Who are
the Demons? (Part 1)
Jesus
encountered demons during His
ministry on Earth. On
one occasion, Jesus approached
two men and the demons within
them trembled saying, “
‘What do you want with us,
Son of God?’ they shouted. ‘Have
you come here to torture us
before the appointed time?’
Some distance from them a large
herd of pigs was feeding.
The demons begged Jesus, ‘If
you drive us out, send us into
the herd of pigs.’ He
said to them, ‘Go!’ So
they came out and went into the
pigs, and the whole herd rushed
down the steep bank into the lake
and died in the water.”
(Matthew 8:29-32)
This text
demonstrates several facts about
demons. First, demons exist and
are intelligent. Not only
did they recognize Jesus as the
“Son of God” (even
though the Jews would not), they
also spoke knowledgeably about
their fate. They knew the
appointed time for their
destruction had not yet
come! Second, demons can
and do take control of
people. Third, the demons
drowned the pigs because they did
not want to remain within
them. Demons are powerful,
intelligent beings and they are
not to be trifled with.
Consider this short story:
“Some
Jews who went around driving out
evil spirits tried to invoke the
name of the Lord Jesus over those
who were demon-possessed. They
would say, ‘In the name of
Jesus, whom Paul preaches, I
command you to come
out.’ Seven sons of
Sceva, a Jewish chief priest,
were doing this. One day the
evil spirit answered them,
‘Jesus I know, and I know
about Paul, but who are you?’
Then the man who had the evil
spirit jumped on them and
overpowered them all. He gave
them such a beating that they ran
out of the house naked and
bleeding.” (Acts 19:13-18)
Demons
Are Fallen Angels
The Bible
does not provide much information
about the angels before sin
occurred in Heaven, but it does
give us details from which we can
draw some conclusions. For
example, by aligning certain
Bible texts and God’s
changeless patterns, we can
reasonably conclude that if the
Father loved mankind (a lower
order of creation) enough to
redeem us (John 3:16), He
must have also loved the angels
(a higher order of creation)
enough to redeem them if it had
been possible. Therefore,
the reason the Father could not
redeem the fallen angels must
have been that they became
rebellious and defiant and
committed the unpardonable
sin. The Bible states that
there is no grace for human
beings who become rebellious and
defiant and commit the
unpardonable sin. (Matthew 12:31,32; Hebrews 10:26)
If mankind can commit the
unpardonable sin and if
committing the unpardonable sin
will be possible “in the age
to come” (Matthew 12:32), it is
reasonable to say that God kicked
rebellious angels out of Heaven
only after they passed the point
of no return.
If God
gave mankind free will, because
He is changeless, it is
reasonable to conclude that He
gave the angels free will.
The rise of sin in Heaven proves
that the angels had free
will. The Bible indicates
some angels put their faith in
God and some did not, which
suggests they had the power of
choice. Because the Bible
offers certain details about God
and the angels, a little
conjecture can be helpful to
understand angels before sin
began.
After
Jesus created the universe, He
created several billion
angels. Jesus gave them
free will, amazing talents and
intelligence, residence in
God’s house, and a powerful
predisposition for
righteousness. Angels were
the first and highest order of
created beings. Angels
served God as ambassadors and
managers of His universe.
After they were trained and
prepared, they were to oversee
all the new worlds (in the same
way seven angels were made
overseers of the seven churches
in Revelation 2 and 3) which
Jesus would create.
For a
time the angels lived in perfect
harmony with no rebellion within
them. There was no
bullying, politics, arguing,
coveting, cheating, lying, or
stealing. If you can
imagine this, no one thought or
spoke evil about his
neighbor! The angels loved
the Father and Jesus and they
appreciated the ministry of the
Holy Spirit during worship
services. Unfortunately,
one day a tiny change occurred in
one angel. The other angels
did not notice this change for a
period of time because it was
carefully hidden. The Bible
does not indicate the length of
time the angels lived in Heaven
before sin began. Given
that Adam and many others –
who lived before Noah’s
flood – lived over nine
centuries, and God has given
mankind 6,000 years of
probationary time, it is
reasonable to understand that God
was patient with the angels
before He expelled them from
Heaven. Please consider
these thoughts:
- It must
have taken some time
after the angels were
created before Lucifer,
who had a strong
propensity for
righteousness to become
self-centered, jealous,
and evil-minded.
- When
Lucifer’s
disaffection began, God
must have given him and
the other angels plenty
of time to thoughtfully
consider the arguments
and charges against God.
After the angels
understood Lucifer’s
motives, the Father also
gave the angels time to
repent of their
rebellion.
- It must
have taken a significant
amount of time for one
third of the holy angels
to become angry enough
with God to blaspheme the
Holy Spirit (commit the
unpardonable sin).
Because the Holy Spirit
is gentle and patient,
reaching a state of
defiance takes time (even
within human beings).
The
Lucifer and Jesus Conflict
When
Jesus created Lucifer, Jesus gave
him every gift that God could
give a created being:
“.
. . .You were the model of
perfection, full of wisdom and
perfect in beauty. You were
in Eden, the garden of God; every
precious stone adorned you: ruby,
topaz and emerald, chrysolite,
onyx and jasper, sapphire,
turquoise and beryl. Your
settings and mountings were made
of gold; on the day you were
created they were prepared. You
were anointed as a guardian
cherub, for so I ordained you.
You were on the holy mount of
God; you walked among the fiery
stones. You were blameless in
your ways from the day you were
created till wickedness was found
in you.” (Ezekiel 28:12-15)
This is
how I understand Lucifer’s
fall. After Lucifer enjoyed
a wonderful, purpose-filled life
with Jesus and the Father for
many years, the most elevated and
beautiful angel in Heaven became
discontented. Lucifer was
one of the two guardian cherubs
and he wanted to be
respected and worshiped in
the same way that the other
guardian cherub was. When He
discussed the matter with the
Father, the Father told him that
his desire could not be
granted. Because Lucifer
coveted the worship and honor
given to the other guardian
cherub he felt diminished,
disrespected, and angry.
Meanwhile,
the angels had no idea that
Lucifer was unhappy. They
loved and adored him. They
were awed at his talents. His
personal majesty was greater than
any other angel in Heaven.
His ability to sing, lead the
choir, create and arrange the
most amazing music, produced
endless praise from the angels,
but this was not enough.
Although Lucifer wanted to be
treated like the other guardian
cherub, he did not know who the
other guardian cherub actually
was. The Father had
designed this mystery for a
reason.
Faith
in the Creator Tested
There are
several similarities that can be
identified between Adam and the
angels before sin appeared.
Angels did not see Jesus create
the universe and Adam did not see
Jesus create the world. In
fact, the angels did not see
Jesus create anything and Adam
did not see Jesus create
anything, including Eve.
The angels, as well as Adam and
Eve, were told that Jesus was the
Creator of everything. They
had to accept this declaration by
faith because they did not see
Jesus create anything.
The
situation in Heaven was even more
puzzling because Jesus lived in
the form of a humble looking
angel. He was not
beautiful. In fact, the
Creator made all of the angels
“nicer looking” than
Himself. Jesus did not wear
the dazzling ornamentation He
gave Lucifer. Jesus wore
nothing that elevated Himself
above the lowliest angel.
Nothing about Jesus’
physical appearance caused the
angels to worship Him; in the
same way, nothing about His
appearance as a man caused human
beings to worship Him.
Notice Isaiah’s words
concerning Jesus:
“.
. . He had no beauty or majesty
to attract us to Him, nothing in
His appearance that we should
desire Him. He was despised and
rejected by men, a man of
sorrows, and familiar with
suffering. Like one from whom men
hide their faces He was despised,
and we esteemed Him not.” (Isaiah 53:2,3)
Even
though Jesus looked like
an angel, He was a member of
deity living as an angel.
The Father had determined that
Jesus must live among created
beings as one of them in the same
way that He would later live
among men. Because Jesus is
deity and the Creator of the
universe (Colossians 1:15-17), the
Father decreed before
anything was created that Jesus
would be given the same respect,
honor and worship that belongs to
the Father. (John 5:22,23) The
decree to worship the Creator is
an eternal gospel with no
beginning or end; it exists
outside of time. The
eternal gospel is restated
in Revelation 14:6,7: “Worship
Him who made the Heavens, the
Earth, the sea and the springs of
water.”
Jesus
gave Lucifer everything that a
created being could have.
Jesus, the other guardian cherub,
looked like a common angel, yet
the angels were required to
worship Jesus and not
Lucifer. The Father
deliberately set this strange
situation up. Before the
Father filled the universe with
people on various planets, He
wanted to test the faith of the
angels in the same way that Adam
and Eve would be tested.
Because the angels had not seen
Jesus create anything and there
was nothing in His appearance
that would suggest majesty or
deity, the Father was testing the
submission and faith of the
angels. For many years, the
angels were delighted to do the
Father’s will because there
was no sin or rebellion within
them. However, one fateful
day Lucifer compared himself to
Jesus. Lucifer noticed a
striking difference and he
struggled with his propensity for
righteousness. He wanted to
accept the Father’s will,
but Lucifer also wanted to be
worshiped as Jesus was worshiped.
The
Devil’s Sneaky Smoke Screen
When
Lucifer was denied equality with
Jesus, he stopped loving
God. Then, Lucifer lost
faith in God because he did not
want to believe that God was
fair. Rather than submit to
God’s will, Lucifer set out
to get what he wanted and what he
thought he deserved.
Because he does not have
foreknowledge, he did not
anticipate the dreadful
consequences that would
follow. Lucifer was
extremely intelligent, so he
began with a sneaky
smoke screen among his
closest friends who suspected
nothing was out of the
ordinary. They would not be
suspicious of “a guardian
cherub” who stood next to
the Father. Of course, the
devil could not reveal his motive
because his friends had a
powerful propensity for
righteousness and they would have
quickly detected his disaffection
with God.
Lucifer
came up with many sophisticated
questions about the Father, which
were unanswerable, to gain the
attention of his friends. This
approach, Lucifer thought, would
sow seeds of doubt about the
Father. The Father had not
yet explained many things to the
angels, so Lucifer’s
questions and innuendos gained
traction. The devil’s
sneaky campaign was
effective. Many angels
began to think as Lucifer thought
and create new questions that had
no answers. Later, Lucifer
moved into phase two. He
produced clever lies about the
Father. (John 8:44)
The angels had never heard a lie
and they had no reason to
question Lucifer’s
integrity, so they believed him
and in him. Lucifer
calculated that once enough
angels sided with him as
“their leader,” he
could legitimately apply pressure
on the Father to allow Lucifer to
receive the same worship and
respect given to the other
guardian cherub and the conflict
would end. After all, the
two guardian cherubs were equals,
were they not?
The
Godhead observed Lucifer’s
thoughts, motives, ambitions, and
actions each day because nothing
is hidden from God’s
sight. Jesus and the Father
did everything possible to
resolve Lucifer’s jealousy
and disaffection. They met
with him many times. The
Holy Spirit did everything
possible – short of
violating the will of Lucifer and
his followers. Finally, a
day came when the angels were
summoned together and the
Father declared this fact:
He told the angels that even
though Jesus looked like an angel
and served as a guardian cherub
like Lucifer, there was an
infinite difference between
them. Jesus had created
Lucifer. Jesus was not a
created being; instead, He was a
coeternal member of the
Godhead. Because Jesus was
Creator, all angels were required
to worship Him even though they
had not seen Jesus create
anything. Human beings will
receive this same test during the
Great Tribulation.
This
revelation forced the angels to
make a decision. As a
guardian cherub, Lucifer was not
about to be embarrassed and lose
face so he rallied his followers
against the truth. They demanded
change. Because the Father
had declared that Jesus was a
member of deity, Lucifer focused
his attacks on Jesus. He
hated Jesus; he wanted to kill
him. Lucifer became
anti-Christ because he wanted
what Jesus had. The Father
patiently waited and deliberately
allowed Lucifer’s arguments,
lies, and campaign to roil Heaven
so that the love and faith
of each angel in Heaven was
tested. Once the Holy
Spirit reported each angel had
made a decision, the Father
called the angels together and
commanded them, on the spot, to
immediately bow down and worship
Jesus as the Creator.
Lucifer and his followers defied
the Father. There was a great
commotion like an earthquake and
suddenly, a third of the angels
disappeared.
“Through
your widespread trade you were
filled with violence, and you
sinned. So I drove you in
disgrace from the mount of God,
and I expelled you, O guardian
cherub, from among the fiery
stones. Your heart became
proud on account of your beauty,
and you corrupted your wisdom
because of your splendor. So I
threw you to the Earth.” (Ezekiel 28:16,17)
Even
though it became much more
peaceful after the Father cast
Lucifer and his followers out of
Heaven, the remaining holy angels
had many unanswered
questions. Faith in God
means living with unanswered
questions. However, faith
in God, when viewed in reverse,
always makes sense. So,
faithful angels had to wait for
the Father to supply the answers
to many questions. They did
not know it then, but God would
answer their questions during a
drama that would unfold after
they witnessed Jesus create a
planet called “Earth.”
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