Demons and
Fallen Angels
2 Peter 2:4
1 Peter 5:8
James 2:19
Recently I finished reading John Milton’s Paradise Lost. I say “finished reading” because I had
started it some time ago, then put it aside.
Was I not in the mood? Did
something else gain my attention? Was it
too difficult to decipher? I can’t
remember now. All I know is that, for
whatever reason, I chose not to finish it until a few weeks ago.
For those not familiar with John Milton, he was an
eighteenth-century English poet. One of
his poems, “Sonnet on His Blindness,” ends with the well-known words, “He also
serves who only stands and waits.” Although
blind, Milton did far more than stand and wait.
His contributions to literature in general and religious literature in
particular are both extensive and meaningful.
Paradise Lost
is an epic poem consisting of twelve fairly lengthy books, or chapters. It begins with the expulsion of Satan and his
followers from heaven, and ends with Adam and Eve being expelled from
Eden. Although Milton begins with
Satan’s troops falling into the abyss of hell, he later describes the preceding
battle with God’s forces at some length.
As you might expect, God wins the battle easily, and Satan’s defeat is
swift, complete, and permanent.
What I find interesting is the cause of Satan’s rebellion.
Milton attributes it to Jesus Christ.
When God declared that the Son was the Lord of all creation, before whom
every knee should bow (remember Philippians 2:9-11?), Satan, the chief of all
the angels, became jealous. He was
unwilling to take second place to the Son, and chose to rebel and fight a war
that, at heart, he almost certainly knew he couldn’t win. Milton has Satan say, “Better to reign in
hell than serve in heaven. With his two
quotes on serving, Milton draws an obvious distinction between himself and the
devil.
The defeat resulted in Satan and the angels who stood
with him being cast down from heaven—a distance so great that (according to
tradition) they fell for a thousand years before arriving in “the pit.” So far is hell removed from heaven that all
that time was necessary to traverse between them. Supposedly, according to Milton, none of the
fallen angels—not even Satan himself—would be able to escape. We know that turned out to be incorrect.
It
should be noted that “Satan” was the new name given to the rebellion’s
leader. His original name was Lucifer. That no longer fit his new persona—and his
new shape. Milton describes the physical
changes in the fallen angels. Instead of
the brightness we associate with angels (The Bible often describes them as “men
in white clothing”), Satan’s cohorts are dark, foul-looking creatures, with
hideous shapes and horrid faces. Another
change happens, Milton says, after Satan inhabits the serpent (an innocent
creature until then) in order to tempt humankind to sin. The fallen ones—demons by this time—take the shape
of serpents, deprived of arms and legs, and forced to crawl.
There
isn’t much scriptural basis for this poem.
Much of the book is Milton bringing his creative imagination to bear on
stories that were passed down through generations. Some of these stories have been recorded in
the books of the Apocrypha or in extra-biblical sources. The verse in 2 Peter gives us some
information. The verse from 1 Peter tells
us that Satan has not given up the battle.
Despite his centuries of losses, he still holds to the hope that he can
take a significant portion of humanity with him. To that end, he roams the earth “like a
roaring lion, seeking whom he can devour.”
We know the arch-devil takes other shapes as it suits his purpose.
Make
no mistake, the fallen angels/demons know the strength of their foe. That’s why, according to James, they
tremble. They know the battle is hopelessly
one-sided, but that doesn’t stop them from trying.
Don’t
be one of the casualties.
