Chapter # 5 Paragraph # 1 Study # 5
December 22, 2020
Moss Bluff, Louisiana
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Thesis:   Part of Mark's intention is to reveal the terror of the demons because of Jesus' arrival.

Introduction:   As we saw in our last study, part of Mark's intention in this extended paragraph is to characterize the Kingdom of Darkness as a dominion that imposes "death" and "hopelessness" upon its subjects without allowing any characteristics of "Life" to be experienced. We saw that in Mark's description of the man possessed there was a complete human inability to control the forces of this wicked kingdom. We also saw that the man's own experience was absolutely devoid of any "appealing characteristics" no matter what the "promises" were that got him into his bondage.

This evening we are going to look into Mark's continuing characterization as he shifts from the plight of the human host to the demons themselves.

• I. The "Big" Issue.
  • A. Mark's non-chronological order in recording the events.
    • 1. He records the demoniac's confrontation of Jesus before he records the reason.
      • a. The "running" and "self-prostration" and "shouting" are all evidence of his confrontation with Jesus.
      • b. As a follow-up, Mark tells us why all the histrionics: Jesus had commanded the unclean spirit(s) to come out of the man.
    • 2. This order is deliberately intended to focus upon the histrionics.
  • B. Thus, the "Big" issue is the reaction of the unclean spirits to Jesus' verbal intention to force them to release their dominion over the man.
• II. The Significance of The "Big" Issue.
  • A. Mark's intentions include showing Jesus' absolute authority over "unclean spirits" so that His identity as "The Coming Mighty One" becomes indisputable.
    • 1. This has already been acknowledged by the "the scribes who came down from Jerusalem" (3:27).
      • a. This acknowledgement is of Jesus' absolute authority over "demons"; hands down.
      • b. But it is a revelation that the "official position of the authorities in Jerusalem" is rooted in a strong desire to undercut Jesus' impact upon the people because these self-appointed leaders want to "dispute" the "indisputable" (this is a classic example of the truth of Romans 1:28).
      • c. Mark's point is that "Judaism" is core-corrupt and is like unto "unclean spirits" in that there is no ability to impart "Life" in the doctrine of first-century Israel.
    • 2. Mark's focus is upon the total absence both of "Life" characteristics and of the total inability of men to turn it into something "good".
  • B. But Mark's intentions also include showing that the "victim's" "Lifeless" experience is simply the outworking of the "unclean spirits'" "Lifeless" experience.
    • 1. Mark's use of "seeing" is indicative of his understanding of the reality that as soon as the unclean spirits "saw" The Jesus through the eyes of their "host body", they had an intuitive recognition that their methodological commitment to "the joy of life" was in serious danger.
      • a. Mark uses "seeing" as the first step in understanding what is coming (the implications of what is seen in respect to their tightly gripped agenda and methods).
      • b. Mark's record of the immediate reaction of the human body to the realization of the unclean spirits shows "intensity".
        • 1) In spite of the distance (afar off), the reaction set in (the man began running toward The Jesus).
        • 2) The intuition of disaster on the horizon caused both "running with a single minded goal" (Hebrews 12:1; 1 Corinthians 9:24-26; and Galatians 5:7) and a fake "humility" in "self-prostration" (prostration typically signals glad submission; this is decidedly not "glad").
      • c. The reality, then, is that the unclean spirits had no more "Life" in them than did their human host even though they thought they did.
        • 1) Their "joy in existence" was rooted in their "independent dominion over others".
        • 2) But there was no real "joy" there because they live in terror of being "tormented" by The Jesus at some definitive point in the future from which there is no escape (Matthew 8:29 compared with Mark 1:24).
    • 2. Mark's record of the "loud cry" is also indicative of the unclean spirits' lack of "Life".
      • a. "Loud cries" are "loud" for a reason: they seek to demand attention to the person's strong commitment to his/her agenda.
      • b. "Loud cries" also reveal the inner torment of the "possibility" of extreme loss, if not the actual loss.
      • c. This "loud cry" had four elements.
        • 1) The established absence of cooperation between "Thee" and "us".
        • 2) The Jesus is the "Son of The God, The Highest".
        • 3) The unclean spirits seek to bind Jesus to an "oath" before The God.
        • 4) The root issue is the placement of the terrorized under an intolerable and inescapable "labor".

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This is article #192.
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