In his epic poem Paradise Lost, John Milton invented the word Pandemonium—literally, “the place of all demons”—as the magnificent palace of Satan and his fallen angels. Over time, pandemonium, now lowercase, broadened in meaning to describe uproar, tumult, and wild disorder: a violent storm, nations at war, an agitated mob.

Modern pandemonium is not confined to flooding rains and crowds. Its most troubled residence may be the human heart. Behind a self-controlled façade, temptation whispers from the shadows while peace struggles to find a quiet place to stand. The outside may appear composed, but within, an unruly council is in session. This is Milton’s Pandemonium inside the soul. 

The fifth chapter of Mark gives this inner chaos a startling human face. Jesus encounters a man living among the tombs, isolated from everyone around him and beyond human restraint:

“This man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain…. No one was strong enough to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs he would cry out and cut himself with stones. When he saw Jesus, he ran and fell to his knees…. Jesus said to him, ‘Come out of this man, you impure spirit.’”
—paraphrased from Mark 5:3–9

Everything about the man speaks of disorder. He lives among the dead. He cannot be restrained. He cries out night and day. Whatever peace once inhabited him has been driven away. Then Jesus arrives. Jesus does not negotiate with chaos. He commands it to leave. Jesus speaks, and Pandemonium loses its claim on the house. Christ makes the heart His home.

Later, the townspeople return and find the man who had been possessed “sitting there, dressed and in his right mind.” The man who cried among the tombs is quiet. Grace clears the ruins. The storm no longer owns the house.

Pandemonium is what we build when God is driven from the throne. The gospel is the story of the King coming home. 

Prayer: 

O God, make speed to save us;

O Lord, make haste to help us.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit;

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. 

-From the Common Book of Prayer