Angelic Conflict: Influenced by Demons; Eph. 6:10-12
We live in a world that has been dominated since at least the time of the Enlightenment with a naturalistic worldview, i.e. a worldview that excludes the supernatural. More and more as we live in a secularised society we are surrounded by people who do not think that there is anything more "out there" beyond what we can see and experience; nothing in terms of a God or angels or spirits or anything of that nature. On the other hand we always find that there are some people who go way too far in that degree and they overemphasise everything that has to do with angels or demons or spirits and they virtually get involved with pagan concepts of spiritism or demonism. The Bible, though, gives us a clear understanding of the fact that there is another order of beings in the universe that was created by God in eternity past, called angels. These angels are immaterial beings and that at some time in eternity past there was a revolt among these angels led by the highest of the angels, a cherub called Lucifer. The reality of that revolt is a vital part of every one of our lives and there is an intersection, the Bible says, between this immaterial, invisible conflict in the heavenlies and our day-to-day lives. We call this the angelic conflict.
We have looked at the assaults of Satan on the human race in terms of its direct category and traced it through history. Now we are in the area of indirect assaults, how Satan and the demons seek to influence individual Christians and human history for his ultimate agenda which is to try to disprove God's ability to govern in history and to prove he can do it better or at least as well as God. We are told in Ephesians chapter six that we are in the midst of this conflict and in verse 11 we are told to put on the full armour of God, the ultimate defence against the devil.
Ephesians 6:11 NASB "Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil." The Greek word translated "schemes" is methodeia [meqodeia] which has the idea of wiles or tricks or schemes and indicates that Satan has well thought out schemes and strategies in order to distract believers from living the spiritual life or to attain spiritual maturity. He has strategies for blinding the minds of unbelievers to the truth of the gospel, and he has strategies in mind to try to derail God's plan for history. One of his strategies is to try to destroy the nation Israel in this era after the cross where he was ultimately defeated. His only chance to try to pull out any kind of victory is to destroy Israel so that God cannot fulfil the promises that He made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. If he is successful at that then he thinks he has won.
We have seen that part of his strategy is to influence man in the way that he thinks. He does this in a number of different ways. In James 3:15 James gives us an insight into this, referring to it as the wisdom of the world. The wisdom of the world can manifest it self in numerous different ways—different philosophies, different religions. There is all manner of different ways in which Satan's fundamental thought is manifested in human history and this is all captured by James under the words "this wisdom," i.e. the human viewpoint wisdom that seems right to man, Proverbs says, but the end thereof is death. James 3:15 NASB "This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic." He is juxtaposing human viewpoint wisdom with divine viewpoint wisdom. There are only two basic ways that we can think about life: God's way or the devil's way. The devil's way may include many different manifestations but they all boil down to the same basic principle. This is defined in James 3:15 as earthly, natural [soulish], not related to this who are spiritually born again. So it shows that besides a spiritual death issue that part of that is the very basic knowledge issue that the unbeliever no matter how much lower case truth he can understand through empiricism and rationalism he cannot get true truth. True truth only comes from revelation. It is only the revelation of God that gives that developing truth on which all of the knowledge is based. This human viewpoint wisdom is not only soulish but also demonic.
1. All human wisdom is equated with demonic thinking.
2. It is demonic thinking because it glorifies the creature over the creator. It locates ultimate truth in the creation and not in the revelation of the creator.
3. The essence of this thinking involves two concepts: autonomy, independence from God (the creature thinks that somehow he can make life work apart from what God says) and, secondly, antagonism to God.
4. In these attributes lie the roots of all human thoughts systems not based on the Word of God. All human thought systems ultimately lead to a path of self-destruction for the creature.
1 Peter 5:8 NASB "Be of sober {spirit,} be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour." To be of sober spirit is not the idea of not having had any alcoholic beverage, it is the idea of thinking objectively, thinking on the basis of rational and external system of eternal absolutes, being able to honestly and objectively evaluate not only ourselves but circumstances because we know what is really going on in human history. We can do this because we have the Word of an omniscient, omnipotent God to base it on. The image of a roaring lion is that of aggression, of something that seeks to destroy us.
How does Satan seek to influence human history? How does he influence believers? What are some of the examples that we can go to in the Bible that show different ways in which Satan seeks to influence people? The first one that happens chronologically in history other than the fall is found in the book of Job. Job is a book that deals with the issue of undeserved suffering. We can locate Job about the time of Abraham. In the first two chapters of the book the curtain is drawn back so that we see what happens in the throne room of God, what happens behind the scenes that is beyond our senses. We cannot see demons, we cannot see angels, we cannot experience them directly, we don't see into the throne of God, yet God has revealed this to us that we might have an understanding of what goes on behind the scenes. The issue in Job is an issue that is close to every single human being that has ever lived. Why do we go through undeserved suffering? Job is addressing that to give us a framework to understand how Satan seeks to influence us and how as a believer we should respond.
If we look at God's assessment of Job in verse 8 we see that it is very high indeed. NASB "The LORD said to Satan, 'Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil'." The Lord is the one who brings Job to Satan's attention which tells us something about this kind of testing: that this is to demonstrate something. At any time we are tested is has some evidentiary bearing within the total panorama of the angelic conflict. There are four times in John 1 & 2 that God gives this assessment of Job, and the reason He repeats it so much is so that we capture this because after we go through Job's testing and we see all the ways in which he loses many things and all of the adversity that he goes through he is sitting outside the city and is tempted to give in to self-pity and his three friends come up. These three friends represent the kind of thinking that most everyone brings to the issue of suffering. They all want to somehow put the blame on Job—he did something and God is hitting him because there is some sin in his life or something he failed to do. So they all take a position against Job but God tells us up front that this has nothing to do with Job's behaviour, he is blameless and upright. What Job shows us that the answers that are often brought to the profound questions of life are superficial, incorrect and incomplete. That is because they are not based on what the Word of God teaches.
Job 1:6 NASB "Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them." The scene is the throne of heaven and we see that there is an angelic convocation, an assembly of angels made up of both fallen and elect angels. They all come before the presence of God and among them is Satan. {7] The LORD said to Satan, 'From where do you come?' Then Satan answered the LORD and said, 'From roaming about on the earth and walking around on it'." Even in the early days of the history of humanity Satan was still cruising the earth like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. That is his normal modus operandi.
Job 1:9 NASB "Then Satan answered the LORD, 'Does Job fear God for nothing?'" This is the second issue that comes up in the book of Job. Why do people worship God? Why do people obey God? Do they obey God because they believe they are going to get something good from God? Do people worship God and obey God for what they will get out of it, or do they worship God simply because He is God and therefore because of who He is He is worthy of their total and absolute devotion and attention? That is the question that Satan poses to God. Job clearly has his priorities right and has his family's spiritual life and his spiritual life at the forefront of his thinking and so now this is going to be challenged. Job 1:10 NASB "Have You not made a hedge about him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land."
In one day in the space of about an hour and a half Job receives four messengers to tell him that he has lost his personal wealth, he has lost his family, he has lost everything that is near and dear to him, and we get to see how he responds. What we have going for us is that we see behind the scenes. Job has no idea that the angels have been meeting in heaven with God, he has no idea that He has given Satan permission to test him.
Job 1:20 NASB "Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head, and he fell to the ground and worshiped." His response is not to blame God, it is to glorify God. [21] "He said, 'Naked I came from my mother's womb, And naked I shall return there. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD'. [22] Through all this Job did not sin nor did he blame God." Job is focused on the fact that if we are going to praise God for what He gives to us, then why should we not only praise God when He takes away from us? Ultimately God is the one who determines both the blessings that we have as well as the judgments. So he passes the first phase of the test, and then chapter two opens up with a similar situation.
Job 2:1 NASB "Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the LORD." And we see the same kind of question and answer between the Lord and Satan. [2] "The LORD said to Satan, 'Where have you come from?' Then Satan answered the LORD and said, 'From roaming about on the earth and walking around on it.' [3] The LORD said to Satan, 'Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man fearing God and turning away from evil. And he still holds fast his integrity, although you incited Me against him to ruin him without cause'."
We are asking the question: What are the ways in which Satan seeks to influence us? One of the ways is through adverse circumstances. Satan can also do it through prosperity because prosperity is the test that most people fail but the example in Job is that of adversity and suffering. Satan is seeking to influence Job through external pressure of adversity, to force him into a position where he will reject the grace of God and instead of responding by honouring he will respond by cursing God, by blaming God, by reacting in anger to God, rather than responding by divine viewpoint. We need to ask the question: Is Job going to react in autonomy, is he going to try to solve this pressure independently of God, or is he going to turn in anger and hostility to God? Remember, those are the two twin poles of Satanic thinking—autonomy and hostility.
Job 2:4 NASB "Satan answered the LORD and said, 'Skin for skin! Yes, all that a man has he will give for his life. [5] However, put forth Your hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh; he will curse You to Your face.' [6] So the LORD said to Satan, 'Behold, he is in your power, only spare his life'." Satan attacks through a series of health tests. His wife, the voice of human viewpoint, comes along and says: [9] "Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die!" Job 2:10 NASB "But he said to her, 'You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?' In all this Job did not sin with his lips."
Then Job's three friends show up. This is another arena. We get pressure put on us just from adverse circumstances in life but then we get pressure put on us from our friends, advisors, family, from our peer network that try to give us some alternative solution to solving the problem. That alternative solution can involve any number of different things but it is a way to solve the problem without doing what Job is doing so far, which is just to relax and trust God and refuse to blame God for what is going on. The next several chapters in Job all focus on this idea that his friends all come along and try to get him to reject God. Eventually he does. He succumbs as time goes by and he begins to challenge God's integrity, and the God shows up at the end of the book and in a series of rhetorical questions He puts Job in his creaturely place. He doesn't answer Job's question as to why he is suffering unjustly, He is telling Job that He is omniscient and omnipotent and Job is to trust Him because Job doesn't have the facts to judge God. He puts Job in his place and Job responds in humility and trusting God.
In the midst of all this there is a famous statement by Job where he says: "Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him." This is the attitude of the believer focused on the provision of God. We trust God because of what His Word says. Our experience is too limited to judge or evaluate, to really understand why things are happening the way they are. We just don't have enough data. All we can do is trust God and recognise that He does have all the data, that He is a God who has a plan, that He is a God who loves us, and that by succumbing to the pressures of circumstances to turn against we are coming under demonic influence and are seeking to address the problem on our own resources.
Another example in the Old Testament of Satanic influence comes in a situation of divine discipline: 1 Samuel 15, where we see that the Lord is using Satan and the demons to carry out divine discipline on a disobedient Saul. Saul was a believer who had been obedient to God but for the last twenty or so years of his reign was out of fellowship and had succumbed to the whole concept of autonomy, that instead of doing exactly what God said to do he was going to solve a problem on his own. In the war against the Amalekites Saul got his eyes on the booty. 1 Samuel 15:9 NASB "But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good, and were not willing to destroy them utterly; but everything despised and worthless, that they utterly destroyed." We see here that aspect of autonomy, of operating independently of God. 1 Sam 15:10 NASB "Then the word of the LORD came to Samuel, saying, [11] 'I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following Me and has not carried out My commands.' And Samuel was distressed and cried out to the LORD all night."
The interpretation of this event is given by Samuel in verse 23 NASB "For rebellion is as the sin of divination, And insubordination is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, He has also rejected you from {being} king." Rebellion against a legitimate authority goes back Satan's initial rebellion. That is why it is categorised as a sin of witchcraft, an activity in alliance with the demons. It is the same kind of thing that we see in James chapter three, that when we think in independence against God's authority we are thinking the same way Satan thinks and the same way the demons think.
We see the intensification of divine discipline on Saul in 1 Samuel 16:14 NASB "Now the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil [distressing] spirit from the LORD terrorized him." It is from the Lord because even Satan and the demons have to get divine permission to do anything. This distressing spirit troubles him, he is under demonic oppression, and this is external, it is not internal. Because of this external operation of the demons Saul is greatly troubled.
1 Chronicles 21:1 NASB "Then Satan stood up against Israel and moved David to number Israel." David is pictured in the Scriptures as a mature believer but not a perfect believer and he, too, can succumb to demonic influence and Satanic influence. This event relates to pride. For David to go out and take a census of his people and his military to see how strong he is, putting the emphasis on what he has in his material and military assets rather than on the power of God. Satan was behind it. We do not know exactly what the mechanics are but what we do see in Scripture is that there is some way in which demons and Satan are able to insert themselves into physical processes.
Matthew 16:23 NASB "But He turned and said to Peter, 'Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God's interests, but man's'." Peter's focus is on his agenda for Jesus, not on God's plan for Jesus. The Lord addresses him as if he were Satan because that is where this kind of thinking originates. So we see that Peter is influenced by Satan in terms of false doctrine and false understanding of Christ's ministry.
John 13:2 NASB "During supper, the devil having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, {the son} of Simon, to betray Him." So in some way Satan is putting the thought, the temptation to betray Christ into Judas's heart. Judas responds positively, he still has volition at this point and could have rejected the thought. Just because Satan puts a thought in it doesn't mean we have to act on it. Obviously there is a way in which thoughts may originate from outside of us. This seems to be confirmed in Acts 5:3. When Ananias and Sapphira have lied about the selling of their land Peter says: "Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back {some} of the price of the land?" He could be using this as a term that Satan could directly put that thought in to his thinking, which is what it seems to suggest, or it could be that it is just the Satanic system of pride that is the source of this. When we address these kinds of things we could ask how we know whether it is from Satan or just our sin nature. We don't, and it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter who is attacking because the solution against the assault is always the same: to apply doctrine and tom stand firm in His Word. It is not our responsibility to go out and try to figure out what may be going on in the invisible realm in spiritual warfare.
1 Timothy 4:1 NASB "But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons." This happens whenever anybody gets away from the truth of God's Word. 2 Cor 11:13-15 NASB "For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their deeds." Satan's strategies are to distract us, and he doesn't distract us so much with things that are obviously wrong and obviously a contradiction of Scripture, it is the subtle things. He does it through pressure, through circumstances, through the thinking of our peers and family, and through enticing our own sin nature. This is why we have to come back to the principle in Romans 12:2 NASB "And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect." It is all about thinking; it is the thinking of Christ versus the thinking of Satan.
The truth is ultimately embodied in the person of Christ but it is more specifically encapsulated in the thinking of Christ. It is thought versus thought. So we have to understand the different manifestations of the thought systems of the world. This comes down to the role of the pastor-teacher which is to inoculate the congregation against the influence of demonic thinking in the culture around. He does that through the teaching of the Word of God. We have to be inoculated against the fads and fancies that come along in every decade to distract the church from its mission. We have to recognise the traits of the cosmic system in our own culture so that we are able to see how the culture around us can suddenly influence us to think in terms of its agenda rather than the Bible's agenda. This is the process of learning not to be conformed to the thinking of the world, but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds.
Illustrations