The Life of Christ

Mk. 5:5 And constantly night and day, among the tombs and in the mountains, he was crying out and gashing himself with stones.

The town folk were scared of him and most likely mocked him during their cynical moments.

• He was stripped of any dignity and became labeled as the “crazy man who lived in the tombs.”

Mk. 5:6-7 And seeing Jesus from a distance, he ran up and bowed down before Him; 7 and crying out with a loud voice, he said, “What do I have to do with You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I implore You by God, do not torment me!”

Who is speaking — the man or the demons?

• Based upon the conversation that follows, the demons moved the man to run to Jesus in order to converse with Him.

Mt. 8:29 And behold, they cried out, saying, “What do we have to do with You, Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the time?”

The phrase, “What do we have to do with You,” literally reads in the Greek, “What is there between me and You?”

• These demons know they will someday undergo everlasting torment as penalty for their former disobedience in heaven.

• Seeing Jesus, they assume their hour may have come earlier than expected.

• “Have you come to torment us before the time?”

• The time they refer to is their departure into the Lake of Fire.

“…and crying out with a loud voice, he said, ‘What do I have to do with You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I implore You by God, do not torment me!’”

• Why would this demon say, "I implore you by God, torment me not”?

• In Mt. 26:63 Caiaphas used this same phrase from Lev. 5:1 to force Jesus to speak, after He refused to answer him.

• After the high priest uttered those words, according to the law, Jesus was now under oath to respond, which He did.

• Lev. 5:1 states that anyone refusing to testify regarding what he knows about a legal issue is guilty.

• The demon attempts to use this same legal maneuvering to persuade Jesus.

Mk. 5:8 For He had been saying to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!”

Jesus asked the demon to come out, but it didn’t respond .

• In the next verse Jesus then asks the demon to state its name.

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