Mark 5:6

But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped him--not with the spontaneous alacrity which says to Jesus, "Draw me, we will run after thee," but inwardly compelled, with terrific rapidity, before the Judge, to receive sentence of expulsion.

These verses describe one of those mysterious miracles which the Gospels frequently record — the casting out of a devil. Of all the cases of this kind in the New Testament, none is so fully described as this one. Of all the three evangelists who relate the history, none gives it so fully and minutely as Mark. We see, in the first place, in these verses, that the possession of a man's body by the devil, was a real and true thing in the time of our Lord's earthly ministry . It is a painful fact, that there are never lacking professing Christians who try to explain away our Lord's miracles. They endeavor to account for them by natural causes, and to show that they were not worked by any extraordinary power. Of all miracles, there are none which they assault so strenuously as the casting out of devils. They do not scruple to deny Satanic possession entirely. They tell us that it was nothing more than lunacy, or frenzy, or epilepsy, and that the idea of the devil inhabiting a man's body is absurd. The best and simplest answer to such skeptical objections, is a reference to the plain narratives of the Gospels, and especially to the one before us at this moment. The facts here detailed are utterly inexplicable, if we do not believe Satanic possession. It is notorious that lunacy, and frenzy, and epilepsy are not infectious complaints, and at any rate cannot be communicated to a herd of swine! And yet men ask us to believe, that as soon as this man was healed, two thousand swine ran violently down a steep place into the sea, from a sudden impulse, without any apparent cause to account for their so doing! Such reasoning is the height of credulity. When men can satisfy themselves with such explanations, they are in a pitiable state of mind. Let us beware of a skeptical and incredulous spirit in all matters relating to the devil.

These verses describe one of those mysterious miracles which the Gospels frequently record — the casting out of a devil. Of all the cases of this kind in the New Testament, none is so fully described as this one. Of all the three evangelists who relate the history, none gives it so fully and minutely as Mark. We see, in the first place, in these verses, that the possession of a man's body by the devil, was a real and true thing in the time of our Lord's earthly ministry .

THESE two texts have a measure of apparent likeness—the man runs to Jesus from afar and the father runs to the prodigal from afar. They both run—and when two run to meet each other, they soon meet. When a sinner is running to Christ and the Father is running to the sinner, there shall be a happy meeting before very long, and there shall be joy in Heaven and joy on earth, too! I shall begin my discourse by noticing the case of the demoniac, whose story we read— "When he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped Him."

THESE two texts have a measure of apparent likeness—the man runs to Jesus from afar and the father runs to the prodigal from afar. They both run—and when two run to meet each other, they soon meet. When a sinner is running to Christ and the Father is running to the sinner, there shall be a happy meeting before very long, and there shall be joy in Heaven and joy on earth, too! I shall begin my discourse by noticing the case of the demoniac, whose story we read— "When he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped Him." I. Using that narrative as a kind of parable, I would remark, in the first place, that we have, here, an emblem OF THE SINNER'S PLACE. He is "afar off' from Christ and when, first of all, the Spirit of God begins to open his eyes to his own true condition, one of the chief difficulties in his way is the realization of his distance from the Savior. He begins to cry, "Oh, that I knew where I might find Him! That I might come even to His seat!" The poor man feels as if there were a great and dreadful distance between him and the great Mediator—he can only see "Jesus afar off," as the demoniac did. He has not yet come to Christ, nor proved His wondrous power to bless. I daresay there are some in this congregation who feel that they are "afar off' from the Lord Jesus Christ and, "afar off' from the great Father. You are "afar off as to character I am not going to bring an accusation against you, for your own heart and conscience accuse you. It is not necessary for me to describe your past life—if you are the person whom Christ has come to bless, then I know that your sin is always before you. You cannot hide it from yourself, it seems to be painted on your very eyeballs! You have to look at everything through the mist and haze of your past guilt and, consequently, everything looks dark and dreary to you.

Worshipped him - Did him homage; compelled thereto by the power of God. How humiliating to Satan, thus to be obliged to acknowledge the superiority of Christ!