bible. What is your problem with the Bible? God the Lord does communicate power. How does He communicate power to His people? Through the covenant. Through the Holy Spirit dwelling within. We find this in very clear narrative form with Samson — literally, the Spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he had the power to accomplish his God-given role as a judge. He delivered the people. That is a serious and fulfilling calling.
If we illegitimately close the door to power — power here below, power while we are living on the earth — what happens? We drive people into the arms of Satanists, or anyone else who offers power: political power, demonic power, self-help actualisation movements promising unlimited power. But is Satan the principle of power, or is God? Does power reside in the Lord, or does it reside primarily in Satan and in the unbeliever? The answer is, of course, in the Lord. And if we, His people, are supposed to have dominion upon the earth, we must, as part of our dominion-taking, subdue the earth. Does that require power? We absolutely do require it, and we do not have it by ourselves.
There is a perversion which takes the scripture —
2 Corinthians 12:9 — “My strength is made perfect in weakness”
— and uses it to justify weakness as an end point. Weakness, we are weak, therefore God is pleased with us. But no — God’s strength is made perfect in our weakness. That is, there is a complete strengthening as we acknowledge our weakness and seek power and strength in the Lord.
Let me reiterate: if you pursue this common doctrine of Christian powerlessness, you are a recruiter for Satanism in its ultimate form, or for some aspect of power that is ultimately going to be demonic. You either have power from above — divine power — or subterranean power from below. And the pagan power is real power, as we will see later on as we examine this text. Consider that soberly. Do we have the hope? Do we have the vision? Do we have the correct set of glasses that sees an empowered life? Or are we convinced by a lie — very clearly, a lie — that says there is no empowering for you? Just personal weakness on the one hand, and communal weakness on the other.
Luke 8:28–29
Back to the text.
This demonic presence — where did it leave the man? It left him naked. Constant shame. And it left him utterly at the margins of society, cut off from society.
“When he saw Jesus, he cried out, and fell down before him, and with a loud voice said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God most high? I beseech thee, torment me not.”
That should tell you something about the power equation. What is a demon — what is the devil himself — before the Lord? A mere nothing. One is God; the other, a devil, however powerful that devil might be in relation to us. And so he falls down before Him. He cannot escape his nature. His nature, being made by God — not in the image of God, but made by God — compels him to fall down before Him. Things are distorted, but he falls down in an attitude of supplication and begs not to be tormented.
He knows that is his fate. The fate of all demons and all who follow demons — all who invoke the help of demons — is to be tormented forever, unless there is repentance and salvation. As we see with this man, he is delivered. But if we want to seek power, this is a hint. This tells us where the power is, and what the power of a demon is compared to the power of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Son of God Most High. The seat of power in the universe — the universe He created by His will and sustains by His power. This is real power.
Note that verse 28 comes before verse 29 in Luke’s account, though the chronology is slightly inverted:
“For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For oftentimes it had caught him: and he was kept bound with chains and fetters; and he brake the bands, and was driven of the devil into the wilderness.”
A man with a demon is, of course, a powerful man. There is real power — he is able to break iron chains. But to what end is this power directed? Compare Samson, whose Holy Spirit power was directed to the fulfilment of his calling as judge — to bringing justice. To be empowered to do your work is amazing. To be unempowered to do your work condemns you to frustration all your life. And this is another fruit of this perverse idea of powerless Christianity — it condemns a person to frustration. If you see somebody who holds that lie, that there is no power from God, you will see a frustrated person no matter how much they try to escape it.
But is God powerful? Is God able to administer that power? Yes. But the lie prevents it. And this is how Satan and the devils work — by lies. That is their power. That is how it started, and that is how Satan even addressed Jesus in the temptation:
Matthew 4 / Luke 4 — by taking a truth and subtly altering it.
That is his only power. The power of the lie. That is why it is so important to teach, to understand, and to meditate upon the Bible for yourself, that the Holy Spirit might lead you into all truth.
John 16:13 — “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth.”
So where does the power of demons lead a man? Into the wilderness. What is a wilderness? The Puritans, when they came to America, described the land as a howling wilderness.
[Interjection — personal aside: “We were the other day, for Tiffany’s birthday, around the Mournes. We went the back way by Silent Valley and stopped at a reservoir. It was nice enough. But it was barren — really grim. It was nice to see the water. There was a car park, neat enough, and you drove over a dam to get to one end of the reservoir. But there was a feeling that things were not right. When we drove a little bit towards Newcastle, we found a landscape to nourish the soul. What was the difference? The imprint of man. The Mourne walls — these massive constructions with enormous boulders man-handled and horse-handled into position, stacked one on top of the other with skill and precision, around green fields. Counterpoised against the blue sky and the yellow gorse flower. Just majestic. You were able to breathe again. Compare that to the barrenness on the other side.”]
What is a wilderness? It is an area of God’s creation that has not had the imprint of man. It might be a desert, it might not. Where does demonism lead a man? Into the wilderness — into an area uncultivated by man. And where does it lead a culture? Where does it take a civilisation?
Where was the great statue of Ozymandias? In the desert. A nation that prizes the so-called primal natural world, the so-called wilderness, is led there by the doctrine of demons. What do we see in Western Europe? In Germany? A deindustrialisation, an idealisation with deep roots in romanticism. It leads a culture into the wilderness. This is a doctrine of demons.
If you are an ecologist who wants to see the population of man reduced, who wants to see vast areas of the earth closed off from the imprint of man, you are following a doctrine of demons. What is paradise? Literally, the word paradise comes from the Persian and means an enclosed garden. The Garden of Eden was a garden shaped for man by the hand of God, to be maintained by the hand of man. That is paradise. The rest is wilderness, which only comes into its own as man subdues it — as the Hebrew would say, tramples it down — and brings it under his cultivation.
Genesis 1:28 — “And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it.”
This paradise is a model for man as he goes out into the earth. What we see with the deep ecology movement is very simply the doctrine of demons. What is salvation for this man but to have the demons cast out and to return to society?
Luke 8:30
“And Jesus asked him, saying, What is thy name? And he said, Legion: because many devils were entered into him.”
Did this man seek supernatural power? Supernatural insight? Very likely, I would say. We have parables about this, do we not — about moral reformation without Christ:
Matthew 12:43–45 — “When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none. Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first.”
Even moral reformation in the Bible — Christless moral reformation — is associated with a deep demonism. Maybe this man was a moralist. He was just trying to be a good person without God. But we see the fundamental difference here between moralism, which ends up with your house swept clean and several demons invited in, and the action of the Lord, which is able in a word to break the hold of these demons — fundamentally, and I would imagine forever.
Luke 8:31–33
“And they besought him that he would not command them to go out into the deep. And there was there a herd of many swine feeding on the mountain: and they besought him that he would suffer them to enter into them. And he suffered them.”
It is interesting that Jesus hears their entreaty. He does not simply say, “Be gone!” There is some kind of dialogue, and He grants them their request. Is this the mercy of Jesus? They will inevitably be punished in hellfire — there is no doubt about that. But is this the kindness of the Lord — that He hears their request? I am not sure what to make of that.
“Then went the devils out of the man, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the lake, and were choked.”
Immediately — interesting word. Immediately the devils went into the pigs. And what happened? They killed the pigs. They had begged not to be thrown into the deep — into the water — and yet they enter into the pigs and throw them into the water. Is there any logic to that? No. There is no sensible demon plan. They are all foolish plans, all self-destructive.
And here we see evidence of the tremendous restraining grace of God, even in the life of a demoniac. Why was it that these demons did not do the same thing with the man? Cause him to throw himself into the water and drown himself? Is it that the only real power of the devils is the power of a lie? That, as with Job, a demon-possessed person only has a limited power over men — they cannot actually kill men apart from making them believe a lie — whereas over the pigs, they were freed by God to kill? I suspect there is something there. I do not want to develop a full theology on a couple of verses, but I think there is something there.
Why are demon-possessed men not instantly killed? Because of the restraining grace of God. Because of the ordination of God.
Luke 8:34–37
“When they that fed them saw what was done, they fled, and went and told it in the city and in the country. Then they went out to see what was done; and came to Jesus, and found the man, out of whom the devils were departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid.”
When the devils are cast out of us, we are able to sit at the feet of Jesus. We are able to hear His Word. The opposite of demon possession is to hear the words of Jesus — to listen calmly to the Word of God, clothed.
This is certainly a prima facie case against nudism: a man is to be clothed, after the ordinance of:
Genesis 3:21 — “Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.”
Man was clothed, and man should be clothed — except when showering or with his wife.
And in his right mind. The doctrines of demons mentioned elsewhere in scripture — such as asceticism, the forbidding of meats — are mentioned in:
1 Timothy 4:1–3 — “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils… Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats.”
People who believe such doctrines are not in their right mind. Ascetics in the history of the church — so-called — who flagellated themselves, who beat their bodies and caused suffering to their bodies, were people not in their right minds, under the influence of, if not demons directly, then demonic ideas.
The power of God is seen very differently in the charismatic and Pentecostal tradition, where weird, inhuman manifestations — barking like an animal, roaring like a lion — are seen as manifestations of the Holy Spirit. But a man who barks like an animal, who acts like less than a man, who strips off his clothes and avoids human society — that is the effect of a demon in his life. Again, this is what the doctrine of demons does: it leads us to put ourselves under the animals, to live like animals, and to seek solitude from other people as an ideal.
“And they were afraid.”
Perhaps they feared a further threat to their livelihood. Perhaps they were simply amazed at the power of the Lord Jesus. But then —
“Then the whole multitude of the country of the Gadarenes round about besought him to depart from them; for they were taken with great fear: and he went up into the ship, and returned back again.”
Wait — what? That does not make sense. When we see a reaction like this, I think we should look for the hand of sin and the hand of the devil. They had seen a tremendous healing take place, a total transformation of a life. And for us as Christians, this resonates — we say, “Oh Lord, praise Your name. Do the same for me.” But what they saw gave them great fear. They did not dispute the miracle. They did not say it did not happen. They acknowledged that this is power beyond their explanation — but they were happier with their own state. They felt threatened by it somehow.
This gives us an idea of human nature outside of Christ. They see the power of God. They see the change He can make. And they do not want it. They do not want that transformation. They are happy with things the way they are.
Is not the whole of Europe — and to a lesser extent the US — wrapped up in this? Perhaps they see they are heading on a course to their own destruction, but they are happy with it. They would rather have destruction than sit at Jesus’ feet.
Consider Pharaoh:
Exodus 10:21–27 — Again and again he would rather dwell in darkness, would rather have himself and his whole nation destroyed, than obey a simple command from the Lord.
This is the madness — but also the logic — of the world outside Christ. We must grasp this. Who were the demon-possessed? Who were the people absolutely sold into sin? Yes, it was the demon-possessed man — but was it not also the whole community in which he lived? These are the people who are really sold out. They do not want the Lord Jesus. All they can see is the loss. They are not willing to have Him as master. This is another way of saying:
Luke 19:14 — “We will not have this man to reign over us.”
This is what is resented by the world, by the flesh. It cannot be subject to the law of God. It does not want to be subject. It would rather run to its own destruction. This is the depth of the dye of sin into which our natures are soaked in Adam, in the first Adam.
There was a miracle needed to deliver this man from the demons. But there was an equal miracle required to deliver the community from their blindness and their own self-defeating self-protection.
Luke 9:24 — “For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.”
This is a great illustration of that. They said, “We like life the way it is. Thank you very much.”
[Interjection — personal aside: “And do we not, in our own lives, fear the simple things that would bring us into conformity with God’s Word? For days and days, I let a maintenance light blink and beep on a piece of kitchen equipment. For days I ignored it. Then it was annoying, probably getting under my wife’s skin. She kindly reminded me to look at it this morning. Did it take five minutes to do, from beginning to end? These little things, these little duties.”]
Let us pray as Christians to be totally subject to the will and the Word of God — sitting at His feet, humbly obeying. Help us seek God’s power to overcome that in your life which is driving you away from other people, which is stripping you naked, causing you shame, causing you to live more like an animal. Seek, cry out for that help. Be aware of the forces in society which are seeking to do the same to the entire civilisation. Be aware of the doctrine of demons in asceticism and its modern forms. And worship Jesus for His power to change — and to change dramatically.
But let us sit at His feet and prepare to have a loss. There is always a loss. You have to lose your life as it is in order to gain the life that the Lord has for you. There is going to be a cost. You are going to have to die to that — in my case, a little laziness here, and another little laziness there — in order to become the person that God wants you to be. That is the path. And the empowerment to do that comes from the Lord.
Luke 8:38–39
“Now the man out of whom the devils were departed besought him that he might be with him: but Jesus sent him away, saying, Return to thine own house, and shew how great things God hath done unto thee. And he went his way, and published throughout the whole city how great things Jesus had done unto him.”
Even though Jesus was rejected by the people of that region, He did not say, “To the devil with them — I could not be bothered with a bunch of ingrates.” No — in His mercy, He deputises this man. He does not merely disciple him. He gives him a mission. A task.
Not to Africa. Not to Asia. Not as a foreign missionary. Not as an ordained minister. Return to your house. Go to your home. And what I find is that repentance often leads us back home — back to the assumption of the responsibility that we always had: towards our parents, towards our local community.
He is like a heat-seeking missile. The Lord has worked such a work in him that he will be a powerful, indisputable witness to the power of God. How many people came to know and follow Jesus Christ through this man, through his simple obedience to go back to his home?
What kind of home would it have been? Did he have a wife? Did he have children? Would it have been difficult for him to return and assume his old responsibilities? You bet it would have been. Would he have had to start working for a living? You bet. To re-establish the trust that was broken? Incredibly difficult. The most difficult thing he did. But he was empowered by the commission of God. His life was transformed, and it was now his joy. And he went his way, and published throughout the whole city how great things Jesus had done unto him.
He was back amongst his own people — with all their prejudices, with all their insane desire to hold on to their life as it was. But those were the people to whom he was called. And normally, these are the people to whom we are called.
His mission was to glorify God. To say: “Look at me — I was the demoniac. This great Jesus, the Son of God, the Son of the Most High God, has come. You can be saved too. You can have this transformation too.”
Glory to God for this wonderful story of redemption — of a life taken from the wilderness, from self-harm.
Mark 5:5 — “And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones.”
If you see self-harm, there is an element of demons, or doctrine of demons, there. Can the Lord fix it? Can the Lord extricate that young man or young woman out of that situation? You bet He can.
Amen.
Scripture References
| Reference | Text / Context |
|---|---|
| Luke 8:26–39 | The Gadarene Demoniac — primary passage |
| Deuteronomy 8:18 | ”It is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant” |
| 2 Corinthians 12:9 | ”My strength is made perfect in weakness” |
| John 16:13 | ”The Spirit of truth… will guide you into all truth” |
| Matthew 4 / Luke 4 | The temptation of Jesus — Satan’s use of twisted truth |
| Matthew 12:43–45 | The swept and garnished house — return of the unclean spirit |
| Genesis 1:28 | The dominion mandate — “Be fruitful, multiply, subdue the earth” |
| Genesis 3:21 | God clothes Adam and Eve — “coats of skins” |
| 1 Timothy 4:1–3 | ”Doctrines of devils” — forbidding marriage and meats |
| Exodus 10:21–27 | Pharaoh’s repeated refusal despite judgment |
| Luke 9:24 | ”Whosoever will save his life shall lose it” |
| Luke 19:14 | ”We will not have this man to reign over us” |
| Mark 5:5 | Parallel account — the demoniac cutting himself with stones |
| Judges 13–16 | Samson — the Spirit of the Lord empowering his calling (referenced in discussion) |