Anyone who looks around cannot help but notice that there is a lot of interest in the realm of spirits, both good and evil. Many harbour a deep-seated fear of illusive devils and evil powers. How do you get rid of them? How can you shield yourself against them?

With this phenomenon, I have to think of what we often hear or read about so-called primal religions; the religions of nature. These revolve around a battle between good and evil powers, between good spirits and bad ones. Both those good and bad powers are eternal and are also engaged in an eternal battle. The evil powers, which surround us everywhere, scare people out of their wits. Especially after dark, people often fear the unknown, that which is bigger than themselves. Evil can also dwell within people, because of some ancestral curse or from magic spells. The significance of religion is that by it you can exorcise these evil powers or eliminate them and for this, you depend on people with special powers: medicine men and witchdoctors. And so many religions have their exorcists.

Let me list some hallmarks, characteristic of typical heathen religious thinking:

Evil and evil spirits together form a bad power, which has always existed beside good; Evil is an intangible power, which holds people in its grip against their will; This evil is something from which you are freed or which is driven from you when a bad spirit residing in you is dealt with via a certain ritual of exorcism. In other words, you as human being are not evil. Rather, there is a bad power inside you, which must be gotten rid of and this is not a simple matter. You need an exorcist who, with the use of certain rituals, is able to set you free. Meanwhile those bad spirits remain all around you. As long as they continue to exist, you go on in fear. It is easy to fall prey to these devils yet again.

Colossae⤒🔗

What are we to make from a Biblical perspective of this kind of thinking and this type of fear? To be sure, the Bible speaks of angels and evil spirits and the Bible also acknowledges magic and darkness. But does it also teach a world- and spirit view as outlined above?

What exactly was going on in the congregation of Colossae to whom Paul addresses his letter, and which false teaching was being followed, is not entirely clear. But it is striking that the apostle warns against those who delight in false humility and worship of angels, those who immerse themselves in things they have not seen and who are vainly puffed up by their fleshly mind. Apparently there was something going on in Colossae which had to do with angels and evil spirits, as we may also deduce from what Paul expresses about the Son of God in chapter 1. There he sings his praise as follows: “In him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through him and for him” (v.16).

Evidently it is necessary to point this out and to confess Christ in this way. In chapter 2 the evil spirits and powers return once more when the apostle writes:

Having disarmed principalities and powers, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it Col. 2:15.

In his letter to the Ephesians the apostle also writes about the dominion of Christ over every spirit and power. According to Ephesians 1, our Saviour is “seated far above every principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come” (v. 21).

And in light of Ephesians 6 where there is mention of principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness of this age, and spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places against which Christians are to fight, evil spirits are included in these principalities and powers. They are from empyreal origin and are active in the air; invisible and near.

It seems important to me to pause and give closer consideration to the Bible’s teaching and to speak about evil spirits and demons from the perspective of the gospel of Christ.

Neither God nor Eternal←⤒🔗

If you just bring typical heathen thinking to mind once more, then the Bible presents us with a whole different world. Heathendom sees good and evil engaged in everlasting warfare. Good and evil represent two powers, which are equally matched, waging a battle of life and death. The outcome is by no means certain, if ever there is an end to the battle. In the Bible however, Satan and his demons are not eternal at all. At the time they were created as good spirits, in the Son, by the Son and for the Son according to Colossians 1. Angels as well as demons are not on the same level as God. They are not from eternity. Neither are they divine. They are created beings and as such not on par with God and Christ. Evil spirits are like angels under God. They were not created bad, nor were they always bad. They became such at one time, when they rebelled against God because they were not satisfied with the position given to them (Jude 6).

In Art 12 of the Belgic Confession the church of Christ confesses that we reject the false teachings of the Manichees who say that devils were not created, but have their origin in themselves, and that without having become corrupted they are wicked by nature. They deny that devils became evil.

In heathendom everything revolves around the battle between good and evil, where man is a plaything in the hands of sinister powers. Biblical history is typified quite differently. It is covenant history: the history of God, of the world and of man. God created mankind for a covenant with himself. Man was to live on earth, in accordance with the will of God. But God witnessed man rise up in rebellion. Man deliberately gave ear to the devil. He too was not satisfied with his position and wanted to be like God. And yet God did not relinquish his original plan for man and the world. Despite Satan’s evil, and man’s manifold sins, he persists with his plan right through it all.“For His power and goodness are so great, and beyond understanding that He ordains and executes his work in the most excellent and just manner, even when devils and wicked men act unjustly” (BC Art 13).

Under God’s direction the outcome is sure and certain: The seed of the woman is victorious and the devil and his cohorts bite the dust (Gen. 3:15; Rom. 16:20).

They are…by their own wickedness sentenced to eternal damnation and daily expect their horrible torments Belgic Confession Art 12.

Heated Confrontation←⤒🔗

Since Genesis 3, a severe battle rages between the woman and her seed, and the serpent and his seed. Right from the onset, this battle takes place under the direction of God himself. He put enmity between the serpent and the woman, between the domain of Satan and the church. God’s children must choose sides in this battle, against idolatry, magic, superstition, soothsaying and the practice of consulting the spirits (Deut. 18:9-14). They must hate and shun all that seeks to pry them away from God and join them to idols. Under no circumstances may they choose the darkness of the devil above the light of God.

From the Old Testament we learn that Satan still had access to heaven. Think of the account of Job, where Satan appears before God’s throne with his incriminations against Job. The prophet Zechariah sees in a vision how Satan accuses Joshua the high priest before the angel of the Lord concerning his uncleanness. That was still possible at that time: accusing the brothers in heaven.

When the Lord Jesus comes to earth, we see the battle between him and the dominion of demons escalating to its ultimate conclusion. The Lord came to nullify the works of the devil (1John 3:8) and to bring healing to those under his dominion (Acts 10:38). The devil immediately presents himself for the first confrontation: to tempt Christ (Matt. 4:1-11).

In the Gospels, we observe the unleashing of concentrated activity of evil spirits.

1. Demon possessed individuals, under the complete influence of the devil, in hatred turn against the Lord Jesus and oppose him. During his preparations for the final journey to Jerusalem, the Lord Jesus sees Satan fall from heaven like lightning (Luke 10:18). Evil spirits take the lead in the confrontation and are rebuked and expelled by Christ or in his Name.
2. Devils also manifest themselves in people by torturing them for instance with sickness, handicaps, paralysis and deformations. And as Christ shows through his miracles what life will be like in his kingdom, so the true nature of the devil as murderer shows itself in the suffering of the sick (John 8:44). Christ heals the sick by driving out the demons and taking their diseases upon himself (Matt. 8:16).
3. In yet another way we see how people are tempted and assailed by Satan. Christ warns his students against these temptations, teaching them to pray for preservation and promising them to offer supplications on their behalf (Matt. 6:13, 26:41; Luke 22:31).

Showdown on Golgotha←⤒🔗

So we see that during the lifetime of the Lord Jesus, the devil and his demons make themselves strong, and do everything in their power to obstruct Christ, who came to destroy their works. Already during his life, Christ shows his superiority over evil spirits. They cannot but submit to him. Even where his disciples come up against the powers of demons, they discover that they are not able to prevail against the Name of Jesus (Luke 10:17).

Then comes the reversal on Golgotha: in the hour of darkness, Christ triumphs over Satan (Luke 10:17). By all appearances, Satan seems to have won when Christ is crucified. But then, through Christ’s resurrection, God shows how things really are. He raises his Son from the dead and promotes him to sit at his right hand, above all powers and principalities (Eph. 1:20). Satan and his evil spirits in their defeat are put on display in the triumphal march of Christ (Col. 2:15, 1 Peter 3:22). L. Floor writes concerning Ephesians 1:21: “To the readers of this letter, steeped in superstition about good and evil powers, it would have been a tremendous relief to receive a Master who had demonstrated his superiority over all these illusive and nameless powers. Christ thereby freed them from uncertainty, fear and doubt.”

Following Golgotha, things are no longer the way there were. To be sure, Satan is still around. He is a living and fearsome reality. But from Golgotha and the ascension onwards he no longer has access to heaven (Rev. 12:7-9). He is exiled to earth, where he takes action and incites fear and evil, bent on destruction in the knowledge that his days are numbered (Rev. 12:12, 1 Peter 5:8).

In the book of Acts we see the gospel in its progress colliding with the power of magic and the occult (Mark 16:17; Acts 5:16, 8:7-13, 13:6-12, 16:16-18, 19:12-20). But time and again it becomes evident that Satan is fettered by God’s chain. He is unable to halt the progress of the gospel as Revelation 20 says. The proclamation of the gospel and faith therein overcome the resistance and threats of devils and demons. People are freed from the authority of the devil and darkness (Col. 1:13; 1 Peter 2:9) and enter into the kingdom of God; set free by Christ from the dominion of the devil. God’s children are called to watchfulness and battle for as long as they live. The devil keeps on taunting and opposing them, but they need no longer be afraid of him. Satan no longer has any authority over them because Christ has proven to be more powerful and has decisively quashed Satan’s claim on God’s children. Now that Christ sits at God’s right hand, the devil’s fate is sealed. He is singularly unable to thwart God’s purposes. The 1000 year period during which Satan is bound by God’s chain started with Christ’s ascension. The Chiliast who holds that this 1000 year period is yet to follow, sadly deprives himself of much support in the battle against the devil and his kingdom.