Mark 5:17

Mark 5:15 , Mark 5:17

I. We learn that in our Saviour's day there was devil power at work in the world, and that it assumed various manifestations and forms more or less repulsive, agonising and destructive. This was Satan's day, his hour, and the power of darkness. And has this devil power ceased in our own day? It would be a fond delusion to suppose so. He may be gagged and pushed into the slums and back streets of a civilised community. He may assume among us the garb of an angel of light; but across the sea he has no motive for playing at such disguises. There he is as ever the open and avowed enemy of God and man.

II. We have seen in this narrative as in others, that the devils were obedient to the potent word of command which fell from the lips of Christ: "Come out of him, thou unclean spirit," and shortly afterwards the once-possessed might have been seen "sitting, clothed, in his right mind." This power and authority was relegated to His apostles by the Master also, not for a temporary purpose, or to be confined to one age or one nation, for we read that after the cross had been endured and the grave emptied, the Master said again, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. In My name shall they cast out devils." We dare not explain this away and say this was a miraculous power which ceased with a miraculous age. The Gospel and the Church, which is a keeper and witness of the truth, have had this power ever since, and they have exercised it in every age, and before our eyes, and we are witnesses that it is no sham, but a blessed reality. Every one called from darkness to light, and from the kingdom of Satan into the kingdom of God is a witness. Christendom is a living witness, built up of lively stones, to the potency of Christ, His Gospel and His Church, over all Satanic arts and influences.

A. Cooper, Penny Pulpit(New series), No. 932.

References: Mark 5:15. Outline Sermons to Children,p. 139. Mark 5:18. G. Calthrop, Words Spoken to my Friends,p. 239.