What a miserable life it was to be demon possessed. We are not possessed as this poor man was, but there is a spiritual parallel with the unconverted state. If we are unconverted, we too are controlled by the devil – a cruel master. We are never deeply happy under his rule. Why did he cut himself? To make pain to distract from the demons. We cut ourselves off from God in an act of self-injury. The torment of conscience causes us to seek out pastimes which distract us from the pain, but only end up hurting us still more.
God does not look at our clothing, but we are naked before him. He desires us to be clothed with righteousness, with spiritual clothing, life, with knowledge and experience. But we are not unlike this man – we have nothing to cover the nakedness of our guilt before God.
You pay much money for your house, but in God’s eyes you are completely homeless, waifs and strays. Our houses may be pretty, but we live among the dead, among those who are away from God and heading to a lost eternity, and we call them, rather than God’s people, our companions. We are made to live in houses of truth, having souls which are resident with God, but instead we are vagrants – scratching a living for survival. We have no home with the Lord.
It was impossible to bind him. They tried to restrain him with chains, but broke free. He was perhaps prepared to wrench his wrists out or hit manacles on the rocks. He was terrified of being restrained. Before conversion, we cannot bear any attempt to lay a restraining hand on our lifestyle and the worst of our excesses. We resent the law of God and its authority over us, and we want total freedom from it to do exactly as we like. We also run from the Lord; we may listen to preaching for a time, but soon we sense that this is opposed to all that we want to do. We are embarrassed, hostile, resistant, ready to cry out to be left alone.
Where did demon possession come from? There was a dual fall. The first was on the part of the angels, made free, and able to freely serve God, or defect. As some turned away from God, there sprang into being, for every value, an anti-value. These things only came into being by the fall. Then there was a fall of man in rebellion. This is where powers of darkness come from. Demon possession is not often seen today. It is not just extreme mania; it is true demon possession and was not uncommon them. In the New Testament the two are separately commented on. It is not just Bible’s way of describing mental illness. Luke, the physician, makes demon-possession a distinct category of affliction, and Matthew and Mark do the same (Matthew 4:24; 10:8; Mark 1:32). Some of the symptoms very similar: sleeplessness, fits, irrational behaviour and various maladies, but in addition demon possession carried unique features of its own. The possessed would have speak in a different way, not their own. Even their relatives were aware of it, and the person themselves. They had amazing strength. They were often suicidal in their behaviour. They possessed clairvoyant powers, and recognised the Lord and spoke of him, and the apostles experience the same thing. On this occasion there was to be a very clear sign of their powers that terrified the whole population and could not be denied. This was to be one of the great signs of the coming of the Messiah. God allowed an increase in demon possession prior to Christ’s ministry, so that when he cast out devils, it was a supernatural sign that his kingdom had come: ‘If I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you’ (Matthew 12:28). One of the by-products of the coming of Christ was that he cut it down massively. For people who do not invite it, and are not deeply involved in cultic activity, the involuntary occupation was brought to an end. Today, you will not see it unless someone is very involved in sorcery and dark arts. This casting out is a remarkable thing is his ministry, and provides another illustration of what he does when he saves a soul.