Names Matter
Mark 5:1-18
"...at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth..."
(PHILIPPIANS 2:10)
Driving on the east side of the Galilee in what was the country of the Gaderenes, we find the one outcrop where pigs could have run over the cliff and fallen into the lake. This is the historical site for the miracle.
"What is your name?" Jesus asks the man in Mark 5:9. The demons are forced to answer, "My name is Legion, for we are many." Names have significance in Scripture. The angel Gabriel told Joseph to call Him Jesus (Yeshua), because "he will save his people from their sins." This name above all names is the one the demons fear, the name that drives them into the pigs. As Isaiah predicted and Matthew 12 confirmed, it is the name in whom "the nations will put their hope."
The great "I am who I am" who appeared in a burning bush to Moses has been made flesh and revealed to all humanity so that those who call on His name are saved. In the end, every knee in heaven and on earth and under the earth will bow. For believers, it is the name that brings both our salvation and our greatest joy: Jesus.
INSIGHT
LORD, MAY BOTH THE GLORY AND THE SWEETNESS OF YOUR NAME FILL MY HEART TODAY.
READ THROUGH THE BIBLE IN A YEAR
Deuteronomy 1-2
Psalm 80
Acts 1
Mark 5:1-18
New Living Translation (NLT)
Jesus Heals a Demon-Possessed Man
5 So they arrived at the other side of the lake, in the region of the Gerasenes.[a] 2 When Jesus climbed out of the boat, a man possessed by an evil[b] spirit came out from a cemetery to meet him. 3 This man lived among the burial caves and could no longer be restrained, even with a chain. 4 Whenever he was put into chains and shackles—as he often was—he snapped the chains from his wrists and smashed the shackles. No one was strong enough to subdue him. 5 Day and night he wandered among the burial caves and in the hills, howling and cutting himself with sharp stones.
6 When Jesus was still some distance away, the man saw him, ran to meet him, and bowed low before him. 7 With a shriek, he screamed, “Why are you interfering with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? In the name of God, I beg you, don’t torture me!” 8 For Jesus had already said to the spirit, “Come out of the man, you evil spirit.”
9 Then Jesus demanded, “What is your name?”
And he replied, “My name is Legion, because there are many of us inside this man.” 10 Then the evil spirits begged him again and again not to send them to some distant place.
11 There happened to be a large herd of pigs feeding on the hillside nearby. 12 “Send us into those pigs,” the spirits begged. “Let us enter them.”
13 So Jesus gave them permission. The evil spirits came out of the man and entered the pigs, and the entire herd of about 2,000 pigs plunged down the steep hillside into the lake and drowned in the water.
14 The herdsmen fled to the nearby town and the surrounding countryside, spreading the news as they ran. People rushed out to see what had happened. 15 A crowd soon gathered around Jesus, and they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons. He was sitting there fully clothed and perfectly sane, and they were all afraid. 16 Then those who had seen what happened told the others about the demon-possessed man and the pigs. 17 And the crowd began pleading with Jesus to go away and leave them alone.
18 As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon possessed begged to go with him.
Footnotes:
a. 5:1 Other manuscripts read Gadarenes; still others read Gergesenes. See Matt 8:28; Luke 8:26.
b. 5:2 Greek unclean; also in 5:8, 13.
LEARNING TO LINGER [PART 4]
with Scotty Smith
When we treat prayer as a task, we miss the amazing gift that God has given us through the gospel. But if we can learn to linger with the Lord, our time with Him goes from being a duty to a delight.
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