Angels and Demons – Part 3: What do they do?

We’ve seen how we need to be careful when thinking about angels and demons because pop culture is full of errors when it comes to these creatures. We’ve also seen what angels and demons are and what they aren’t – they are not human, they are not material, they are not fat little cupids. Angels take many, many forms, from humanoid to wheels with eyes all around. They inspire awe in us because they are so mysterious, so strange.

They are so not us.

And they are so not God.

Angels and demons are powerful spirit beings for sure, but they are all created beings. And because they are created, none of them, not Michael, not Gabriel, not Molech, not Baal, not even Satan, is anywhere close to God in power or majesty or goodness or holiness. And though Angels and demons are the same kinds of creatures (demons are fallen angels after all), they differ greatly in their purpose, in what they do.

It may seem like a silly question, but if they are the same kinds of creatures, and they are all spirit, how then does one tell an angel from a demon?

It might surprise you to hear this, but one of the main ways to tell an angel from a demon has nothing to do with either of them but everything to do with God. Angels and demons are not God, that is certain, and we know that God alone deserves worship. And among all of God’s creatures, only one refuses to receive worship – angels.

The scriptural testimony is clear, and history bears witness to it – mankind craves to steal the worship that belongs to God alone.

And so do demons.

So one way to tell an angel from a demon is if they receive (or attempt to receive) worship. Angels will reject worship and direct the attempted worship towards God …

I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me, ⁹but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book. Worship God.” (Revelation 22:8–9 ESV)

… however, demons will receive worship …

They served their idols, which became a snare to them. ³⁷They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons; (Psalm 106:36–37 ESV)

And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, ⁶and said to him, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. ⁷If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” ⁸And Jesus answered him, “It is written, “ ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.’ ” (Luke 4:5–8 ESV)

There are other ways to tell them apart, and as we look into what angels and demons do, and what their purposes are, we can begin to be equipped to tell them apart. You may ask yourself “but demons are evil and they hurt people so I can surely tell them apart!” And to this I’d say “yes, they are evil, but they are also deceptive and cunning…”

¹²And what I am doing I will continue to do, in order to undermine the claim of those who would like to claim that in their boasted mission they work on the same terms as we do. ¹³For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. ¹⁴And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. ¹⁵So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds. (2 Corinthians 11:12–15 ESV)

This is yet another reason why scripture exhorts us to test every spirit!

Angels as messengers

The word angel means “messenger” and in one sense, anyone who brings a message can be called an angel. Though that is not the sense we are talking about here, it does give us insight into the purpose of angels in general. We saw some of the different categories of angels in a previous post – some guard, some worship, but all of them proclaim the majesties of God. But sometimes, God sends angels to humans, and it is in these sendings where we will park in this post.

You’ve probably heard of the most famous announcements of angels to men, especially if you are paying attention during Advent. The arrival of John the baptist, the one who would prepare the way for Jesus, God in the flesh, as He entered into His creation was announced by an angel. John was not Jesus, but the birth of John was foretold by an angel, and the message that this angel brought was one of great promise! You see, until this point, the people of God had no prophets for 400 years. They were still able to hear from God because they had His word which was read often in the temple, so God was not utterly silent, but He did not speak through prophets. His people were in a desert of sorts, and they had to trust that God would make good on His promise of sending another prophet to break the silence. Hear the final verses of the Old Testament …

“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. ⁶And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.” (Malachi 4:5–6 ESV)

Could He really? Would He? After 400 years, does He still care?

Yes!

Listen to the announcement of the angel to a priest and his wife …

Now while he was serving as priest before God when his division was on duty, ⁹according to the custom of the priesthood, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense. ¹⁰And the whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense. ¹¹And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. ¹²And Zechariah was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him. ¹³But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. ¹⁴And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, ¹⁵for he will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. ¹⁶And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, ¹⁷and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.” (Luke 1:8–17 ESV)

Did you catch it? The angel’s message to Zechariah and Elizabeth would have sounded very familiar to them – it’s an almost verbatim quote of Malachi 4:5-6! God made good on His promise and announced it by an angel. But there are more promises to fulfill and more announcements to make.

The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. ¹⁵I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” (Genesis 3:14–15 ESV)

… and …

Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz: ¹¹“Ask a sign of the Lord your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven.” ¹²But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test.” ¹³And he said, “Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary my God also? ¹⁴Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:10–14 ESV)

God promised a redeemer, and if something like bringing the greatest prophet was announced by an angel, surely the announcement of the redeemer would be accompanied with similar fanfare!

In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, ²⁷to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. ²⁸And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” ²⁹But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. ³⁰And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. ³¹And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. ³²He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, ³³and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” (Luke 1:26–33 ESV)

Again, do you think that Joseph and Mary would think that the message that the angel delivered would have sounded familiar? Especially since Mary was a virgin at the time of the announcement.

And when Jesus was born, another announcement was given.

And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. ⁹And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. ¹⁰And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. ¹¹For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. ¹²And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” ¹³And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, ¹⁴“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” (Luke 2:8–14 ESV)

But there is something different about this announcement! The angel was accompanied by “the glory of the Lord” and “a multitude of the heavenly host [angels] praising God.” Not just one angel, but a multitude of angels and the glory of the Lord! That would have been a sight to see for sure!

And, of course, we have angels delivering the news of Jesus’ resurrection…

But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. ²And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, ³but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. ⁴While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. ⁵And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? ⁶He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, ⁷that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.” ⁸And they remembered his words, ⁹and returning from the tomb they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. ¹⁰Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles, ¹¹but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. ¹²But Peter rose and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; and he went home marveling at what had happened. (Luke 24:1–12 ESV)

We’re only looked a few passages and we’ve already seen the angels bringing the message of God’s salvation to the world, from the prophet John to Jesus’ birth and resurrection.

But not all news angels bring is good…

Then the men said to Lot, “Have you anyone else here? Sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or anyone you have in the city, bring them out of the place. ¹³For we are about to destroy this place, because the outcry against its people has become great before the Lord, and the Lord has sent us to destroy it.” ¹⁴So Lot went out and said to his sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters, “Up! Get out of this place, for the Lord is about to destroy the city.” But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be jesting. ¹⁵As morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be swept away in the punishment of the city.” ¹⁶But he lingered. So the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the Lord being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city. (Genesis 19:12–16 ESV)

The news that angels bring isn’t always “good tidings of great joy”, but the news they bring is always from God.

Angels as servants and helpers and protectors

Angels are not only messengers, they are also sent by God to serve and protect and help the saints.

⁷Of the angels he says, “He makes his angels winds, and his ministers a flame of fire.” ⁸But of the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom. ⁹You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.” ¹⁰And, “You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of your hands; ¹¹they will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment, ¹²like a robe you will roll them up, like a garment they will be changed. But you are the same, and your years will have no end.” ¹³And to which of the angels has he ever said, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet”? ¹⁴Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation? (Hebrews 1:7–14 ESV)

Sometimes it’s odd for me to think of angels this way. We have Jesus, we should seek His aid. We have the Holy Spirit, we should seek His aid. But I also know that God puts people in our paths to minister to us and to help us and to serve us, so why wouldn’t He also use angels in this same way? The reformers understood this and spoke often of angelic help sent from God.

The angels are the dispensers and administrators of the divine beneficence toward us; they regard our safety, undertake our defence, direct our ways, and exercise a constant solicitude that no evil befalls us. – John Calvin¹Manser, M., ed. (2016). Christian Quotations. Martin Manser.

An angel is a spiritual being created by God without a body, for the service of Christendom and the Church. – Martin Luther²Manser, M., ed. (2016). Christian Quotations. Martin Manser.

Though I struggle with the idea of angels who serve us in this way, I can’t ignore the witness of greater men than I, but maybe, I should listen to the scriptures a bit more as well…

When the servant of the man of God rose early in the morning and went out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was all around the city. And the servant said, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?” ¹⁶He said, “Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” ¹⁷Then Elisha prayed and said, “O Lord, please open his eyes that he may see.” So the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. ¹⁸And when the Syrians came down against him, Elisha prayed to the Lord and said, “Please strike this people with blindness.” So he struck them with blindness in accordance with the prayer of Elisha. ¹⁹And Elisha said to them, “This is not the way, and this is not the city. Follow me, and I will bring you to the man whom you seek.” And he led them to Samaria. (2 Kings 6:15–19 ESV)

Jesus could easily have defeated that army of chariots, but instead, He commissioned an army of angels, though hidden, to protect his people. Even David spoke of this type of thing…

¹¹For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. ¹²On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone. ¹³You will tread on the lion and the adder; the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot. (Psalm 91:11–13 ESV)

… bonus points if you know who quoted this psalm.

In another encounter, Jesus again could have easily broken down prison walls to release His apostles, but He sent an angel to do that.

⁶Now when Herod was about to bring him out, on that very night, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries before the door were guarding the prison. ⁷And behold, an angel of the Lord stood next to him, and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him, saying, “Get up quickly.” And the chains fell off his hands. ⁸And the angel said to him, “Dress yourself and put on your sandals.” And he did so. And he said to him, “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me.” ⁹And he went out and followed him. He did not know that what was being done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision. ¹⁰When they had passed the first and the second guard, they came to the iron gate leading into the city. It opened for them of its own accord, and they went out and went along one street, and immediately the angel left him. ¹¹When Peter came to himself, he said, “Now I am sure that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting.” (Acts 12:6–11 ESV)

And angels do many other things to minister to the people of God.

They even minister to the Son of God.

¹⁰Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, “ ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’ ” ¹¹Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him. (Matthew 4:10–11 ESV)

Demons as enemies of righteousness

So if angels do all those good things, what do their fallen counterparts, the demons, do? First and foremost, their aim is to be worshipped, to take the place of God.

⁷Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ” ⁸Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. ⁹And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” (Matthew 4:7–9 ESV)

In so doing, they seek to kill and destroy God’s image bearers, and especially redeemed image bearers. They hate God, they hate His children, they hate His image bearers, and they hate his creation.

They will engage in any deception to achieve their aims…

¹Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” ²And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, ³but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ” ⁴But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. ⁵For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:1–5 ESV)

⁸but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. ⁹And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. (Revelation 12:8–9 ESV)

…including spreading false gospels that sound like the truth but are slightly off…

⁶I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— ⁷not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. ⁸But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. ⁹As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. (Galatians 1:6–9 ESV)

…and persecuting the people of God…

⁸Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. ⁹Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. (1 Peter 5:8–9 ESV)

When we speak of demonic persecution, we use two different contexts: oppression and possession. By oppression we mean what we normally mean by persecution – attacks, deception, harassment, and so forth…things done to someone from the outside. But when we talk about possession, we are talking about things done to someone from the inside, after a demon enters a person and torments them from their very soul. A characteristic recounting of demonic possession is found in Mark 5. I won’t work through it here, it deserves its own post, so I’ll leave it to you. And you should read it, because in it, we see the effects of demonic possession, but we also see the victory of Christ over the demons and the restoration that comes when the Holy Spirit inhabits a man and throws the demons out.

I’ll only put these two nuggets here.

The state of the man prior to Jesus delivering him…

¹They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes. ²And when Jesus had stepped out of the boat, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit. ³He lived among the tombs. And no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain, ⁴for he had often been bound with shackles and chains, but he wrenched the chains apart, and he broke the shackles in pieces. No one had the strength to subdue him. ⁵Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always crying out and cutting himself with stones. (Mark 5:1–5 ESV)

…and his state afterwards…

¹⁴The herdsmen fled and told it in the city and in the country. And people came to see what it was that had happened. ¹⁵And they came to Jesus and saw the demon-possessed man, the one who had had the legion, sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid. (Mark 5:14–15 ESV)

Demons are the opposite of angels – they come to kill and destroy. They present themselves as a pantomime Holy Spirit – twisting the words of truth unto deception instead of teaching the words of truth unto wisdom, to inhabit unto torment and destruction instead of unto peace and healing, to deceive people to worship them (or anything but God) instead of guiding people to worship God alone.

And the hope we have in all of this is that God’s salvation also saves from this! We may be tormented or persecuted for sure, but the world already does that. And though demons are more powerful than my neighbor, they are still limited and can only go so far as killing the body. – they cannot kill the soul.

And for the child of God, the Holy Spirit has been given to you and has even taken up residence in and with you, and because of that, though you can be oppressed, you cannot be possessed! No demon can live in you.

²⁸But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. ²⁹Or how can someone enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? Then indeed he may plunder his house. (Matthew 12:28–29 ESV)

Satan is the strong man, and Jesus is the one who binds Satan and plunders his house. Christian, it is a certainty that you cannot be possessed by a demon – God is stronger than any demon, and if a demon were to take up residence in your house, it would first need to bind the Holy Spirit which is impossible!

Besides that, there is this wonderful truth…

¹⁹Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, ²⁰for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. (1 Corinthians 6:19–20 ESV)

Every Christian has been purchased by God and is a temple of the Holy Spirit. Do you think God would let demons plunder His temple?

I think not!

This topic can be heavy, and there is a lot of misinformation and deception regarding this, especially surrounding the topic of demon possession. There are entire ministries that revolve around delivering Christians from their demons. But it is impossible for a Christian to be inhabited by a demon. We must be careful not to gauge success by outcomes – we have seen that Satan masquerades as an angel of light after all. What if someone was being oppressed by a demon (not possessed), but the demon was so hell bent on destroying this person that they would “go along” with whatever ritual was being performed and made it look like an exorcism worked, not to glorify God, but to make it seem that burning candles and reciting an incantation worked.

What if its goal was to draw praise away from God and onto a useless ritual.

What if its goal was to take that person’s eyes off of Jesus and onto anything else.

We must be careful to test every spirit, and rest in the truth that a Christian is ultimately in the hands of an affectionately sovereign God.

A God who is infinitely more powerful than any demon!

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  Manser, M., ed. (2016). Christian Quotations. Martin Manser.
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  Manser, M., ed. (2016). Christian Quotations. Martin Manser.