Without question, great is the mystery of godliness:
1 Timothy 3:16
God was revealed in the flesh,
justified in the Spirit,
seen by angels,
preached to the Gentiles,
believed on in the world,
taken up into glory.
Paul’s charge to his son in the faith Timothy is to reassure him that he knew how to conduct himself in the house of God. Amidst the instructions for overseers in the local church is this sentence which most think was a hymn or creed of those early Christians. It speaks of the mystery that we now know.
God is revealed in the flesh. The speaks of the incarnation of Jesus. Not that God changed places, but that He is revealed in flesh. This speaks to the Son’s existence before His virgin birth. As Paul wrote in Philippians 2, He being in the form of God. He is the brightness of His glory and the express image of God (Hebrews 1:3.) The Son is Spirit being revealed in the flesh. Jesus taught us that God is Spirit (John 4:24.)
That’s part of the mystery. It continues. Jesus was not justified in the flesh, but justified in the Spirit. That is attested to in His resurrection. When He came back from the dead in a new body, it proved there was no other entity that could lay hold on Him.
He is preached to the Gentiles, basically the truth is being spread to all nations. He is believed on in the world. Many people are saved because He is preached. We know He is taken up into glory. He sits at the right hand of the Father, as God.
Seen by Angels
It is this idea that Jesus was seen by angels, that draws me in. Jesus being seen by the angels means they could identify Him as God readily. But does it entail that He is known by them before being manifest in the flesh?
There seems to be testimony to that fact. It occurs in one of the earliest accounts of Jesus’ ministry in Israel.
Jesus withdrew with His disciples to the sea. And a great crowd followed Him from Galilee and Judea and Jerusalem, and Idumea, and from beyond the Jordan. And those from Tyre and Sidon, a great crowd, when they heard what great things He did, came to Him. He told the disciples to have a small boat ready for Him because of the crowd, lest they should crush Him. For He had healed many, so that all who had diseases pressed on Him to touch Him. When unclean spirits saw Him, they fell down before Him, crying out, “You are the Son of God.” But He sternly ordered them not to make Him known.
Mark 3:7–12
If we take Mark’s Gospel chronologically here, this incident occurred before Jesus selected any of His inner-circle of twelve disciples.
What is clear is that the people around Jesus are the time did not really know they were in the presence of God. Let alone that He is made flesh. Yet those unclean spirits know and testify to the fact right. They could apprehend the spiritual reality readily. But a question comes to mind. Where did they come from?
So many details are not included. I think it safe to assume that Jesus was casting unclean spirits out of people. Those spirits identified Him immediately. And He commanded them to not reveal Who He is. Did the crowd present hear and what did they understand?
I don’t know. I know there were spiritual beings present by witness of the text. Are there any indications that some of those were angels?
The text lends itself to that idea. The Bible reveals that there are two kinds of unclean spirits, fallen angels and demons. Demons are the disembodied spirits from the progeny of some fallen angels, the Nephilim.
The Disembodied Spirits Called Demons
When men began to multiply on the face of the earth and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were fair and took as wives any they chose.
Genesis 6:1–2
Way back toward the beginning of it all, Moses reveals that angels took wives. The language used is not pleasant, and it isn’t without controversy. The term Sons of God is used sparingly in the Tanakh. As it is used in other places, it always means angels. That is direct creations of God and this by that same title given to Adam in Luke 3:38. (There are other resources that delve into this concept, the tag cloud can help in that pursuit.)
The progeny of the fallen angels and their taken human women were called Nephilim. They were the mighty men of old.
The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also after that, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.
Genesis 6:4
It is my opinion that the corrupted human bloodlines from these strange flesh unions were the vast majority of people that died in the flood. That idea comes from the Septuagint translation where it says that Noah was perfect in his generations. The Greek word translated is where the English word generations comes. It reveals a relationship to Noah’s genetics.
In fact, the entire incident of the ark hints that there were corrupted genetics in the human and animal kinds. God chose all the occupants of the ark. If Noah was perfect in his generations, it follows that the animals selected were perfect in theirs.
Now, it becomes a bit clearer that there are many unclean spirits, and kinds such as fallen angel and the disembodied spirits of angel/human hybrids known as demons. It follows that the unclean spirits (both angelic and demon) would see God as He is and readily identify Him in the flesh.
Before the Time
There is another encounter Jesus had with unclean spirits that is important to understand. It reveals yet another concept.
When He came to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes, there met Him two men possessed with demons, coming out of the tombs, extremely fierce, so that no one might pass by that way. Suddenly they cried out, saying, “What have we to do with You, Jesus, Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the time?”
Matthew 8:28–29
These unclean spirits are specifically identified as demons. They identify Jesus’ divinity readily. Yet it is those two questions. Apparently they knew of certain timings. And they knew of torment, and their consignment to it. One might ask, is there punishment spoken of in the Bible?
It takes a bit of sleuthing to get it out of the Tanakh. So the first stop is the last book of the Torah, Deuteronomy. This particular Chester is full of details on the spiritual reality of Things.
They made Him jealous with strange gods;
Deuteronomy 32:16–17
with abominations they provoked Him to anger.
They sacrificed to demons, not to God,
to gods whom they knew not,
to new gods that recently came along,
whom your fathers did not fear.
Israel went to worship stage gods. These were actually demons. The Hebrew word is shedim, it appears only twice in the Bible.
The Israelis sacrificed to the demons. The text says these were new gods that recently came along. It seems to indicate that these came after creation. This is especially clear as it follows Genesis 6 above.
It bears mentioning that the mythological Golden Age hearkens back to the time when gods lived with humans. This would be before the flood. There is a stark difference between the mythological understanding and what God thinks of the days of Noah. There is a contemporary popular mantra announcing a new Golden Age. The Bible does tell us that the end days will be like the days of Noah. The gods will once again live with men.
There is a definitive judgment coming. And this is what the demons were alluding to about Jesus coming to them before the time. Jeremiah prophesied the demise of those gods.
Thus you shall say to them: The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth and from under these heavens.
Jeremiah 10:11
Remember, in the encounter above that those demons also alluded to torment. That is a reference to eternal fire. Jesus told us the how and what for in that.
“Then He will say to those at the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the eternal fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.
Matthew 25:41
Eternal fire is made for the devil and his angels. By the testimony of the demons in the vicinity of the Gerasenes, they knew of their fate in torment. It follows that eternal fire is for the devil, fallen angels, and demons.
To come full circle, we are still before the time. The time comes in the judgment of the great day. The one reserved for all of the enemies of God, the Great White Throne of Revelation 20.
Idol Talk
This may shock the sensibilities of some. The idols of the Old Testament are real beings. They are not simple creations of carved wood and hammered metals. They are not figments of active imagination. They were and are real entities that take worship to themselves. They have a clear destination.
The loftiness of man shall be humbled,
Isaiah 2:17–18
and the haughtiness of men shall be brought low;
the Lord alone will be exalted in that day;
the idols He shall utterly abolish.
I know that many think idols are the creation of vivid imaginations. They are not. This truth gets further confused because of the allegorization of the idea of an idol. One that reinforces the notion that they are figments of the imagination which take us away from God.
I think that this allegorization has led to many folks putting their guard down. In other words, the west has been trained not to see these things. That makes it harder to understand the stark reality of the enemies against us as a race.
For our fight is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, and against spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
Ephesians 6:12
The truths revealed in the Bible don’t always lend themselves to a personal application. Sometimes, that might obscure the reality. It then seems a bit silly to say that something like football or food becomes an idol for people. It may seem to lend itself that way, but the idols of the Old Testament are clearly real entities. Ones who do not want humans to flourish.
Changing Allegiance
The purpose for this lengthy article is to expose the reality. The hope is for the body of Christ to shake off the silly thinking that idols are imaginary things that keep us from God. The truth is these are real entities who have real power, that is if one extends it to them. When Jesus went to the cross, He removed the bondage. People can be free of these besetting and disabling influences in Jesus’ name.
In the Tanakh, there is no sinners’ prayer. Though the invitation is there as a call to change one’s mind… To repent. The reality is that to leave idols is to change allegiance. To come to God is to change allegiance.
Which leads to an important biblical principle. One that many do not quite grasp. The spirit world tends toward the legalistic. They cannot go where they do not have rights. From the beginning, this principle is laid out. Adam yielded rights to the dominion he was given by God.
This point is personally extended and explained in the New Testament. One yields their members, thus giving rights and permissions to the unclean spirits. Jesus spoke of this in John 8. Paul shows all exactly what it is.
Do not yield your members to sin as instruments of unrighteousness, but yield yourselves to God, as those who are alive from the dead, and your bodies to God as instruments of righteousness.
Romans 6:13
God does not work in anyone until one lets Him do it. Ephesians 1:13 clearly demonstrates this principle. It is a truth that clobbers some fatalistic lies taught by some circles of Christianity. The Bible is clear, one serves who one yields to serve. That is why the Bible uses the term servants and slaves, as these have masters.
I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh, for just as you have yielded your members as slaves to impurity and iniquity leading to more iniquity, even so now yield your members as slaves to righteousness unto holiness. For when you were the slaves of sin, you were free from righteousness. What fruit did you have then from the things of which you are now ashamed? The result of those things is death. But now, having been freed from sin and having become slaves of God, you have fruit unto holiness, and the end is eternal life.
Romans 6:19–22
The problem is that all have sinned. Universally, it is before anyone can know the requirements of the moral law. When that’s explained, the reality is all have missed the mark of perfection necessitated.
The ugly underbelly of that is a person who sins yields themselves to a master. Sin brings more sin, which brings death. Death brings judgment.
Jesus frees all from having to be bound to sin. When anyone repents and believes, God deposits His Spirit in that person freeing them from condemnation. The Spirit becomes a permanent presence and mark in them forever.
Indwelling Unclean Spirits
Another interweaving theme in the Bible suggests that the enemy counterfeits the things of God. It follows that those unclean spirits could also enter a person. There are many such cases detailed in the Scriptures. Consider what Jesus says about that from a different perspective.
“When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, it passes through dry places seeking rest, but finds none. Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it comes, it finds it empty, swept, and put in order. Then it goes and brings with itself seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there. And the last state of that man is worse than the first. So shall it be also with this evil generation.”
Matthew 12:43–45
Even though the principle Jesus is teaching is not necessarily about demon possession. He is using that truth to explain the activities of those who questioned and mocked His divine authority. It is a stern warning against the real dangers of stubborn disbelief. The important consideration being taught is that rejecting Jesus lends one to be more open and vulnerable to the principalities and powers of the air.
Think back to Jesus’ ministry, and the early days of the apostles. Possession of a person by indwelling unclean spirits was real. Jesus, the apostles, and even some others did cast demons out of folks. But did that problem just go away?
From present reality, no. It certainly seems foreign to many in western Christianized nations. It is as if the enemy has subtly hidden himself and his tactics. The activity of unclean spirits recessed in a way to not really be detectable. In modern times, demon possession is really just fodder for ghost stories and scary movies.
It did not just disappear. I see the evidence more frequently than I want to encounter it. And I’ve had personal encounters. I think there is a marked increase as the time quickly approaches. It is a last hurrah.
There are some immediately discernible behavioral indicators of influence and even possession by unclean spirits. These behavioral indicators have increased exponentially in contemporary populations because of the late hour. So… How does this happen?
It certainly does not without a person presenting themselves for the very purpose. Sometimes those rights and permissions are coerced by trauma, whether the trauma is purposed for that or not. Sometimes they are granted when one willfully ingests hallucinogenics into their body. It doesn’t matter if using those substances is legal or not. Others present themselves purposefully, knowing exactly what it is they are doing.
The language I use is indeed nuanced for various reasons. Mainly, I am not yet led to write in further detail on the subject. The point is that there are real unclean spirits and they attempt to influence the world in the same ways they did at the time of Jesus.
Humans are in a real spiritual war!
The Turning Point
There’s a reason why much of this has slipped under the proverbial radar. It is to avoid detection. But why?
Well, that leads to one of my favorite things about what Jesus did at the cross.
He blotted out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us and contrary to us, and He took it out of the way, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed authorities and powers, He made a show of them openly, triumphing over them by the cross.
Colossians 2:14–15
It was the law that empowered sin because it exposed sin in everyone. At the cross, Jesus took the handwriting, really He took the certificate of indebtedness to sin and destroyed it. In effect, freeing the entire race of humanity from the bondage of sin. The enemies had to go underground. In light of the truth that nobody is bound to yield themselves to their influences.
It is the other part that is more important. He disarmed the authorities and powers. These unclean spirits really have no power, other than what anyone may be extended to them. Because Jesus removed the indebtedness, they have only whatever is willfully volunteered. The truth is that anything given can also be revoked by will. It is done in the name of Jesus Christ. It is by Him that folks are set free.
Concluding Thoughts
This is not meant to elicit fear. On the contrary, because Jesus died there is nothing to fear. As the introductory citation shows, His resurrection is proof of that.
For those who are reading, it may be that God is revealing some things to you. You may have extended rights and privileges you no longer want to do. That is easy to fix. You can revoke them at any time in the name of Jesus.
For those who have never really believed or changed allegiances, you can do that, too. Set your mind to serving God. Believe that Jesus did die. In so doing, demolished the certificate of indebtedness that shackled you. The proof is, He rose again. Believing that is what pleases God.
And without faith it is impossible to please God, for he who comes to God must believe that He exists and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
Hebrews 11:6
Master's Crumbs 