I started out last week’s blog post by asking how many times the Bible records instances of angels indwelling people. (The answer was none.) I ended with a question about what motivates demons to inhabit people.
The two issues are related, but let’s address the second one.
I can think of two reasons why demons strive to inhabit or “possess” people. (I used quotation marks because demons don’t own any human beings. The word translated “demon-possessed” is the noun “demon” made into a verb. The simplest translation is “demonized.” This word occurs 13 times in the Greek New Testament, all in the four gospels. The Bible version I use in this blog, the NIV, has the phrase, “demon-possessed,” in a few other verses. But in those verses, the literal translation is, “has a demon.”)
Control
The first reason is control. As the gospels point out, no one could subjugate those captured by malevolent forces.
“When Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an impure spirit came from the tombs to meet Him. 3This man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain. 4For he had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet. No one was strong enough to subdue him.” – Mark 5:2-4
“A man in the crowd answered, ‘Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech. 18Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not.’” – Mark 9:17-18
Demonized individuals are beyond the reach of others; no one can control them. But what’s odd is that demons don’t do much with this power.
“Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones.” – Mark 5:5
“Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid.” – Mark 9:18a
They seem to settle for destroying their hosts by inflicting pain and agony.
Custom
There’s another reason why demons seek to inhabit people: custom. Demons are accustomed to dwelling in physical bodies. If this is true, it points to a sharp distinction between angels and demons. We could conclude that demons aren’t angels.
But if demons aren’t fallen angels, then who are they?
Most often, the Bible calls these spirits “evil” or “unclean.” (The NIV translates the latter as “impure.”)
“God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, 12so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them.” – Acts 19:11-12
“When Jesus saw that a crowd was running to the scene, He rebuked the impure spirit. ‘You deaf and mute spirit,’ He said, ‘I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.’” – Mark 9:25
The first term is easy to understand. Demons ruin what is good and defy the living God. They’re evil; case closed.
But how are they unclean or impure? It sounds like the Bible is commenting on their immoral condition, but there’s more to it than that.
The purity God has in mind is the kind that qualifies one to engage in the rituals of divine worship and service. For the Israelites, and for Christians, this is the call to holiness. When God separates a person to Himself, He sanctifies that individual or makes him or her holy.
A quick skim of books like Leviticus will show how detailed the Lord is about matters of holiness. He defines details!
And one of the things He objects to is mixtures.
“Keep My decrees. Do not mate different kinds of animals. Do not plant your field with two kinds of seed. Do not wear clothing woven of two kinds of material.” – Leviticus 19:19
“Do not plow with an ox and a donkey yoked together.” – Deuteronomy 22:10
The point to these instructions is ritual purity before the Lord. What God makes holy is distinct; it’s not supposed to mix with other things. The Law of Moses applied this principle to natural items like clothes and animals, but the aim was to illustrate how Israel was to distinguish itself from the other nations. Israel belonged to God; it had to live a different way because the people were the Lord’s.
Yet we find a sinister example of the very opposite of this situation.
When human beings began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, 2the sons of God saw that the daughters of humans were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose. 3Then the LORD said, “My Spirit will not contend with humans forever, for they are mortal; their days will be a hundred and twenty years.” 4The Nephilim were on the earth in those days–and also afterward–when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown. – Genesis 6:1-4
The Jews of the intertestamental period and the time of Jesus believed demons were the spirits of the nephilim. They understood this passage to teach that certain angels (“sons of God”) cohabited with women who bore them unholy offspring–the nephilim.
Many Bible versions translate this Hebrew word as “giants” which can have two shades of meaning. The first refers to physical size and the second refers to reputation or impact.
If you’ve ever seen a basketball player in real life, you might have thought, “he’s a giant of a man!” They look big on TV, but they look even bigger in person! For an average person, an NBA player is a giant.
We also use this word to describe people who have tremendous influence in a particular field. Henry Ford was a giant of the automotive industry because of the way he transformed factory production and made cars affordable for the general public.
The nephilim in Genesis 6 are giants in at least one sense listed above, if not both of them. Yet although these beings (which pagan cultures refer to as “demigods”) were superior to ordinary humans, they perished with them in the deluge. Their bodies drowned, so their spirits, derived from fallen angels, began to roam the earth. Accustomed to living in physical bodies, they try one way or another to get inside of them.
But when Jesus began His ministry, demons panicked!
“‘What do You want with us, Son of God?’ they shouted. ‘Have You come here to torture us before the appointed time?’” – Matthew 8:29
In their eyes, the arrival of Jesus on earth was the end of the world. They thought the Day of the Lord had arrived and Christ was going to condemn them to perdition. He will, but not yet!
Jesus announced the arrival of the kingdom of God, but He called people to repentance.
“‘The time has come,’ He said. ‘The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!’” – Mark 1:14
Had Jesus begun the judgment, no one would qualify for eternal life. God’s kingdom would be empty!
But Christ gave His life on the cross to atone for the sins of the world, so anyone can repent and receive new life by believing in Him. God raised His Son from the dead to vindicate Him, establish Him as the King of kings and Lord of lords, and seal the doom of rebellious evil spirits.
“Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me.’” – Matthew 28:18
“Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name that is above every name, 10that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” – Philippians 2:9-11
Conclusion
I don’t insist that the Bible teaches that the nephilim are demonic spirits. If they are, it would explain why demons strive to inhabit people, something angels don’t do.
Yet I can think of two problems with this position, so I’ll deal with those next week.
But remember this. The Lord Jesus never wants His disciples to fixate on evil spirits. As we walk with Him and serve Him, we will encounter wicked, superhuman forces. But our confidence is that Jesus is Lord. He’s victorious over the devil.
“The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.” – 1 John 3:8b
