Luke 8:22 - Meaning and Application

Here we have two clear proofs of our Lord Jesus’ power, both already seen in Mark 4 and 5. First, his power over the winds. Second, his power over the devils.

The winds are those powers in the air that terrify people, especially at sea, and often bring death. Christ told his disciples to go out on the water so he could show his glory there by calming the waves. He also wanted to do a kindness for a poor man who was possessed on the other side of the lake. So he went into a boat with his disciples (Luke 8:22). Those who follow Christ’s directions can trust his presence. If Christ sends his disciples, he goes with them. People can safely go anywhere if Christ is with them.

He said, “Let us go over to the other side,” because he had good work to do there. He could have gone by land, though it would have taken a little longer. Instead, he chose to go by water so he could show his wonders in the deep. Yet those who go to sea in calm weather, even at Christ’s command, must still be ready for a storm and even the greatest danger in it. A storm of wind came down on the lake (Luke 8:23), as if nowhere else but there. Soon the boat was so beaten by the waves that it filled with water, and they were in danger of losing their lives.

Perhaps the devil, the prince of the power of the air, who stirs up winds by God’s permission, guessed from something Christ had said that Jesus was crossing the lake to cast the demons out of the man on the other side. If so, he sent this storm to sink the boat and stop that victory, if he could. Christ was asleep in the storm (Luke 8:23). He needed bodily rest, and he chose to take it when it would least interrupt his work. Christ’s followers may truly have his gracious presence with them at sea and in a storm, yet he may seem asleep. He may not immediately appear to help, even when things seem to be at their worst. In this way he tests their faith and patience, and he stirs them to pray. Then, when rescue comes, it is all the sweeter.

A complaint to Christ about our danger, and about the trouble his church is in, is enough to make him rise and help us (Luke 8:24). They cried, “Master, Master, we are going to die!” The way to quiet our fears is to bring them to Christ and place them before him. Those who truly call Christ Master, and who call on him with faith and earnestness, can be sure he will not let them perish. For poor souls who feel guilt and fear judgment, there is no better relief than to go to Christ and say, “I am ruined unless you help me.”

Christ’s work is to calm storms, just as Satan’s work is to raise them. Christ can do it. He has done it. He delights to do it, because he came to bring peace on earth. He rebuked the wind and the raging water, and they stopped at once (Luke 8:24). Unlike some other miracles, this one did not fade away slowly. It happened suddenly, and there was a great calm. Christ showed that even if the devil claims to be the prince of the power of the air, he is still under Christ’s control there.

When our danger is over, we should be ashamed of our own fears and give Christ the glory for his power. When Christ turned the storm into calm, then they were glad because the waters were quiet (Psalm 107:30). Then Christ rebuked them for their weak fear: “Where is your faith?” (Luke 8:25). Many who truly have faith still have trouble finding it when they need it. When outward troubles press on them, they tremble and lose heart. A small problem can discourage them, and then where is their faith?

They also gave him glory for his power. They were afraid and amazed. They had feared the storm, but now that the danger was over, they had reason to fear the one who had stilled it. They said to one another, “What kind of man is this!” They might just as well have said, “Who is a God like you?” For it belongs to God alone to still the noise of the seas and the noise of their waves (Psalm 65:7).

Next comes Christ’s power over the devil, the prince of the power of the air. In the next part of the story, he faces him more directly than when he commanded the winds. Right after the wind was stilled, they came to the harbor they wanted, reached the country of the Gadarenes, and went ashore (Luke 8:26-27). There he soon met the work he had come for, the task he thought worth a storm to accomplish.

From this story we can learn much about the world of evil spirits. They may not work in the same way today as they did there, but we must always be on our guard against them. These evil spirits are very many. The ones who possessed this man called themselves Legion (Luke 8:30), because many demons had entered him. He had had demons for a long time (Luke 8:27). Perhaps those who had held him so long, when they saw Jesus coming to attack them and could not stop him by the storm they raised, called in more help. They meant this to be a final battle. They hoped to be too strong for him who had already cast out so many evil spirits, and to defeat him.

They were, or wanted to seem, like a legion, as threatening as an army under banners. At least they wanted to be like what the twentieth Roman legion, long stationed at Chester, was called, a victorious legion. They have a deep hatred for humanity and for everything that helps and comforts human life. The man they possessed, and held for a long time, wore no clothes and lived in no house (Luke 8:27), even though clothing and a home are basic needs of life. Worse still, because people naturally fear the places of the dead, they made him live among the tombs, so he became a terror to himself and to everyone around him. His life became so miserable that he had every reason to be weary of it and to wish for death instead.

They are also very strong, wild, and hard to control, and they hate any restraint. He was kept bound with chains and shackles so he could not hurt others or himself, but he broke the bonds (Luke 8:29). Those who cannot be governed by anyone else show by that very fact that they are under Satan’s rule. This is also the language of those who belong to him, even when they speak about God and Christ, their best friends. They will not let anything bind them from evil or bind them to good, even for their own good. “Let us break their bonds apart.” He was driven by the devil.

Those who live under Christ’s rule are gently led with human kindness and love, while those under the devil’s rule are driven hard and violently. The evil spirits in this man showed strong anger against the Lord Jesus, and they also felt deep dread of him. When the man they controlled saw Jesus, he cried out as if in torment and fell before him, trying to turn away his anger. He called Jesus the Son of God Most High, far above him and too strong for him, yet he still protested against any close link with Christ, saying, “What have I to do with you?” This was enough to silence the blasphemous objections of the scribes and Pharisees. The devils had no desire to serve Christ and no hope of gain from him, but they did fear his power and judgment. They did not say, “Save me,” only, “Do not torment me.” That is the language of people who only fear hell as punishment, but have no wish for heaven as a place of holiness and love.

They are completely under the command and power of the Lord Jesus, and they knew it. So they begged him not to send them into the deep, the place of their torment, which they knew he could do easily and rightly. What a comfort this is for the Lord’s people, that all the powers of darkness are under Christ’s control. He has them all in a chain, and he can send them to their own place whenever he pleases.

They also take pleasure in doing harm. When they saw they had to leave the poor man, they asked for permission to enter a herd of pigs, as Luke 8:32 says. When the devil first brought humanity into misery, he also brought a curse on the whole creation, so that it became subject to hostility. Here, as another sign of that wide-reaching hatred, when he could not ruin the man, he wanted to ruin the pigs. If he could not hurt the man in his body, he would hurt him in his property, which is often a strong temptation that pulls people away from Christ. Christ allowed them to enter the pigs to show the country how much harm the devil could do if he were allowed to. As soon as the devils were given permission, they entered the pigs, and as soon as they entered them, the herd rushed down a steep bank into the lake and drowned.

This shows that it is a miracle of mercy when those Satan controls are not brought to ruin and destruction. This and other examples prove that the roaring lion and the red dragon are always seeking whom they may devour. When the devil’s power is broken in any soul, that soul comes back to itself and returns to a right mind. That means people whom Satan has taken hold of are, for a time, put out of possession of themselves. The man from whom the devils had gone was sitting at the feet of Jesus, as Luke 8:35 says. While under the devil’s power, he had been ready to attack Jesus. Now he sits at Jesus’ feet, which shows that he has come to his right mind. If God has hold of us, he preserves both our self-rule and our true joy. But if Satan has hold of us, he steals both from us. So let Satan’s power in our souls be overthrown, and let Christ, whose right our hearts are, come and take them. We are never more truly ourselves than when we belong to him.

Now we may look at the effect of this miracle, the casting out of the legion of devils from this man. First, consider its effect on the people of that region, who had lost their pigs through it. The swineherds went and told what had happened in the city and in the countryside, as Luke 8:34 says, perhaps hoping to stir the people against Christ. They explained how the man who had been possessed had been healed, as Luke 8:36 says, but they described it in a way that could sound unfair, as if Christ could not free the man without giving the pigs over to the devils. The people came out to see what had happened and to ask about it, and they were afraid, as Luke 8:35 and 8:37 say. They were shocked and did not know what to make of it. They cared more about the loss of the pigs than about the rescue of their troubled neighbor, whose frenzy had become a public danger. So the whole crowd begged Christ to leave them, fearing he might bring some other judgment on them.

In truth, no one needs to fear Christ if they are willing to turn from sin and give themselves to him. But Christ took them at their word. He got into the boat and went back. Those who love their pigs more than their Savior lose both him and the hope he offers.

Second, think about the effect on the poor man who had been healed. He wanted Christ’s company, just as others who were healed by him wanted to stay with him, as Luke 8:2 says. He wanted Christ to be his protector and teacher, and he wanted to be useful to Christ and bring him honor. He was unwilling to remain among those rough and foolish Gadarenes who wanted Christ to leave them. Yet Christ did not take him with him. Instead, he sent him home to tell others in that place about the great things God had done for him, so that he might become a blessing to his own country, where he had once been a burden.

We must sometimes give up even spiritual comfort and personal satisfaction in order to find a chance to help the souls of others. Christ may have known that, after the grief over the lost pigs had faded, the people would be more open to the miracle. So he left the man among them as a living sign of what had happened, and as a warning to them too.