Mensa Otabil - What Is Your Name (10/23/2025)
Mark chapter 5, verses 9 to 11. Then he asked him, "What is your name?" He answers, saying, "My name is Legion, for we are many." Also, he begged him earnestly not to send them out of the country. Now, a large herd of swine was feeding there, near the mountains. Very interesting conversation here: Jesus asked, "What is your name?" Obviously, Jesus was not asking the man, the natural man, what his name was; Jesus identified the spirit within the man and was now addressing the spirit within him. Now, how could Jesus do that? Remember, Jesus is also the Son of Man and the Son of God. Jesus can operate in the natural and can operate in the spiritual. So at this time, he understands that this is a spiritual operation; he is talking to the unclean spirit that has taken hold of this man and messed up his life.
In this brief encounter, Jesus shows us the nature of spiritual activities, particularly of an unclean spirit. There are four things I want you to pay attention to. The first is that unclean spirits have names. Everything that has a name is a personality, and so Jesus identified this not just as a chemical imbalance in a man; there is a personality involved here. He revealed the personality, the identity of that which was making the man do what he does.
Unclean spirits have names; they have personalities. Unclean spirits have ranks, and Jesus shows that he asked the man, "What is your name?" He says, "My name is Legion, for we are many." If you look at the structure of the sentence, there is a singular personal pronoun "my" and then " we" is plural. So, there is a transition between an individual and a company. The reason is that the man is possessed by one spirit, one unclean spirit, but this is a ranking spirit that has other spirits at its command.
So, he commands who else to come in, but he is the boss; the boss has many others. So, he talks about ranking, spiritual ranking in this circumstance. Secondly, unclean spirits are territorial. The spirits were begging, "We don't want to leave this territory; we want to stay close by." That's the nature of unclean spirits; they are very territorial. They are familial; they stay in designated areas because they kind of move to other places to operate, as there are other spirits operating there too. So, there is some territorial awareness of the spirit.
The fourth thing, which is most important, is that they are subject to Christ. No matter what they are, they have a name, they have ranks, they have territory, but their big boss is the Lord Jesus Christ. They are subject to him, and that is what we have to understand. If there is anything you want to know in the spirit realm, it is that Jesus is Lord over all principalities and powers. You may not understand anything about the spiritual world, but you must understand one truth: that Jesus has power over everything. You don't need to study about demons; you just need to know who Jesus is, know his power, know his control, and know his authority. When you know that, you are fine. That's what I want you to understand. In spite of all the things we said about the unclean world, the net effect is that Jesus is Lord over all.
Let us pray. Say with me, "Heavenly Father, you rule over all spiritual dominions. I belong to you and operate by your power. In Jesus' name, amen and amen." Well, I'll catch you again tomorrow. I'm Pastor Mensa Otabil. Shalom, peace, and life to you.