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“And they came over unto the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes…immediately there met Him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit…He [Jesus] said unto him, Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit” (Mark 5:1-2,8).
“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” (Matthew 8:28).
If you read these two accounts in Mark 5 and Matthew 8, you will see that they are the same incident. In both cases the devils (demons) were cast out, and in both accounts the devils were allowed by the Lord Jesus to go into the pigs (swine). It was a wonderful day for those two men, but the people who lived in that area were not happy that the Lord Jesus did this. In Mark it says that they were afraid, for they did not trust the Lord Jesus, even though He came to release them from Satan’s power. They did not realize that they were all under Satan’s power, even if they were not indwelt with a devil. They asked Him to leave their area.
It is the same today in this world. People would rather be under the power of Satan, or see someone else under His power, than accept the Lord Jesus. As we know, eventually this world crucified the Lord Jesus, for they wanted to get rid of Him.
But some of you may have a question. Perhaps you ask, Why are two men mentioned in Matthew, and only one in Mark? We will look at this question tomorrow.
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