The World’s Strongest Man is an international strongman competition that’s been held every year since 1977, attracting some of the biggest, burliest, most beastly men on earth. The men who qualify every year out of the smaller regional and national competitions make it to the finals—the strongest of the strongest—on the world’s stage—competing for the title of the World’s Strongest Man.

Events vary from year to year, with producers always coming up with clever and innovative ways to measure the strength of the men. The Farmer’s Walk—where the men carry heavy anvil-like objects ranging from 275–375 pounds in each hand as far and as fast as they can. The Atlas Stones—where the men have to place five increasingly heavy stones from the ground onto five increasingly tall platforms—with the stones increasing in weight from 220–350 lbs. The Vehicle Pull—where they pull different vehicles from transport trucks, trams, boxcars, buses, and even planes across a 100 ft course as fast as possible—with the men strapped to a harness tied to the vehicle, while they pull themselves and the vehicle through the course by a large rope. Then there are some of the more normal gym strength measurements—you know—squats and deadlifts—where they’re forced to squat 900 lbs of bricks or deadlift a 1000 lb car—no big deal.

The 2023 winner is a man named Mitchell Hooper—a Canadian monster of a man standing 6’ 3\” tall and weighing 320 lbs—they call him the \”Moose.\” Mariusz Pudzianowski, the Polish record-setting 5-time champion stood 6’1\” and was 313lbs of pure muscle—you shoulda seen his neck during his 2000s prime—the mans’ neck was as a thick as an ox. 4-time American champ in the 2010s, Brian Shaw stood a towering 6’8\” and weighed up to 440 lbs during his peak. These are not normal humans—they are freakishly big and freakishly strong—most of them farm boy big, and farm boy strong!

But I want you to think about this for a minute…As incredibly strong as these World’s Strongest men are—As physically superior as they are from your average human being like you and me––As monstrously mindboggling as their feats of strength are—None of them has ever been able to break an iron chain. In fact, there’s never been an event in the history of the competition (or any strongman competition) that includes men bound at their wrists and on their ankles with iron shackles attached to an iron chain—to see who could break their chains the fastest.

…Because it’s impossible—it’s humanly impossible for a human being to break iron—metal. Human beings don’t have that kind of power. But supernatural beings do—angels do—even fallen angels—demons do. It’s that kind of power that we see in this story with Jesus and the Gerasene demoniac today. A man so filled with demons that he’s out of control—ostracized—outcast from society—living in tombs—screaming in agony all day and night—cutting himself. A man so strong—so powerful—that he manages to break free from every iron chain the village men manage to bind him in—and you can bet it took at least 10+ men to do so.

This man is unstoppable—he would break World’s Strongest Man champions and competitors with his bare hands. Now think about this—imagine how much more infinitely powerful Jesus is if he was able to subdue this irresistible beast with a single word?! Imagine the power and authority of Jesus which left the demons immediately with no other choice but to bow down in reverent holy fear, prostrate before him, and beg not to be cast away.

And it’s by the exercise of that same power and authority that Jesus completely restores—transforms—this man’s life—from total ruin, to total redemption. And as we go through this story, I want you to keep these questions in your minds: \”What is the proper response to experiencing Jesus’s power?\” \”How should I respond to the transforming power of Jesus in my life?\” Because the demon-possessed man—the demoniac—responds rightly. But not everyone in this story does—most don’t, actually. It’s possible to respond wrongly to Jesus—to reject him. In fact, believe it or not, it’s possible to respond wrongly even for those who experience—who see—Jesus’ supernatural power up close in person—in the flesh. So Let’s dive into this story beginning in chapter 5 verse 1…