Demonic Invasion
Genesis 6:1-4
¶ So God said to Noah, "I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth. Genesis 6:13
1-4 As we read the opening verses of chapter 6 you no doubt will have a question; What does this mean? And perhaps another question … of all the things that Moses could have told us about this period of time … why does he tell us this? What is important about this?
These verses have been the result of a multitude of interpretations.
Let's begin.
Chapter six begins by giving us a backdrop leading up to a catastrophic event. Two things are emphasized in verse one.
What do we mean by 'sons of God'?
What are the possible meanings?
b) by their invitation
c) invisibly – spirit beings suddenly coming upon them. - or
d) visibly … the demons taking on human form
e) married, or in this case only cohabited. - or
f) Demons possessed men … enjoying the relationship with the women via
the male bodies they possessed
-Possessed by the men ignorantly and unexpectedly -or
So I will say right here, that I see the sons of God .. particularly as the term is used in the Old Testament, as being angels. Primarily when they are mentioned it is referring to the good angels. But these 'sons of God' are beings … even though they are now called demons … that were created by God.
So what we have here in Genesis is the mention of another first - Demon possession on a large scale.
Why? Why would this action of demons be mentioned by Moses. Demons are undoubtedly involved in many evil things on the earth at this point. Why mention this in particular?
We need to go back a bit and make some observations and ask another question or two.
Lucifer lead a number of angels in a rebellion against God. He thought he could overpower Him and take his place. He himself was a creation of God. For him to think, as a created being of the Almighty, that he had a chance of success, we see as being really ignorant. Obviously there are things we don't know about that whole thing. We were not there to observe. God did not opt to give us all the details.
However, it is a fact
I think it is right to say that Satan will take any ground away from God that he can, using any possible means.
His first victory – By deceiving Eve and by Adam's willful choice, mankind are now born sinners. Perfection was successfully destroyed.
His second (recorded) victory – To instill pride, jealousy, hatred to the point of murder.
His Third victory – Destroy God's plan for family. He created Adam and Eve. Their descendants, as they marry, were to be one man, one woman for life. That is clear in Genesis and in the words of Jesus when He quoted Genesis. But Satan caused Lamech (number one) to go for two wives. And in the background we can just see Satan and other demons laugh. “So there, God!”
The beginning of Polygamy.
In the early history of man … descendants of Cain, yes, but also in the descendants of other children that Adam and Eve produced, there were many 'firsts' in the catalog of sins. Each time Satan saw it as some kind of victory.
Satan uses many methods to achieve his victories. One method that he does not use, is open transparency. He does not say, “Follow me for your life time and you will be far worse off than you ever dreamed”. Or “Follow me and you will experience suffering and darkness for eternity.” He does not get any headway by doing that.
He uses deception.
He made Eve feel like God was somehow cheating them by not allowing them to eat from the tree of knowledge. He said, God knows that the moment you eat from the tree, you will become as God.
He uses counterfeiting. He puts himself forward as if he is a good person.
The Apostle Paul makes a connection between Satan's servants,(the demons) and men.
For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ.
14 And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.
15 It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. 2Corinthians 11:13
What we have just read says that Satan's servants will be hard to distinguish from real ministers of God.
And that is how Satan mostly wants to come across – as an angel of light.
That's how he wants to come across … but what lies in his heart? What is at the core of the heart of all demons?
Certainly it is to hurt God, by marring everything that God has made. But Satan is the originator of all evil thought and desire. There are things that he enjoys. He enjoys lying, masquerading, cheating, stealing, lusting, torturing, killing etc.
The daughters of men are mentioned separately because their beauty is evidently attractive to demons. When you give it a bit of thought, the evil attributes of demons should be no surprise to us.
Jesus told the pharisees on one occasion,
You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. John 8:44
When we think of every evil desire that is present in the world today, we realize these have all come from Satan and his demons. Hatred. Murder. Lies. But also lust. Satan and his demons not only teach people to lust … they do it themselves.
So lets answer the question, how exactly did the sons of God, demons … cohabit with humans, beautiful women … and produce offspring?
My view is number 2 (f) above. Demons possessed men who were open to it, and vicariously enjoyed sexual pleasures. I reject the idea that all of these women were being demon possessed and having babies that were half human and half demon. There are those who believe that. They make the 'Nephalim' fit the picture of some kind of a wicked, ugly, vicious beast with uncanny powers.
When Jesus talks about physical relationships in heaven He says this; When the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. Mark 12:25
This sounds to me like a demon would need a physical body to work through in order to get their pleasures. Possessing a body started in the garden of Eden. Satan had just recently fallen from being one of the good angels. He entered the body of a serpent. Jesus was asked by a whole group of demons … who had possessed a single person, if he would please not send them to the abyss, but rather into a herd if nearby pigs. Satan learned how to possess beings early on.
It appears that for the thousand years or so just before the flood that they were really enjoying the practice of possessing men so that as men related to their wives in a sexual way, the demons could enjoy it as well. The scripture also says they took wives … plural. This can mean each demon …took one woman … or it can mean that they encouraged and lead men into plural marriages. Lamach in a previous chapter had two wives. Who would have led him to do that?
The offspring. Notice the wording of verse 4. There were giants (Nephalim) on the earth IN THOSE DAYS AND ALSO AFTERWARDS when the sons of God etc.
The scripture is not teaching us that Nephalim only existed as offspring from this union. It is saying that they were already common and when women bore children from husbands who willingly were open to demon possession, that the result was even greater exploits by offspring who had such a father.
The KJV says giants. The NIV does not translate it at all but says Nephalim. That word is basically the Hebrew letters put into our English language without translating them. The word Nephalim can most certainly mean giant.
What we actually have here (I believe) are offspring that are giants of another type. Everyone probably was physically larger than we are due to the different atmospheric conditions etc. due to the firmament that is surrounding the earth. And genetically, by this time, bigger men marrying bigger women were no doubt producing some pretty big kids, who grew up to be even bigger than average.
What other kind of giants are there? I believe the bible explains itself here. First it says in verse 4 there were great people on the earth. At the end of the verse it describes their greatness … people of renown. Powerful.
How many of the fallen angels participated in possessing men for the purpose of perverted sex ? We have no way of knowing even an approximate number. We only know that it was not ALL of them by any means.
Where are the perverted demons today?
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;
7 as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. Jude 1:6,7
These fallen angels were chained up … when? There are only two possible times that I am aware of, the first being right after the initial satanic rebellion and the other a specific judgment on those angels who promoted the perversion about which we have been speaking.
I believe Jude is talking about the latter group because of his mentioning the men of Sodom 'going after strange flesh' as his comparison.
Many fallen angels are chained up today. They are in prison. Many are still on the loose. It seems obvious to me, that not ALL demons were possessing men prior to the flood. It was on these particular ones that God pronounced a judgment and chained them up.
Why chain up angels for this particular sin?
Of all the sins that demons are involved in, why destroy the earth … for this particular sin?
What was the main sin of Sodom? Homosexuality. God hates all sin … but burned a hole deep into the earth when he took out this city. Satan perverts all of God's 'norms' if he can. For some reason when Satan's demons perverted sexual orientation God said, “OK. That's it. It's judgment day for you!”
Jude said (see above) that the sin of Sodom was 'going after strange flesh'. Perversion. But in the same context he said that angels who were involved in perversion are chained up. They left their 'abode' (NKJV) … left their 'estate' (KJV). They, although sinful and wicked … stepped over the line into gross perversion.
How is their activity different or the same today?
Demon possession today.
In the Gospels and also in the book of Acts we read about demon possession … quite a bit of it. Reason says that when the Son of Man came to this earth … when the promised Seed that Eve was hoping for came … Satan would summon all those that he has left to come to that geographical area. It would be full out war against God. He tried to kill the promised seed when he was just a baby. He tried to kill him later on by having him pushed over a cliff. He tried to drown him when He was asleep in a boat. He tried to prevent Him from going to the cross. When he saw he could not prevent that, he made Jesus death as gruesome as he could. Then he spread lies about His resurrection.
Demon activity in the world today
Mt 24:37 "But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.
Mt 24:38 "For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark,
Mt 24:39 "and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.
Luke 17:28 "Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built;
29 "but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all.
30 "Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed.
So why did God think it necessary to include these 4 verses? It is obviously some kind of a warning.
The men that were used by these perverted demons were not victims. They welcomed the demons.
Satan's initial promise to Eve was increased knowledge. Secret knowledge. Becoming like a god.
That was appealing to Eve. And that is appealing to many today.
Satan specializes in providing replacements for God.
In the days of the early church in the book of Acts we discover Paul coming against the educated Gnostics. These were people who literally worshiped education. This became a replacement for God.
We read of a rich young ruler who asked Jesus about how he might acquire eternal life … he went away without bowing to Jesus. Jesus said how difficult it is for someone with great riches to come into the kingdom of God. Easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle he said. Money becomes a replacement for God. Entertainment becomes a replacement.
Is Satan the author of all of these? No. He is the author of replacement and will use anything that we are open to.
He will use incorrect understanding of the Word to become a replacement of truth. I am thinking particularly of the teaching of some religious groups that teach a second level of spirituality is possible, and that it is above the average. In this case it is a person's desire for having the 'best' and the greatest gift. This focus is a replacement for a spirit of humble obedience.
Freedom, that is becoming your own authority … no one can tell you what you should do … you are your own boss. Freedom becomes the replacement for the servant heart … and taking up your cross.
They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity—for a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him. 2Peter 2:19
Satan and his demons are real. But they have no automatic dominion over you. However, if you are open self edifying things, the demons are right there to help you replace God. Some people are totally open for a demon to step in.
Ro 6:16 Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey— whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?
Ro 6:22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.
1Pe 5:8 ¶ Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.
9 Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.
Jas 4:7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Verse three indicates that God's spirit has been 'striving' with humanity, but that his patience … of the limit of sinful disobedience that he tolerates, is reaching an end. He announces 120 years as the remaining days of grace.
God has been 'striving'. He wishes to... have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. I Timothy 2:4
Note, God's issue is not with demons. It is with man. God holds men entirely responsible for their behaviour. The flood is not to destroy demons … it is to judge man for worldwide wickedness.
God is not willing for any to perish … but he will not violate our free will.
In all fairness I should mention an often unrecognized fact. Of the billions who died in the flood, how many were infants? How many were toddlers with no real sense of right or wrong? Millions? They drowned in the flood. How many others were not steeped in sin and were 'riding the fence'? They died too. How many called out to God for salvation as the waters came up? Was it too late for all of them?
We don't have concrete answers for these questions but we read this in 1Pe 3:18 ¶ For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit,
19 by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison,
20 who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water.
Many souls ended up in paradise, Abraham's bosom that day. Jesus spent three days in the heart of the earth, not communing with demons, but ministering to all of the saints who had died prior to His death on Calvary.
Only eight people were on the ark. Everyone else died in the flood or, as we pointed out last time, other righteous ones died before the flood … they were taken out by God's grace.
God will not destroy the earth with water again. But he will destroy the earth some day. The gospel of the kingdom must be preached in all the world before the end will come. Are we close to having completed this task? Does preaching to the world assume mass conversion?
It does not sound like it when we read the following verse:
Luke 18:8 …. When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?"
We are not only headed for … we are already in a time just as it was in the days of Noah.
Proverbs 11:30 ¶ The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, And he who wins souls is wise.
Daniel 12:3 And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.
Genesis 6:1-4
¶ So God said to Noah, "I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth. Genesis 6:13
1-4 As we read the opening verses of chapter 6 you no doubt will have a question; What does this mean? And perhaps another question … of all the things that Moses could have told us about this period of time … why does he tell us this? What is important about this?
These verses have been the result of a multitude of interpretations.
Let's begin.
Chapter six begins by giving us a backdrop leading up to a catastrophic event. Two things are emphasized in verse one.
- The population of the earth has been multiplying.
By the time of the flood of Noah's day, 1656 years from creation, the population is estimated to have reached between 7 and 10 billion. This text uses the phrase 'began to multiply'. So we are not speaking only of days just prior to God's announcement of coming judgment on the sinful world. This verse says, began to multiply … and easily includes a span of time from when the earth had say, half a billion people, right up to when it had 7 to 10 billion.
Particular emphasis is put on the statement: daughters were born. - You might think … “Of course daughters were born, why single them out?”
The reason becomes a bit more clear in the following verses.
What do we mean by 'sons of God'?
What are the possible meanings?
- Sons of God, believers, married beautiful unbelieving women. (Cain-ites with Seth-ites)
- Sons of God are creations of God, angels. These are now fallen angels, Demons, who cohabited with beautiful women. Here are a variety of views regarding this. This cohabiting took place:
b) by their invitation
c) invisibly – spirit beings suddenly coming upon them. - or
d) visibly … the demons taking on human form
e) married, or in this case only cohabited. - or
f) Demons possessed men … enjoying the relationship with the women via
the male bodies they possessed
-Possessed by the men ignorantly and unexpectedly -or
- -Possessed by the men, willingly and welcomed.
So I will say right here, that I see the sons of God .. particularly as the term is used in the Old Testament, as being angels. Primarily when they are mentioned it is referring to the good angels. But these 'sons of God' are beings … even though they are now called demons … that were created by God.
So what we have here in Genesis is the mention of another first - Demon possession on a large scale.
Why? Why would this action of demons be mentioned by Moses. Demons are undoubtedly involved in many evil things on the earth at this point. Why mention this in particular?
We need to go back a bit and make some observations and ask another question or two.
Lucifer lead a number of angels in a rebellion against God. He thought he could overpower Him and take his place. He himself was a creation of God. For him to think, as a created being of the Almighty, that he had a chance of success, we see as being really ignorant. Obviously there are things we don't know about that whole thing. We were not there to observe. God did not opt to give us all the details.
However, it is a fact
- that he was in Eden, the garden of God.
- He was a good angel at that time.
- A few days later he is mentioned as speaking to Eve.
- Now he is the fallen angel. Sometime after the creation of man he lead in a rebellion against God.
- His temptation of Eve is his first time of tempting a human being to sin.
- Why is he tempting her? He is doing this as a strike against God. He has lost his battle against God. He is deposed of his position as 'The Anointed Cherub'. He has been humiliated. He sees this as a great opportunity to retaliate against God. He lost round one of openly attacking God on His throne. But he has not given up. He is in a battle now to get even with God by destroying his beautiful creation. He started with the woman.
I think it is right to say that Satan will take any ground away from God that he can, using any possible means.
His first victory – By deceiving Eve and by Adam's willful choice, mankind are now born sinners. Perfection was successfully destroyed.
His second (recorded) victory – To instill pride, jealousy, hatred to the point of murder.
His Third victory – Destroy God's plan for family. He created Adam and Eve. Their descendants, as they marry, were to be one man, one woman for life. That is clear in Genesis and in the words of Jesus when He quoted Genesis. But Satan caused Lamech (number one) to go for two wives. And in the background we can just see Satan and other demons laugh. “So there, God!”
The beginning of Polygamy.
In the early history of man … descendants of Cain, yes, but also in the descendants of other children that Adam and Eve produced, there were many 'firsts' in the catalog of sins. Each time Satan saw it as some kind of victory.
Satan uses many methods to achieve his victories. One method that he does not use, is open transparency. He does not say, “Follow me for your life time and you will be far worse off than you ever dreamed”. Or “Follow me and you will experience suffering and darkness for eternity.” He does not get any headway by doing that.
He uses deception.
He made Eve feel like God was somehow cheating them by not allowing them to eat from the tree of knowledge. He said, God knows that the moment you eat from the tree, you will become as God.
He uses counterfeiting. He puts himself forward as if he is a good person.
The Apostle Paul makes a connection between Satan's servants,(the demons) and men.
For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ.
14 And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.
15 It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. 2Corinthians 11:13
What we have just read says that Satan's servants will be hard to distinguish from real ministers of God.
And that is how Satan mostly wants to come across – as an angel of light.
That's how he wants to come across … but what lies in his heart? What is at the core of the heart of all demons?
Certainly it is to hurt God, by marring everything that God has made. But Satan is the originator of all evil thought and desire. There are things that he enjoys. He enjoys lying, masquerading, cheating, stealing, lusting, torturing, killing etc.
The daughters of men are mentioned separately because their beauty is evidently attractive to demons. When you give it a bit of thought, the evil attributes of demons should be no surprise to us.
Jesus told the pharisees on one occasion,
You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. John 8:44
When we think of every evil desire that is present in the world today, we realize these have all come from Satan and his demons. Hatred. Murder. Lies. But also lust. Satan and his demons not only teach people to lust … they do it themselves.
So lets answer the question, how exactly did the sons of God, demons … cohabit with humans, beautiful women … and produce offspring?
My view is number 2 (f) above. Demons possessed men who were open to it, and vicariously enjoyed sexual pleasures. I reject the idea that all of these women were being demon possessed and having babies that were half human and half demon. There are those who believe that. They make the 'Nephalim' fit the picture of some kind of a wicked, ugly, vicious beast with uncanny powers.
When Jesus talks about physical relationships in heaven He says this; When the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. Mark 12:25
This sounds to me like a demon would need a physical body to work through in order to get their pleasures. Possessing a body started in the garden of Eden. Satan had just recently fallen from being one of the good angels. He entered the body of a serpent. Jesus was asked by a whole group of demons … who had possessed a single person, if he would please not send them to the abyss, but rather into a herd if nearby pigs. Satan learned how to possess beings early on.
It appears that for the thousand years or so just before the flood that they were really enjoying the practice of possessing men so that as men related to their wives in a sexual way, the demons could enjoy it as well. The scripture also says they took wives … plural. This can mean each demon …took one woman … or it can mean that they encouraged and lead men into plural marriages. Lamach in a previous chapter had two wives. Who would have led him to do that?
The offspring. Notice the wording of verse 4. There were giants (Nephalim) on the earth IN THOSE DAYS AND ALSO AFTERWARDS when the sons of God etc.
The scripture is not teaching us that Nephalim only existed as offspring from this union. It is saying that they were already common and when women bore children from husbands who willingly were open to demon possession, that the result was even greater exploits by offspring who had such a father.
The KJV says giants. The NIV does not translate it at all but says Nephalim. That word is basically the Hebrew letters put into our English language without translating them. The word Nephalim can most certainly mean giant.
What we actually have here (I believe) are offspring that are giants of another type. Everyone probably was physically larger than we are due to the different atmospheric conditions etc. due to the firmament that is surrounding the earth. And genetically, by this time, bigger men marrying bigger women were no doubt producing some pretty big kids, who grew up to be even bigger than average.
What other kind of giants are there? I believe the bible explains itself here. First it says in verse 4 there were great people on the earth. At the end of the verse it describes their greatness … people of renown. Powerful.
How many of the fallen angels participated in possessing men for the purpose of perverted sex ? We have no way of knowing even an approximate number. We only know that it was not ALL of them by any means.
Where are the perverted demons today?
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;
7 as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. Jude 1:6,7
These fallen angels were chained up … when? There are only two possible times that I am aware of, the first being right after the initial satanic rebellion and the other a specific judgment on those angels who promoted the perversion about which we have been speaking.
I believe Jude is talking about the latter group because of his mentioning the men of Sodom 'going after strange flesh' as his comparison.
Many fallen angels are chained up today. They are in prison. Many are still on the loose. It seems obvious to me, that not ALL demons were possessing men prior to the flood. It was on these particular ones that God pronounced a judgment and chained them up.
Why chain up angels for this particular sin?
Of all the sins that demons are involved in, why destroy the earth … for this particular sin?
What was the main sin of Sodom? Homosexuality. God hates all sin … but burned a hole deep into the earth when he took out this city. Satan perverts all of God's 'norms' if he can. For some reason when Satan's demons perverted sexual orientation God said, “OK. That's it. It's judgment day for you!”
Jude said (see above) that the sin of Sodom was 'going after strange flesh'. Perversion. But in the same context he said that angels who were involved in perversion are chained up. They left their 'abode' (NKJV) … left their 'estate' (KJV). They, although sinful and wicked … stepped over the line into gross perversion.
How is their activity different or the same today?
Demon possession today.
In the Gospels and also in the book of Acts we read about demon possession … quite a bit of it. Reason says that when the Son of Man came to this earth … when the promised Seed that Eve was hoping for came … Satan would summon all those that he has left to come to that geographical area. It would be full out war against God. He tried to kill the promised seed when he was just a baby. He tried to kill him later on by having him pushed over a cliff. He tried to drown him when He was asleep in a boat. He tried to prevent Him from going to the cross. When he saw he could not prevent that, he made Jesus death as gruesome as he could. Then he spread lies about His resurrection.
Demon activity in the world today
Mt 24:37 "But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.
Mt 24:38 "For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark,
Mt 24:39 "and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.
Luke 17:28 "Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built;
29 "but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all.
30 "Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed.
So why did God think it necessary to include these 4 verses? It is obviously some kind of a warning.
The men that were used by these perverted demons were not victims. They welcomed the demons.
Satan's initial promise to Eve was increased knowledge. Secret knowledge. Becoming like a god.
That was appealing to Eve. And that is appealing to many today.
Satan specializes in providing replacements for God.
In the days of the early church in the book of Acts we discover Paul coming against the educated Gnostics. These were people who literally worshiped education. This became a replacement for God.
We read of a rich young ruler who asked Jesus about how he might acquire eternal life … he went away without bowing to Jesus. Jesus said how difficult it is for someone with great riches to come into the kingdom of God. Easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle he said. Money becomes a replacement for God. Entertainment becomes a replacement.
Is Satan the author of all of these? No. He is the author of replacement and will use anything that we are open to.
He will use incorrect understanding of the Word to become a replacement of truth. I am thinking particularly of the teaching of some religious groups that teach a second level of spirituality is possible, and that it is above the average. In this case it is a person's desire for having the 'best' and the greatest gift. This focus is a replacement for a spirit of humble obedience.
Freedom, that is becoming your own authority … no one can tell you what you should do … you are your own boss. Freedom becomes the replacement for the servant heart … and taking up your cross.
They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity—for a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him. 2Peter 2:19
Satan and his demons are real. But they have no automatic dominion over you. However, if you are open self edifying things, the demons are right there to help you replace God. Some people are totally open for a demon to step in.
Ro 6:16 Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey— whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?
Ro 6:22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.
1Pe 5:8 ¶ Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.
9 Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.
Jas 4:7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Verse three indicates that God's spirit has been 'striving' with humanity, but that his patience … of the limit of sinful disobedience that he tolerates, is reaching an end. He announces 120 years as the remaining days of grace.
God has been 'striving'. He wishes to... have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. I Timothy 2:4
Note, God's issue is not with demons. It is with man. God holds men entirely responsible for their behaviour. The flood is not to destroy demons … it is to judge man for worldwide wickedness.
God is not willing for any to perish … but he will not violate our free will.
In all fairness I should mention an often unrecognized fact. Of the billions who died in the flood, how many were infants? How many were toddlers with no real sense of right or wrong? Millions? They drowned in the flood. How many others were not steeped in sin and were 'riding the fence'? They died too. How many called out to God for salvation as the waters came up? Was it too late for all of them?
We don't have concrete answers for these questions but we read this in 1Pe 3:18 ¶ For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit,
19 by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison,
20 who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water.
Many souls ended up in paradise, Abraham's bosom that day. Jesus spent three days in the heart of the earth, not communing with demons, but ministering to all of the saints who had died prior to His death on Calvary.
Only eight people were on the ark. Everyone else died in the flood or, as we pointed out last time, other righteous ones died before the flood … they were taken out by God's grace.
God will not destroy the earth with water again. But he will destroy the earth some day. The gospel of the kingdom must be preached in all the world before the end will come. Are we close to having completed this task? Does preaching to the world assume mass conversion?
It does not sound like it when we read the following verse:
Luke 18:8 …. When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?"
We are not only headed for … we are already in a time just as it was in the days of Noah.
Proverbs 11:30 ¶ The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, And he who wins souls is wise.
Daniel 12:3 And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.