What the Devils Believe

The devils believe more than you might think. Sprinkled through the New Testament Scriptures are snippets of conversation where devils claim knowledge of Jesus. When Satan was cast from heaven, probably about the time the heavens and earth were created, he took about a third of the angels with him. These angels are become what we know today as demons. Raymond Richardson, a friend from my younger years, used to call it like this…“The devil and all the little devils…” The narrative for this purge in heaven is found in Revelation 12:3-4a “And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth:” and in verse 9 “And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.” Jesus was even witness to this event in Luke 10:18 “And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.” What I find interesting is that the devil and all the little devils know and believe Jesus. They also know their end and there is nothing they can do to change it. Angry and miserable, they do what they can towards the destruction of man. In First Peter 5:8 “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:” I watched a nature documentary some time ago where a zebra had just delivered a colt. The helpless newborn had been delivered only seconds when a large male lion calmly walked to and picked up the zebra colt by the nap of the neck and took it away for dinner. The devil would destroy you and me and our children with no more regard than the lion attack on the zebra colt. A couple occasions Jesus had direct conversations with demons. One instance in found in Luke 4:33-34 “And in the synagogue there was a man, which had a spirit of an unclean devil, and cried out with a loud voice, Saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art; the Holy One of God.” This unclean devil had an intimate knowledge of Jesus knowing full well the power of the Son of God. In verse 42 of the same chapter “And devils also came out of many, crying out, and saying, Thou art Christ the Son of God. And he rebuking them suffered them not to speak: for they knew that he was Christ.” The devils truly believe that Jesus is the Son of God, but their power is to destroy mankind. The Apostle James makes a bold statement in James 2:19 “Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.” Just as the demons acknowledged Jesus then as they were cast out, they still know Him today. The devil and his angels also know their end. They know they are denied the saving power of God. Angry, scared, and determined, the devil knows his eventual end. The Apostle John wrote of this in Revelation 20:10 “And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.” Forever and ever is a long time. See you in church. --- Bro. Louis