Whenever the unclean spirits saw Him, they would fall down before Him and shout, “You are the Son of God!”
— Mark 3:11

I’ve met Christians who scratch their heads when the topic of demons comes up. Some of them don’t even believe they are real. I can understand such things for new believers or folks just getting into the faith. But for others who have been “Christian” for a while, what is their excuse? Not entirely sure there is one. The Spirit tells me that in most of these cases, it’s a function of laziness…but that’s not the emphasis of this blog, at least not today.

Demons exist. They are fallen angels. Satan swept one third of them away before mankind was even created. ”And his tail *swept away a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth...” (Revelation 12:4a). Because they are angels, they know God, personally. In fact, as far as we know through scriptural accounts, the angels know God by being in His very presence, ”Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them” (Job 1:6).

In Holy Scripture we see that demons always knew who Jesus Christ was when they met Him. How? They’ve known God ever since their own creation. Sadly, they fear Him more than most Christians do, even, certainly more than unbelievers. “You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder” (James 2:19). Here’s a perfect example of a demon knowing Jesus immediately:

In the synagogue there was a man possessed by the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice, “Let us alone! What business do we have with each other, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us?

“I know who You are — the Holy One of God!”

But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be quiet and come out of him!” And when the demon had thrown him down in the midst of the people, he came out of him without doing him any harm. And amazement came upon them all, and they began talking with one another saying, “What is this message? For with authority and power He commands the unclean spirits and they come out.”
— Luke 4:33-36

Some of you by now might be saying, “So, what’s the big deal? Why are you bringing up the fact that demons know Jesus?” Simply put, though demons may be on the wrong side of Jesus, they are far more intimately aware of His power and glory than, arguably, most so-called “Christians”. To put this into perspective, as a little experiment, imagine which creature would fear Jesus more in His presence today, the demon or the average Christian? If you believe the answer is the demon, as I do, then you must absorb the magnitude of this reality from Holy Scripture. The point I’m trying to make is that we might look at the demons to find a good example of what ‘fear of the Lord’ in the Bible looks like, as odd as this may seem. These creatures literally cowered in His presence, even before He chose to do anything to them.

I wonder how many so-called “Christians” fear the Lord this way? How many beg Him for mercy when they know they’ve sinned against Him? How arrogant sinners can be, “Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the LORD” (Proverbs 1:29). It’s an incredibly sobering reality that demons, fallen angels who stand opposed to the Lord, fear God more than mere humans, some of the latter group being saved, even.

One last thought. As a believer in Christ, I hate it when I have to deal with a smug unbeliever. Do you remember my recent blog post titled, “A Punch To the Throat”? These folks are first on my list. In any case, unless these individuals do as Jesus Christ stated, “for unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins” (John 8:24), they will be sent to the Lake of Fire for all of eternity. Shudder (yes, that was an allusion to James 2:19)! Even demons know what their impending judgement is, and that it is from the Lord Jesus Christ, Himself; yet, unbelievers? Meh. “And they [demons] cried out, saying, ‘What business do we have with each other, Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the time’” (Matthew 8:29)?

As creatures, believers and unbelievers alike, we are incredibly arrogant towards the Lord. It seems the demons, creatures that some so-called “Christians” don’t even know exist, possess a greater fear of the Lord than humans do, at least most of us anyway. What does this say about us, or the demons, for that matter??? To me, it says a lot...

Love in Christ,

Ed Collins