The Origin of Demons (2)

We're looking at the doctrine of angels and we've been looking at the evil angel Satan and now we have gone a little further in our study to look at his angels as we'll see tonight the demons. Last time we talked about the reality of demons, the fact that they are there is abundant evidence in the Bible and otherwise as well an experience for the existence of demons and then we started looking last week at where they come from the origin of demons and last week we looked at a couple of speculative theories and by that we're talking about theories that do not arise from Scripture they don't have any scriptural basis at all basically just speculation of people in the world as to where evil spirits come from and we saw a couple of ideas some people say that well there really are no such personal evil beings that's just the name that some people give in superstition to various natural diseases and so people ascribe various natural phenomenon to these evil spirits and we saw especially from one passage in Mark chapter 5 that that does not account for the very real physical phenomenon and presence of demons and all that took place in that man that was possessed by a legion of demons so that certainly is not a worthy theory. The second speculative theory that we looked at last week was that demons are the spirits of wicked people who have died and again that certainly has no foundation in biblical truth it is a foundational truth in a world religion which is called animism religion that is practiced throughout the world in a lot of different forms particularly in Africa but in other places to where there are every being every living being living living being animals trees flowers plants have the same spirit within them and that is very close to what we're talking about here no foundation at all in the Bible we saw that the Bible says those who die who are unsaid or who are wicked are unconscious torment their souls their spirits are unconscious torment in hell they do not come back and in dwell you know plants and animals and and people here on this earth so those are just speculative theories that are held by many in the world now we're going to look tonight at a couple of supposed scriptural theories and then one that has more support for it when I talk about supposed scriptural theories I'm talking about theories as to where demons come from that claim to have support in scripture but really the support is very weak and and I would say almost nonexistent for these two these two ideas the first one is that some people hold the theory that demons are the spirits of a pre-adamic race in other words a race of people who lived prior to Adam on planet earth you say well I didn't know the Bible said there was anybody that lived prior to Adam on planet earth you would be right I didn't either but there are a lot of people who think there are and it's tied to what is called the gap theory so what I want us to do is begin in Genesis chapter 1 the very first verse I want to describe for you how this theory came into being and why it came into being and how it is tied to this theory on demons or the the origin of demons Genesis chapter 1 this this theory of the origin of demons is as I said tied to what is often called the gap theory we're gonna look at the first couple of verses on want to try to explain very simply a whole books have been written on this so it's it's not easy to summarize but let me try to explain if I can what is often taught in the gap theory and and how it kind of fits hand in glove with this theory of the origin of demons Genesis 1 verse 1 in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth now I'm gonna explain to you what those who hold the gap theory believe about Genesis 1 and 1 and 2 I do not believe this but I don't think the scriptures really support it and we'll see that in a moment but here's what gap theorists believe they believe that Genesis 1 1 indicates an original perfect creation this was the original creation as God created the heavens and the earth perfectly and then they come to verse 2 and they read it this way verse 2 says now the earth was formless and empty darkness is over the surface of the deep and the spirit of God was hovering over the waters but those who believe the gap theory read this verse this way now the earth became formless and void and it was dark now when they read the Hebrew verb as became rather than was what they are implying is that something happened to bring on this formless empty dark condition of the world and because formless and empty and dark seems to indicate something evil well there must have been some kind of judgment that took place between verses 1 and 2 okay so that's another kind of building block of the gap theory and they say okay if there was some kind of judgment that God inflicted when there must have been at least angels at this time and the gap theory teaches that there were also people at this time you don't find any people mentioned here there's no indication there are any people between Genesis 1 1 and 1 2 but the reason why that theory arose was to was to help accommodate evolutionary theories evolutionary theories particularly in geology which require millions and millions and millions of years to explain the fossil record people in the late 1800s and early 1900s were kind of overwhelmed with this the evolutionary view thinking oh that's science and here we believe what the Bible teaches and we're unscientific and so they began to scramble for ways to fit evolution into the Bible and one of the ways it was devised was this gap theory which basically said well we can say there's a whole long gap of time between Genesis 1 1 and Genesis 1 2 and there must have been a race of people created and they may have lived for millions of years and populated the earth and and then God judge them because of some sin or rebellion and that's why the earth became formless and void it was perfect in verse 1 and then it became formless and void and dark and all this is a very evil thing and so these people must have been wiped out because of God's judgment and then verse 3 the gap theorists say is the beginning of a new creation and God said let there be light this is a recreation now this is called the gap theory because it posits a large gap of time between Genesis 1 1 and Genesis 1 2 and in that large gap of time gap theorists place the dinosaurs they place a whole world of people that have passed off the scene and that's where you get the fossil record and so forth it fits beautifully with evolution now here's here's the deal with where demons came from alongside this view those who believe in the gap theory often believe that demons are the spirits of those people before the second creation those people that lived on earth and were judged by God demons are the spirits of that pre-adamic race when they died when they were destroyed by the judgment of God their spirits became the demons okay now are you are you tracking with me do you understand what this gap theory is really doing any questions about that before we go on to obliterate it okay yes what year when they came up with the theory basically the theory came into being and into popular it at the end of the 1800s and early 1900s it was it was found in the first edition of the scofield Bible in 1917 the new scofield Bible which was done in 1967 updated they they removed it from the the new scofield but in 1917 it was a very popular view and basically it was because they felt like science says there was all these million years we can't question science we got a fitted into the Bible somehow and that's how they fit it in yes yeah that's what that's how some people take the word formless and empty or void in the King James that it was voided in other words there was something there that was then emptied and we'll see in just a moment that is not at all what the Hebrew text says at Hebrew professor in seminary that wrote a book on this called unformed and unfilled from this from this these two words translated in the NIV formless and empty and he probably did as much as anyone in the last 50 years to overthrow the gap theory because he just took the Hebrew text and described how it cannot mean that it was voided of something but there are a lot of people who believe that yes exactly yeah yeah that's where a lot of people put the dinosaurs and in creation science dinosaurs are part of God's creation and we're on the earth in the first few chapters of Genesis up until the flood and it was not a meteor that undid them it was a flood of worldwide flood described in Genesis 6 that took care of most of the dinosaurs but some of them existed after the flood I'm convinced that Noah took some dinosaurs on the ark with him and that Job in about 2100 BC saw a couple of them in in the book of Job Leviathan being one and behemoth being the other as he describes them there were probably the the last remnants of the dinosaurs what what did the dinosaurs in was the change in the climate after the flood before the flood there was a canopy over the earth vapor canopy which kept the whole earth same temperature greenhouse effect and they flourished in that tropical climate worldwide when when that collapsed in the flood that's where a lot of the rains came from for 40 days when that collapse the whole climate of the earth changed and dinosaurs could not live in the new climate the ones that Job saw were in behemoth was in the Jordan Valley which if you go to the Jordan Valley today the Dead Sea Jericho that area it's 105 degrees very tropical and so dinosaurs probably gravitated to those few pockets that were like what that was before the flood and eventually died out but I didn't mean to get into all that but yes dinosaurs are often placed by the gap theorists in that gap conveniently okay all right that that's pretty much the gap theory and along with the gap theory is this idea that well okay where did demons come from oh we've got a preademic race over here maybe their spirits or became the demons there's absolutely nothing about this in the scriptures there's no no support at all let me give you a few reasons why this is obviously not the case first of all in Genesis 1 2 the Hebrew verb is not became that that is a convenient way to take the verb to prove a point but all serious Hebrew scholars in western fields one of my Hebrew prophets wrote the book on this proved it without a shadow of doubt that it is what's called in Hebrew a Vav consecutive which is simply the word and and it continues a story it can be translated and or then or as the NIV does here now and so it has nothing to do with the earth became it's just describing what the earth was like when God first created it when God first created it it was formless it was unformed and unfilled he had not yet formed it that was in the six days that's what he did in the six days he had not yet filled it with plant life and animal life and mankind that was also done in the six days this is just describing what it was like as he originally spoken into existence and then he went about forming and filling it that's all that's being said in in verses one and two it is just bad grammar to say that the word means became it became it simply doesn't and and Hebrew scholars are all in agreement on that so that that's kind of a condemning argument against the gap theory secondly there is no evidence anywhere in the Bible for a race of people existing before Adam in fact there is biblical truth that indicates there could not have been a race of people that died before Adam can you think of what that biblical proof might be okay yes he was the first first man all right that's one good evidence okay Romans 5 2 for by one man sin entered the world and death by sin and so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned where did death originate with Adam not with a race of people that lived before Adam the Bible indicates there was no death before Adam and no sin nothing introduced by way of sin or death or evil before Adam so that destroys the gap theory as well or at least this preademic race if you don't have the preademic race then you you do away with this theory for where demons came from for sure the third thing is I forgot to mention this in in those who teach that demons came from this preademic race they basically also support their argument by saying since demons seek bodies to in dwell that means they must have had bodies to in dwell sometime in the past because they still want that well that's really jumping to conclusions you make up an idea and then you draw conclusions from that made up idea it just doesn't really fit doesn't work and so the reason why demons desire bodies has nothing to do with having in dwell bodies before Adam probably the reason why demons want to inhabit bodies and we referenced this a week or two ago is simply that that's probably one of the best means for them to accomplish their purpose is through people to wreak havoc in people's lives and on planet earth one of the best ways to do that is through people and and some believe that demons may actually get sensory pleasure from experiencing the world through the bodies of people so that they see and feel and touch and actually have some kind of sensual sensory pleasure in that way and and there may be some evidence of that in Luke 832 where remember when Jesus cast the demons out of the the Monarch of Guder and they asked to go into the pigs large heard of pigs were feeding there on the hillside the demons begged Jesus to let them go into the pigs now why would a demon want to go into a pig because evidently there is something even an animal is better than just floating around in space or in in the heavenlies and doing Satan's bidding that way they would prefer to have some kind of vehicle through which to express themselves even if it's a pig so the desire on the part of demons to in dwell and possess and to control really has nothing to do with some past experience of having done that before Adam there's no indication that at all in the Bible so really this this is a flimsy theory that is tied to another flimsy theory the gap theory which originated to try to accommodate evolution so this is all on shaky ground really shaky ground it's just really sketchy any questions about this theory supposed scriptural theory of where demons came from here's here's a similar one the second supposed scriptural theory is that demons are the spirits of the monstrous offspring of angels and women and you can probably tell where we're headed there is Genesis 6 this theory about the origin of demons is based on the interpretation of Genesis 6 that the sons of God in in that chapter were angels and the daughters of men were human and so angels cohabited with humans and their offspring which this theory says is described in verse 4 the Nephilim were on the earth in those days and also after when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans had children by them they were the heroes of old men of renown these were some kind of hybrid between humans and angels and this monstrous hybrid these these people when they were destroyed by the flood their spirits seek to inhabit people they became the demons well first of all as we have already seen when we were talking about angels although there are many people who do take that view of Genesis 6 that the sons of God are angels here that I believe is an incorrect interpretation of the passage although it is a difficult passage I think that's probably an incorrect interpretation and even if you do accept that interpretation even if you do believe this is talking about angels intermarrying and staying married to humans which just seems really far out there according to what rest of the Bible teaches about angels but even if you do take that theory there's no indication that the spirits of their offspring became demons that's another huge leap into the unknown so it just seems to be a very sketchy view of where demons came from okay comments questions about either of those two supposed scriptural theories that really don't seem to hold a lot of weight all right well let's look at a what most believe is a substantial scriptural theory not suppose scriptural theory that kind of uses a little bit of scripture and adds a lot of other stuff but but really has good biblical support where did demons come from where did they originate how did they get here in the first place well let this let's first of all do a statement of the theory of where they came from and then we'll try to provide some support for it to state the theory let's let's state first of all who they are who are the demons they are Satan's angels Satan's angels not good angels but Satan's angels who followed him in his rebellion against God now we've already indicated that back when we were talking about good angels and the different categories of them and so forth we already have talked about it again when we talked about Satan and where Satan came from so this is ground we've covered before but let me just quickly remind you of the the scriptural support here we're gonna put these verses on the screen for you is equal 28 in describing the fall of Satan and his original state says through through your widespread trade you were filled with violence and you sinned so I drove you in disgrace from the mount of God expelled you this seems to be an indication as we've seen before of the the fall of Satan and his casting out of heaven his position near the throne of God because of that and this widespread trade seems to indicate that he persuaded others to follow him other angels he in common language today sold them a bill of goods he he merchandise with them to to get them to follow him and then we've already looked at at revelation chapter 12 and verse four it's tale remember the dragon the story of the dragon we've looked at this passage several times swept a third of the stars out of the sky again a very symbolic passage where most everything in this passage is clearly symbolic the dragon is Satan he's identified a Satan later on in the passage and his tail drags a third of the stars often in the book of revelation stars or angels so it seems to be implying that that Satan when he rebelled against God took a third of the angels with him with the result as we have seen in this passage before also Matthew 25 verse 41 then he will say to those on his left this is the sheep and goat judgment at the end of the tribulation time when Jesus comes at the second coming depart from me you who are cursed into the eternal fire prepared non-autist for the devil and his angels so the devil has some angels okay they seem to have come from his rebellion is equal 28 and his being cast out of heaven revelation 12 so that whoever these angels were that followed him are now his angels okay so demons seem to be Satan's subjects and helpers in his program of opposition against God and God's kingdom and God's people they have been expelled from heaven along with Satan and they are now with him roaming the second heaven the heavenly places the Bible talks about fission six our our battle is not against flesh and blood begins principalities powers evil powers in high places in the heavenly places so they they exist there and they also do their work on planet earth to try to overthrow God's work okay so that that's a statement of this view and that is that demons are Satan's angels who followed him in his rebellion were expelled from heaven when he was and now are under him doing his bidding trying to promote his work questions or comments there yes Vicki it's figurative because the woman is actually the nation of Israel no it's not married the woman is is Israel again later in chapter 12 if you read the whole chapter you find out that it's talking about when he's finally cast out of heaven where he can no longer go in and and condemn God's people before God when he's finally cast out of heaven in the middle of the tribulation he pursues this woman and tries to put her to death the woman it's it's a story of the persecution of Israel in the second half of the tribulation so but the the woman is real is who produced the Messiah so the woman in chapter 12 of Revelation is Israel who gave us the Messiah the child is Christ yes but the woman appears in the context to be Israel so there's no question that Satan was busy when Mary gave birth to Jesus trying to do away with Jesus so the same concept is true of that because of remember Herod's plot to kill Jesus so what you what you indicated was definitely happening yes it was true but Revelation 12 is talking more about the nation okay so that seems to be where demons come from and there seem to be two general classes of demons those that are free and those that are bound so there are some demons that are bound some demons that are free to roam about and do Satan's bidding those are the two general classes now we're gonna break that down a little bit further those that are bound seem to to fall into one of two places of confinement the first one is in Tartarus okay those in Tartarus we're gonna put this verse on the screen for you second Peter 2 for for if God did not spare angels when they sinned but sent them to hell putting them in chains of darkness to be held for judgment now notice what this is this is saying second Peter 2 is Peter's warning against false teachers in the church that they will be condemned and judged by God in hell and and he says he gives several Old Testament examples one of them is angels who sinned now what happened to these angels is they were sent to hell but it's not it's a different word it's not the word for hell that's usually used in the New Testament it's the word Tartarus and it's it's a totally different concept than than the hell where people go when they die who do not know the Lord what what happens in Tartarus is that these angels are in chains of darkness and they are held there for judgment the implication is they cannot escape they cannot be released or get out they are being held there until they are finally judged and cast into the lake of fire with Satan after the millennium in Revelation 20 okay so that seems to be one place where some angels are bound they are held and in this particular case these angels are not able to be released or not able to get out but there is another place different word called the abyss or in some translations the pit so some who are bound really the two classes are free and bound but some who are bound are in Tartarus they evidently are guilty of some kind of heinous sin and we've looked before probably probably what it was was they were some of the leaders with Satan in his rebellion and may have been the ones who did a lot of the trafficking to get other angels we don't know for sure but something they did was so grievous that they're being kept in chains of darkness but there are others that go to a place called the abyss or the pit and some of them seem to be able to be released a couple of a couple of passages that mention this Luke 831 again this is the this is the passage about the demonic of Gideira the demons are cast out of him and they beg Jesus repeatedly not to order them to go into the abyss don't don't send us to the abyss don't send us to the pit well that same concept pops back up in Revelation 9 and there's an interesting feature in Revelation 9 that seems to make it different than Tartarus Revelation 9 5th angel sounded his trumpets this is one of the trumpet judgments in the in the tribulation time I saw a star that had fallen from the sky remember star symbolically in Revelation often referring to angels saw star that had fallen from the sky of the earth the star was given the key to the shaft of the abyss when he opened the abyss smoke rose from it like the smoke from a gigantic furnace the sun and sky were darkened by the smoke from the abyss and out of the smoke locusts came down on the earth and were given power like that of scorpions of the earth now skip down to verse 10 there's a lot more description about these these beings that that sting like scorpions but verse 10 says this about them 10 and 11 they had tails with stingers like scorpions and in their tails they had the power to torment people for five months they had a king over them the angel of the abyss whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon and in Greek a pollyon that is destroyer most Bible scholars believe those are names for Satan himself who is the king ruling over these beings that come out of the abyss and torment people for five months Satan who is Satan the king of his angels demons so these demons that take on weird shapes and this is symbolic language but are able to torment people for five months they are able to be released from the abyss which leads most to believe that the abyss and tarders are two different places those cast-in tarders are bound forever until they're released to be thrown into the lake of fire those in the abyss at least in this case and maybe in others can actually come out and be released so two general classes some demons are free they roam about like Satan doing his bidding on planet earth some are bound in one of those two places okay that that is basically a statement of the theory of where demons come from they are Satan's angels who followed him in his rebellion have been cast out of heaven many of them are free to roam about and do Satan's bidding others are bound in one of those two places of of imprisonment okay comments questions yes Bill I think it was another angel an angel from heaven that came down remember in the book of Revelation angels introduce all 21 of the judgments they they open the seals they pour out the bowls they blow the trumpets and so in this case this is a fifth trumpet judgment the angel that came down out of the sky to the earth probably is a good angel that that blows the trumpet that begins this this form of God's judgment in this trumpet judgment which is the release of these demons to inflict people I think that was probably a good angel yeah they're just there and the ones that are bound in Tartarus have no means of escape at all they're being punished I mean they're they're completely off the grid as far as any impact with human beings those in the abyss don't have any impact with human beings either it's unless they are released like those in Revelation 9 and we don't really know if that ever happens any other time in Revelation 9 it may but there's no record of it anywhere else all right let's take the rest of our time to give you some support for this theory of where demons come from four things I want to mention first of all demons have a similar relation to Satan in other words in the New Testament they are often mentioned in connection with Satan which supports the fact that they belong to him they work under him they are his angels okay just one passage that I'll mention it will be on the screen there are lots of passages like this but Matthew 12 verses 24 and 26 you remember when Jesus casting out demons and the Pharisees accusing of doing it by the power of Satan okay Matthew chapter 12 okay I'm sorry I didn't get that one on the screen let's let's look at that one Matthew chapter 12 verses 24 and 26 it is the story of Jesus casting out demons the Pharisees in verse 24 when the Pharisees heard this they said it is only by belesable the prince of demons that this fall of drives out demons okay so it's clear Jesus is casting out demons the Pharisees say he's doing it by the prince of demons and look at what Jesus says in verse 26 if Satan drives out Satan he is divided against himself how then can his kingdom stand okay so Jesus admits the fact that these demons or at least he's saying what the Pharisees are saying is that that these demons are are led by Satan and he gives them the fact that Satan is over the demons okay if Satan is casting out Satan his own people if you will then he's working against his own kingdom so Christ basically ties the demons to Satan's kingdom so it's a very strong indication that Satan and demons go together okay then a second support is they have a similar essence in being a similar essence of being and here's here's the way this one works angels in the Bible are called spirits their their their spirit beings and so sometimes they're just called spirits for instance Hebrews 1 14 are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation obviously this is talking about good angels they are ministering spirits again they are spirit beings well demons are also called spirits which means they are angels bad angels but they're called spirits notice these couple of verses Matthew 8 16 when evening came many who were noticed this demon possessed okay so they're possessed by demons were brought to him and he drove out what the spirits so demons are spirit beings same thing in Luke 10 Luke 10 when Jesus had sent his disciples out to minister two by two and they came back with all these glowing reports of all that had happened 72 returned with joy and said Lord even the demons submit to us in your name now verse 20 here's Jesus response however do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you again demons are called spirits angels are spirits demons are spirits but demons are evil spirits evil spirits and that term is often used in the New Testament as well well that fits beautifully with the fact that Satan is an evil angel originally a good angel rebellion squad kicked out of heaven and now he is an evil angel demons are spirits also evil spirits evil angels which seems to tie them again to Satan so you've got this connection again in another way remember we're trying to prove the point that demons are Satan's angels who rebelled with him follow him do his bidding they're very essence seems to be tied together and then thirdly they are involved in similar activities Satan and demons are involved in similar activities which again seems to tie the two together seems to imply that demons are Satan's angels the activity that they seem to have in common is both Satan and demons seek to control possess enter into is one way to say it to control the personality of a human being obviously you find that often with with demons in the New Testament several instances we've already looked at another one in in Matthew 17 when they came to the crowd a man approached Jesus now before in Lord have mercy on my son we saw this one last week he has seizures is suffering greatly often falls into the fire or into the water I brought him to disciples they could not heal him remember Jesus cast out a demon out of the boy the demon was trying to destroy this boy by causing into inflict harm on himself well Jesus cast out the demon demon had possessed him entered into him controlling his personality that happens often in Jesus minister all the demon possession stories well Satan does the same thing and it's very clearly stated specifically with Judas two verses put him on the screen will quickly loop 223 then Satan entered Judas called a scary at one of the twelve this is in the upper room right before Judas goes out to betray Jesus John says at this way in John 1327 as soon as Judas took the bread Satan entered into him so Jesus told him what you're about to do do quickly now it doesn't mean Judas was an innocent pawn of the devil Judas had already arranged with the Pharisees to betray Jesus it's just at this point Satan literally controls his personality to give him the guts to go through with it and he leaves the upper room and goes through with it so Satan enters into controls possesses an unsaved man and demons do the same thing so again they're tied closely together so that leads us to believe because they have they have a similar relation to each other similar essence of being spirit beings evil they have similar activities then we we believe that that gives us sufficient identification as to who the demons are because of the many parallel mentions of Satan's angels and demons in the Bible if the demons are not Satan's angels if they're not one and the same then the Bible gives us no other clear identification as to who the demons are it seems to be clear with all these identifications of Satan with demons that demons indeed are the angels Satan's angels that followed him in his rebellion and we've seen several ways to kind of show that okay that's the support the scriptural support for this understanding of where demons came from that they were actually once good angels that followed Satan in his rebellion and now they do his bidding as evil angels seeking to promote his program that's who the demons are so when the Bible talks about evil angels or evil spirits that's the same thing as demons they're the same okay questions comments arrays booze whatever anything you want to say all right mark the date I'm letting you out one minute early tonight so mark the date write it in your Bible exclamation points beside it let's pray father thank you for your grace to us thank you that because we are in Christ as first John 5 says the evil one cannot have us and we thank you for that lord help us to be alert and aware of his attacks and not thinking that we're immune from his attacks but thank you lord that he cannot possess us completely control our personality he cannot have us and we thank you that you've provided that protection through Christ Lord as we see what your word has to say about demons help us not to do so with either a morbid preoccupation with them or a nervous fear of them help us father to do so with a keen understanding that you have us in your hand and you protect us and we pray that we will always depend upon you in Jesus name amen