Perfectly Lost
“We
know the whole creation groaneth and
travaileth in pain together until
now.”
–Romans
8:22, KJV
A Planet Possessed
Take a deep breath. We are going
to get one more penetrating and
unsettling look at the
demoniac’s deplorable situation
before Jesus delivered him, because
he is the perfect picture of the
total spiritual bankruptcy:
The possessed man moves among
decomposing carcasses in the shadow
of the surrounding hills, snorting
the cries of the foul swine. His
ripped and raw flesh drags remnants
of mangled shackles and chains.
Screaming and moaning, his snaring
mouth foaming with saliva, he wanders
aimlessly among the silhouettes of
caves and tombs, his stinking, naked
body followed by a cloud of flies. He
continually stabs at his scarred
limbs and flinty rocks, and his wild
eyes glare menacingly from his dirty,
matted hair.
You’re probably thinking,
“OK, Bob! Enough!” I
realize this is a loathsome picture,
but every component of the story, no
matter how sickening, is very
important. Each one tells us many
crucial things about just how awful
the conditions of sin can be, and
thus how amazing the wonderful plan
of salvation really is.
Have you ever wondered about the
contrast unfallen angels must see
when they leave their pure, sinless
glories of heaven to come to our
dark, possessed planet? For them,
this nameless, crazed man must
represent exhibit “A” of
what it means to be lost.
This fallen, possessed child of Adam
living in a cemetery, surrounded by
swine, also represents our fallen,
unclean world under the curse of
death and enslaved by the devil and
his legions of minions. Our planet is
now the staging ground from which
Satan continues his slanderous
campaign against the Creator and His
government-so much so that Jesus even
calls Satan “the prince of this
world” (John 14:30, KJV).
Every aspect of this man’s
desperate condition that Scripture
presents can help you and me to
appreciate more fully how heaven see
the lost. Before we can understand
this better and experience the
healing God offers us, we must
recognize and diagnose the symptoms.
“Who
had his dwelling among the
tombs….’
-Mark
5:3
Dwelling With the Dead
I remember well the visit I made to
the strangest cemetery on earth while
exploring the northern parts of
Cairo, Egypt. This cemetery is called
the “City of the Dead.” The
place hardly seems like a cemetery
because it is teeming with life and
activity.
Over a span of centuries, the great
Egyptian rulers of ages past built
acres and acres of huge elaborate
mausoleums and tombs. As tradition
dictated, each of these burial places
had its own “party room.”
Around the fourteenth century,
thousands of poor people seeking
shelter began squatting in these
tombs. Now, this area, classified as
a suburb of Cairo, has its own ZIP
code, post office, police station,
shops, electricity, running water,
and sewage system.
Peering into the tombs, I could see
how these people conduct their
everyday lives sleeping, cooking, and
eating. I was impressed with how they
have made use of the smaller
gravestones, turning them as needed
into washing lines and tables. And
all through the area are stone
coffins filled with human
remains-right in the middle of the
current inhabitants’ living
space.
Archaeologists say that some of the
tombs around Gadara, where our story
takes place, were cut out of the
steep mountainside, creating deep
caves. The demoniac might have used
one of these cavernous tombs for
shelter after he had been driven out
off town due to his deranged mind.
And just as the unsaved live in
constant fear of death, this poor man
was daily surrounded with reminders
of his bleak future.
The Bible teaches that there are only
two classes of people in the world:
the living and the dead. You might
think this is an obvious statement,
but according to God’s Word, not
all of the living are alive and not
all of the dead are really dead.
Let me explain. Those living lives
without Christ are spiritually dead.
Jesus said, “’He who has
the Son has life, he who does not
have the Son of God does not have
life’” (1 John 5:12). On
another occasion, He said,
“’Let the dead bury their
own dead, but you go and preach the
kingdom of God’” (Luke
9:60).
Practically speaking, this means that
all those who have not had their sins
forgiven are living under the death
penalty. Yet, when they accept
Christ’s forgiveness, they pass
from death to life. “You He made
alive, who were dead in trespasses
and sins” (Ephesians 2:1).
Conversely, when a Christian dies, he
or she doesn’t really die-at
least not the eternal death. When
Lazarus perished, Jesus explained,
“‘Our friend Lazarus
sleeps, but I go that I may wake him
up’” (John 11:11). Jesus
also proclaimed, “’Have you
not read what was spoken to you by
God, saying, “I am the God of
Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the
God of Jacob?” God is not the
God of the dead, but of the
living’” (Matthew 22:
31,32). Acts 7:60 affirms this truth,
saying that when Stephen was murdered
by stoning, “he fell
asleep.” Those who die in a
saved condition, in Christ, are not
eternally dead; they are simply
resting until the resurrection.
Comfortable With a
Corpse
I once read about a lady who died.
That happens every day, of course;
but in this case, two months passed
before anyone knew about it. Her
neighbors started noticing that he
porch was full of mail and
newspapers, and they realized that
they had not seen her in a while.
They summoned the police, who broke
down the door and found her dead.
They found her husband in her
bedroom. He was dead too-and the
medical examiner estimated that he
had been dead for at least four
years! His body was virtually
mummified because his wife had kept
the heat turned up to about ninety
degrees. She had never reported his
demise-evidently; she was willing to
live with the corpse so that she
could continue collecting his Social
Security checks!
The Bible tells us about the battle
that rages between the spirit and the
flesh. Millions of people want to
serve God, but their carnal
natures-the lust of the flesh and the
pride of life-seem to chain them to
their toxic lives. It is like living
with a dead person. In fact, in
Romans 7:24, Paul asks a penetrating
question that uses this image in
echoing the pleading of our hearts:
“O wretched man that I am! Who
will deliver me from this body of
death?”
It is very probable that the apostle
was referring to a frightening
ancient Roman practice reserved for
the most wicked criminals.
Commentator Adam Clark writes,
“After being scourged, the
wounded prisoner would be chained to
a dead body and obliged to carry it
about till the contagion from the
putrid mass took away his life!”
An old English poem describes it this
way:
What
tongue can such barbarities record,
Or
count the slaughters of his ruthless
sword?
‘Twas
not enough the good, the guiltless
bled,
Still
worse, he bound the living to the
dead:
These,
limb to limb, and face to face, he
joined;
O!
monstrous crime, of unexampled kind!
Till
choked with stench, the lingering
wretches lay,
And,
in the loathed embraces, died away!
-Pitt
With that disturbing picture in mind,
can you imagine the relief and
freedom the condemned one might
experience if the corpse that he has
been dragging around for days were
cut away? Well, this is what the Lord
does for us when we come to him with
our weak, burdensome, carnal natures.
For the law of the Spirit of life
in Christ Jesus has made me free from
the law of sin and death…that
the righteous requirement of the law
might be fulfilled in us who do not
walk according to the flesh but
according to the Spirit….For to
be carnally minded is death, but to
be spiritually minded is life and
peace (Romans 8:2,4,6).
Dumpster Diving
You might be wondering how anyone
could become comfortable with living
surrounded by dead bodies. How could
the demoniac live among the dead,
like the people who inhabit the City
of the Dead and the lady who lived
for four years alongside the corpse
of her husband? It might be hard to
imagine, but I know it is possible,
because I’ve known different
people that are experienced becoming
comfortable around some very
disturbing things. For instance,
there was a man about sixteen years
old that lived on the streets in
Southern California for a few months.
During that time, he had some friends
who “shopped” for food in
supermarket dumpsters with the same
delight that other people have
exploring a buffet. They called it
”dumpster diving.”
This one man in particular who had
been raised in a clean, middle-class
home, was at first revolted by the
disgusting habit his street friends
had of fishing around for food in
sticking, grocery-store garbage
containers. However, the longer he
hung around them, the less offensive
dumpster diving became. Gradually, he
drew closer to the dumpster-of
course, only in an advisory role!
While holding his nose, he would
point out dented cans or day-old
bread still in its wrapper.
Eventually, he began to reach over
the edge to inspect ripe bananas. And
then-you guessed it! -before long he
was crawling into the dumpster and
rooting around for
“treasure.” He had become
intimately comfortable with garbage.
This same degrading dynamic also
erodes the spiritual health of many
souls. The devil knows that through
constant exposure to sin-through
things like morally questionable
movies, magazines, and music-he can
soften our convictions regarding the
deadly evil of sin. It might have
taken months for the lady to become
comfortable with her dead husband,
but the checks that kept coming made
it palatable. If we tolerate sin
despite finding it offensive, we will
eventually endure it until we full
embrace it.
In order for us to repent genuinely,
we must recognize and appreciate the
evil of sin. “Sin, that it might
appear sin, was producing death in me
through what is good, so that sin
through the commandment might become
exceedingly sinful” (Romans
7:13).
“He
wore no clothes.” –Luke
8:27
The Naked Truth
Most of us never feel much
gratitude for our clothing, but some
people actually owe their lives to
what they wear! For instance, to
survive in the extreme temperatures
and vacuum of space, astronauts need
special spacesuits. These thick
outfits supply oxygen, maintain
pressure, keep body temperature
controlled, and monitor blood
pressure and heart rhythm.
When Neil Armstrong sealed his place
in history as the first man to walk
on the moon during the Apollo 11
mission, his suit was specially
designed to provide a life-sustaining
environment during periods of
extravehicular activity and
unpressurized spacecraft operations.
The custom-fitted suit permitted
comfort for up to 115 hours outside
the spacecraft or for 14 days in an
unpressurized mode.
Astronauts must put an enormous
amount of trust in their spacesuits.
One described the eerie feeling he
got when he realized that while
outside the space capsule, just
one-quarter in of material lay
between him and eternity. Now that
important clothing!
Back in Gadara, however, the frost of
winter mornings made the demoniacs
naked frame shiver. And through the
scorching summer, his leathery skin
would burn. But neither heat of cold
nor even shame would lead him to
cover his naked limbs.
When it comes to clothing, human
beings differ from every other
creature. All the other creatures in
God’s kingdom are “born
with their clothes on,” so to
speak. The covering they need grows
from the inside out. Some animals
even shed their old clothes
periodically and develop new ones.
Human beings are the only creatures
whose clothes must come from the
outside.
The Bible tells us that Adam and Eve
first wore artificial clothing after
they ate the forbidden fruit in the
Garden of Eden. Genesis 3:7 (KJV)
says, “The eyes of them both
were opened, and they knew that they
were naked; and they sewed fig leaves
together, and made themselves
aprons.”
Our first parents had the sense and
modesty to recognize when they were
naked and to seek a remedy. Not
everybody feels that natural yearning
to be covered.
There once was this young man about
seventeen, he lived as a hermit in a
mountain cave above Palm Springs.
During that time, He never wore
clothes while in the vicinity of his
mountain “home.” At first,
he was painfully aware that something
was missing, but after going naked
for several weeks, he rarely thought
about it. Like dumpster diving, you
can get used to almost anything if
you do it long enough.
Once or twice a week, he would hike
down to the city to panhandle for
money in front of the local
supermarket. He always carried his
clothes in a little bundle at the
bottom of the backpack. When he
approached the outskirts of
civilization, he would stop and dress
before venturing into the city
limits.
On one occasion, he felt particularly
enthusiastic about going to town
because he had some money and an
exciting list of small things to
purchase. When he reached the top of
the ridge, he felt exhilarated! It
was a spring morning in the desert,
the sun was just rising, and
everything was glowing with a brazen,
beautiful color-all the hills, the
cactus, and even his skin looked
golden.
Playing his flute, he be bopped down
the mountain and walked right past
the big rock where he usually stopped
to put on his clothes. Still
enthralled, he didn’t notice
that he was venturing into the city
limits wearing nothing but a
backpack, some hiking boots, an a
friendly smile.
As he came around the bend in the
trail screened by a large bush, he
saw a nicely dressed family-a father,
mother, and two daughters taking a
Sunday stroll and enjoying the
dessert flowers. This young man felt
so good that he even offered them a
wave and a grin.
They all froze!
As shock ripped through the family,
the mother closed her eyes and hid
her face against the father’s
chest, the two girls each grabbed one
of their father’s legs and
turned away, and even the father
closed his eyes!
He instinctively assumed that some
terrifying hideous monster was
looming behind him, and he snapped
around. But he could not see
anything. He wondered, what did
they see that made them react with
such horror? Then it dawned on
this young man. They were looking at
him-and he was naked! Overwhelmed
with shame, he slipped behind the
closest bush and quickly dressed.
What had happened to him? He felt
perfectly fine the moment before he
saw this family. They had not touched
him, and they said nothing to him.
Yet, after that encounter, he felt
awful. What made the difference? He
saw himself through their eyes, and
he saw that he was naked.
All of
us would rather be much healthier if
we would get a fresh look at
ourselves through God’s eyes. We
might discover that we are naked too!
The Bible says that one of the most
serious problems His own people face
in the last days is that they are
naked. Actually, the problem is not
just that they’re naked, but
that they’re naked and
don’t know it. God says,
“[You] do not know that you are
wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and
naked” (Revelation 3:17).
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