Demons are not spoken about a lot in the Old Testament, but when Jesus comes around, it seems they are nearly everywhere. They didn’t just appear in Jesus’ time; they were there the whole time. The history of the Old Testament doesn’t deal with this issue very much, and the prophets weren’t spending their time battling demons but rather confronting the false teachings that they faced.
Today, there is an unfortunate and excessive obsession about demons in Charismatic circles and an equally unfortunate near denial of demons in Reformed circles. I have watched the “Spiritual Warfare” series by American Gospel TV, and while they correctly confront the Charismatics who over-obsess the demonic realm, their response was sadly lacking by practically dismissing them entirely and just saying, “We deal with false teachings, not demons.” Both groups are out of line. Jesus never gave the demons more attention than necessary, but He also recognized they existed and dealt with them. So, how did Jesus deal with demons?
Jesus’ first encounter with the demonic was in the wilderness, where He faced off with Satan himself, trying to tempt Jesus as he had with Adam in the Garden. Unlike Adam, Jesus passed the tests. But as soon as He returned, Jesus began teaching in a synagogue, and a demon spoke up through a man in the congregation. Very likely, no one in that congregation knew that man had a demon. Jesus never gave it attention. He simply rebuked it, told it to be quiet, and to come out. After proving Himself in the wilderness, Jesus came with the power to deliver.
Jesus took a trip to the Decapolis and encountered a man with a multitude of demons. They called themselves Legion, which refers to a Roman troop of 6000 soldiers. Whether the man approached Jesus of his own will or whether the demons realized Jesus was there for them and were coming to beg for mercy is unclear, but in either case, the demons did not want to be sent back to Hell and begged to stay with a herd of pigs. So Jesus let them do that, and the pigs drove themselves into the lake – a colossal financial loss for the owners.
Jesus came down from the Mount of Transfiguration to find that His disciples could not cast a demon out of a boy, when they had cast out demons when they were sent out two by two. A boy was thrown into a convulsion, and Jesus just watched it happen as He assessed the situation. The father was not sure if he had the faith and pleaded for help in his unbelief, and Jesus rebuked the demon. This one took both prayer and fasting to drive out.
A woman was bent over and physically could not stand erect. When Jesus cast a demon out of her, she stood upright. This does not prove that ALL physical ailments are demonic, as many in recent years have taught, but that not every physical ailment has a physical cause.
Jesus had two disciples who had Satan’s attention, Peter and Judas. Peter was tested, and he failed the test, denying Christ three times. Judas was literally taken by Satan and led to betray Jesus. Peter finally understood his weakness, ran after Christ for forgiveness, and was restored. Judas never sought forgiveness and hung himself.
Demons are real. Satan is a real angelic being who chose to rebel against God and then dedicated his existence to fighting God and destroying God’s most cherished treasure: mankind. They were real from the beginning. They were real throughout the Old Testament, even though we didn’t see much of them. They were quite prevalent in the New Testament, and they are very prevalent today. They are very cunning and crafty, and 6000 years of observing man’s behavior has made them quite adept at knowing our ticks and our triggers. They can outsmart us, and they run the worldly systems. They cannot be beaten by any means we have.
However, that very powerful devil who can crush us very easily is also just a tiny imp who, when we see who he truly is, we’ll gasp in amazement at how he was able to deceive and lead all the nations into rebellion against God. Jesus, being God, had the authority to put him in his place and crush the head of that serpent. At the cross, Jesus crushed the source of power of sin and death. What we see today is not Satan claiming victory after victory, but rather the loyal minions continuing to fight even though the war has been won and decided. We are seeing the final efforts to gather the resources for a final confrontation, but when they do, Jesus will return, and we’ll get to watch our King put a final end to the rebellion.
In the meantime, we are also to fight the demonic forces. While direct engagements with the demonic do occur and we are not to dismiss that, we have to remember that the enemy works with smoke and mirrors and deceptions, and all the power they actually have is stolen and usurped. It’s not actually theirs. Satan is the god of this world, but it is by manipulation, coercion, and puppeteering. No culture is obligated to serve the demonic forces; they do so because they have chosen to or have been taught that they have to. And most of that service is via false religion and false academics. But to those who know the truth, the truth shall set them free. We cannot escape on our own because our sinful nature is in rebellion against God and truth. We need a Savior – not merely to save us from Satan but to save us from ourselves, who seeks to do what Satan wants: to replace God. Do not fear demons, but do not underestimate them either.
Jesus gave the demons very little attention. He did not let them put on a show. He did not let them speak. He did not even want the truth to be taught by a demon, because if a demon spoke it, it makes the truth less credible. He dealt with the situation quickly and did not let the demons have a spotlight. Neither should we. We recognize they are there, and we recognize what they are doing, but we are not to give them undue attention. Jesus makes clear that there is abject evil and there are entities who seek to get us engaged in such evil, but we are not to fear them because He has overcome them. And above all that, we are not to rejoice that demons are subject to Jesus’ name and His authority that we carry if we are submitted to Him, but even more so that our names are written in the Book of Life. There is no greater demonstration of Jesus’ power than to be able to snatch sinners like us from the hands of evil and to save us, cleansing us of our sin and granting us eternal life.
This forum is meant to foster discussion and allow for differing viewpoints to be explored with equal and respectful consideration. All comments are moderated and any foul language or threatening/abusive comments will not be approved. Users who engage in threatening or abusive comments which are physically harmful in nature will be reported to the authorities.
0 comments:
Post a Comment