What are Angels, Demons, and Satan?

What we have been discussing so far has to do with things that are created by God that are physical. Now we are going to talk about things that are spiritual beings.

Angels

created beings with a moral judgment but with no physical bodies

Angels cannot ordinarily be seen, but Jesus did open the eyes of Balaam to see

Numbers 22:31 ESV

Then the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way, with his drawn sword in his hand. And he bowed down and fell on his face.

They also sometimes take a bodily form; angel at the empty tomb

The roles that they play in creation are why they are not typically visible

They guard us; Psalm 91:11 “For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.”

They also join us in our worship; Hebrews 12:22 “But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering,”; Revelation 4:11 ““Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.””

They are mighty; Psalm 103:20 “Bless the Lord, O you his angels, you mighty ones who do his word, obeying the voice of his word!”

But, God still shows a greater type of love to humans than he does for angels. 2 Peter 2:4 “For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment;” , this was when angels used moral capacity and sinned.

This is different than when Adam and Eve sinned because God only casted them out of the Garden of Eden and not into Hell.

Some things we need to clear up about angels though. Angels are not to be worshiped. John tries to worship one in Revelation and is quickly corrected by the angel not to do so. Also, when someone dies, they do not turn into an angel. Angels are created, spiritual beings and not dead people.

Questions or comments?

What about the angels that sinned?

Demons

This is where we get demons. Demons are angels who sinned against God, were cast out of heaven, and now continually work evil in our world.

They were not created as sinful or evil, but later on sinned. We do not know the exact timeline because the Bible is not specific as to when they sinned and were cast out. But we can narrow it to somewhere in between creation and when Satan tempted Eve in the garden of Eden.

They are evil angels who now work agains the kingdom of God. And they have a leader as well.

Satan

Satan is mentioned by name in scripture

1 Chronicles 21:1 “Then Satan stood against Israel and incited David to number Israel.”

Jesus speaks to him when he is tempted in the wilderness; Matthew 4:10 “Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, “ ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’ ””

Jesus even tells his disciples in Luke 10:18 “And he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.”

There are other names that we find in scripture to describe Satan; the devil, serpent, Beelzebul, the ruler of this world, prince of the power of the air

I said that demons are angels who sinned, and Satan is a demon but the head of the demons. Scripture tells us that, 1 John 3:8 “Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.”

Destruction is his goal and he will use whatever means possible to do that. 2 Corinthians 4:4 “In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”

Not only does he do this to the unbeliever but he attacks followers of Christ to distract and hinder them. Satan will use things such as temptation, doubt, lies, murder, guilt fear, confusion, sickness, envy, pride and slander.

But Satan and the demons have limited power. And actually, the believer can resist Satan. James 4:7 “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”

Demonic Activity

God and his angels are active in this world; Satan and his demons are active in this world.

We should not believe that they are fully responsible for all of the evil in the world. Man has created much evil.

A lot of the sin that is mentioned in scripture is not a result of demons or Satan but because of the actions of a sinful person. James 1:14 “But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.” Our own desire, not Satan’s temptation, causes us to sin.

But Satan does attack us. This is why we are told to resist the devil.

Remember that through his death, Jesus voided the power of Satan. Colossians 2:15 “He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.”

Our faith is in Christ and therefore we should not be concerned with the work of Satan but rather focus on the work of Christ. 1 John 4:4 “Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.”

We can look forward to the day that Jesus comes and removes all of the influence of Satan and demons from this world.

Revelation 20:1–3 ESV

Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be released for a little while.

Questions?