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Find the answers to all those questions you were too embarrassed to ask in Sunday School. Welcome to Weird Stuff in the Bible, where we explore scripture passages that are bizarre, perplexing or just plain weird. Hosted by Luke Taylor.
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Be Merciless with Evil Spirits | Enoch 13-14 & Ephesians 6
Ephesians 6
Introduction
Jesus tells us to love our enemies. To do good for those who hate you. To pray for those who persecute you.
Now, He said all this before they invented the Walmart parking lot, but I think it probably still applies for today.
However, when it comes to evil spirits, the Bible has a different game plan: we give them no quarter. When it comes to the devil, we don’t take any half measures. Zero tolerance.
They don’t get a redemption arc in the Bible’s story, and we aren’t supposed to even let them try.
So why the difference?
I find this to be weird, and I’d like to explore why it’s in the Bible. And not only that, the book of Enoch is going to show us God’s disposition toward evil spirits as well.
If you want to dig into that with me today, turn to Ephesians 6, and let’s get weird.
[theme music]
Enoch 13 & the Appeal of the Watchers
Welcome to Weird Stuff in the Bible, where we explore scripture passages that are bizarre, perplexing or just plain weird. This is Luke Taylor, and today we’re going to be talking about why we should be absolutely merciless with evil spirits.
We’re in our series looking at places where the Book of Enoch intersects with the Bible. And I want to pick up where we left off last week. Usually, we start with a Bible study and then look at the book of Enoch. Today, I want to start with the story in Enoch and then look at how it correlates with the rest of the Bible.
First, just a housekeeping note, I decided I probably wouldn’t quit podcasting anytime soon, so I decided to invest in a better microphone. A Shure MV7+. So I’m in that trial-and-error phase with it where I’m tweaking settings and trying to find the right sound and mix. There are so many settings on this thing. So if things don’t sound quite right, that’s why. If you know sound and have some advice, you’re welcome to shoot me an email about it.
Alright, we’re in a section of Enoch where he has been caught up into the spiritual realm. He is going to be the intermediary in a conversation between the chained-up Watchers and God Himself. If you’ve been listening, you know that the Watchers- AKA the Sons of God of Genesis 6- had been chained up in the underworld for the sins they unleashed on the world, which led to the world being flooded and given a divine reset. It was so bad, that’s what God needed to do to cleanse the earth and give it a fresh start.
And so because of their sins, God told his Archangels to go down to earth and bind up the fallen Sons of God. They were locked away under the earth. And now, they want to make an appeal. They want to ask for mercy from God.
Now let’s remember something we read back in Enoch’s sixth chapter. When they were coming up with this plan, it told us: “…Semjâzâ, who was their leader, said unto them: 'I fear ye will not indeed agree to do this deed, and I alone shall have to pay the penalty of a great sin.' 4. And they all answered him and said: 'Let us all swear an oath, and all bind ourselves by mutual imprecations not to abandon this plan but to do this thing.’”
So in other words, the fallen Watchers knew this was wrong. They can’t claim ignorance. They called it “a great sin” before they even committed it.
And now we find ourselves in chapter 13. Enoch has been called upon to take down their appeal and deliver it up to God. We’re going to read the end of chapter 13 today and the first part of chapter 14.
3. Then I [which is Enoch] went and spoke to them all together, and they were all afraid, and fear and trembling seized them. 4. And they besought me to draw up a petition for them that they might find forgiveness, and to read their petition in the presence of the Lord of heaven. 5. For from thenceforward they could not speak (with Him) nor lift up their eyes to heaven for shame of their sins for which they had been condemned.
So that is pretty interesting. They can’t even lift up their eyes to heaven for shame of their sins? That’s pretty interesting. We don’t think of fallen angels as being ashamed of themselves. We think of them as 100% evil with no redeemable qualities. But spiritual realities are always more complicated than we first assume.
I guess there are two types of shame. There’s the shame of when you feel bad for something you did. And there’s also the shame of getting caught. Sometimes people are ashamed for getting caught, but they don’t actually regret what they did, and they would do it again in a heartbeat if they could get away with it. Now is that the kind of “shame” that these fallen angels feel? I have no idea. I can’t psychoanalyze a supernatural being from thousands of years ago based on an imperfect record like the Book of Enoch. We’ll have to go based off God’s response to them.
Enoch continues: 6. Then I wrote out their petition, and the prayer in regard to their spirits and their deeds individually and in regard to their requests that they should have forgiveness and length 〈of days〉†. 7. And I went off and sat down at the waters of Dan, in the land of Dan, to the south of the west of Hermon: I read their petition till I fell asleep.
So Enoch comes back out of the spirit realm, and he finds himself in the land of Dan. Now, in Enoch’s day, this probably wasn’t called the land of Dan, so this is one of those moments where an editor came in later and tweaked the words to reflect that. That kind of thing is common within the Bible itself, so that’s not really all that weird, and it’s helpful because it lets us know exactly where Enoch was.
In the land of Dan- which I take to be what was later the city of Dan, not the tribal allotment to Dan- there was apparently some kind of spiritual portal right there that Enoch could pass through and get back to the earthly realm. Enoch came back to earth, sat down, and took a nap. It seems that humans often get sleepy while they engage in these supernatural experiences (Daniel, Ezekiel, the Apostle John). God is going to visit Enoch and tell him to go back into the portal and give His response to their appeal; and in short, their appeal will be rejected.
8. And behold a dream came to me, and visions fell down upon me, and I saw visions of chastisement, ⌈and a voice came bidding (me)⌉ I to tell it to the sons of heaven, and reprimand them. 9. And when I awaked, I came unto them, and they were all sitting gathered together, weeping in ’Abelsjâîl, which is between Lebanon and [Senir], with their faces covered. 10. And I recounted before them all the visions which I had seen in sleep, and I began to speak the words of righteousness, and to reprimand the heavenly Watchers.
So as Enoch goes back through the portal, they are now in a place called Abelsjail. I am sure I’m not saying it right. It looks in English like the word Abel and Jail as a compound word. Now, remember that the Watchers have been chained up under the earth in such a way that they are able to observe humanity from underneath. This is part of their punishment. Their job was to “watch” from the heavens; but since they sinned, their curse is to watch their plans fail from under the earth. So I don’t know how things exactly work in the spiritual realm, but these Watchers are able to watch what’s going on, and it tells us that when Enoch returned, their place in Sheol correlates to a location between Mount Lebanon and Mount Senir. Mount Senir is Mount Hermon, according to Deuteronomy 3:9. There is actually a Temple erected here (above-ground) called Baalbek, and I’d like to share some pictures of it in this weekend’s newsletter. So if you are not signed up for it, you can do so through the show notes. If you find this episode later, you can click that link in the show notes to learn more about Baalbek. I want to continue Enoch’s story on into chapter 14 of his book now and not go down a rabbit trail about Baalbek today.
Enoch says this to the Watchers: 1. The book of the words of righteousness, and of the reprimand of the eternal Watchers in accordance with the command of the Holy Great One in that vision. 2. I saw in my sleep what I will now say with a tongue of flesh and with the breath of my mouth: which the Great One has given to men to converse therewith and understand with the heart. 3. As He has created and given ⌈⌈to man the power of understanding the word of wisdom, so hath He created me also and given⌉⌉ me the power of reprimanding the Watchers, the children of heaven. 4. I wrote out your petition, and in my vision it appeared thus, that your petition will not be granted unto you ⌈⌈throughout all the days of eternity, and that judgement has been finally passed upon you: yea (your petition) will not be granted unto you⌉⌉. 5. And from henceforth you shall not ascend into heaven unto all eternity, and ⌈in bonds⌉ of the earth the decree has gone forth to bind you for all the days of the world. 6. And (that) previously you shall have seen the destruction of your beloved sons and ye shall have no pleasure in them, but they shall fall before you by the sword. 7. And your petition on their behalf shall not be granted, nor yet on your own: even though you weep and pray and speak all the words contained in the writing which I have written.
So God slaps down their appeal pretty hard. He says, “you’re not going anywhere, you’re gonna watch your giant children die, and you can cry about it all you want and it’s not changing nuthin.”
That’s a paraphrase. I was putting it in Missourian. God probably has better grammar than me. But that’s the gist of it. God is completely, totally, 100% unrelenting in His condemnation of these Watchers. They can weep all they want and God’s not budging.
About this story, Timothy Alberino says in his book Birthright, "The watchers had wagered, however imprudently, that their daring enterprise might be pardoned by the King. They hoped that their sons would be granted a long life on Earth followed by eternal life with them in paradise. The request was flatly denied.” (pp. 184-185).
Demons are Unrepentant
Believe it or not, I have a personal story that relates to this, when a young woman who was demonized visited the church where I served as youth pastor. I’ve told this particular story before so I won’t go into the whole thing, but I want to just highlight one part. This wasn’t a Sunday; this was, like, a Tuesday or something. She showed up at the church and asked to pray in the sanctuary. Didn’t have any idea who she was. She came to chat in my office after she prayed. We had a conversation in which she told me she was demon-possessed. She didn’t speak in any strange voices, but she at times spoke as if I was talking to the demon just with her normal voice. And the strange thing was, she didn’t want to give her demon up. She wanted it. She called it her guardian or protector.
I tried my best to explain that you don’t want to have a demon inside you because you want to follow God and go to heaven when you die, not follow the devil and go to hell. She said- and this may have been the demon speaking through her- that she didn’t have to worry about hell because God is so loving and so forgiving that someday He is going to pardon and forgive all the demons for their crimes.
So I happened to be preparing a Sunday School lesson right when she showed up at the church, and the Bible on my desk was opened to the chapter that I was preparing for: Revelation 20. (Interestingly, this is the same chapter I was teaching on the podcast last week.) And I picked that Bible up, I told her she was wrong, and I read these words (I’ll read them in the NIV, since it was actually an NIV Study Bible that I had on my desk that day):
Revelation 20:10
And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
Now, two things on this verse. One, this verse doesn’t technically say the demons will be thrown into the Lake of Fire as well at that moment. However, Mark 3:22-23 refer to Satan as the prince of demons, meaning all the demons ultimately answer to him.
So when Scripture says that Satan is bound for a thousand years and prevented from messing with humanity during that time, I take it that the demons are bound as well. And then when Satan is thrown into the Lake of Fire at the end of that thousand years, I would say it implies that all the demons are thrown in with him. I can’t prove that, but I think it’s a pretty safe assumption.
And the second thing I want to say about this verse: when I read it to this young woman, she jumped up out of her seat, put her hands over her ears, and screamed as loudly as she could: “Stop saying that!” This made it clear to me that she truly had a demon, even though as I said, her voice never changed. I’ve heard a demonic voice before and I know how it sounds. But I fully believe a demon was still controlling her to some extent, and reading that verse struck a nerve.
And this is what you have to remember about demons. They aren’t gonna be with us in heaven. God is not giving the demons and the fallen angels another chance. There are not going to be some fallen angels who get redeemed and some who don’t. The Bible speaks of zero angel redemption.
When it comes to the demon spirits- and we’ll be learning more in a few weeks about where demon spirits come from and what they do- they are unabashedly, undeniably malicious. They have no agenda other than to use and abuse people.
And when it comes to the Watchers- principality spirits who have rebelled against God- the Lord gives them no recourse, no relief, and no hope. They are, quite simply, doomed. Regardless of what they say or, in the book of Enoch’s case, how remorseful they may act.
Now, I would say the Watchers were not truly repentant. That’s my assumption. They were upset about getting caught, but they weren’t upset about rebelling against God. Or maybe their sin was just so bad that God says no second chances. That’s possible, too. But this example is also how the Scriptures of the Bible tell us to handle evil spirits.
So we’re gonna put a pin in the Book of Enoch storyline right there and come back to it next time. For today, I just want us to look at what our Bible tells us about interactions with evil spirits.
How to Treat Evil Spirits
Let’s look at two areas. First, how God treats evil spirits; and then how we are to treat evil spirits. First up, let’s look at Jude 6 again. I’ve quoted this multiple times this year, but it speaks precisely of this passage that we’ve been reading today in the book of Enoch.
Jude 6
And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day—
Not just darkness. Gloomy darkness. They’re in the underworld. It’s not just dark. It’s a miserable, hopeless, gloomy dark.
Peter also speaks of it.
II Peter 2:4
For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into [tartarus] and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment;
Tartarus, the worst part of hell- again, of gloomy darkness- because that’s the only place God had like that before Walmart parking lots were invented.
And at the judgment, they’ll be cast into the Lake of Fire, which was created specifically for the devil, the fallen angels, and all who would follow after them.
Matthew 25:41
Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
God created this place just for Satan. Now, people go there as well, but God didn’t create it for people. God actually came to this earth and died for all mankind so that we wouldn’t have to go there. God created an avenue for man’s salvation and redemption. But God didn’t create anything like that for angel redemption. The angels have made their choice; they’re locked in.
Bill Weise, who wrote the book 23 Minutes in Hell, was once asked, “Why didn’t God make somewhere other than hell for people to go to for forever?” Bill said, “He did; it’s called heaven.”
Nobody has to go to hell- except the fallen angels. God gives them no alternative.
Be Merciless with Evil Spirits
And so that should be your attitude toward them as well. Do not give evil spirits any leeway.
When the archangel Michael was in a dispute with the devil in the Book of Jude, Michael said
In Jude 9
“The Lord rebuke you.”
He didn’t say, “You know, you’re making some good points, Satan.” He said, “The Lord rebuke you.” And that’s all you have to say.
When Jesus interacted with demons who were afflicting people, Jesus generally said- if I can put it in Missourian-“Well go on; git.”
Jesus never said “That demon has to go but this one can stay.” Jesus told them all to go. Legion had 2000 demons. And 2000 demons had to leave.
My application on this today is that if you’re ever in a situation in which a demon manifests in someone and starts speaking to you, there’s a chance that the demon might try to play on your sympathies. The demon might beg and plead for you to leave it alone. It might sound very distraught and sincere. It might say, like what this person in my office told me, that it was sorry for its rebellion and that it fully believed God would pardon it someday.
But don’t give in. Your application today is to be merciless with evil spirits. The New Testament often warns us about our spiritual enemies, telling us to be vigilant, describing it as a battle.
Ephesians 6:12 says
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
Note that word “wrestle.” It doesn’t say we try to melt their hearts and bring them to repentance. It says we wrestle with them.
So if you’re ever involved in a deliverance or helping someone to find freedom and you think there’s a spiritual component to that- and let me just say, you’re right, there’s almost always going to be a spiritual component to these things- then don’t stop until the job is done. Don’t stop because the demon tells you to stop. And don’t stop until you feel peace in your spirit that the enemy has been taken care of.
In his book The Heavenly Realms, Jeremiah Bolich writes these words, and I’m going to read a few paragraphs because this is so good: “The physical realm and the spiritual realm are very different places. As a child of God, you have been instructed to function in both. In the physical realm, we are told to endure patiently. We are to turn the other cheek (Matthew 5.39), forgive seventy times seven (Matthew 18.22), love our enemies, and pray for those who persecute us (Matthew 5.44). Our instructions when we interact with evil beings in the spiritual realm could not be more different.
“The spiritual realm is a war zone, plain and simple. We have been equipped to throw down and cast out. We are to show no mercy to our adversary. We are never to apologize, pray for, or show pity to Satan or his demonic horde. Life and death are at stake, and we have been called to be ruthless in our dealings with the demonic.
“It can be hard to grasp how and why our spiritual enemy is the enemy of God's Kingdom, but more so how, for Satan and the demons, there is no chance of salvation. These spiritual beings are evil personified and beyond saving. How we deal with them versus those in God's physical creation could not be more different.”
I know that was a long quote, but it was all so good. With people, we are loving, forgiving and patient. With spiritual powers, we are ruthless. I want you to remember this both for helping other people and for yourself. When you decide to help someone get the devil out of their life, don’t stop until the job is done, no matter what he throws at you.
And I want you to remember this for yourself as well. When you start fighting the enemy and praying against him more, it’s very possible that all heck is gonna break lose in your life. Suddenly everything starts to go wrong. Maybe your refrigerator goes out. Maybe you get in a fight with your spouse.
Maybe you started praying prayers of binding and loosing after my episode last week, and then you started having a really bad week. Everything started to go wrong at work. Situations blew up at home. That tends to happen when you start fighting the enemy. He fights back.
And when he does, you’ve got to push through. Don’t let your foot off the gas. Keep praying more prayers than ever before. Because he’ll try to distract you, or worse, get you to give up. You’ll decide life was easier before you started praying these prayers. You don’t want the heat. That means your prayers are effective, and the enemy doesn’t like it. So don’t stop.
I’ve heard so many stories Christians starting some new task in their lives for God. Planting a church. Writing a book. Starting a ministry. And right after they get started, their life starts getting super hard. They lose their job. They have a fire at home. Your dog gets sick. Now you have a vet bill. There’s some kind of unplanned setback. And they want to give up.
Sometimes they think it means God is trying to stop it. I’m ashamed to say this but I’ve had those thoughts before, too. I’ve thought, If God really wanted THIS to happen, He wouldn’t have let THAT happen.
But more likely, it’s not evidence that God isn’t in it, it’s evidence that the devil is. And you need to get him out. So keep pushing through, don’t give up, and finish what you started. Stay in the fight. And be merciless with evil spirits.
[musical interlude- Zech’s song]
What About Joshua?
In the OT, God commanded genocide. Then in the NT, Jesus commands us to love our enemies.
This is a significant problem for us. Did God change? Malachi 3 says I change not.
The Canaanites were giants, and the giants were demon spirits in human form. We’ll talk about that more in a few weeks as we get into Enoch 15.
I tried to make the demons leave that girl who was in my office, but she didn’t want them to go.
To this day, IDK if I even could have. If she didn’t want them to leave, then as far as I know, they have legal rights to be there.
Next Time
If you’re wondering where this song comes from, my 7-year-old son actually created it on an app on my iPad while I was working out at the gym. I liked it so much I wanted to use it in an episode. I don’t know how to create something like that; I have absolutely no musical ability; I’m, like, 20 steps behind the general population when it comes to music. But my wife is incredible with instruments and music, so my kid gets any gifting he has in that area from her.
Next time on this podcast, I’d like to speak about something called typology. This relates to how Scripture shows us patterns between things Jesus did and things Old Testament figures did. And we even see a pattern between Jesus and Enoch that I’d like to highlight next in that episode. So make sure you’re subscribed so you can get it!
A few shoutouts real quick: to Heidi who left a comment on Spotify this week. To Brielle who wrote in. And on Youtube, shout-out to Allen, to William, and to Sandra.
And a special shoutout to a new official weirdo, Jodi, who says: “I found out about your podcast from a couple in my life group in October, and I have been listening to them all in sequence since then and | just realized I am now current. It feels so weird that l've listened to all of them now. I guess I'm a real weirdo. I am fascinated at all these weird things in the Bible and I'm just eating them all up. I love that your episodes are under 30 minutes. I think that might be my favorite thing because I can listen while I make dinner or clean.”
Thank you so much for being in the weird family, Jodi. And in the interest of keeping these under 30 minutes, here are some closing thoughts…
Closing Thoughts
Ephesians has a lot of insight into spiritual warfare. It’s not just the last chapter that teaches us about the armor of God. The whole book is full of helpful info.
Ephesians 4:26 and 27 say
26 Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27 and give no opportunity to the devil.
You see, the enemy is looking for open doors to insert himself into our life. One way is through anger. He wants to get you to sin, and this will give him legal rights to oppress you.
Now, to a certain extent, the enemy will tempt and oppress all of us. Even Jesus had to deal with him. So we can’t keep him out of our life 100%. But we can severely limit his power in your life when we obey God and don’t give the devil an opportunity.
That word “opportunity” in that verse is the Greek word “Topos” (top-oss), and it means to give him a foothold. When you are climbing something, it’s a lot easier if you can find a place to put your feet. It’s almost impossible climb up if you can only use your arms and can’t use your legs for any leverage. But you make it a lot easier for a demon to climb to your ears and speak their thoughts into your head when you’re angry. So Ephesians warns us to get rid of anger as quickly as possible. We’re all gonna get angry. But deal with it. Forgive. Make peace. Whatever you need to do. Because it’s not just about that situation; it’s about the spiritual battle you’re in.
The demons are looking for legal rights to afflict us. So don’t give them an inch; they’ll take a mile.
Let me put it in King James: if you give them a cubit, they’ll take a furlong.
Ephesians 6:12 told us
…we do not wrestle against flesh and blood…
That word “wrestle” is the Greek word Pale (pah-lay), and it means: “a contest between two in which each endeavours to throw the other, and which is decided when the victor is able to hold his opponent down with his hand upon his neck.”
In other words, it’s a fight where you win once you can strangle the other person.
I don’t know about you, I don’t want to strangle anything. I’m not a violent guy. I mean, I like a chicken sandwich, but I don’t want to be the guy who cuts the head off the chicken. I don’t want to fight any person either, and the only way I probably would is if I had to do so to protect me or someone I care about.
But the Bible tells us to fight the demons who are coming after us. To wrestle them to the ground and strangle them. That’s the intensity with which we fight the devil. Because that’s the intensity they’re bringing to you.
We’re in a fight with demonic spirits, and it’s not going to end until one of us ends up strangled.
Neutrality is not an option. You can bind the enemy, or you are gonna be bound.
To quote Jeremiah Bolich one more time: “For those in this fight, there's no room for compassion and no take-backs. It's an all-or-nothing contest, and only one contestant will emerge.”
And I’d also like to end by quoting Skillet. They have an awesome new song out with Tauren Wells called Take it All Back, and I want to end with these words because this is exactly what Jesus gave us the authority and mandate to do. It says:
I'm calling the angels down, I’m storming the gates of Hell
Tell the devil he don't own my soul, I’m taking back what the enemy stole
I'm raising the battle cry, I’m holding the banner high
With the power of the Holy Ghost, I’m taking back what the enemy stole
So if you think taking back what the enemy stole is weird, I hope you’re a little more weird today, too. Thanks for listening, God bless you for sticking around until the end, and we’ll see you next time on Weird Stuff in the Bible.