SPIRIT MONSTERS --
MONSTERS SERIES, PART 4

Revelation 12, Colossians 2:13-15 (NASB)
David Bruce Linn, Pastor-Teacher
29 May 2006
All Rights Reserved, www.breakfree.org

Most people in Western culture have great difficulty viewing the physical world as inhabited by spirit beings. This may be changing, but our default condition is that we simply do not think of them as affecting anything in our lives. When we hear of evil spirit beings impacting people's lives, we just do not take it seriously. Take this case reported by Dr. K. Neill Foster in his book entitled Warfare Weapons: "The incident involved a lengthy case of demonization. The struggle went on for seven months before victory came. My exposure to the warfare extended for six weeks. It was a day and night battle. The prisoner was a seventeen-year-old girl who had given way to a legion of the evil powers. The violence early on was considerable. It took five men to subdue a slender girl. The New Testament came alive as we witnessed reenactments of those things about which we had only read. The year was 1963. The occasion for the bondage was backsliding on the point of baptism followed by the use of LSD before it had ever become well known. There were demons from the Hungarian war, demons which enabled the victim to perform exquisite Thai dances though she had never been in the Orient. But I spare you....There have been many like battles in our ministry since, but none so dramatic nor educational as the first" (Horizon Books, Camp Hill, PA, p. vii).

Does this account not immediately make you uncomfortable? Who is this Foster guy, anyway? How do we know that he is telling the truth, and not just trying to sell books? After all, the world is full of religious charlatans and gullible people who are mistaken about what they are seeing, right? This very Western skepticism is also much more comfortable than facing reality. Nobody wants to think that the physical world which presents itself to our eyes is actually inhabited by spirit monsters who may end up terrorizing our loved ones. But let's be frank. Only eyewitnesses could confirm Dr. Foster's experience in 1963. On the other hand, I knew the late Dr. Foster to be a man of the highest integrity, so I have every reason to take his word for it.

1. THE REALITY OF SPIRIT MONSTERS

The only way out of our bind concerning the reality of spirit monsters is to appeal to the word of God. The twelfth chapter of the book of Revelation is a wealth of reliable intelligence about the invisible world beyond our eyes: "A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars; and she was with child; and she cried out, being in labor and in pain to give birth. Then another sign appeared in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads were seven diadems. And his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth" (Revelation 12:1-4a).

The apostle John begins by relating a vision of Israel which had previously been given to Joseph almost two millennia before (Genesis 37:9). The nation Israel as the sole representation of the mediatorial kingdom of God on earth for centuries before Christ is the first spiritual entity in this drama. Immediately John sees another vision, this time of a great red dragon. John identifies the dragon later in this same passage: "And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world..." (Revelation 12:9a). The dragon is the great spirit monster of all time, the monster of all monsters. He was originally the highest and most glorious angel of God. He was so imbued with the shekinah glory of God that he was called Lucifer, or Shining One. Yet he was carried away by his own ambition and had to be cast away from God, as is recorded in Isaiah 14:12-15: "How you have fallen from heaven, /O star of the morning [Lucifer], son of the dawn! /You have been cut down to the earth, /You who have weakened the nations! /But you said in your heart, 'I will ascend to heaven; /I will raise my throne above the stars of God, /And I will sit on the mount of assembly /In the recesses of the north. /I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; /I will make myself like the Most High.' /Nevertheless you will be thrust down to Sheol, /To the recesses of the pit" (Isaiah 14:12-15).

But Lucifer did not fall into sin alone. The obscure-sounding reference to sweeping a third of the stars of heaven down to earth is a reference to other holy angels, now demons, who chose the same path of rebellion against God. So the earth as we thought we knew it is populated not only with people we can see with our eyes, hear with our ears, and touch with our hands. There is indeed a preeminent spirit monster known as Satan, the serpent, or the great red dragon who has tremendous abilities and is in command of an army of lesser spirit monsters who do his will.

Have you incorporated this awareness into your walk with Christ? Have you realized that things you see and read in the news are interconnected with the work of these spirit monsters? Someone you know has been oppressed, harassed or even demonized. Western modernism says to us: "There's nothing here except molecules and energy!" The word of God says differently.

2. THE CAREER OF THE GREAT SPIRIT MONSTER AND HIS SERVANTS

If reality is populated with spirit beings, two thirds of which are holy and one third of which are evil, then what are they all doing? The next few verses in Revelation reveal the purposes of the spirit monsters: "And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child. And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron; and her child was caught up to God and to His throne. Then the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God, so that there she would be nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days" (Revelation 12:4b-6).

Though the prophetic imagery may seem difficult at first, the more you read it the clearer it gets. Israel is represented by a woman about to give birth, the dragon is Satan, and the male child is the Messiah of Israel, whom we call Christ the Lord. Here we learn the career goal of the great spirit monster, which is to devour the Savior and shut down his program of redemption. Lucifer wanted to be like God, and since he could not, he turns all of his hatred and violence against God and all that he is doing. Instead of being destroyed Christ is caught up to his throne in heaven at the ascension. Somehow Lucifer's sin of pride prevents him from understanding that he cannot gain supremacy over Christ at any time.

The dragon then turns on the people of God, in this case Israel. The number of days mentioned in the text for God's protection of Israel from this specific attack of Satan reveals that this is an event during the end times, specifically the second half of the seventieth week of Daniel (see Daniel 9:24-27). This has not yet occurred, yet we can see the wrath of Satan against Israel down through history. It may be that no other people group in history has ever been so hated and persecuted, so vilified and wholesale murdered. Yet because they are God's chosen people, they have not been eradicated. They have returned to the land of promise as of 1948. Prophecy predicts their future belief in Messiah Yeshua and redemption in him. The threat to their existence seems never to end. According to recent Arabic broadcasts from Al Jazeera, the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has called for Israel to be "wiped off the map." When one aggressor against Israel is quieted another raises his head. This is not merely a problem of flesh and blood! The dragon himself is behind it. He will make his last attempt to destroy Israel at the end of the age, but the Lord will protect them once again (see Revelation 12:13-16).

The dragon is also in direct warfare with the holy angels of God: "And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. The dragon and his angels waged war, and they were not strong enough, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven" (Revelation 12:7-8). This specific war is, I believe, a reference to the midpoint of the seventieth week of Daniel, but Old and New Testaments are replete with references to this ongoing war between good and evil spiritual armies.

So the dragon has tried to devour Jesus Christ directly and failed. He has murderously persecuted the nation Israel throughout its entire history and failed to eradicate it. He will fail to overcome the angelic army of God as well. But there is bad news in this passage for believers in Christ. The great spirit monster and his foul buddies are coming for you and me, as John the apostle revealed in verse 17: "So the dragon was enraged with the woman, and went off to make war with the rest of her children, who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus" (Revelation 12:17). I believe this specific text is a reference to the end times, but the hatred of Satan for God and his children knows no bounds of time.

3. THE CHARACTERISTICS OF SPIRIT MONSTERS

This rich intelligence report about the identity and plans of the invisible spirit monsters who operate on the earth can also be used to describe their characteristics. As stated elsewhere in Scripture, Satan functions as the head of all spirit monsters, so they do his bidding and have his characteristics. God is a father to all who follow him, and Satan is a terrible sort of father to both spirit and human beings who follow him. So everything said about the great spirit monster in this chapter also applies to every one of the smaller ones.

We learn from verse four that the dragon, a rebel at heart, tries to incite rebellion against God. His seven heads, ten horns, and seven diadems (crowns) are a reference to the way the dragon builds a human political base for the promotion of his agenda on the earth. This agenda will culminate in the rise of Antichrist who will personally be indwelt by Satan (see Rev. 13:1-4ff). We should expect the dragon to be very successful at co-opting every human government for his own purposes since the world is his realm of authority (Rev. 13:7).

We have already seen that the great spirit monster is a devourer (:4). When you see people being eaten alive, you are seeing the work of the spirit monsters. People and their livelihoods, lives, bodies, minds, souls, and families are their food. We have already seen that he is a military leader who brings spiritual war both to the heavenlies and to our doorstep.

He is such a great deceiver that he has the capacity to deceive the whole world (:9). That means that he will lie to us until we are so weak that he can devour us. The Bible calls him the Father of Lies (John 8:44).

We learn that he is "the accuser of the brethren" (:10). The great spirit monster brings his accusations against us to God (Job 1), but he and his followers also accuse us directly to ourselves. Have you ever heard a voice in your head saying things like: "You're dirt, and God could never love someone as worthless as you!" or "Now you've done it! You want to believe in Jesus and be saved but you've committed the unpardonable sin and it's hopeless now!" For several years as a pastor I would hear the following lie just as I was getting ready to start our worship service: "Nothing you preach will make any difference--it's all just going to bounce off!" I asked some folks to pray against that spirit and I have not heard that particular lie again. Have you heard the lie: "All those people are against you. You are all alone!" Or perhaps: "Those Christians are all fakes! Nobody is actually following Christ, except perhaps you!"

We learn from verse 11 that the dragon is a murderer, since believers in every century have been "faced with death." The great spirit monster is also filled with the kissing cousins of murder, anger and hatred, as we see in verse 12 that he is "having great wrath" which he directs against God and his people. He does not only pursue this agenda personally and through the other spirit monsters, he has human instruments who do his will, either knowingly or as unwitting fellow-travelers.

So, as a believer in Christ, you can expect to be attacked, lied to, oppressed, and harassed all the days of your life. This would be a prescription for despair if Jesus Christ was not King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

4. FOUNDATIONS FOR PERSONAL VICTORY OVER SPIRIT MONSTERS

There are many specific battle tactics and methods by which every believer in Christ can live in victory over every spirit monster, including the great red dragon himself. We will not be able to review all of these in this study, but we must know that no tactic or method is of any value against spiritual beings of such immense power unless it is founded squarely upon the power of Jesus Christ himself. Before we mine Revelation 12 for the foundations of victory, it would be well to visit a vivid picture of Christ's victory over all spirit monsters found in Colossians 2:15: "When He [God the Father] had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him [Christ]". This is a reference to Christ doing something like what the Roman rulers did when they were victorious over their enemies. The defeated leaders were ingloriously paraded through the cities of the empire to prove their vanquishment to everyone looking on. As strange as it may seem, Jesus Christ has already displayed the evil "rulers and authorities" of the spirit world as utterly defeated by his death and resurrection.

With that said, there are at least five specific foundations for personal victory in Revelation 12 alone. First, we must believe the intelligence report we receive from the word of God about the spirit monsters. Your gut is going to find it hard to accept that demons from the Hungarian war and some with knowledge of Thai customs are roaming around seeking whom they may devour. But your gut is not the judge of any matter of truth! Every believer needs to receive the wisdom about these matters which the Lord is giving in his word. The word of God is the only way we can discern the lies of the Father of Lies. It is our only map through the mine field of this world. When we are confronted with a spiritual booby trap, it is the Bible which will reliably tell us whether to clip the blue wire or the red wire. We are powerfully informed just by reading this one chapter in Revelation.

Second, every believer needs to stake his or her future on the salvation, power, kingdom, and authority of Christ as is presented to us in verse 10: "Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, 'Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night." I believe this to be an event which kicks off the Great Tribulation, but it is clear that the Lord God does whatever he wills. Our safety in this life will only be by his protection. We must first choose to trust Christ for the forgiveness of our sins, and then we face the challenge of living according to the victory purchased for us on the cross. There are many methods associated with our appropriation of Christ's authority, but the foundation is the knowledge that Christ is not wrestling with Satan in a fight to the finish as if Satan might win. No one out-wrestles our Lord, as Revelation 19:15 says of his return: "From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty." We must never forget that there is nothing above "almighty."

Thirdly, we must refuse ever to relinquish the sole ground of our salvation, which is the blood of the Lamb: "And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb..." (Revelation 12:11a). Every once in a while the dragon will whisper to you that you need to add some kind of meritorious works to the blood of the Lamb in order to have spiritual victory. Rebuke the lie! There are no works, no standards of performance, and no spiritual methods which can add the slightest power to the blood of Christ. Accept no dilutions or additions.

Fourthly, we must broadcast our faith by the word of our testimony: "And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony..." (Revelation 12:11b). This is the primary act of spiritual warfare! As people come to Christ they are lost to the red dragon forever. This infuriates him further, so he will do everything in his power to pressure you into silence. The act of giving our testimony, namely that we overcome by the blood of the Lamb, brings the power of God to bear on the spiritual realm.

Fifthly, and finally, we must live every day as those whose earthly lives have already been forfeit to Christ. In the last days the believers who walk in the power of Christ will be clearly seen because "they did not love their life even when faced with death" (Revelation 12:11c). This means that we refuse to be intimidated by the great spirit monster who is powerless to stop the advance of Christ's church. Have you not had a pang of fear when you heard that our church would be sending people out into church planting? What will happen to us? Did you feel afraid for a moment when you saw that our church was going to commit thousands of dollars to the revitalization of yet another church? The victory of Christ is not experienced by believers who fearfully attempt to hold on to their own lives. I believe that our church will experience a wonderful release of Christ's power and blessing as we refuse to be intimidated into doing nothing right at the moment of kingdom advance.

CONCLUSION: Up until recently most Westerners have been unwilling to reckon with the reality of spiritual powers. We have been like Ebenezer Scrooge when he saw the first spirit sent to instruct him, the ghost of Christmas past. He tried to rationalize the spirit away by telling himself that it was just the result of a bit of bad beef or a morsel of underdone potato. Our culture has largely held the view of sociologist Emil Durkheim which was that the entire concept of a spirit world, including God himself, is merely a psychological projection of human need. Imagine how vulnerable that has made the Western world to the real spirit monsters! Those who are willing to believe the Bible have a better intelligence report than the theorizing of modern academics. Our Lord Jesus Christ tells us to take our stand upon the foundations of victory over the spirit monsters. The alternative is to be distressed, harassed, oppressed, and for unbelievers, even controlled by spirit monsters. No child of God need suffer any of this! The world is a dangerous place, but Christ will see you safely through it.