Demons Are Premillennialists

Luke 4:34-41

This passage works in conjunction with Revelation 20 to teach us something: Demons are premillennialists.  They're not amillennialists. They’re premillennialists because they know the plan is for Jesus to return, set up His earthly kingdom and during the earthly kingdom they're going to the pit [abyss] for a thousand years.  Before that, during the tribulation demons work in an unrestrained fashion.  God takes off the restraint and demons just run across the world and Revelation 6 to 19 describes what happens in the horrors of all of that goes on.  And then at the end of that seven-year period Jesus comes back again.  He destroys all the ungodly, and sets up His kingdom. 

v. 34        This statement relates because, like us, the demons don’t know when Jesus is coming back. So they tremble at the preaching of the gospel because it plunders their kingdom. 

James 2:19

¹⁹ Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.

Again, they know the truth. They are fundamentalists!

Sinners are prisoners in Satan's kingdom.  If they are to be liberated, then the Messiah must have the power to shatter the guardians of that kingdom, the demons, the fallen angels and their ruler, Satan.

1 John 3:8

…For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.

2 Corinthians 10:4-5

4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) 5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God,

Colossians 1:13

13 Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:

The guards in the kingdom of darkness are the hosts of fallen angels that we know as demons. So when the Messiah comes, the battle is on. 

Demon possession: There is no record of it in the Old Testament, no record in the epistles, yet there's an explosion of demon-possession in the gospels attacking the ministry of Jesus and the apostles. 

You might think that you as a believer need to be afraid of demons.  Wrong.  You don't need to be afraid of them.  Demons live in constant terror.  They can read Revelation just like we can. 

We believe and have no fear.  Because we believe the gospel and the gospel tells us that our eternity is settled and secure and in that we rejoice. The demons know the very opposite. They know for them there is no salvation, only a lake of fire. They don't know exactly when that's going to come, they know it's inevitable and they live in constant terror. 

Why does he use the word "holy" in v. 34?  What is most frightening to one who is most wicked?  Someone who is most holy.  I think it was the sheer terror of one who is ultimately wicked in the presence of One who is ultimately perfect.  Ultimate evil cringes in the presence of perfect holiness.  "I know who You are."

Look at verse 41 of chapter 4.  "The demons were coming out of many, crying out and saying, 'You are the Son of God,' and rebuking them, He would not allow them to speak because they knew Him to be the Christ."  Isn't that an interesting response? A similar thing happened in

Luke 8:28

²⁸ When he saw Jesus, he cried out, and fell down before him, and with a loud voice said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God most high? I beseech thee, torment me not.

You say, "Wait a minute, this could be some amazing publicity." 

Jesus shut them up.  He silenced them.  Why?  The last source of promotion Jesus wants is demons because people knew demon manifestation when they saw it, and if hell is pronouncing this man as the Messiah, that doesn't help because Satan is the father of lies.  Jesus says, "Shut up, silence."  There was this demon-possessed girl in Acts 16. She was saying about Paul, "These men are the servants of the Most High God."  Paul says, "Stop, get out."  God doesn't need publicity from the kingdom of darkness. That confuses the issue. But the demon here couldn't restrain himself. 

Mark 1:34

³⁴ And he healed many that were sick of divers diseases, and cast out many devils; and suffered not the devils to speak, because they knew him.

Isn't it amazing to you that theological liberals and pseudo-scholars don't know who Jesus is but demons do?  They believe, but my neighbor won’t!

So demons can put the truth in the mouth of liars [angels of light] as part of their deception.  Jesus wanted no testimony from demons which could fuel the idea that He was from Satan because, remember Matthew 12, when the Jewish leaders made a conclusion they said, "He works by the power of (whom?) Satan."

Luke 11:20

20 But if I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you.

Jesus says here’s how you know I’m the Messiah, I have power over demons and it’s the power of God!

Now let me just bring this down to where we are.  Where does Jesus dwell today?  I know He sits at the right hand of the Father but what about you, where does He dwell?  You know the answer to the question.  Galatians 2:20, "I'm crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I but Christ liveth in me."  Think that terrifies the demons?  Sure. Is your body the temple of God?  Yes, it's not the temple of idols. It's not the temple of demons. It's the temple of Christ. What do you have to be afraid of?  Demons are afraid of you.  You bring into their realm the presence of Christ.  If Isaiah panicked when he saw God, what do you think a demon does?  Isaiah was a prophet and he fell on his face in terror when he saw a vision of God.  If Ezekiel, in Ezekiel chapter 1, saw God and went into a coma of fear, then how about the demons.  The disciples on the transfiguration mount, Matthew 17, saw the glorified Christ and they fell over like dead men.  John, Revelation 1, sees a vision of Christ, and falls over like a dead man. 

The demon didn't want to come out.  Don't send us to the pit, we like what we've got, we're comfortable."  One day He's going to send them out of the world, one day He's going to send them into the lake of fire, just like He sent Satan right out of heaven when he sinned and all the rest of the demons with him.  He has the power to command this demon--who can't resist His power and so he has to go.  He's the creator of the universe and words of power brought everything that exists into its place and those words of power can take everything that exists out of its place.

If you study the demon-possessed and the miracles of Jesus with regard to them, they're often called "healings." That's right, the word "healing" is used, Matthew 4:24, Matthew 12:22, Mark 3:10, Luke 6:19, Luke 7:21, Luke 8:2, Acts 10:38.  The casting out of demons was considered a healing and healings were miracles, done only by Christ and those that He commissioned and sent out, not anybody else.  There is no case anywhere in the scriptures of some exorcism, some incantations, some formula, some prayer, some binding, some loosing, some chasing of demons.  It doesn't exist.  When demons were dealt with in unbelievers, they were dealt with in absolute, divine and supernatural authority, either Christ's own or that which He delegated to those who were with Him.  Now the demon wanted to stay but he couldn't stay because Jesus had the power to throw him out. 

But the demon, like a bratty kid, throws the man. You've seen your kids do that, you know.  "Put that down!"  "No."  "Put that down!" The bratty demon slams the guy down. I'm going but I'm not going without a final act of defiance.

It reminds me over in chapter 17 of Matthew of the boy who was ill and falling into the fire and falling into the water as the demon slammed him here and slammed him there. 

Well, Jesus has come in and plundered the kingdom of darkness and rescued us and taken us out, smashed the fortress and delivered us into the kingdom of His dear Son.  And that's where we dwell.  Now all of this, Jesus dealing with demons, was to demonstrate that He could do that. 

But when the Son came, Satan didn't take it lying down and struck back and the demons struck back attacking Jesus and the apostles with an assault that was violent and extreme.  Now today they've kind of gone quietly back into their secret places and they'll escalate their stuff again just before Jesus returns a second time, as we find in the book of Revelation. 

Now what Jesus did that day had a great impact.  Look at verse 36, "Amazement came upon them all."  Amazement is sort of wonder mixed with fear. 

Matthew 9:33

³³ And when the devil was cast out, the dumb spake: and the multitudes marvelled, saying, It was never so seen in Israel.

Jesus' power over demons was supernatural, extraordinary, unmatched, it was miraculous. 

We just need to know that Jesus can conquer the kingdom of darkness, right?  We only need one Savior…the real one.  Now if you could cast them out, guess what?  That would depreciate what He did.  You see that?  You can't have people running around, "Well, I'm casting out demons here."  Oh, are you the Messiah, too?  How many messiahs do we need? 

These were miracles.  These were pointing to the authority and power of the King Himself and His kingdom and they cannot be duplicated, they cannot be equaled.

I hope that I cause already fearful demons to panic over the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ working in the souls of the sinners that belong to the kingdom of darkness to transfer them out of that kingdom into the kingdom of God's dear Son. 

Paul said, "I preach the gospel because it is the power of God unto salvation." And that's what the demons hate most because it tears the sinner out of their clutches.