Legion vs. the Lord: Christ’s Authority Over Unseen Evil

by Bart Denny

Whether you are a professional mechanic or a shade-tree tinkerer, you have probably met that bolt.

You know the one.

You start with a regular wrench. No movement.
You grab a longer handle. Your knuckles get scraped, your patience wears thin, and if you are honest, your vocabulary gets “creative.”

So you reach for the Liquid Wrench.
Then the torch.
Then the breaker bar.

Still nothing.

Finally, you call the neighbor with the impact wrench. Same bolt, same rust, same stuck threads. One burst from the impact, and what resisted you for an hour breaks loose in a second.

The difference was not you trying harder.
The difference was authority. A different kind of power was applied.

A lot of life feels like that bolt.

Maybe it is an addiction, anger, bitterness, lust, or unforgiveness that will not budge.
Maybe your “stuck bolt” is more internal: anxiety that will not let go, depression that will not lift, bitterness that has hardened into a way of life.

The Bible calls those things strongholds. They are like inner fortresses that eventually hold us captive.

So we “try harder.”
We flex willpower.
We grab the latest self-help book. (Which is funny, because if I could really “self-help,” I wouldn’t need a book about it.)

And yet, many times, nothing really changes.

What if the problem is not that you have not tried hard enough, but that you have not called on the right authority?

That is exactly where we meet the man in Mark 5.

A Storm Inside a Man

In Mark 5:1–20 (also told in Matthew 8 and Luke 8), Jesus steps out of a boat and straight into a spiritual train wreck.

A man comes out of the tombs to meet him. He is:

Naked
Violent
Screaming
Cutting himself
Living among the dead

The local people have tried everything. Chains. Shackles. Isolation. He tears through all of it. He can snap physical chains, but he cannot break the spiritual ones.

Mark 5 gives us the most detailed account of an exorcism in Scripture. It is raw and disturbing, but it is also full of hope. It shows us that demons are real, destructive, and cruel… and that they are absolutely no match for Jesus Christ.

We are in a series called “Seeing the Unseen,” taking seriously what the Bible says about angels, demons, and spiritual warfare. Scripture does not answer every question we might ask about demons, but it tells us all we need to know:

They are real.
They are evil.
They hate what God loves.
They work to destroy human flourishing and deface the image of God.

You do not have to look very far to see their fingerprints.

Wherever you find what kills, steals, and destroys people, you are seeing demonic influence. Much of it is perfectly legal.

Abortion is legal in many places, but it is still the taking of an unborn human life. However, we dress it up; it is demonic. (And no, I don't believe that anyone who has had an abortion, or somehow participated--even physicians who've turned their medical skills to this evil practice--is a demon or beyond forgiveness in Christ. Praise God for His mercy!)

Much of the ideological push behind the broader LGBTQ agenda is also demonic. I am not saying people who identify as LGBTQ are demons. I am saying that any movement that seeks to erase or redefine God’s good design of male and female, and to normalize what Scripture calls sin, is not morally neutral. It assaults the image of God in humanity. (Again, praise God no one is beyond His love and forgiveness--something we all need.)

The same is true of the occult, witchcraft, and celebrations of darkness or violence that make light of what God calls holy.

Mass shootings bear the mark of demonic hatred.

That does not give us permission to hate anyone. We are called to love every person, to speak truth with tears, and to long for repentance, not destruction.

But love does not lie; it tells the truth, even when that truth is hard, inconvenient, or uncomfortable. Ignoring the demonic is not compassionate. It is naive.

The Bible says our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but “against the rulers, the authorities, the powers of this dark world and the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 6:12).

Our enemy is not a political party, a person, or a people group.
Our enemy is the unseen kingdom of darkness behind so much of the visible evil in our world.

So what do we do with that?

Mark 5 shows us three steps. First, from Mark 5, we learn to:

Name the Battle Honestly: Jesus Unmasks the Enemy (Mark 5:1–10)

When the demonized man sees Jesus, he runs toward Him and falls on his knees. He screams,

“What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? In God’s name don’t torture me!” (Mark 5:7, NIV)

This is not worship. It is reluctant submission to the u.
Evil postures and blusters in the dark, but in the presence of Jesus, it starts begging.

We know this man is not just mentally ill for at least two reasons:

He has superhuman strength. He breaks chains that no one else can.
He instantly recognizes Jesus and His true identity, even before the disciples really understand who Jesus is.

In the Gospels, demons recognize Jesus before people do. They know exactly who He is, and they also know He has authority to destroy them.

Jesus commands, “Come out of this man, you impure spirit!” (Mark 5:8, NIV)

Then He asks, “What is your name?”
The reply: “My name is Legion… for we are many” (Mark 5:9, NIV).

A Roman legion was about 6,000 soldiers. The point is not an exact headcount of demons. It is the picture of an organized, overwhelming occupying force. A whole invading army of evil has set up camp inside this man.

But Jesus is not intimidated.
He is not gathering more “reinforcements.”
He is exposing the scale of the problem so everyone watching can see just how deep the bondage goes… and just how strong His authority is.

Darkness loves vagueness. Jesus drags it into the light.

Like a Code Reader for the Soul

Most of us know what it is to see the “Check Engine” light come on. You can clear the light, but that does not fix the problem.

When you plug in a code reader, the vague warning becomes a clear diagnosis: misfire on cylinder 3, bad oxygen sensor, evaporative leak.

Once you can name the problem, you can address it.

In Mark 5, Jesus is the ultimate “code reader.” He does not just silence the screaming or stop the self-harm. He names the real issue: Legion. He brings the hidden enemy out into the open, under His authority.

Naming Your Battle

For us, “naming the battle honestly” means at least two things:

Recognize that there really is a spiritual war.
Not everything is “just circumstances” or “just personality.” Some of what we face is demonic opposition.
Renounce partnership with darkness.
Ephesians 5:11 says, “Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.”

That might mean:
- Throwing out a Ouija board or a tarot deck. If you have New Agey sorts of paraphernalia or books, toss them. Those things are not cute or harmless.
- Turning off shows, music, or sites that feed darkness into your soul, even if they are not labeled “explicit.”
- Ending a sexual relationship that is outside the boundaries of a monogamous, heterosexual marriage.
- Naming unforgiveness, resentment, or a pattern of lying as sin instead of “just how I am.”

Sometimes that will involve literally praying out loud, “In Jesus’ name, I renounce this. I belong to Christ.”

Then we confess our sins, trusting that “He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).
We bring trusted believers into the light with us, because “confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed” (James 5:16).

Chains grow stronger in secrecy. They weaken in the light.

And, very importantly: not every struggle is a demon.

If you wrestle with anxiety, trauma, or depression, you are not “less spiritual” for seeing a physician or a counselor or taking prescribed medication. God made us body, mind, and spirit, and He cares about all three. Wise medical care and Christian counseling are gifts, not betrayals of faith.

Spiritual warfare is real, and sometimes the enemy exploits those weak points. So we fight with every tool God gives us, on every front.

But awareness alone does not break chains.
For that, we need authority.

That brings us to the next thing we learn from this episode in Mark, and that is to:

Submit Every Fear to Jesus: His Word Breaks Every Chain (Mark 5:11–13)

Nearby, a large herd of pigs is feeding on the hillside. The demons beg Jesus,

“Send us among the pigs; allow us to go into them.” (Mark 5:12, NIV)

Did you catch that? They have to ask.
These same spirits that terrorize an entire region cannot move an inch without Jesus’ permission. Evil is not equal to God. It is subject to Him.

Mark tells us:

“He gave them permission, and the impure spirits came out and went into the pigs. The herd, about two thousand in number, rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned.” (Mark 5:13, NIV)

With one word from Jesus, thousands of demons leave the man. The pigs charge into the water and drown.

Why would Jesus allow the pigs to be destroyed?

Because He is making the invisible visible.

The pigs show physically what the demons intended to do spiritually: destroy. That is always Satan’s endgame. Jesus allows the destruction of the pigs as a shocking, unforgettable object lesson in how ruthless the enemy really is… and how complete the man’s deliverance really is.

There is no struggle here, no incantations, no dramatic rituals.
Jesus speaks, and Legion obeys.

He calmed a storm on the sea in Mark 4. Now in Mark 5 He calms the storm inside a man. Nature and the demonic realm both answer to His voice.

Like a Court Order

Picture a house overtaken by squatters. The neighbors have tried yelling, threatening, boarding up windows, but the squatters will not leave.

Then a sheriff’s deputy walks up with a court order signed by a judge. He does not have to scream or wrestle anyone. He just serves the document, and the squatters go.

Why? Not because he is louder, but because he carries authority.

That is what Jesus does. He steps into enemy-occupied territory with divine authority. His word is the “court order” of heaven. Demons do not negotiate. They vacate.

Submitting Your Fear

So how do we experience that in our own lives?

Here are three simple, but not easy, steps:

Surrender what you have been trying to manage.
Some of us keep trying to “manage” our fear, our addiction, our secret sin. We tweak it. We hide it. We try to keep it under control.
You cannot out-muscle it. The man in Mark 5 broke every human chain, but not the chains that mattered. It is time to say, “Lord, this belongs under Your authority, not mine.”
Replace lies with Scripture.
When fear shouts, answer with truth.
- “Greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world” (1 John 4:4).
- “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?” (Psalm 27:1) Don't keep rehearsing the enemy’s lies in your head. Speak God’s Word instead.
Obey the next clear step.
Freedom is not just a feeling, it is a path of obedience. Maybe your next step is:
- Calling a counselor
- Ending a relationship that you know is sinful
- Confessing something to a trusted believer
- Deleting an app or throwing away an object that keeps dragging you back into bondage
  Do not negotiate with darkness. When Jesus gives direction, say yes.

This week you might choose to make this your personal declaration:

“I will submit every fear to Jesus. I will name it, surrender it, and trust His word to break what my effort cannot.”

But Jesus never frees people just so they can sit still. The

Live on Mission: Freed People Become Witnesses (Mark 5:14–20)

The pig herders run off and tell the story in town. A crowd comes back with them, and what they find is stunning:

They see the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons, sitting there, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. (Mark 5:15)

Three signs of restoration stand out:

Posture – He is sitting instead of raging.
Dignity – He is clothed instead of naked.
Clarity – He is in his right mind instead of tormented.

Psalm 23 says, “He restores my soul.” This is what it looks like. Jesus does not just evict demons. He restores a person.

You would think everyone would be thrilled. Instead, they beg Jesus to leave. They would rather lose the man than lose the pigs.

Deliverance has a cost, and not everyone wants that disruption. Sometimes people prefer familiar brokenness to costly wholeness.

As Jesus prepares to leave, the delivered man begs to go with Him. That sounds noble, but Jesus says no.

“Go home to your own people and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” (Mark 5:19, NIV)

Mission begins with proximity and credibility. Jesus tells him, “Start with your own people. The ones who saw you at your worst. The ones who know your story.”

Mark tells us,

“So the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed.” (Mark 5:20)

This man becomes the first missionary to his region. No seminary degree, no sophisticated strategy. Just a fresh testimony of mercy.

Your past does not disqualify you. In Christ, your past becomes your platform for grace.

Revelation 12:11 says that believers overcome the enemy “by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony.”

Under the blood of Christ, your story is not just sentimental. It is a spiritual weapon.

How to Live on Mission This Week

You can start very simply.

1. Write your 60-second testimony.
Use three short sentences:

Before: “I was ___ (lost, angry, addicted, anxious…).”
Jesus: “Then I encountered Jesus when ___.”
After: “Now He is teaching me ___ / freeing me from ___ / changing me in ___.”

Keep it real, not dramatic for drama’s sake. God’s mercy is the headline.

2. Name your Decapolis.
Who are “your own people”?
Family. Co-workers. Classmates. Neighbors. Hunting buddies. The crew at the coffee shop.

Write down three names and one place you already go each week. Pray, “Lord, give me an opportunity to share what You have done for me.”

3. Keep it about Jesus.
Your story is the window, not the view. The goal is not that people be impressed with your spiritual journey, but that they see “how much the Lord has done” and “how He has had mercy” on you.

You do not have to win every argument. You are not the prosecuting attorney. You are a witness. Tell the truth about what you have seen Jesus do.

From Chains to Commission

Mark 5 begins with a man among the tombs, screaming, mutilating himself, controlled by forces he cannot shake, and feared by everyone who knows him.

It ends with that same man sitting calmly at the feet of Jesus, clothed, clear-minded, and sent on mission.

That is what Jesus does.

He steps into enemy territory.
He unmasks evil.
He breaks chains.
He restores dignity.
And He sends freed people back into their world as living proof of His mercy.

The truth is, spiritually, we were all that man.
We were all bound by sin, unable to save ourselves.

At the cross, Jesus faced down the powers that held us captive. He “disarmed the powers and authorities” and “triumphed over them by the cross” (Colossians 2:15).

When He rose from the dead, He proved beyond doubt that no chain is too strong and no darkness too deep for His authority.

So let me ask you…

Do you need to name the battle honestly? Stop calling it “bad luck” or “just how I am,” and admit that some of what you are facing is spiritual.
Do you need to submit every fear to Jesus? You have tried self-help and white-knuckle willpower. Maybe it is time to say, “Lord, this belongs to You.”
Do you need to step into mission? If you are in Christ, you are not just forgiven. You are sent. Someone in your Decapolis needs to hear what the Lord has done for you.

And maybe, just maybe, you are the one today who feels like you are living among the tombs.

You have tried everything. You are exhausted. You do not know how to get free.

The good news is that Jesus still crosses storms to get to people like you. You do not have to clean yourself up first. You come to Him as you are.

Scripture says, “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9)

The same Lord who broke Legion’s chains can break yours.
The same voice that calmed the storm and drove out demons can speak peace to your soul.

If you are ready to trust Him, you can begin with a simple prayer like this:

“Lord Jesus, I confess that I am a sinner and I cannot save myself.
Thank You for dying on the cross for my sins and rising again.
I surrender my life to Your authority.
Break every chain that holds me, forgive my sin, and make me new.
I choose to follow You as Lord.
Amen.”

If you prayed that sincerely, I would encourage you to tell a mature Christian, reach out to a Bible-preaching church, and begin walking with Jesus alongside others.

He is still in the business of moving people from chains to commission.

About the Author
Dr. Bart Denny is the lead pastor of Pathway – A Wesleyan Church in Saranac, Michigan, a part-time seminary instructor, and a retired U.S. Navy officer. He writes about church revitalization, spiritual warfare, and everyday discipleship.

This post is adapted from a sermon preached at Pathway on Sunday, October 19, 2025.
You can watch the full message here: “Legion vs. the Lord: Christ’s Authority Over Unseen Evil” (link to sermon)

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