They sacrificed to demons, which are not God—gods they had not known, gods that recently appeared, gods your fathers did not fear. DEUTERONOMY 32:17
“Demon,” or “devil” as earlier translations rendered the words, is the Greek daimon and daimonion, the regular terms in the Gospels for the spiritual beings, corrupt and hostile to both God and man, whom Jesus exorcised from their victims in large numbers during his earthly ministry. The demons were fallen angels, deathless creatures serving Satan (Jesus equated Beelzebub, their reputed prince, with Satan: Matt. 12:24-29). Having joined Satan’s rebellion, they were cast out of heaven to await final judgment (2 Pet. 2:4; Jude 6). Their minds are permanently set to oppose God, goodness, truth, the kingdom of Christ, and the welfare of human beings, and they have real if limited power and freedom of movement, though in Calvin’s picturesque phrase they drag their chains wherever they go and can never hope to overcome God.
The level and intensity of demonic manifestations in people during Christ’s ministry was unique, having no parallel in Old Testament times or since; it was doubtless part of Satan’s desperate battle for his kingdom against Christ’s attack on it (Matt. 12:29). Demons were revealed as having knowledge and strength (Mark 1:24; 9:17-27). They inflicted, or at least exploited, physical and mental maladies (Mark 5:1-15; 9:17-18; Luke 11:14). They recognized and feared Christ, to whose authority they were subject (Mark 1:25; 3:11-12; 9:25), though by his own confession it was only through effort in prayer that he was able to expel them (Mark 9:29).
Christ authorized and equipped the Twelve and the seventy to exorcise in his name (i.e., by his power—Luke 9:1; 10:17), and the ministry of exorcism continues still as an occasional pastoral necessity. The sixteenth-century Lutheran church abolished exorcism, believing that Christ’s victory over Satan had suppressed demonic invasion forever, but this was premature.
Satan’s army of demons uses subtler strategies also, namely, deception and discouragement in many forms. Opposing these is the essence of spiritual warfare (Eph. 6:10-18). Though demons can give trouble of many kinds to regenerate persons in whom the Holy Spirit dwells, they cannot finally thwart God’s purpose of saving his elect any more than they can finally avoid their own eternal torment. As the devil is God’s devil (that is Luther’s phrase), so the demons are God’s demons, defeated enemies (Col. 2:15) whose limited power is prolonged only for the advancement of God’s glory as his people contend with them.
SATAN: FALLEN ANGELS HAVE A LEADER
One day the angels came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them.
JOB 1:6
Satan, leader of the fallen angels, comes like them into full view only in the New Testament. His name means “adversary” (opponent of God and his people), and the Old Testament introduces him as such (1 Chron. 21:1; Job 1-2; Zech. 3:1-2). The New Testament gives him revealing titles: “devil” (diabolos) means accuser (i.e., of God’s people: Rev. 12:9-10); “Apollyon” (Rev. 9:11) means destroyer; “the tempter” (Matt. 4:3; 1 Thess. 3:5) and “the evil one” (1 John 5:18-19) mean what they say; “prince” and “god of this world” point to Satan as presiding over mankind’s anti-God life-styles (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11; 2 Cor. 4:4; cf. Eph. 2:2; 1 John 5:19; Rev. 12:9). Jesus said that Satan was always a murderer and is the father of lies—that is, he is both the original liar and the sponsor of all subsequent falsehood and deceits (John 8:44). Finally, he is identified as the serpent who fooled Eve in Eden (Rev. 12:9; 20:2). The picture is one of unimaginable meanness, malice, fury, and cruelty directed against God, against God’s truth, and against those to whom God has extended his saving love.
Satan’s deceptive cunning is highlighted by Paul’s statement that he becomes an angel of light, disguising evil as good (2 Cor. 11:14). His destructive ferocity comes out in the description of him as a roaring, devouring lion (1 Pet. 5:8) and as a dragon (Rev. 12:9). As he was Christ’s sworn foe (Matt. 4:1-11; 16:23; Luke 4:13; John 14:30; cf. Luke 22:3, 53), so now he is the Christian’s, always probing for weaknesses, misdirecting strengths, and undermining faith, hope, and character (Luke 22:32; 2 Cor. 2:11; 11:3-15; Eph. 6:16). He should be taken seriously, for malice and cunning make him fearsome; yet not so seriously as to provoke abject terror of him, for he is a beaten enemy. Satan is stronger than we are, but Christ has triumphed over Satan (Matt. 12:29), and Christians will triumph over him too if they resist him with the resources that Christ supplies (Eph. 6:10-13; James 4:7; 1 Pet. 5:9-10). “The one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world” (1 John 4:4).
- Acknowledging Satan’s reality,
- taking his opposition seriously,
- noting his strategy (anything, provided it be not biblical Christianity),
- and reckoning on always being at war with him—
this is not a lapse into a dualistic concept of two gods, one good, one evil, fighting it out.
Satan is a creature, superhuman but not divine;
- he has much knowledge and power, but he is neither omniscient nor omnipotent;
- he can move around in ways that humans cannot, but he is not omnipresent;
- and he is an already defeated rebel, having no more power than God allows him and being destined for the lake of fire (Rev. 20:10).
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