Angels, Demons, the Flood, and Spiritual Warfare.
The following is a short little "trek"
through some ideas about angels, demons, the flood, and spiritual
warfare. I had not spent much time investigating Scripture on the topic
of demons and angels in the past. At least not in dealing with their
possible origins or so forth. This is not meant to be detailed
scholarship, but just sketching out thoughts as I read the Scripture.
It started when a friend of mine asked about a Bible reference on
demons where it talked about Jesus going into hell. My friend is not a
Christian, but was interested in the reference because of a movie he
had seen. So I started to read through the Bible, and wrote down some
thoughts on the references.
First, the text my friend was referring to is from I Peter. Here is the body of that quote:
"For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit, through whom also he went and preached to the spirits in prison who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water," (I Peter 3:18-20)
To clarify something for a moment, the term "angel" does not apparently mean just "nice". Some believe that the Bible talks about angels which opted out of heaven and joined up with Satan (who they also believe was once an Archangel in heaven called Lucifer). The basic concept being that Lucifer was a top angel and decided he liked the praise God was receiving, so he would try to get some for himself. The following is a reference in the Old Testament is a prophecy against Satan:
They will all respond, they will say to you, "You also have become weak, as we are; you have become like us." All your pomp has been brought down to the grave, along with the noise of your harps; maggots are spread out beneath you and worms cover you. How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations! You said in your heart, "I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High." But you are brought down to the grave, to the depths of the pit. (Isaiah 14:10-15)
According to this theory, Satan's plan didn't work so good, and he got tossed out of heaven. A third of the angels from heaven had joined Satan in his plan, so they got tossed out too.
"Then he will say to those on his left, `Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels'" (Matthew 25:41)
The
theory of Satan being a heavenly angel and his demons being previous
angelic hosts was widely held, and in fact became the standard opinion
amongst many evangelicals throughout the 20th century. This is
tough to wash in the theological laundrymat however because the
reference in Isaiah must be assumed to be speaking of Satan, since it
does not explicitly do so. There are no other supporting texts to
give Satan a heavenly origin. Not saying it isn't true, just
saying, its a stretch to base an entire thinking on such a thin
premise. But let's let it go at that for now.
But back to the idea about angels in hell - Peter seems to talk about this topic more than the other writers of the New Testament letters/books. In his second letter he writes :
For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment, if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others; (II Peter 2:4-5)
The two verses in Peter's letters not only link the idea of evil spirits being in hell (called "spirits in prison" in the 1 Peter quote, and "angels when they sinned" in the 2 Peter quote), he also brings together the idea that some specific "spirits" were dealt with in this way at the time relating to the flooding of the earth. Conceptually, the idea of demons requiring a "house" to live in is interesting in biblical terms. Aside from the obvious biblical references to evil spirits requiring a place to "live" (see Matthew 12:43; Luke 11:24), the flood provides some additional interesting connections. At the time of the flood, God wiped out all humanity, except 8 people (Noah, his wife, their 3 sons, and their wives). Also wiped out were all the animals, and again the only ones saved were the selected ones from each species, saved in the ark. The building of the ark took (it is thought) around 100 years. I can't find it now, but scholars think the size and dating of the events in the biblical record place it at about that time. Prior to the flood the ages of most people were in the hundreds of years, so building for a hundred years was no big deal- just in case you were wondering. Note that the above 1 Peter quote says " spirits in prison who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built" . Since the ark took so long to build, "God waited patiently" for Noah to finish it J . But think about the reason the ark was built, God was going to purge the earth of the complete corruption that had consumed it. I quote:
The LORD saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. So the LORD said, "I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth--men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air--for I am grieved that I have made them." But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD. (Genesis 6:5-8)
God was fed up with the incredible lust for wickedness that had become the "mainstay" of the lives of those people at the time. But how did the evil get so completely- evil? The 4 verses just before the above quote from Genesis, I think explain it:
When men began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose. Then the LORD said, "My Spirit will not contend with man forever, for he is mortal; his days will be a hundred and twenty years." The Nephilim were on the earth in those days--and also afterward--when the sons of God went to the daughters of men and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown. (Genesis 6:1-4)
The term "sons of God" and Nephilim have been interpreted by some as "angels" who went to earth and assumed human identities. They married and had children by human wives. This is a "theory" that some have used to interpret the scriptures I mention. Here is another Scripture verse which "fits" the theory, and perhaps provides good corroboration:
And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their own home--these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day. (Jude 1:6)
So anyway, if you take the idea that God was fed up with the evil of the earth, and that the evil angels were "disobeying" by having children with the human women on the earth (while God was "waiting patiently" for the ark to be finished), then the concept of God punishing the bad angels during the time of the flood makes some sense. See again the II Peter 2:4-5 quote. The flooding of the earth and the punishment of the evil angels (actually, the putting of them in dungeons to wait for punishment) is not an unrelated event, in my mind.
Another point for me to introduce here is this - the record of Noah building the ark (Genesis 6), talks of how no-one believed or helped him other than his sons. When the flood was about to come, God told Noah seven days in advance (see Genesis 7:4), and he and his family were to get in the ark after the animals were on board. Once they got onboard, God closed the door (it was too big for anyone else too close, because the ark was built so large).
So… back to my connecting this- if the evil spirits required a place to dwell, and God was wanting to wipe out evil from the earth, the flood was the thing that would be especially effective. Everyone would die, except those on the ark. The evil spirits may have been able to go from body to body as long as they were close enough to go into them, but as people died off in the flood, there would be no where to go. Also, there would be no animals to go into either (there is an example of evil spirits entering pigs in the Bible- the story of a man from the Gerasenes region who was possessed with enough demons, that they called themselves "legion"). The whole concept of the flood is also an interesting thing, if you are trying to kill demons. The Luke 8:25-36 text says this -
They sailed to the region of the Gerasenes, which is across the lake from Galilee. When Jesus stepped ashore, he was met by a demon-possessed man from the town. For a long time this man had not worn clothes or lived in a house, but had lived in the tombs.
When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell at his feet, shouting at the top of his voice, "What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, don't torture me!" For Jesus had commanded the evil spirit to come out of the man. Many times it had seized him, and though he was chained hand and foot and kept under guard, he had broken his chains and had been driven by the demon into solitary places.
Jesus asked him, "What is your name?" "Legion," he replied, because many demons had gone into him. And they begged him repeatedly not to order them to go into the Abyss. A large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside. The demons begged Jesus to let them go into them, and he gave them permission.
When the demons came out of the man, they went into the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned. When those tending the pigs saw what had happened, they ran off and reported this in the town and countryside, and the people went out to see what had happened. When they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting at Jesus' feet, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid Those who had seen it told the people how the demon-possessed man had been cured.
(Luke 8:25-36)
So, here we have Jesus driving out a "legion" of demons from this guy. The demons apparently don't want to leave, and really don't want to have to go to hell (the Abyss). They know they have to leave the man (because Jesus had commanded them to do so), so they try to cop a plea with Jesus, begging him to let them go into some nearby pigs. Remember, Jesus is a King, and they (demons) are agents working for another kingdom which is bent on completely destroying Jesus' kingdom (meaning, all mankind- that Jesus was sent to redeem from sin). Anyway, Jesus allows them to go in the pigs, though apparently he could have sent them directly to hell.
Then, what we see happen is that the pigs are immediately drowned. Obviously, the demons were not going to go into another human, since Jesus was right there and would have simply driven them out again. But with the demon-possessed pigs being drowned, and no-where for them to go, perhaps the same concept is being applied here. With nowhere to go, the demons are defeated (the Bible doesn't talk about demons dying actually, only being put in hell- to be held until they are thrown into the lake of fire after the Final Judgement). One might even conjecture that the water had some significance to the whole thing, since the demons in the flood and the "legion" demons were both apparently defeated by water. I personally believe that the demons from "legion" where sent to hell after the pigs drowned. Jesus had only given them permission to go into the pigs, he had not held clemency on their sentence to hell. I think it was an encounter of war-time activity, where the King of one kingdom was not letting the enemy off. Rather, he (Jesus) was using them (the demons) as a lesson for the people who where with him (the disciples and the other people who were with Jesus). The lesson was on spiritual warfare. The lesson was that Satan was at war with the Kingdom of God, and that Satan and his demons were in the world to completely destroy all people who might otherwise turn to God. The lesson was also that in dealing with demons, we must not be easy on them, but must send them all to hell. The lesson was that even if the demons beg, Jesus was ruthless in destroying them, even to the point of making an example of being unrelenting on his treatment of them. Jesus was teaching his disciples and he wanted them to carry on the work of his kingdom, in just the way he was doing it while he was with them (Matthew 28:18-20).
Further, Jesus was completely passionate about teaching his disciples how to fight this battle and win in the war. Here is an example when Jesus sent out a group of them to do what he was doing, after he had trained them:
After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. He told them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves…When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is set before you. Heal the sick who are there and tell them, `The kingdom of God is near you.' …He who listens to you listens to me; he who rejects you rejects me; but he who rejects me rejects him who sent me."
The seventy-two returned with joy and said, "Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name."
He replied, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven." (Luke 20:1-3, 8-9,16-20)
The words "snakes and scorpions" in the last section are squashed between talking about Satan and talking about "the power of the enemy". Just so you know, I think that people who take that as being literal snakes or scorpions are sadly mistaken. The flow of the text is completely dealing with spiritual warfare, not anything to do with handling of poisonous reptiles. Plus if you read the whole chapter, there entire context has to do with spiritual warfare and training, not animal handling. I think the analogy being used was very clear to the people of the day, since they all knew the story of Adam and Eve and the fact that the original embodiment of sin coming in contact with humans was a serpent!
But, I digress. The ideas of demons needing a place to "reside", and that they were in hell for disobedience, are pretty old concepts. Perhaps water has some significance as well, but likely it is just a tool used to destroy the demons, by destroying the demons "houses".
Those are just some thoughts.
Kim Gentes