The presence of CHRIST in the ship, did not preserve the disciples from fears and troubles; they were filled with uneasiness, although CHRIST was with them: this was only for a trial of their faith, to see if they would stand fast for the LORD in a persecuting time. My dear brethren, if the LORD is trying of you, do not give out; no, stand fast in all that the LORD may call you to suffer: It is easy to follow CHRIST when all things are safe: but your love to JESUS CHRIST would be seen more, if you must lose your lives, or deny your JESUS; it would be a trial of your love, when fire and faggot was before you, if you would rush into that, rather than flie from the truth as it is in JESUS. Though all things are calm now, the storm is gathering, and by and by it will break; it is at present no bigger than a man’s hand; but when it is full it will break, and then you will see whether you are sound christians or not. Persecution would scatter the hypocrites, and make nominal christians afraid to worship GOD; they would then soon turn unto the world and the things of it.
_And his disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, LORD, save us, we perish. And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose and rebuked the winds and sea, and there was a great calm. But the men marvelled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him!_
Here we may see the great compassion of the LORD JESUS CHRIST; no sooner had the disciples awakened him, and he saw their danger, but he rebuked the winds and seas, and all things were calm: Thus it was in a natural way, and will be so in a spiritual one; for no sooner does JESUS CHRIST speak peace to a troubled soul, but all is calm and quiet: Now none but GOD could have performed this great miracle, and therefore it is no wonder that his disciples and the men of the ship were amazed to see the wonders he performed; and they could not forbear to express their sense thereof, by inquiring, “What manner of man is this!”
And when the LORD has brought you out of trouble, you will be amazed at the gracious dealings of the LORD with you, and wonder that he would so easily remove your troubles from you, when you have deserved nothing but wrath and destruction, and to be punished to all eternity.
_And when he was come to the other side into the country of the |Gergesenes|, there met him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way. And behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, JESUS, thou Son of GOD? Art thou come hither to torment us before the time?_
Two men, who were possessed bodily with that evil one who is going about seeking whom he may devour, met JESUS; as soon as they saw him they were afraid, and ♦cried out: though they made every one afraid of them, yet they no sooner saw CHRIST, but their power left them, and they cried out, “What have we to do with thee, JESUS, thou Son of GOD?” We know that thou art GOD; we do not want thee, we have no power over thee, but thou hast over us, and we fear thou art come to torment us before our time; we know that we are to be brought to judgment, and therefore we would not be tormented until that time come.
♦ “creid” replaced with “cried”
_And there was, a good way off from them, a herd of many swine feeding. So the devils besought him, saying, If thou cast us out, suffer us to go into the herd of swine._
The evil spirits were sensible that CHRIST was come to dispossess them, and that their time was now come, when they must leave the bodies of these two men; for when CHRIST comes, who is stronger than the strong man armed, all must fall before him; they could not stand against the power of CHRIST: And here we may observe, that though the devil is an enemy, yet he is a chained one; he cannot hurt a poor swine until he has power given him from above: and we may likewise see the malice of the devil, that he would hurt a poor swine rather than do no mischief; and the devil would, if in his power, destroy each of your souls, but CHRIST, by his mighty power, prevents him.
_And he said unto them, Go: And when they were come out, they went into the herd of swine; and behold, the whole herd of swine ran violently down a steep place into the sea, and perished in the waters. And they that kept them fled, and went their ways into the city, and told every thing, and what was befallen to the possessed of the devils. And behold, the whole city came out to meet JESUS, and when they saw him, they besought him that he would depart out of their coasts._
Here observe, that no sooner had CHRIST given the devils permission to enter the swine, but they did, and their malice was so great, that the swine ran violently down a steep place into the sea, and were drowned.