chain breaker

Mark 5:1-13

"1 And they came over unto the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes.

2 And when He was come out of the ship, immediately there met Him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit,

3 Who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no man could bind him, no, not with chains:

4 Because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces: neither could any man tame him.

5 And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones.

6 But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped Him,

7 And cried with a loud voice, and said, What have I to do with Thee, Jesus, Thou Son of the most high God? I adjure Thee by God, that Thou torment me not.

8 For He said unto him, Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit.

9 And He asked him, What is thy name? And he answered, saying, My name is Legion: for we are many.

10 And he besought Him much that he would not send them away out of the country.

11 Now there was there nigh unto the mountains a great herd of swine feeding.

12 And all the devils besought him, saying, Send us into the swine, that we may enter into them.

13 And forthwith Jesus gave them leave. And the unclean spirits went out, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea, (they were about two thousand;) and were choked in the sea."

Incredible Event!

This man lived in total bondage and dehumanization; dwelling among the tombs (a place of ritual impurity and death), unbreakable by any chains, and relentlessly self-harming with stones. His isolation, torment, and destruction vividly illustrate evil’s strategy to ruin the image of God in a person.

When Jesus commanded the unclean spirit to come out, the man revealed the horrifying reality: “My name is Legion, for we are many.” A Roman legion numbered 3,000–6,000 soldiers, showing the man was oppressed by a vast, organized demonic horde. Jesus granted the demons’ request to enter a nearby herd of about 2,000 swine. The pigs immediately rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned.

This was no act of cruelty by Jesus. It revealed the demons’ inherently destructive nature, they ruin whatever they inhabit. The dramatic deliverance freed the man completely, at visible cost to the local economy (likely Gentile pig owners). The townspeople, valuing their livestock over a restored human life, begged Jesus to leave. In stark contrast, the healed man longed to follow Him.

For Reflection

What “chains” has Jesus already broken in your life? What chains would you like Him to break today? Pray for deliverance.