It is morning on the Sea of Galilee. The light of the rising sun touches sea and land as with a benediction of peace. Jesus and His disciples have spent a tempestuous night on the water, but as they step upon the beach they are greeted with a sight more terrible than the storm-tossed sea. From some hiding place among the tombs two madmen rush upon them as if to tear them in pieces. Hanging about these men are parts of chains that they have broken in escaping from confinement. Their flesh is torn and bleeding. Their eyes glare out from their long, matted hair. The very likeness of humanity seems to have been blotted out. They look more like wild beasts than like men.
The disciples and their companions run away in terror, but presently they notice that Jesus is not with them, and they turn to look for Him. He is standing where they left Him. He who stilled the tempest, who has met Satan before and conquered him, does not flee before demons. When the men, gnashing their teeth and foaming at the mouth, approach Him, Jesus raises that hand which has beckoned the waves to rest, and the men can come no nearer. They stand before Him, raging but helpless.
With authority He commands the unclean spirits to come out of them. The unfortunate men realize that here is One who can save them from the tormenting demons. They fall at the Savior’s feet to ask for His mercy. But when their lips open, the demons speak through them, crying, “‘What have we to do with You, Jesus, You Son of God? Have You come here to torment us?’” Matthew 8:29. The evil spirits are forced to release their victims, and a wonderful change comes over the demoniacs. Light shines into their minds. Their eyes beam with intelligence. Their countenances, long deformed into the image of Satan, become suddenly mild. The bloodstained hands are quiet. The men lift their voices in praise to God.
Meanwhile the demons, cast out from their human habitations, have entered into a herd of swine and driven them to destruction by drowning. The keepers of the swine hurry away to spread the news, and the whole population flock to meet Jesus. The two demoniacs have been the terror of the country. Now they are clothed and in their right mind, sitting at the feet of Jesus, listening to His words and glorifying the name of Him who has made them whole. But those who witness this wonderful scene do not rejoice. The loss of the swine seems to them of greater importance than the deliverance of these captives of Satan. In terror they throng about Jesus, pleading with Him to leave. And He complies, taking ship at once for the opposite shore.
Far different is the feeling of the restored demoniacs. They want to be with their Deliverer. In His presence they feel secure from the demons that have tormented their lives and wasted their manhood. As Jesus is about to enter the boat, they keep close to His side, kneel at His feet, and beg Him to remain near them so they may listen to His words. But Jesus bids them go home and tell what great things the Lord has done for them.
Here is a work for them to do—to go to a heathen home and tell of the blessings they have received from Jesus. It is hard for them to be separated from the Savior. Great difficulties will face them as they associate with their heathen countrymen. And their long isolation from society seems to have disqualified them for this work. But as soon as Jesus points out their duty, they are ready to obey.
Not only did they tell their own households and neighbors about Jesus, they went throughout Decapolis, everywhere declaring His power to save and describing how He had freed them from the demons.
Though the people of Gergesa had not received Jesus, He did not abandon them to the darkness they had chosen. When they asked Him to leave, they had not heard His words. They did not know what they were rejecting. Therefore He sent the light to them by those to whom they would not refuse to listen.
In causing the destruction of the swine, it was Satan’s purpose to turn the people away from the Savior and prevent the preaching of the gospel in that region. But this very occurrence roused the country as nothing else could have done, and directed attention to Christ. Though the Savior Himself departed, the men whom He had healed remained as witnesses to His power. Those who had been mediums of the prince of darkness became channels of light, messengers of the Son of God. When Jesus later returned to Decapolis, the people flocked about Him, and for three days thousands from all the surrounding country heard the message of salvation.
The two restored demoniacs were the first missionaries whom Christ sent to teach the gospel in the region of Decapolis. These men had listened to His words for a short time only. Not one sermon from His lips had fallen upon their ears. They could not instruct the people as the disciples who had been with Christ daily were able to do. But they could tell what they knew—what they themselves had seen, and heard, and felt of the Savior’s power. This is what everyone can do whose heart has been touched by the grace of God. This is the witness for which our Lord calls, and for want of which the world is perishing.
The gospel is to be presented not as a lifeless theory but as a living force to change the life. God would have His servants bear testimony to the fact that through His grace all may possess Christlikeness of character and rejoice in the assurance of His great love. He would have us bear testimony to the fact that He cannot be satisfied until all who will accept salvation are reclaimed and reinstated in their holy privileges as His sons and daughters.
He freely accepts even those whose course has been most offensive to Him. When they repent, He imparts to them His divine Spirit and sends them forth into the camp of the disloyal to proclaim His mercy. Souls who have been degraded into instruments of Satan are still, through the power of Christ, transformed into messengers of righteousness and are sent forth to tell how great things the Lord has done for them and has had compassion on them.
Personal Experience and Witness Are Important
After the woman of Capernaum had been healed by the touch of faith, Jesus desired her to acknowledge the blessing she had received. The gifts that the gospel offers are not to be secured by stealth or enjoyed in secret.“‘You are My witnesses,’ says the Lord,Our confession of His faithfulness is Heaven’s chosen agency for revealing Christ to the world. We are to acknowledge His grace as made known through His people of old, but that which will be most effectual is the testimony of our own experience. We are witnesses for God as we reveal in ourselves the working of a power that is divine. Every individual has a life distinct from all others and an experience differing essentially from theirs. God desires that our praise shall ascend to Him, marked with our own individuality. These precious acknowledgments to the praise of the glory of His grace, when supported by a Christlike life, have an irresistible power that works for the salvation of souls.
‘That I am God.’”
Isaiah 43:12.
It is for our own benefit to keep every gift of God fresh in our memory. By this means our faith is strengthened to claim and receive more blessings. There is greater encouragement for us in the least blessing we ourselves receive from God than in all the accounts we can read of the faith and experience of others. Souls that respond to the grace of God shall be like a watered garden. Their health shall spring forth speedily; their light shall rise in obscurity, and the glory of the Lord shall be seen upon them.
“What shall I render to the Lord
For all His benefits toward me?”
“Who can utter the mighty acts of the Lord?
Or can declare all His praise?”
“Oh, give thanks to the Lord!
Call upon His name;
Make known His deeds among the peoples.
Sing to Him, sing psalms to Him;
Talk of all His wondrous works.”
Psalm 116:12; 106:2; 105:1, 2.
See also Psalm 45:17; 56:11-13; 63:3-7; 71:5, 6, 22-24; 104:33, 34.
Those Who Receive Are to Give
The gospel invitation is not to be narrowed down and presented to only a select few who, we suppose, will do us honor if they accept it. The message is to be given to all. When God blesses His children, it is not for their sake alone, but for the world’s sake. As He bestows His gifts on us, it is that we may multiply them by imparting.No sooner had the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well found the Savior than she brought others to Him. She proved herself a more effective missionary than His own disciples. The disciples saw nothing in Samaria to indicate that it was an encouraging field. Their thoughts were fixed upon a great work to be done in the future. They did not see that right around them was a harvest to be gathered. But through the woman whom they despised a whole cityful were brought to hear Jesus. She carried the light at once to her countrymen.
This woman represents the working of a practical faith in Christ. Every true disciple is born into the kingdom of God as a missionary. No sooner does a person come to know the Savior than he or she desires to make others acquainted with Him. The saving and sanctifying truth cannot be shut up in the heart. Anyone who drinks of the living water becomes a fountain of life.
The receiver becomes a giver. The grace of Christ in the soul is like a spring in the desert, welling up to refresh all. It makes those who are ready to perish eager to drink of the water of life. In doing this we receive a greater blessing than if we work merely to benefit ourselves. It is in working to spread the good news of salvation that we are brought near to the Savior.
Of those who receive His grace the Lord says: “‘I will make them and the places all around My hill a blessing; and I will cause showers to come down in their season; there shall be showers of blessing.’” Ezekiel 34:26.
“On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, ‘If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” John 7:37, 38.
Those who receive are to impart to others. From every direction are coming calls for help. God calls upon men and women to minister gladly to others. Immortal crowns are to be won. The kingdom of heaven is to be gained. The world, perishing in ignorance, is to be enlightened.
“‘Do you not say, “There are still four months, and then comes the harvest”? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest! And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life.’” John 4:35, 36.
For three years the disciples had before them the wonderful example of Jesus. Day by day they walked and talked with Him, hearing His words of cheer to the weary and heavy-laden, and seeing the manifestations of His power in behalf of the sick and afflicted. When the time came for Him to leave, He gave them grace and power to carry forward His work in His name. They were to shed abroad the light of His gospel of love and healing. And the Savior promised that His presence would be with them always. Through the Holy Spirit He would be even nearer than when He walked visibly among them.
The work that the disciples did, we also are to do. Every follower of Christ is to be a missionary. In sympathy and compassion we are to minister to those in need of help, with unselfish earnestness trying to lighten the woes of suffering humanity.
All may find something to do. None need feel that there is no place where they can work for Christ. The Savior identifies Himself with every child of humanity. That we might become members of the heavenly family, He became a member of the earthly family. He is the Son of man, and thus a brother to every son and daughter of Adam. His followers are not to feel themselves detached from the perishing world around them. They are a part of the great web of humanity, and heaven looks upon them as brothers and sisters to sinners as well as to saints.
Millions upon millions of human beings, in sickness and ignorance and sin, have never so much as heard of Christ’s love for them. If our condition and theirs were to be reversed, what would we want them to do for us? All this, so far as lies in our power, we are to do for them. Christ’s rule of life by which every one of us must stand or fall in the judgment is, “‘Whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them.’” Matthew 7:12.
By all that has given us advantage over another—be it education and refinement, nobility of character, Christian training, or religious experience—we are in debt to those less favored, and so far as lies in our power we are to minister to them. If we are strong, we are to hold up the hands of the weak.
Angels of glory who live in the presence of the Father in heaven delight to minister to His little ones. Angels are ever present where they are most needed—with those who have the hardest battles with self to fight, and whose surroundings are the most discouraging. Weak and trembling souls who have many objectionable traits of character are their special charge. That which selfish hearts would regard as humiliating service—to minister to those who are wretched and in every way inferior in character—is the work of the pure, sinless beings from the courts above.
Walking and Working With Jesus
Jesus did not consider heaven a place to be desired while we were lost. He left the heavenly courts for a life of reproach and insult and a death of shame. He who was rich in heaven’s priceless treasure became poor, that through His poverty we might be rich. We are to follow in the path that He walked.Everyone who becomes a child of God should henceforth look upon himself or herself as a link in the chain let down to save the world, one with Christ in His plan of mercy, going forth with Him to seek and save the lost.
Many feel that it would be a great privilege to visit the scenes of Christ’s life on earth, to walk where He walked, to look upon the lake and its shorelines where He loved to teach, and the hills and valleys on which His eyes so often rested. But we need not go to Nazareth, to Capernaum, or to Bethany to walk in the steps of Jesus. We shall find His footprints beside the sickbed, in the homes of the poor, in the crowded streets of the great cities, and in every place where there are human hearts in need of consolation.
We are to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and comfort the suffering and afflicted. We are to minister to the despairing and inspire hope in the hopeless.
The love of Christ, manifested in unselfish ministry, will be more effective in reforming criminals than will the night stick or the court of justice. These are necessary to strike terror to the lawbreaker, but loving missionaries can do more than this. Often the heart that hardens under reproof will melt under the love of Christ.
Missionaries can not only relieve physical illnesses, they can lead sinners to the Great Physician, who can cleanse the soul from the leprosy of sin. Through His servants, God designs that the sick, the unfortunate, and those possessed of evil spirits shall hear His voice. Through His human agencies He desires to be a comforter such as the world knows not.
The Savior has given His precious life in order to establish a church capable of ministering to the suffering, the sorrowful, and the tempted. A company of believers may be poor, uneducated, and unknown, yet in Christ they may do a work in the home, in the community, and even in “the regions beyond,” whose results shall be as far-reaching as eternity.
To Christ’s followers today, no less than to the first disciples, these words are spoken: “‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore, and make disciples of all the nations.’” “‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.’” Matthew 28:18, 19; Mark 16:15.
And for us also is the promise of His presence, “‘Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’” Matthew 28:20.
Today no curious multitudes flock to the desert to see and hear Christ. His voice is not heard in the busy streets. No cry sounds from the wayside, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.” Luke 18:37. Yet this word is true today. Christ walks unseen through our streets. He comes to our homes with messages of mercy. He waits to cooperate with all who are seeking to minister in His name. He is in the midst of us, to heal and to bless, if we will receive Him.
“How beautiful upon the mountains
Are the feet of him who brings good news,
Who proclaims peace,
Who brings glad tidings of good things,
Who proclaims salvation,
Who says to Zion, ‘Your God reigns! ...’
Break forth into joy, sing together,
You waste places. ...
For the Lord has comforted His people. ...
The Lord has made bare His holy arm
In the eyes of all the nations;
And all the ends of the earth shall see
The salvation of our God.”
Isaiah 52:7, 9, 10.
See also Isaiah 49:8, 9.