DEMONOLOGY

demonology we'll look at the reality origin nature and acts of demons in the Old Testament shared em is a term that means Lord Idol symbols of demons deuteronomy 32:17 says they sacrifice to demons who were not God in Psalm 106 37 says they even sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons the Jews believed that idols were visible symbols of invisible demons who stood as a reality behind the idol and the Septuagint translates should M demonio which is Greek for demons the term lying spirits is used in first Kings 22 22 22 which is likely also an Old Testament expression for demons and these were looked at as spiritual entities or powers behind the rulers such as those that were mentioned in Daniel 10 13 through 20 evil spirit is also a reference used for demons in 1st Samuel 16 14 through 16 sharam also has a demonic conception related to its use as well the New Testament use daemon also demonium daemon is used only in Matthew 831 at least in the critical text the majority text uses this a total of four times in Mark Luke and revelation demonium however is used the most 63 times the term spirit app new meta is also used and is interchangeable with demons and can be even translated spirits of demons and also angel is used of demons especially the devil and his angels a large portion of Christ's ministry is devoted to casting out demons Christ as we've already seen affirmed belief in demons and Christ gave authority to his disciples to cast them out matthew 10:1 he summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits to cast them out and to heal every kind of disease in every kind of sickness Christ never corrected anyone who expressed belief in demons and in the New Testament there are about a hundred references to demons all of the books except for the book of Hebrews mentions demons explicitly the origin of demons will first look at the false views that demons are the spirits of wicked deceased people is an ancient Greek belief however the scriptures say that the unsaved are confined to a place of torment psalm 917 says the wicked will return - she ole even all the nations who forget God and from the teaching of Jesus concerning the rich man and Lazarus he says in Hades he lifted up his eyes being in torment and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom so the scriptures clearly teach that the wicked or the unsaved are confined hence demons could not be the human spirits of unsaved deceased people some have taught that they are the disembodied spirits of a pre-adamic race the pria democrazy u is an outworking of the gap theory that is a prea Demick perfect race of men existed in which Lucifer before his fall ruled over and upon Lucifer's fall this pria democrazy off El and was judged by God and in the recreation that takes place after Genesis 1 - their spirits became demons however there's just absolutely no biblical support for this view whatsoever even if the gap theory were true there's no evidence found for a pre ademma craze anywhere matthew 19:4 from the teaching of christ clearly shows when man was created and how man was created and there's no indication whatsoever of a pre-adamic race he made them male and female according to matthew 19:4 some do hold that Genesis 6 1 through 4 is the origin of demons that is an offspring of an unholy union between angels and humans ultimately resulted in demons today so the question must be asked are the sons of God mentioned in Genesis 6 1 through 4 angels and if they had offspring were they part human and part angelic so let's take a look at the passage Genesis 6 1 through 4 now came about when man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them that the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful and they took wives for themselves whomever they chose then the Lord said my spirit shall not strive with man forever because he also is flesh nevertheless his day shall be 120 years the Nephilim were on the earth in those days and also afterward and the sons of God came into the daughters of men and they bore children to them these were the mighty men who were of old men of renown as the theory goes the sons of God were angels that cohabitated with certain women that resulted in a mongrel creature half human and half angelic God judged these creatures and destroyed them in the flood but their spirits became demonic or demons that exist today however it's worth pointing out that even if this is true there's nothing to indicate in Scripture that their spirits upon their death and judgment would become demons that would roam the earth but I think there's good reason to suggest that the sons of God in Genesis 6 1 through 4 are not angels first an exegetical reason the term sons of God while it is used elsewhere in Scripture for angels as we've already seen especially the book of Job we must look first to Genesis to see if there's any indication in the context of the book of Genesis to discover the meaning of the term sons of God it seems pretty clear from the context that sons of God is used to identify the line of Adam through Seth since Seth was begotten in Adam's image and of course Adam is a son of God because he's a direct creation of God in the angel view a tries to explain who the sons of God are but it does not explain why this story is recorded here in the book of Genesis the sons of God saw that the daughters of humankind were beautiful and the term beautiful is the same term that is used with respect to Eve looking at the tree and taking of the fruit she saw that it was beautiful this is a reenactment of the fall in Genesis 3:6 and Moses is using this story here in Genesis 6 to warn Israel not to abandon God's instruction God is the one who determines what is good and Israel needs to be on guard against the enticement of the world that would lead them astray away from the pure worship and dedication to the God of Israel so given the fact that sons of God clearly identifies the line of Adam through Seth and that that is determinative based on the book of Genesis alone without needing to appeal to anything outside of Scripture this has greater weight than any view that would first try to appeal outside of scriptures such as to job or Jude in order to discover the meaning of the sons of God but there's also a theological reason to bring up and that is that angels do not procreate this we of course we've learned from Jesus's teaching in Matthew 22:30 and we could certainly add to that and metaphysical reason even if we say that angels assumed bodies that are fully functional these bodies are not essential to the angelic nature they have no matter that either genetically or numerically individuals anything that corresponds to the angelic nature or the angelic form that is by nature a mind without a body bodies and matter are not essential to Angelica nature's so even if an offspring could be produced it would have to be by a tog me or asexuality which of course for humans we do not know to be possible and since angels are pure act they have nothing to pass on in copulation with humans the only thing an angel could conceivably pass on would be its will and it certainly is not sufficient to produce an offspring so the correct view the Scriptures teach that demons are angels who rebelled with Satan and Satan is their Prince according to matthew 12:24 there is even rank of demons that is mentioned in Ephesians 3:10 and 6:12 which says that the manifold wisdom of God might now be known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places and our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against the rulers against the powers against the world Force's of this darkness against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places which seemed to suggest a rank that is similar in correspondence to good angels and demons are called unclean spirits Matthew 17 18 even though fallen angels is not used directly in Scripture or is not a scriptural term it is an accurate theological description of who and what they are there are two groups of fallen angels that rebelled with Satan those that are loose and active or it might refer to as free demons and also confined demons according to Luke 831 or they were employing him that is the demons were imploring Christ not to command them to go into the abyss of the confined demons there are two other types those that are temporarily confined according to Revelation 9 1 through 15 where the four angels who were demons were released so that they would kill 1/3 of mankind and those that are permanently confined referred to as Tartarus 2nd Peter 2:4 says for if God did not spare angels when they sinned but cast them into hell Tartarus and committed them to pits of Darkness reserved for judgment dr. Ryrie has an excellent chart to help us picture this of angels there are two types those that are not fallen or elect and those that rebelled with Satan that can also be called demons of the demons there are two types those that are loose active or free demons and those that are confined and of those that are confined there are those that are temporarily confined for a period of time and those that are and those that are so egregious or their sins so awful that they are permanently confined the nature of demons they are described in terms of having personality or personal characteristics personal pronouns are used of them Luke 827 they also have names Jesus asked him what his name was and he said Legion they also speak according to Luke 4 33 through 35 when Jesus spoke to them they answered him they express intelligence they expressed knowledge of Jesus Christ and who he is in mark 1:24 and they even expressed knowledge of their own doom in Matthew 8:28 when they saw Jesus they cried out and fell before him and said in a loud voice what business do we have with each other Jesus son of the Most High God I beg you do not torment me and they even have knowledge of God according to James 2:19 that they believe that God is one and they shudder at this they also as we've seen promote false doctrine according to first Timothy 4 where it says deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons all of these characteristics would certainly involve intelligence they are also spoken of having emotions Luke 28 we saw their desire not to be tormented and also James speaks of them as shuddering or having fear with respect to God and they of course have will and they also have will expressed innate in Luke 8:32 since they do not want to be tormented they even express the desire to go into the swine and ask permission to enter the swine all of this entails will so clearly demons are spoken of as having characteristics of being personal the nature of demons is that they are spirit beings as we've seen angels do not have bodies that are intrinsic to their nature they do not have flesh and blood therefore their spiritual or immaterial this would apply to demons as well they are limited that is they're not infinite they're also limited with respect to their power and influence they're localized beings they are not ubiquitous and certainly not omnipresent they can't appear by various means all the means of appearance that can be attributed to angelic beings can be attributed to demons even in acts 19 15 it says that an evil spirit answered that has spoke to them and said I recognize Jesus and I know about Paul but who are you their intellect and will is certainly used against God some demons are more wicked than other demons and they're con is very much like Satan they likely possess similar powers even of manifestation in the book of Revelation they have hideous features like animals even if these are taken symbolically there is still a real entity behind the symbol in a connection between the entity in the hideous symbol demons are amoral they're described as unclean spirits in Matthew 10 evil spirits spirit of an unclean demon and Luke 433 and spiritual forces of wickedness in Ephesians 6:12 and their goal is to follow Satan as their commander and leader in a military fashion in promoting everything and anything opposed to the plan and goodness of God to accomplish their goal they do have powers they have superhuman or super normal displays in humans of power and strength mark 5-3 mentions of a demon-possessed man that he dwelled among the tombs and no one was able to bind him anymore even with the chain an axe 19:16 says and the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them and subdued all of them and overpowered them so clearly demons are able to exert superhuman or super normal displays of strength they have an intellect that can even pretend to predict the future predicting the future is something that only God can do since he knows everything but demons pretend and act as if they can they can enter a human and animal bodies according to Luke 8:30 when Jesus asked him his name he said Legion for many demons had entered him and it was here that instead of going to the abyss they requested to go into a herd of swine so they had the ability not only to possess humans but also animals and have we shown they're limited in their power not infinite even in their collective influence they are limited in their power only God is all-powerful certainly their organization and cooperation in their ranks may extend their presence and power making them to appear more powerful more efficient and effective than they are when considered individually and they have the power to do fall signs and wonders these are counterfeit signs and wonders mentioned in second Thessalonians 2:9 that is the one whose coming is in accordance with the activity of Satan with all power and signs and false wonders the same three words that are used of Christ miracles power sign and wonder are used of demons but Satan's signs wonders and powers are said to be lying or pseudo since they are against God and demons and Satan are limited in what they can do even the Egyptian magicians in Moses day recognized what only God could do and what they could not do through their magic in Exodus chapter 8 it says the magicians tried with their secret arts to bring forth gnats but they could not so there were gnats on man and beast then the magicians said to Pharaoh this is the finger of God hence when it came to trying to produce life from non-life the magician's could not do it because that is something that only God can do their powers also extend to deceiving men by withholding information about salvation according to first John for 1 through 4 and there also involved in corrupting sound doctrine as we've seen from first Timothy 4:1 through 3 they also evidently have the power to distinguish between believer and non-believer according to revelation 9 for since they were told to hurt men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads the acts of demons here we'll look at the acts of demons in terms of these seven areas an extension of Satan's power and influence opposition to God and his program demons oppress humankind there an opposition to believers and an opposition to the church demonic possession and the use that God has for demons and as we look at these areas I think it's important to keep in mind what moral Unger says in his book demons in the world today the forces of darkness have always been severely restricted they can enslave and oppress fallen men only to the degree willingly violates the eternal moral law of God and exposes himself to evil we need to remember that God is sovereign over all demonic acts and one's exposure to the demonic is proportionate the more one exposes themselves to evil and does evil the deeper and more open they become to direct demonic influence and the deepest influence possible obviously being complete possession it's also important to understand and be reminded that this is a concentrated look into the scriptures concerning Satan and demons do not lose sight of that as some have and developed a mentality that sees a demon behind every doorknob everything God created is good and there are still plenty of good left in God's creation as Paul says in Philippians 4:8 finally brethren whatever is true whatever is honorable whatever is right whatever is pure whatever is lovely whatever is of good repute if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise dwell on these things the extension of Satan's power and influence Ephesians 6:11 through 12 reminds us not only that our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against spiritual forces of wickedness in the description that Paul uses of these spiritual forces is very much akin to a military army hence demons work under Satan's command following his will and doing his acts and activities for him that he wants to be done hence all demonic activity is really an extension of Satan's will Satan is described as their God Matthew 1224 and John 12:31 and demons cooperate with Satan Jesus taught this in Matthew 12 26 when he said if Satan cast out Satan he is divided against himself how then will his kingdom stand so Satan has a kingdom and it cooperates in opposition to God and according to Satan's will and demons promote and do what Satan does and they do this through individuals Luke 22 3 and Satan entered in to Judas and they do this through governments and nations and different eras such as we find that Daniel 10 13 and 20 and even above this the entire world system as described in first John 2:16 is influenced by Satan and his demons demons work in opposition to God and his program just as Satan does they opposed the plan of God revelation 16:14 says for they are spirits of demons performing signs which go out to the kings of the whole world and so their influence is found in the whole world and in the government and kings of nations they promote idolatry Israel was judged by God when they brought foreign gods in and worshipped them God called them as unclean and judged them and today as believers we face the same kind of judgment when we bring false ideas and false philosophies and things that are contrary to the Word of God into the church and teach them and believe them demons are involved in the promotion of false religions and cults of course these are any religious groups that oppose Christian truth and doctrine as first Timothy 4:1 says but the Spirit explicitly says in the later times some will fall away from the faith paying attention to deceitful spirits and the doctrines of demons of course demons teach directly against the Incarnation the deity of Christ and his resurrection first John 4 reminds us by this you know the Spirit of God every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God in every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God this is the spirit of the Antichrist and of course teaching that is against faith alone finds its origin and demonic doctrine as well here demons want people to reject the grace of God they do not want humans to understand it they promote a works righteousness approach to salvation or they deny the need for salvation and demons of course teach against there being a right and wrong the church at Thyatira was influenced by demons and even what is referred to as deep teaching of satan demons oppress humankind they do this through affliction and perversion affliction can be done through the use of nature job 1:12 God said to Satan behold all that he has is in your power only do not put forth your hand on him so here likely is the most power given to Satan in order to attack job he can do anything that is in the power of an angelic being - God's servant except to take his life and of course as we continue in verse 16 the fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants and consumed them and in verse 19 a great wind came from across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house and it fell on the young people and they died and so here Satan uses fire and a great wind to cause destruction and death occur to those whom Jove loves they can be the cause of physical disease Matthew 12:12 speaks of a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute and was brought to Jesus and they could be the cause of mental disorder and mark 5 a demon-possessed man was screaming among the tombs and in the mountains and gnashing himself with stones and they can be the cause of death indirectly according to Matthew 18 and they could be the cause of death indirectly according to Revelation 18 and also directly according to Revelation 9 and also as we have seen in Joe it is important to point out that not all affliction is the result of demonic influence there are instances even the Bible recognizes of illness that is not demonic and demons are the cause of perversion this could be through self-centered teaching and philosophy Romans 1:18 through 32 describes this for even though they knew God they did not honor him as God or give thanks but they became futile in their speculations and their foolish heart was darkened professing to be wise they became fools therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity and God gave them over to their degrading passion this perversion can be seen in false doctrines and immoral lifestyles as we've seen in first Timothy four it can also be through individual evil acts as in deuteronomy 32:17 when they sacrificed to demons who were not God and to gods whom they have not known and it could also be through groups or nations that evil activity takes place that's influenced by demons Leviticus 18 24 do not defile yourselves of any of these things for by all these the nations which I am casting out before you have become defiled and they work in opposition to believers they attack our confidence in our commitment Ephesians 6 reminds us to put on the armor of God and of course armor is what protects a soldier hence that is what gives him confidence in commitment to fight and to fulfill the mission that he has been given without the armor without his weaponry he loses his confidence and his commitment to fulfill his mission demons will attack our preparation and our participation in spreading the gospel according to Ephesians 6:15 they will tempt us to sin to rely on our flesh create pride in us covetousness lust and passion Paul says in first Corinthians that it is actually reported that there is immorality among you an immorality of such a kind as does not even exist among the Gentiles even in the church egregious sin of the flesh can be present and this is certainly demonic influence on believers demons can be the cause of maladies Paul mentions in 2nd Corinthians 12 7 through 9 that he is suffering from a thorn and the flesh which he considers a messenger of Satan to torment him and he beseech his God three times to remove it and then comes to realize that God is using it so that he does not exalt himself for once God says my grace is sufficient for you for power is perfected and weakness Paul then comes to accept it demons and Satan can also be involved in hindering ministry Paul mentions this in the texts of visiting are traveling in first Thessalonians 218 he says for we wanted to come to you I Paul more than once and yet Satan hindered him in all this opposition that believers would face it is important to remember that God at the same time as using it to build spiritual strength into our lives demons work in opposition to the church they opposed the purposes of the church such as glorifying God extending the gospel and edifying believers where we would find opposition or hindrance to doing these things in the context of the church we can be assured that demons are ultimately behind it they're involved in creating division where God asks for there to be unity according to Ephesians 4:30 be diligent to preserve the unity of the spirit of the bond of peace demons are involved in creating doctrinal division as we've seen in 1st John 4 the first Timothy 4 they promote jealousy selfish ambition arrogance carnal wisdom among believers first corinthians 3 for for since there is jealousy and strife among you are you not fleshly are you not walking like mere men for it is here that they are aligning themselves with teachers in the church for one says I am appalled and another I am of apollos demons will counter the gospel by blinding the minds of men and perverting it and demons can even be the cause of persecution according to revelation 2 to the Church of Smyrna the Apostle John writes behold the devil is about to cast some of you into prison so that you will be tested and you will have tribulation for 10 days be faithful until the end and I will give you the crown of life and perhaps the deepest and most disturbing form of demonic opposition comes in demonic possession demonic possession could be defined as the direct control by a demon or demons of an individual hence that we can say that the demon is residing in the person since the person's body is no longer controlled completely by themselves but some or although control is being exercised by the will of a demon or demons all may be influenced or affected by demons however some are actually possessed by demons this may very well have been more prevalent in Christ day than it is today but it is nonetheless still a capability of demons possessed individuals evidently reach a point where they are not able to release themselves from the control of demons hence the need for exorcism or someone to have the gift of exorcism in order to get the demon out some biblical data to be possessed by a demon is referred to as demonized and this is mentioned 13 times in the New Testament it is mentioned in all the Gospels it is also mentioned in the book of Acts the characteristics of demonic possession mutinous blindness convulsions and deformities Luke 13 11 mentions in 18 years he had a sickness caused by a spirit and she was bent double meaning she had physical deformities and could not straighten up at all and the text says that this was caused by a spirit they can have tendencies to self-destruction and suicide mark 922 says it has often thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him it can be the cause of insanity and super normal or superhuman strength and Luke as we saw the man was screaming and gnashing himself with rocks and mark 5 he could not be bound and it can also involve a cultic practices as seen in acts 16 it is important to note that the scripture does distinguish between demon induced diseases and natural illnesses acts 5 16 makes this very clear Matthew 4 24 says they brought to him all who were ill those suffering with various diseases and pains domani acts elliptic s-- paralytics and He healed them here demoniac s-- is used in a list with other illnesses clearly making a distinction between demon-possession and other diseases and sicknesses in acts 5:16 it says that they were bringing people who were sick or afflicted with unclean spirits again making a distinction between those who were just ill or sick and those who were afflicted with unclean spirits it is important to note that the symptoms of just being sick or ill and demonic possession may be the same and the only reason that we know it is a demon versus just an illness is that the scripture tells us so by divine inspiration as to whether it was caused by a demon or whether it was an illness of natural causes otherwise we may not know and would not know whether someone was demon-possessed or not and then the all-important question can a believer me demon possess and of course this will wait and cover in our problems in controversy section and finally god of course uses Satan and demons towards his end judges 9:23 says then God sent an evil spirit between AB emilich and the men of Shechem here it is God who sends the evil spirit because God uses evil spirits to achieve his ends there is nothing done outside the knowledge and plan of God and everything is orchestrated by God to achieve his ends even including that which evil spirits and demons and even men will do all of it is used by God to achieve his ends he uses demons to discipline believers Paul speaks in first Timothy one of hem Aeneas and Alexander having them delivered over to Satan and as we've seen in 1st Corinthians 5:5 he speaks of a carnal believer that is to be delivered over to Satan in which church discipline is to be exercised on him so that he will be judged and that God is involved in using Satan in order to bring judgment upon him of course for the purposes of bringing him to repentance and forgiveness and being brought back into the church demons are used for teaching discernment the story of Jobe teaches us that we are to trust God through trials and that when we do that this is true wisdom and it is Jobe who finally learns of the invisible spiritual battle that takes place of which he is being used to contribute to the glory of God and of course demons are used by God to teach us to trust him and to depend upon him as we saw with Paul's thorn in his flesh it is God who uses this in Paul's life a man who was an apostle able to do miracles who after three attempts finally submits to God's purpose for this affliction in his life and ultimately we can rest assured that demons will all be defeated for one day in Revelation 16 they will gather the armies of men to fight and God will defeat them in the Battle of Armageddon and as we have already seen it as Jesus Christ and His righteousness that ultimately defeats demons and puts all of his enemies under his footstool ultimately demonstrating the futility of evil in its ultimate defeat

Channel: Doug Potter

Views: 90,165

Rating: 4.6512938 out of 5

Keywords: Demons, Satan, Demonology, evil, angels, demon possession

Id: z3embgHMGO0

Length: 34min 38sec (2078 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 31 2016