Better the Devil You Know

   

Who or what is the devil?“The name commonly given to the fallen angels...it denotes Lucifer their chief, as in Matthew 25v41, “the Devil and his angels”...it is clearly taught that the devil and the other demons are spiritual or angelic creatures created by God...that became evil by their own act...

   

Who or what is the devil?...It is added that man sinned by the suggestion of the Devil and that in the next world the wicked shall suffer perpetual punishment with the Devil.”

The Catholic Encyclopaedia – Devilwww.newadvent.org/cathen/04764a.htm

   

Who or what is the devil?“We certainly believe...that there exists another world of beings...who are opposed to that which is good and capable of hurting the lives of men.”

St Gregory of Nyssa, quoted in “The Origin and Fate of Satan”

www.biblicaluniversalist.com/OriginOfSatan.html

   

Plan• Prevailing view that there is a Devil,

or devils, working for evil against God.

• Does such a Devil exist?• How do we fight it and escape the

punishment that is possibly in store?

   

“Devil” in the Bible• 117 occurrences in the King James

Version• Use falls broadly into two categories:

– Daimonion (and related words): when describing devil possession.

– Diabolos: speaking of “the devil”.

   

Devil Possession• They bring a dumb man to Jesus –

who is possessed with a devil.• Jesus casts out the devil and he is

able to speak again.• Son with a spirit which tear him and

caused him to foam at the mouth.• Symptoms like those of someone

having a fit.• Casting out the devil healed the child.

   

Casting out Devils“And his fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto him sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatic, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them.”

Matthew 4v24

   

Casting out Devils“And they cast out many devils, and anointed with oil many that were sick, and healed them.”

Mark 6v13

   

Casting out Devils• People suffer from the same

symptoms today.• Modern science can help them, but

we don’t think of scientists as casting out devils.

• Jesus had the power to cure people.• Healing people of these diseases is

what is being referred to when the Bible speaks of casting out devils.

   

Why Does the Bible Speak in These Terms?• The belief of devil possession was

prevalent in Jesus’ time.• People had no other explanation for

the symptoms of these diseases.• If Jesus’ explained in medical terms

the people wouldn’t understand.• It was a demonstration of the power

that God had given to Jesus.

   

What About “The Devil”?• Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.• Disobeyed God’s command – sin

introduced.• Eve was tempted to eat the fruit, she

desired it.• Didn’t the serpent give her the idea

though?• The serpent isn’t acting outside

God’s control – that was how He created it.

   

The Source of Temptation and Evil“Every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed”

James 1v14

“But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man.”

Matthew 15v18

   

The Source of Temptation and Evil“And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually”.

Genesis 6v5

“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?”

Jeremiah 17v9

   

Challenging the Traditional View• “We certainly believe, both because

of prevailing opinion, and still more of Scripture teaching that there exists another world of beings...”

St Gregory of Nyssa quoted in “The Origin of Fate and Satan”

www.biblicaluniversalist.com/OriginOfSatan.html

   

Challenging the Traditional View“Mention is made of the Devil in many passages of the Old and New Testaments, but there is no full account given in any one place, and the Scripture teaching on this topic can only be ascertained by combining a number of scattered notices from Genesis to Apocalypse, and reading them in the light of patristic and theological tradition”

The Catholic Encyclopedia – Devilwww.newadvent.org/cathen/04764a.htm

   

Jesus’ Temptation in the Wilderness• Follows on from Jesus’ baptism –

where he received the power of the Holy Spirit.

• Jesus was led by the Spirit – this isn’t outside God’s control.

• This was something God wanted him to go through.

• To be a perfect sacrifice for sins, Jesus had to experience the same temptations and suffering that we do.

   

“He himself has suffered when tempted”

“Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.”

Hebrews 2v17-18 (ESV)

   

Jesus’ Temptation in the Wilderness• It’s not a literal situation.• There is no mountain on earth from

which you can see all the kingdoms of the world.

• So, if this didn’t literally happen – perhaps the devil wasn’t literally there either.

• Jesus, with the Holy Spirit, had the power to do exactly what he liked.

• The temptation to use that power for his own ends must be have enormous.

• The temptation was coming from within to fulfill his own desires.

   

Other uses of “diabolos”• The old women shouldn’t be devils –

false accusers.

“...Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?”

John 6v70

• The same word is used when talking about every day things – nothing supernatural.

   

Satan• Seen as being synonymous with “the

devil” – a supernatural being spreading evil.

• Comes from a Hebrew word that means – “adversary”.

• Like diabolos, it is used in contexts where it is not referring to anything working evil against God.

   

Satan“But he turned, and said unto Peter, ‘Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto men...”

Matthew 16v23

“And Balaam rose up in the morning...and went with the princes of Moab. And God’s anger was kindled because he went: and the angel of the LORD stood in the way for an adversary against him...”

Numbers 22v21-22

   

David’s Numbering of the People“And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel...”

2 Samuel 24v1

“And Satan stood up against Israel...”1 Chronicles 21v1

• Satan cannot be something in opposition to God – in this chapter, God and Satan are the same person.

   

Human Nature• The Bible doesn’t support the view of

the devil or Satan being a supernatural force of evil.

“For the good that I would, I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.”

Romans 7v19

   

How Can We Escape the Power of the Devil?

“Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil.”

Hebrews 2v14

   

Conclusion• We wait for Christ’s return - when

sorrow, suffering and death itself will be a thing of the past.

• In the mean time we don’t have a supernatural evil to contend with, but our own human nature.

• It’s hard – the “war in our members” but...

• ...better the devil you know, than the devil you don’t.