DEMONS
When people think about the topic of demons many things come to mind. They might ask “where did demons come from? What are the characteristics? What is their purpose and is their still demon possession today? These are excellent questions and will try my best to answer these questions from the word of God.
The first thing I want to do is to look at one definition of
the Word demon. Strongs defines it this way “a spirit, a being inferior to God, superior to men. Evil spirits or the
messengers and ministers of the devil”
With this in mind let now explore the
Origin of demons
First of all I want to note that there is only one devil but there are many demons. I wish I can stand up here and show a specific passage of who the demons are but I cannot. This is one area that the Bible does not answer specifically, However based on several scriptures we can make educated guess and I believe narrow it down to two possibilities.
1. Some believe that these demons are those fallen angels described in following passages.
2 Peter 2:4 For if God did not spare the angels
who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into
chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment;
Jude 1:6 And the angels who did not keep
their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting
chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day;
There are least
4 reason why angel theory is possible. First of all angels share similar
characteristic as a demon in that they are both spirits.
Hebrews
Second of all in verses it shows that the angels
have a free will and can be good or evil and so it is possible that God let
them out their confinement temporarily during the first century.
The third reason comes from the fact that devil
and his angels were cast out of heaven.
Revelation 12:9 So the great dragon was cast out,
that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world;
he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. (Also Mat.
25:41).
Since these angles are
associated with him this makes sense that they are the demons we read about in
the NT.
The forth reason come
from the fact that these demons knew who Jesus was and understood that he had
power over them. Again this would fit with an angel.
Our second possibility
is that the demons are those who have died and are classified as the wicked
dead. Once we die we are no longer in bodily form but instead we are in a
spiritual form which is one the characteristics of a demon. It is certainly
possible that God allowed those wicked souls of Hades to be emptied out during
the 1st century temporarily. From a historical point of view both
the Greeks and Jews thought that Demons were spirits from those who were
sinners that had died. In fact the Greek word used for Demon as used in the
first century in other books was used to describe the departed spirit of a
wicked person which is what makes this a viable option as well.
While we may never know
the true origin of demons one thing we do know is that they were servants of
the devil and they were no match for God. Now lets take a look at their,
Demon Characteristics
As I have already
mentioned these demons were spirit beings we can see this in.
Matthew 8:16 When evening had come, they brought
to Him many who were demon-possessed. And He cast out the spirits with a word,
and healed all who were sick,
Notice how demons and spirits are used
interchangeably. Now notice what Jesus says about spirits.
Luke 24:39 "Behold My hands and My feet,
that it is I Myself. Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and
bones as you see I have."
From this we can see that demons or spiritual in
nature and do not have physical bodies. We also learn that during the first
century they had the ability to posses someone that is to take them over and
more than one could enter a person body.
Luke 8:2 and certain women who had been
healed of evil spirits and infirmities -- Mary called Magdalene, out of whom
had come seven demons,
So here we see that Mary had 7 demons. Another
thing we can learn about demons is that they were rational beings. We can see
this in the following example.
Mark 5:1 Then they came to the other side of
the sea, to the country of the Gadarenes. <gad-uh-reans'>. 2 And when He had come out of the
boat, immediately there met Him out of the tombs a man with an unclean
spirit, 3 who had his dwelling
among the tombs; and no one could bind him, not even with chains, 4 because he had often been bound
with shackles and chains. And the chains had been pulled apart by him, and the
shackles broken in pieces; neither could anyone tame him. 5 And always, night and day, he
was in the mountains and in the tombs, crying out and cutting himself with
stones. 6 When he saw Jesus
from afar, he ran and worshiped Him. 7
And he cried out with a loud voice and said, "What have I to do with You,
Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I implore You by God that You do not torment
me." 8 For He said to
him, "Come out of the man, unclean spirit!" 9 Then He asked him, "What is
your name?" And he answered, saying, "My name is Legion;
for we are many." 10
Also he begged Him earnestly that He would not send them out of the country. 11 Now a large herd of swine was
feeding there near the mountains. 12
So all the demons begged Him, saying, "Send us to the swine, that we may
enter them." 13 And at
once Jesus gave them permission. Then the unclean spirits went out and entered
the swine (there were about two thousand); and the herd ran violently down the
steep place into the sea, and drowned in the sea. See also Mat.
Now both Mark and Luke focus in on one man however
Matthew informs us that there was a second man possessed there as well. We can
learn a great deal about a demons characteristic from these verses. One thing
we learn is that once they are in the body they are able to give it super human
strength. We see this from the fact that no one could keep this man bound and
he even has the strength to tear apart the shackles they tried to keep on him.
We also learn that the demon had control this man and what he did. Notice he
didn’t wear any clothes, he isolated himself the tombs and he cried out and cut
himself with stones and he did so day and night which possibly means that he
never slept. As you look at other accounts they always seem to want to harm
their host like the boy in Mark 9 where it caused the boy to fall down in fire
and water. It cause him to foam at the mouth and gnash his teeth and made his
body as stiff as a board.
Another thing we learn about demons is that they
recognized Jesus authority and knew that he was the son of God. We can see this
in the fact that these demons worshiped Jesus and they were begging him not to
torment them. In Luke[s account the demons beg Jesus not send to command them
to go to the abyss. This shows us two things. 1. Jesus had power over these
demons and second these demons could experience the emotion of fear. This is
further emphasized in,
James
This word
tremble carries the idea of being struck with extreme fear or to horrified. No
doubt these demons should be scared as they will face torment day in night in
hell. They also seemed to know that they their time was limited. Another thing
we learn about their characteristic is found in,
Matthew 12:43 "
When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking
rest, and finds none. 44
"Then he says, 'I will return to my house from which I came.' And when he
comes, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order. 45 "Then he goes and takes
with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell
there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first. So shall
it also be with this wicked generation."
Here we see that these demons can leave their host
and come back again and not only that they can communicate with other demons and
get them to come along with them to reinvade a person. One last characteristic
I want look at is somewhat of a humorous one. When Paul at
Acts
You see they were using the right name but they
themselves were not Christians so this is why we see the demon causing this one
man to be able to beat up and strip the clothes of these 7 men. Again we see a
demon causing a person to have super human strength. Now that we have examined
the characteristics lets take look at the question,
What was
their purpose?
Why were these demons allowed to posses people?
Again this is another question that I cant turn you to specific place that
states their purpose with clarity. However, I think we can fairly good idea of
what their purpose was. The first thing I want to point out is that demon-possession
can only be seen in the NT and that very significant in answer our question.
Now I will say this there is only one place in OT that even remotely sounds
like demon possession and has to do with King Saul,
1 Samuel
Now when you think about these passages they don’t
sound anything like demon-possession. First of all demons are not going to come
from God. Second of all, all it took was David playing his harp to make him
feel better. In the NT it took miraculous power to cast out a demon. As one
commentator said,
The evil
spirit which afflicted Saul was not a living demon sent by God, but rather a
sinister attitude brought on by his rejection of God.
With this in mind
again I state that demon possession only happened the NT. I believe this
is important when we consider what Jesus says in,
1 John 3:8 He who sins is of the devil, for
the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was
manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.
We also know that Jesus said he came to seek and
save the lost well in order to do that he had destroy the works of the devil.
This is also taught in
Hebrews 2:14 Inasmuch then as the children have
partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that
through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the
devil, 15 and release those
who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
You see Jesus was going to destroy the works of
the devil and by doing so it would prove that he was the son of God.
John 5:36 "But I have a greater witness than
John's; for the works which the Father has given Me to finish -- the very works
that I do -- bear witness of Me, that the Father has sent Me.
Since Jesus was establishing his authority he
would not want to leave any rock unturned so we see him demonstrate this
authority is several ways.
1. He showed that he could heal diseases and
physical deformities (Mat. 9:20-22, John 4:46-54.
2. He showed that he could control nature by
calming a storm (Mat.
3. He showed that he power to multiply food (Mat.
4. He had power over gravity as he walked across
the water (Mat.
5. He showed he power over death as he raised some
from the dead (Mat.
Not only did Jesus show his authority over these
things he also showed his authority over the devil himself because he had the
power to cast out these demons. Its make logical sense to me that the purpose
of these demons was to show that Jesus had power of the spiritual world as well
further confirming that he was the son of God. These demons also played apart
of the first century so that the apostles or whoever was revealing Gods word
could prove that they speaking for God by working miracles and casting out
demons. This is what we can see from,
Mark 16:17 "And these signs will follow
those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with
new tongues; 18 "they
will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means
hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover." 19 So then, after the Lord had
spoken to them, He was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand
of God. 20 And they went out
and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the
word through the accompanying signs. Amen.
Now according to 1Cor 13: 8 -10 once the word of
God was fully revealed their would be no more purpose more for miracles so they
would cease. Well in the same vain there would be no more reason for demon-
possession to occur. Since it took a miraculous power to cast out demon it
certainly would not make sense for God to allow the demon-possession to
continue with no way for the Christian to expel them. This is brings to our final question which I have already
answer in part.
Is demon
possession here today?
Some may think this to be a silly question but I
can promise you that there are some who teach that demon possession is alive
and well today. In fact I have even heard a
1. As I already mentioned it wouldn’t make a whole
lot of sense for God to end miracles which was the only way a demon could be
cast out and then leave us stuck with demons with no way of getting rid of
them.
2. I want to think
about the characteristics that demons have and compare them against any
of the supposed demon-possession of today and I can guarantee you they will not
compare For instance when have you have heard of someone have super human
strength and could not be bound. You haven’t because demon possession is not
here today.
3. I want you to really think about the following
passage.
1 Corinthians 10:13 No temptation has overtaken you
except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow
you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also
make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.
We need to remember
that demons had the ability to take over a person and cause them do things that
they normally would not do. Well, according to what Paul is teaching us here is
that we have a free will and when we do something wrong it is of our doing and
our temptation that we will experience are common to man. This means we cant
say the devil made me do it. If demon-possession is alive and well today then
that would mean that they would be
allowed to overtake our free will and this goes beyond the realm of what is
common to man.
Finally I want to look
at a prophecy that shows that both miracles and demon-possession would cease at
the spreading of the gospel.
Zechariah 13:1 "In that day a fountain shall
be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of
In the prophecy
Zechariah is foretelling the time of when Jesus would be here and the blessing
that occur from the spreading of Gods Word. The verse that interesting is verse
2 which indicates that their will be no more prophecies and the unclean spirits
will depart from the land. I believe this pointing to 1 Cor. 13:8-10 which
shows that the miracles would cease once the word of God was fully revealed.
Once God word was fully revealed their would be no more prophet because there
would be no more prophecies. Daniel
One the main reason I
think its sad that people believe in demonic- possession today is because it
gives people a fear that they should not have.
In conclusion I hope I
have shed some light on the topic of demons. We examine their origin, their
characteristics and their purpose and hopefully I have shown you with out doubt
that demon-possession was only in the first century and does not exist today. I
hope you will share this information with those who are confused on this
topic.