
Mark 5 Mark 5:1-20 † The man with "Legion" represented
Israel under bondage to spiritual corruption, powerless to free
itself. Mark 5:21-34 † The woman’s twelve years of bleeding
symbolized Israel’s uncleanness under the law. Mark 5:35-43 † The raising of Jairus’ daughter revealed
Jesus’ power over death itself. How it applies to us today: † This is the fulfilled perspective we proclaim at
Fulfilled Prophecies † Source Index
By Dan Maines
They came to the other side of
the sea, into the region of the Gerasenes. And when He got out of the
boat, immediately a man from the tombs with an unclean spirit met
Him. He lived among the tombs, and no one was able to bind him
anymore, not even with a chain, because he had often been bound with
shackles and chains, and the chains had been torn apart by him and
the shackles broken in pieces, and no one was strong enough to subdue
him. Constantly, night and day, he was screaming among the tombs and
in the mountains, and cutting himself with stones. Seeing Jesus from
a distance, he ran up and bowed down before Him; and shouting with a
loud voice, he said, "What business do You have with me, Jesus,
Son of the Most High God? I implore You by God, do not torment me!"
For He had already been saying to him, "Come out of the man, you
unclean spirit!" And He was asking him, "What is your
name?" And he said to Him, "My name is Legion; for we are
many." And he begged Him earnestly not to send them out of the
region. Now there was a large herd of pigs feeding nearby on the
mountain. And the demons begged Him, saying, "Send us into the
pigs so that we may enter them." Jesus gave them permission. And
coming out, the unclean spirits entered the pigs; and the herd rushed
down the steep bank into the sea, about two thousand of them; and
they were drowned in the sea. Their herdsmen ran away and reported it
in the city and in the countryside; and the people came to see what
it was that had happened. And then they came to Jesus and saw the man
who had been demon-possessed sitting down, clothed and in his right
mind—the very man who had previously had the "Legion";
and they became frightened. Those who had seen it described to them
how it had happened to the demon-possessed man, and all about the
pigs. And they began to beg Him to leave their region. And as He was
getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed was
begging Him that he might accompany Him. And He did not let him, but
He said to him, "Go home to your people and report to them what
great things the Lord has done for you, and how He had mercy on you."
And he went away and began to proclaim in Decapolis what great things
Jesus had done for him; and everyone was amazed.
† Jesus’ authority over thousands
of demons revealed the kingdom’s victory over Satan.
†
The destruction of the pigs pictured unclean Gentile power falling
before Christ’s reign.
When Jesus had crossed over
again by boat to the other side, a large crowd gathered around Him;
and He stayed by the seashore. And one of the synagogue officials,
named Jairus, came, and upon seeing Him, fell at His feet and pleaded
with Him earnestly, saying, "My little daughter is at the point
of death; please come and lay Your hands on her, so that she will get
well and live." And He went off with him; and a large crowd was
following Him and pressing in on Him. A woman who had had a
hemorrhage for twelve years, and had endured much at the hands of
many physicians, and had spent all that she had and was not helped at
all, but instead had become worse—after hearing about Jesus, she
came up in the crowd behind Him and touched His cloak. For she had
been saying to herself, "If I just touch His garments, I will
get well." And immediately the flow of her blood was dried up;
and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease.
Immediately Jesus, perceiving in Himself that power from Him had gone
out, turned around in the crowd and said, "Who touched My
garments?" And His disciples said to Him, "You see the
crowd pressing in on You, and yet You say, ‘Who touched Me?’"
And He looked around to see the woman who had done this. But the
woman, fearing and trembling, aware of what had happened to her, came
and fell down before Him and told Him the whole truth. And He said to
her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace and be
cured of your disease."
†
Her faith brought immediate healing, showing the kingdom’s power to
cleanse and restore.
† Jesus called her
"daughter," affirming covenant inclusion through faith.
While He was still speaking,
people came from the house of the synagogue official, saying, "Your
daughter has died; why bother the Teacher further?" But Jesus,
overhearing what was being spoken, said to the synagogue official,
"Do not be afraid, only believe." And He allowed no one to
accompany Him except Peter, James, and John the brother of James.
They came to the house of the synagogue official, and He saw a
commotion, and people loudly weeping and wailing. And after entering,
He said to them, "Why are you making a commotion and weeping?
The child has not died, but is asleep." And they began laughing
at Him. But putting them all outside, He took along the child’s
father and mother and His own companions, and entered the room where
the child was. And taking the child by the hand, He said to her,
"Talitha, kum!" (which translated means, "Little girl,
I say to you, get up!"). And immediately the girl got up and
began to walk, for she was twelve years old. And immediately they
were completely astonished. And He gave them strict orders that no
one was to know about this, and He said that something should be
given her to eat.
† His
words, "Do not be afraid, only believe," pointed to faith
as the key to kingdom life.
† The
resurrection of a twelve-year-old daughter paralleled the healing of
the woman with twelve years of bleeding, showing full covenant
renewal.
†
Mark 5 shows Jesus’ power to free the oppressed, cleanse the
unclean, and conquer death. The fulfilled perspective reveals these
signs as pointing to Israel’s coming judgment and the new creation
in Christ. For us today, these miracles affirm that no bondage,
impurity, or death has power over us in the kingdom that Christ
established.
† Josephus,
Wars 6.5.1
† Philo, On the Virtues 77
†
Tacitus, Annals 15.44
† Irenaeus, Against
Heresies 2.22.4
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