Mar 5:19 | KingComments | STEP | When we read of the people of that region that “they came to Jesus,” it seems a wonderful deed. Unfortunately, they did not come to honor Him. When they come to Him, they see the man they have so often wanted to shackle and subdue, sitting with Him in complete peace. He is no longer naked and frightening, but clothed and in his right mind. He has changed both outwardly and inwardly. He is as it were clothed with “the garments of salvation” ( ) and he knows the Son of God with his understanding ( ). This is the man who has had the legion of demons. Instead of praising the grace of the Lord for this deliverance, the people of that area become afraid. They fear Him Who is able to destroy the captivity of the devil ( ). They fear Christ and His grace more than the devil and his works! When they have seen that, they are going to testify again about what they have seen. Again they will tell their story about this wonderful deliverance. They also tell about the swine. The effect of the story of the witnesses is not that people acknowledge Christ as Savior. He is for them someone who has destroyed their livelihood. Such a person they are better off without. Alas, they consider the demons and the swine to be more pleasant company than the Son of God. This is a new work of satan in the hearts of men. The Lord is goes away. He does not force Himself on anyone. The healed man does not only feel at ease with the Lord Jesus ( ), but all his love goes out to Him. He longs to follow Him wherever He goes. However understandable and good the man’s desire may be, the Lord does not allow him to accompany Him. That is because He has another commission for him. He wants the man to go to his family to testify of his deliverance, allowing him to function normally again. The Lord Jesus also wants the man to tell of the beneficence that He has shown His mercy on him. He does not only perform acts of power, but also shows His mercy. He performs acts of power from a heart full of compassion. He wants that where men know us well, we should testify of what He has done to us. The man obeys immediately. It takes no effort for him to fulfill the commission. It is wonderful to read that he preaches “all that Jesus had done to him”, even though the Lord had told him to report what “the Lord” had done to him. For the man, ‘the Lord’, that is ‘ Yahweh ’, is the Same as ‘Jesus’. So it is. It may be easier for us to speak about God than about the humiliated Jesus, but God is concerned with the glory of the Lord Jesus and that should be our concern as well.