Angels/Satan and Demons

Frank C. Thomsen | Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Copyright © 2011, Frank C. Thomsen

(based on chapter 19 of Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology)

What are angels? Why did God create them?

Angels are created spiritual beings with moral judgment and high intelligence, but without physical bodies.

Angels are created beings—they have not always existed. Genesis 1:1 tells us “In the beginning, God…” In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth: “You alone are the LORD. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship you” (Neh. 9:6; see also Psalm 148:1-5 and Colossians 1:16).

Angels have moral judgment, as they are able to fall:”For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell,putting them into gloomy dungeonsto be held for judgment” (2 Pet. 2:4).

They are intelligent beings and can communicate with people. For example, “The angel said to the women, ‘Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified.He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay.Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you” (Matt. 28:5-7).

Angels, like us, engage in high worship of God: “Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. In a loud voice they sang: ‘Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain,to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strengthand honor and glory and praise!’” (Rev. 5:11-12).

Angels are spiritual beings: “Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?” (Heb. 1:14).

We don’t normally see them as they are protecting us: “The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him and he delivers them”(Ps. 34:7).Nor do they see us as they are joining us in worship: “But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly” (Heb. 12:2).

But Scripture shows that they can appear to us in visible form: “Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest,and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests’” (Luke 2:13).

Other names are sometimes used for angels, such as “sons of God” (Job 1 and 2); “holy ones” (Ps. 89:5, 7); “spirits” (Heb. 1:14); “messengers” (Dan. 4); “thrones”, “powers, rulers, authorities” (Col 1).

There are other heavenly beings mentioned in the Bible, which might be types or orders of angels, or might be distinct creatures, but are specifically named. Cherubim guarded the entrance to Eden (Gen 3:24), and God is said to be enthroned on the cherubim or to travel with the cherubim (Ezek. 10). The ark had over it two cherubim with the wings outstretched, and God said, “There, above the cover between the two cherubim that are over the ark of the Testimony, I will meet with you and give you all my commands for the Israelites” (Ex. 25:22).

The seraphim are mentioned only in Isaiah 6:1-7, where we see their continual worship:

1In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple.2Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying.3And they were calling to one another:

“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty;

the whole earth is full of his glory.”

4At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.

5″Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.”

6Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar.7With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”

“Living creatures” are mentioned in Ezekiel 1 and Revelation 4, where they have both human and animal attributes described. And their business, like ours, is seen in Revelation 4:8: “Day and night they never stop saying:‘Holy, holy, holyis the Lord God Almighty,who was, and is, and is to come.’”

There does seem to be rank and order among the angels, as Jude 9 calls Michael the archangel and Daniel 10 :13 refers to him as one of the chief princes, and Revelation 12 seems to indicate that Michael is the leader of God’s army. He, along with Gabriel, are the only angels named in Scripture. But how many angels are there? Deuteronomy 33:2 says that God came with myriads of holy ones. Psalm 68:17 says, “The chariots of God are tens of thousands and thousands of thousands.”Hebrews 12:22 tells us, “But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly.” This reaches a crescendo in Revelation 5:11: “Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders.”

In other places it is translated as myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands. And these angels are powerful: “Praise the LORD, you his angels,you mighty ones who do his bidding,who obey his word. Praise the LORD, all his heavenly hosts,you his servants who do his will” (Ps. 103:20). Comparing angels to men, specifically false prophets, Peter says that angels are stronger and more powerful (2 Pet. 2:11). They use this power to serve God and battle evil. And yet when the Lord returns, we will be raised to a higher position than that of angels.

What is the Purpose of studying angels?

We can learn about God’s love and plan for us by comparing and contrasting ourselves with God’s angels. Both we and angels are moral and highly intelligent creatures (that is, relatively speaking).

But a major difference is that we are created in the image of God, not merely to be creatures and servants of God, but to be adopted sons of God and co-heirs with Christ. So let us therefore rid ourselves of everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles and strive to be mighty sons who do his bidding, who obey His Word. While we are now for a little while lower than angels (Heb. 2:7), we will one day judge angels (1Cor. 6:3). So let us live lives worthy of the calling we have received. God uses angels to serve and help us (Heb. 1:14). Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?

And while both some angels and all men have sinned, none of the fallen angels were saved. We read earlier that “God did not spare the angels when they sinned”—but He did spare us, a remnant.

At the same time, angels are examples for us. The Lords’ Prayer says, “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” How is it done in heaven? Immediately, exactly, joyfully. How about with you? And angels are continually worshipping God and singing His praises. How about you? Angels carry out God’s plans under his command. They bring messages from God, help God’s people as when Peter escaped from prison, and are used by God to bring judgments and plagues. They wage war against the forces of evil. In all this we can learn from them. Heaven rejoices when one sinner repents, and that includes angels. The angels glorified God at the birth of Christ.

We join angels in worship, they watch our obedience or lack of it. They can be sent by God to protect us and help us. But beware false doctrines claimed to be from angels—we have the book that God has given us. Do not worship angels—they are created beings and not God, and when even the Apostle John tried to worship an angel, the angel commanded him not to do that but to worship only God. And the angel said he was only a fellow servant.

We should, though, be aware that angels are real. They serve God and help us, and we do not need to be embarrassed to say that we believe in angels—and demons—because the Bible says that they are real. So we should study the Word to show ourselves workman approved, who do not need to be ashamed.

Demons

Demons are evil angels who sinned against God and who now continually work evil in the world.

When God made the world, everything in it was very good. That means there was no evil, there were no demons, there was no sin. But by Genesis 3 there is Satan in the garden sowing seeds of rebellion, enticing humans to sin against God and His revealed Word. By then it appears that some angels had sinned and lost their privilege of serving God, turning evil, rebellious, twisted, perverted: “For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell,putting them in chains of darknessto be held for judgment” (2 Pet. 2:4; see also Jude 6).

The indication is that the root of the sin was pride, wanting a position other than the one assigned. This is also seen in Isaiah 14, which suggests the rebellion by Satan and other demons, who wanted to take God’s place. That is also the nature of the temptation in Eden, and has it not been the source of much temptation, sin, and grief in your life? Watch out for it. Be on your guard. God opposes the proud but give grace to the humble.

Satan is the head of demons, and his name is from the Hebrew word for adversary. He is also known as the devil, the serpent, Beelzebub, the ruler of this world, the prince of the power of the kingdom of the air, and the evil one.

He is the originator of sin. First John 3:8 says he has been sinning from the beginning. Jesus said Satan is a liar and the father of lies, and a murderer—and what do we first see him doing in Genesis 3?

Satan and demons oppose and try to destroy the work of God and blind people to the gospel (2 Cor. 4:4). They will use or exploit many means: temptation, doubt, guilt, fear, confusion, sickness, envy, pride, slander, whatever seems expedient to their work. Where are your areas of weakness? Where will demons try to exploit you? What are you prone to? How can they best hinder you? Do not be unaware of the devil’s schemes, but be on guard, keep watch and pray. And the way to be aware of the devil’s schemes is not by trying to gain an insight into the devil but by looking into Scripture. Know God’s way of truth, follow the examples of godly men and women, be filled with the Spirit, and you will recognize falsehood when it comes.

Like angels, demons may be more powerful than we, but like angels, they are created beings, and they are under the absolute and ultimate rule of God. They have limited power, they cannot overcome God, and he restrains them. Their folly and futility are such that even all the evil they do advanced God’s cause in the end. The Westminster Confession of Faith, chapter IV says:

The almighty power, unsearchable wisdom, and infinite goodness of God, so far manifest themselves in his providence, that it extendeth itself even to the first Fall, and all other sins of angels and men, and that not by a bare permission, but such as hath joined with it a most wise and powerful bounding, and otherwise ordering and governing of them, in a manifold dispensation, to his own holy ends; yet so, as the sinfulness thereof proceedeth only from the creature, and not from God; who being most holy and righteous, neither is nor can be the author or approver of sin.

And greater is he who is in us than he who is in the world. As the hymn says, “His rage we can endure, for lo his doom is sure; one little word shall fell him.”

Not all evil and sin is from Satan and demons. We can and do sin on our own. We cannot disclaim our own responsibility by saying the devil made me do it. My heart is wicked and deceitful, and not even I can comprehend it. Dr. Grudem points out that in the epistles, the apostles do not instruct the churches to go around rebuking the spirit of laziness, or theft, or litigation. The say get rid of laziness, of theft, of lawsuits between believers, etc. The Holy Spirit commands us to avoid sin and be obedient. It is our responsibility to do that with the grace and power God gives us. Be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. Make strong your feeble arms and weak knees. We are to do God’s will and God’s work.

We will run into demonic opposition. We are to overcome it by the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimony. We put on the full armor of God and take our stand. Demons can and will afflict us, tempt us, oppose us, and try to destroy us. How do we recognize demonic activity? In short, demon activity opposes the gospel, contradicts, ignores, despises, disdains the Word of God and obedience to it. It denigrates those who preach the Word, exalts self, promotes self-gratification and sin.

Consider 1 John 3:7-10

Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. He who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous.He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God.This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother.

Jesus has gained the victory for us—over sin and over Satan and demons. Colossians 2:15 declares,”And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.”

And we have authority to thwart demons. When Jesus sent out the 12 and the 70, the demons were subject to them. And James tells us, “But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says:‘God opposes the proudbut gives grace to the humble.’ Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded” (James 4:6-8).

So be aware of the reality of angels and demons, know what the Bible says on the subject, do not be ashamed to believe what the Bible says. But angels and demons are not our ultimate focus. As the angel told John: Worship God! Ecclesiastes tell us to fear God and keep His commands, for this is the whole duty of man. We will have troubles, difficulties, opposition, temptation from within and without. Let us then take to heart the great exhortation of Romans 8:37-39: “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”