Devils
There are many questions about devils, as there are about angels, that cannot be answered from Scripture. What we need to know, however, is given in Scripture.
We know that the devils are all fallen angels. In many passages both Satan and his demons are simply called angels (II Cor. 11:14; Jude 6; Rev. 12:7-9). Jude 6 and II Peter 2:4 speak of the fact that they “kept not their first estate” through sin—a clear reference to their fall—and Isaiah 14:4-23 suggests that Satan’s sin was pride and rebellion against God.
The passage in Isaiah is a prophecy against the king of Babylon, but it is usually understood to refer also to Satan, since he was the power behind the king of Babylon, and since much of the prophecy applies more clearly to him than to the earthly king. If this interpretation is correct, Isaiah 14 also gives us the name he had before his fall: “Lucifer, son of the morning” (12).
We know too that his fall took place before the fall of man, since he was the instrument of man’s fall (John 8:44). Revelation 12:4, which is often understood to refer to the fall of Satan and his angels, suggests that many angels fell with him. It is difficult to say whether the verse teaches that a literal one third of the angels fell with Satan, since so many numbers in the book of Revelation are symbolic.
We know also that devils have great power. Satan himself is called the prince and god of this world (John 12:31; II Cor. 4:4). His power is so great that we cannot withstand him in our own strength (Eph. 6:11). He is compared in I Peter 5:8 to a “roaring lion” who goes about seeking whom he may devour.
His power is especially the power of lies, deceit and temptation (John 8:44; Rev. 12:9, Matt. 4:1ff). Through these means he holds in bondage the children of this world (II Cor. 4:4) and is the great enemy of believers and of the church. His very names refer to this power. Satan means “adversary” or “accuser,” and Devil means “slanderer.” Thus he is also called Apollyon (meaning, “destroyer”; see Rev. 9:11).
Whether he has power to possess people as in the days of Jesus is more difficult to say. There is at least the possibility that this was something limited to the time of Jesus and the apostles.
In any case, it is important for Christians to know that, by grace, he can and must be resisted, and that he will then flee. James 4:7 tells us that the temptations of Jesus give much instruction about how to resist him, that is, by knowing and confessing the word of God and by prayer (cf. also James 4:8).
We must know too that, though he has great power, he is under the sovereign direction and control of God (Matt. 12:29; Rev. 20:2) and will be cast, with all other workers of iniquity, into the eternal fires of hell (Rev. 20:10). Thus, as Luther wrote, “The prince of darkness grim, we tremble not for him.”
What we know of the Devil and his hosts, therefore, is given to us so that we, clothed with the armour of God, may stand fast against all his fiery darts and resist him to the end. Let us do so, and not tremble. Rev. Ron Hanko
Corporate and Personal Responsibility (5)
“In those days they shall say no more, The fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the children’s teeth are set on edge. But every one shall die for his own iniquity: every man that eateth the sour grape, his teeth shall be set on edge” (Jer. 31:29-30).
“I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me” (Ex. 20:5).
We have, in the last two articles, shown that the truth of the second commandment (part of which is quoted above) is taught in many places in Scripture, with applications far broader than the family. We have also shown that the principle of this commandment is a daily fact of life: there is corporate responsibility.
What must now be done is to show that the truth of Jeremiah 31:29-30 (quoted above) is also the truth of Scripture, and that the two passages do not contradict each other.
Jeremiah 31:29-30 was a complaint Judah lodged against God when He told the people that their captivity could not be avoided, and that they would certainly be led away captive. The people argued that this sentence of captivity was unjust because they were being punished for sins their fathers had committed: “[Our] fathers have eaten a sour grape, and [our] teeth are set on edge.”
God responds to this accusation against His justice by telling the people that they will no longer be able to quote this proverb, because, “[Every] man that eateth the sour grape, his teeth shall be set on edge” (30). That is, every man will be punished for his own sin.
This too is a fact of life. A man comes under the judgment of God for his own sins when he appears before the great white throne in the day of judgment. Revelation 22:12 teaches that each shall receive according to his works, and each must give account of what he has done (cf. II Cor. 5:10).
The second commandment itself expresses this truth: “[I will visit] the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me” (Ex. 20:5). The judgment of God comes upon those children who hate God. That is, they are punished for their own sins.
And it must be clearly understood that, sometimes, in these generations of the wicked, where the iniquity of fathers is visited upon children, God reaches out and saves one or two as brands plucked out of the burning. They are saved by way of a total repudiation of the sins of their fathers, a heartfelt confession of their own sins and true repentance.
But there is one more point that must be made. God often punishes sin with sin—and this is also true in the line of generations.
God accomplishes His decree of election in the line of the generations of believers and their seed. God also accomplishes His purpose of reprobation in the line of generations: the generations of the wicked.
Romans 1:24 teaches that God punishes sin with sin: “Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts …” The whole passage (18-32) should be read, but notice that little word “Wherefore.” Because these people, described from verse 18 onward, were idolaters who deliberately changed the glory of God into an image made like unto corruptible man, God punished their idolatry with the sin of homosexuality: “Wherefore God also gave them up …”
That this happens in the line of generations is plain in life. If parents are lax in church attendance, their children are more lax yet, and their grandchildren do not even go to church. If parents are worldly minded, their children are more so. If parents are covetous, their children allow covetousness to control their lives. Sins in one generation are aggravated in the next.
This explains the development of sin in the world. But it must be remembered that God, who is sovereign over all, punishes sin with sin.
How much more reason is this to incite us to repent of our sins, and to flee ourselves, and our children with us, to the cross of Christ, where we may find forgiveness and pardon.
Thus God visits the iniquity of fathers upon the children, and God punishes each man for his own sins. Prof. Herman Hanko
Where Did Cain’s Wife Come From?
The interesting question in the title of this article was submitted by one of our readers in connection with Genesis 4:16-17. The mention of Cain’s wife in these verses is often used as an argument against creationism and against the truthfulness of the first eleven chapters of Genesis.
However, the Bible does have an answer to the question, though not a direct one. The answer must be deduced from other information Scripture gives.
The following biblical facts are important:
- Adam was the first man and the father of the whole human race (Rom. 5:12; I Cor. 15:45).
- Genesis 3:20 tells us that Adam called his wife’s name “Eve” because she was “the mother of all living.” This would include Cain’s wife.
- Adam and Eve had more children than Cain, Abel and Seth. Genesis 5:4 tells us that Adam “begat sons and daughters.”
The only possible conclusion, therefore, is that Cain married one of his sisters, and that the other children of Adam and Eve did the same. Until a number of generations had been born, all those who lived on earth must have married very close relatives.
The objection that this was “incest” does not apply, since the laws against incest were not given until the time of Moses (cf. Lev. 18-20). Nor is there any indication in Scripture that before the time of Moses marriage between close relatives was disapproved by God. Abraham married his half-sister (Gen. 20:12), and Isaac and Jacob both married cousins.
The cases of Isaac and Jacob are especially important, since in each case they, or someone responsible for them, was commanded to find a wife from among their own relatives (Gen. 24:1-9; 28:1-5). In the case of Isaac, Abraham made his servant swear an oath, in connection with the promises of God, to find a wife for Isaac in Haran, and nowhere else. Jacob, too, received the blessing of God in connection with his father Isaac’s command to him to find a wife in Haran.
We should remember too that, in the early history of the race, genetic degeneration had only just begun, and therefore there was far less possibility of deformed or handicapped children being born of these close marriages.
Certainly there is no argument against the truthfulness of Genesis 1-11 in the fact that Cain’s wife is mentioned in Genesis 4. The record of the early world given by God in these chapters is inspired and infallible history. Rev. Ron Hanko
