The Demoniac of the Garasenes

Mark 5:1-20 Matt 8:28-9:1 Luke 8:26-40
Jesus = the pigs

This one is so shockingly offensive that it would be good to restate our purpose and method. Being born again is having your eyes miraculously opened to the beauty of Christ. None of the other glorious qualities of God can appear lovely or even approachable until we know that he loves us. (What was the demoniac's first reaction as he saw Jesus approaching? He seems to have been more familiar and believing of God's reality, holiness and sovereignty than anyone else on the scene!) The way God shows and measures his love towards us is in the cost he willingly paid for our redemption. The ultimate purpose of all Scripture, and indeed, of the entire universe is to create and enable creatures who have the mental and physical faculties and the conceptual and psychological categories with which to behold the glory of that love, his infinite grace. Yes, we behold and experience that costly grace most vividly at the cross. But the goal and purpose of this blog is to test the idea that, "every instance of the wrath of God against sin, and his punishments of sin, looks forward to the wrath was poured out on Christ on the cross."
Test yourself. Put aside for the moment all the cognitive and emotional objections we would all have to identifying Jesus with the pigs and ask your heart how it responds when shown that Jesus became a innocent substitute herd of unclean animals, absorbed all of your depravity and wickedness and then plunged himself into a lake of destruction so that you could stand there in your right mind face-to-face with the one who would do that for you. Are your eyes filled with tears and your mouth begging to go with him? Or are your eyes squinting with fear and your mouth begging him to leave?