The Scriptures tell us that there is no peace for the wicked (Isa. 57:21). There is still less peace fox? the demons, proof of which lies in their feverish agitation. “ But the unclean spirit, when he is gone out of a man, passeth through waterless places, seeking rest, and find- eth it not. Then he saith, I will return into my house whence I came out” (Matt. 12:43, 44). All this explains why the calling on the spirits by the spiritists has so often and so easily resulted in true demon possession . . . Demons lie in wait for the hearts and bodies that will give themselves over to them. There is nothing more dangerous than the state of inertia and expectancy on the part of those who imprudently wish to get in contact with them. The Antichrist will be the extreme example of a man wholly delivered to Satan. The devil, in return, will grant him “his power, and his throne, and great author ity” (Rev. 13:2). That man will accept at so great a price the offer of universal domination that Jesus refused when He was tempted in the wilderness. Thus, filled with dia bolical strength, the Antichrist will be able to work many lying wonders and to lead astray all those who perish for having resisted the truth (2 Thess. 2:9, 10). The fall of the angels and that of man had similar effects. Adam and Eve, immediately driven out of para dise, continued living on the earth created for them, though they were from then on under the curse. The fallen angels were immediately excluded from fellowship with the thrice-holy God; but, from their kingdom of darkness, they can still come to present themselves before Him and can operate “ in the heavenly places” (Job 1:6; I Kings 22:19-22; Eph. 6:12). God has not spared His angels that have sinned, but He has cast them into the abyss of darkness to be reserved unto judgment (2 Pet. 2:4). The term abyss sometimes designates that place to which the demons have been relegated and from which they cannot come out except by God’s permission. They are terrified at being henceforth shut up there with no chance of getting out. The demons called “ Legion” begged Jesus not to torment them before the time and pleaded insistently with Him not to consign them to the abyss (Matt. 8:29; Luke 8:31). The book of the Revelation speaks of the pit of the abyss from which diabolical grasshoppers went out which “have over them as king the angel of the abyss: his name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in the Greek tongue he hath the name Apollyon [destroyer]” (9:1, 2, 11). This angel of the abyss can certainly be none other than Satan him self. So as to clearly mark the infernal origin of the Beast that personifies the Antichrist, the dictum is that it “ is about to come up out of the abyss, and go into perdition” (Rev. 17:8). It is into the abyss too that Satan will be cast and chained for the duration of the thousand years (Rev. 20:1-3). Since the appearance of Christ, described in the be ginning of the Gospels, the demons know that the hour of their condemnation is near. Much more than men, they know who the Lord is; they tremble, and in their terror they cannot refrain from proclaiming His name. The man that had the spirit of an unclean demon cried out: “ Ah! what have we to do with thee, Jesus thou Nazarene? Art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God . . . And demons also came out from many, crying out and saying, Thou art the Son of God. And rebuking them, he suffered them not to speak, because they knew that he was the Christ” (Luke 4:33, 34, 41). The demoniac of Gadara cried out: “What have we to do with thee, thou Son of God? Art (Continued on next page)
tation of demons and a hold of every unclean spirit” (Rev. 18:2). As the glorious appearing of Jesus Christ approaches, the emissaries of hell will do their utmost to reunite the armies of the entire world in Palestine, in the very place where the Lord is to triumph: “ They are spirits of demons, working signs; which go forth unto the kings of the whole world, to gather them together unto the war of the great day of God, the Almighty . . . and they gathered them together into the place which is called in Hebrew Har-Magedon [or Armageddon]” (Rev. 16:14, 16). Rut the final victory of the Lord overall His united enemies will be the greater for that. It is evident that God, knowing all things, could have immediately crushed His adversaries by force. But his glory would not have shone forth in the same way. Satan accused God of being a tyrant and of merely obtaining from His creatures a service based on fear and self-in terest. (Job 1:9). To that God answered by the incarna tion and the sufferings of His Son, and by the miracle of bringing into the church what had been only rebellious sinners. After such a demonstration of holiness and love, the Lord, in a manner worthy of His Person, will be able to manifest His power by throwing Satan and his demons into the lake of fire. The Struggle of Demons Against Men Unable to reach the Lord of glory, the evil spirits make men their favorite target. It is certain that all sinners are subjected to demonic influence, since all un regenerate men are sons of the devil (John 8:44; I John 3:8, 10). . . . The Bible shows us by many examples that evil spirits are literally capable of taking complete pos session of the sinner who gives himself up to them. The experience of Judas indicates the steps that can lead to such a possession . . . The common purse had been en trusted to him, a mark of confidence (John 13:29). Then, being inclined to cupidity and even to theft, he began to appropriate what had been put into it . . . Then the devil insinuated into the heart of Judas the plan of be traying Jesus for a miserable sum of money (John 13:2). The unhappy disciple resisted all the warnings and all the appeals of the Lord during the Last Supper, and we read about him these terrible words: “After the sop [which revealed him as the betrayer] then entered Satan into him” (John 13:27; Luke 22:3-6). He was thereafter capable of anything: not only did he deliver his Lord to death, but he dared to identify Him by a kiss . . . (Matt. 26:48, 49). Then when an overdue repentance drove him to despair, he committed suicide (Matt. 27:3-5). This is the kind of treatment given his victims by the one who is a liar and a murderer from the beginning. Apropos of possession, it seems that a demon, deprived of a body, has a wild desire to take possession of some being, through whom it can find a new means of sat* isfying its passions. Such spirits are often called impure (Mark 1:23; 3:11; 5:2; 7:25, etc.) . . . Let us add further that the adjective unclean given to evil spirits can have a more general meaning and can refer to their whole nature, which is profoundly sinful. The frenzy for possession is likewise manifested by the legion of demons that were cast out of the demoniac of Gadara. They fervently begged Jesus not to command them to go into the abyss, but begged Him to permit them to enter into the swine, a plea which the Lord allowed (Luke 8:31-32). •Condensed from chapter 8 of the book, The Future Life, by Rene Pache, LL.D., published by Moody Press, Chicago, and used by their kind per mission. All Scripture references are from the American Standard Version of 1901 ("the Revised"). It is recommended that the entire chapter be read for full treatment of this subject.
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NOVEMBER, 1962
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