Paradise or the Pit

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE

PARADISE OR THE PIT

Luke 8:26-33

26 They sailed to the region of the Gerasenes, which is across the lake from Galilee. 27 When Jesus stepped ashore, he was met by a demon-possessed man from the town. For a long time this man had not worn clothes or lived in a house, but had lived in the tombs. 28 When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell at his feet, shouting at the top of his voice, "What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, don't torture me!" 29 For Jesus had commanded the evil spirit to come out of the man. Many times it had seized him, and though he was chained hand and foot and kept under guard, he had broken his chains and had been driven by the demon into solitary places. 30 Jesus asked him, "What is your name?" "Legion," he replied, because many demons had gone into him. 31 And they begged him repeatedly not to order them to go into the Abyss. 32 A large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside. The demons begged Jesus to let them go into them, and he gave them permission. 33 When the demons came out of the man, they went into the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned.

NIV

Interestingly, this legion of demons did not make the man run down the steep bank into the lake and drown, but as soon as Jesus gave them permission, it appears they caused the pigs to run down the steep bank into the lake and drown. The question is what then happened to the demons, did they drown with the pigs or go somewhere else when they were done with the pigs? What the demons were most afraid of was being cast into the Abyss. This Greek word, abussos, directly means an immeasurable depth or a bottomless pit. This is the same bottomless pit spoken about in the revelation given to John. The fifth angel was given the key to it and smoke rose out of it, as well as Jesus sent the devil into this bottomless pit and shut him up in it for a thousand years. Is it any wonder, that those who were once in heaven with God, and were cast down because they took Lucifer's side against God, knew who Jesus was as they called him Jesus, Son of the Most High, and were deathly afraid of the bottomless pit. This gives us a clue that even the demons may not be eternal beings. If they chose to drown with the pigs rather than be sent into the bottomless pit, they could die. Perhaps this is the same in the spiritual world referred to as the second death, the death of the spirit, which would follow the first death of the body if a person’s name is not found in the Book of Life. Because of being in Christ, it is so assuring that because we are in Christ because we have accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior and we worship God and God alone, we will not have to suffer that second death, but we will indeed have eternal life, living with Jesus, the Son of the Most High in a paradise that Jesus has prepared for us. This bottomless pit may have some similarities with the Lake of burning sulfur, for it too may well be bottomless, an Abyss, also referred to as the depth of the sea. Whatever this bottomless place is, we do not want anything to do with it, and praise God, because we have Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we will never see that pit. We would think if people who refused to acknowledge Jesus as Lord were to know the pit is waiting for them, maybe they would change their thinking. The demons were already with God but chose poorly, and the pit awaited them. So we have chosen correctly, and each chooses, but as for me, and my household, we will serve the Lord.