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Demonology 

Don Ruhl • Savage Street, Grants Pass, Oregon • July 12, In the year of our Lord, 2017

  1. What about Satan, the king of the demons? 
    1. From where did he come?
    2. Did God create him?
      1. If God did create him, did God create him evil?
        1. Someone may bring up Isaiah 45.7 from the Old King James Version,

          7 “I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things” (Isa 45.7).

        2. How would you answer?
          1. Does God create moral evil?
          2. No, all other newer translations identify it as calamity or disaster.
      2. If God did not create him evil, how or why did he become evil?
  2. God created everything and everyone, 
    1. including Satan and his angels.
      1. Does that mean God created Satan and his angels as evil?
      2. No, for God does not do such things.
    2. How then did Satan and his angels become evil?
      1. First Timothy 3 shows a problem of pride that he had.
        1. As Paul pictured the kind of man to serve as an overseer,
        2. he mentioned one thing that an overseer cannot be, for
          1. if he does,
          2. he may become what Satan became,

            6 …not a novice, lest being puffed up with pride he fall into the same condemnation as the devil (1Ti 3.6).
      2. John 8 shows what he started doing from the beginning,

        44 “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it” (John 8.44).

        1. What two things did Jesus say Satan did or does?
          1. He murders.
          2. He lies.
        2. Also, observe that Jesus said the devil desires to do these things.
    3. From these two passages alone, we discover Satan’s problem of:
      1. pride,
      2. murder, and
      3. lying.
  3. Are Satan and his demons active today? 
    1. To what extent are they active?
    2. Can they take us over or possess us?
      1. We have very little information about them in the Old Testament.
      2. Do you know where we read of them primarily, though not exclusively?
        1. The four Gospel Accounts show or refer to demons more than anywhere else in the Bible.
        2. Why do you think that is?
          1. Zechariah 13 shows why,

            1 “In that day a fountain shall be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness. 2 It shall be in that day,” says the LORD of hosts, “that I will cut off the names of the idols from the land, and they shall no longer be remembered. I will also cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to depart from the land. 3 It shall come to pass that if anyone still prophesies, then his father and mother who begot him will say to him, ‘You shall not live, because you have spoken lies in the name of the LORD.’ And his father and mother who begot him shall thrust him through when he prophesies” (Zec 13.1–3).
          2. To what day does the prophet refer?
            1. Chapter 12 and 13.1 show that he referred to the time of mourning associated with the crucifixion of Jesus,
            2. the time when the fountain of His blood opened for sin and for uncleanness.
          3. What things would pass away during that time period?
            1. Idols
            2. Prophets
            3. Unclean spirits
      3. Therefore, demon-possession appears to have ceased during those days.
        1. That does not mean demons ceased operating, but
        2. they did cease possessing people in the manner that we see in the Gospel Accounts.
    3. Why then did they make a brief appearance during the First Century, in particular during the ministry of Jesus?
      1. Look at it this way:
        1. When Jesus cast demons out of people, what did He demonstrate?
        2. He showed His power over what realm?
      2. Why did Jesus do any miracles?
        1. John 9.1–5

          1 Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. 2 And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3 Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him. 4 I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
        2. John 20.30–31

          30 And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.
      3. Therefore, when the divine Sonship of Jesus had been established, and when the divine authority of the apostles had also been established, demon-possession fulfilled its purpose.
  4. From Where Did Demons Come? 
    1. Some suggest they were humans sometime before Adam.
    2. Others believe that they resulted from alleged encounters between angels and women.
    3. Some believe them to be the spirits of dead wicked people.
    4. It seems to me that they are simply the angels of Satan, that is angels who fell from God, even as Satan fell from God.
      1. 2Pe 2.4

        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…
      2. Jude 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…
  5. The Nature of Demons 
    1. Demons are spirits, unclean spirits.
      1. Matt 8.16

        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…
    2. Demons have a level of intelligence that goes beyond most humans, even as Satan does.
      1. Mark 1.23–27

        23 Now there was a man in their synagogue with an unclean spirit. And he cried out, 24 saying, “Let us alone! What have we to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth? Did You come to destroy us? I know who You are—the Holy One of God!” 25 But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be quiet, and come out of him!” 26 And when the unclean spirit had convulsed him and cried out with a loud voice, he came out of him. 27 Then they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, “What is this? What new doctrine is this? For with authority He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him.”
      2. Jam 2.19

        19 You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble!
    3. They had power to take over a body, making the body do things that it would not normally do.
      1. Mark 9.18

        18 “And wherever it seizes him, it throws him down; he foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid. So I spoke to Your disciples, that they should cast it out, but they could not.”
      2. Mark 5.2–15

        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. 14 So those who fed the swine fled, and they told it in the city and in the country. And they went out to see what it was that had happened. 15 Then they came to Jesus, and saw the one who had been demon-possessed and had the legion, sitting and clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid.