By Jeffery M. Leonard, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Religion, Samford University
Demons
Mark 9:17–29
In our last session we confronted the difficult problem of knowing how to think about the character of Satan. Popular culture has depicted Satan as everything from a cunning deal-maker to a suave Bohemian to a monstrously evil father of the antichrist to a ridiculous red figure with cloven hooves, horns and a tail. These descriptions all seem far removed from the biblical depiction of Satan, yet even in the Bible it can be difficult to know exactly who Satan is.
In the first three-quarters of the Bible (the Old Testament) Satan appears only three times and then only as a minor figure (Job 1–2; 1 Chron. 21; Zech. 3). More often God is opposed by the chaotic and personified waters of the sea.
In the New Testament, Satan appears more often. But even here the dividing line between Satan and evil personified is not always easy to draw.
What is true of our understanding of Satan is true of demonic powers as well. We might be inclined to think of demons as fallen angels, but this idea rests on a very slender base of scriptural evidence. Several passages from the Old Testament actually describe “evil spirits” sent from the Lord, once against Abimelech and the leaders of Shechem (Judg. 9) and several times against Saul (1 Sam. 16–19).
We know God is not the author of evil, so we have to confess our ignorance of just exactly what may be going on in passages that describe the workings of the spiritual realm.
One fixed point that can guide our thinking in this area is the confident certainty that no matter what form evil may take, our God remains in absolute sovereign control and His plan is steadily working toward its absolute defeat. One passage in which we see this vividly illustrated is Mark 9.
Evil spirits — demons — seek to destroy us. (17–22a)
As we pick up the story in v. 17, we find Jesus encountering an argument already in progress. A man had brought his son who was possessed by a spirit to the disciples in hopes that they could cast the spirit out, but they could not. The afflictions visited upon the son by the spirit are ones that sound familiar: seizures, falling to the ground, foaming at the mouth, clenched teeth, rigidity.
These sound to us like the symptoms of epilepsy, leaving us to wonder how we should think about this son’s condition. Was his epilepsy demonically produced? Was spirit possession just the ancients’ way of thinking about what we know of as a disease? Might this be an illustration of the nexus between the fallen state of creation — or evil, in a word — and the terrible effects it produces in death and disease?
Only Christ has the authority and power over demons. (22b–27)
However we are to think of the problem the son had endured these many years, there is no ambiguity about the solution. When the father begs Jesus to have pity on them, Jesus does exactly that. Telling the father, “Everything is possible for him who believes,” Jesus drives out the evil spirit and lifts his corpse-like body back to his feet.
We overcome Satan’s attacks through faith and dependence upon Christ. (28–29)
Amazed at what Jesus had done, His disciples ask Him why they had been unable to do it themselves. Jesus’ response was both simple and profound: “This kind can come out only by prayer.” In a simple sentence Jesus encapsulates all we need to know about facing evil spiritual forces. While they are a reality, they stand under God’s power and control. Our task is to cling to and depend on God as He defeats them.
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