The Demon Within

THE DEMON WITHIN

In the garden of Eden the Tree of Life represented God and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil represented selfishness. The second tree represented the fact that it was possible to choose to live in a selfish way; to choose what seemed good or evil according to personal opinion. The tree was in the garden – not to tempt Adam and Eve – but to warn of the consequences of living in a selfish manner apart from God.

From beginning to end, Scripture reveals to us that God’s purpose is for humanity to be a people to Him, and that He would be God to them. It is a great mystery, but the Lord loves the church, His people, as a man loves his wife (Eph. 5:27-32), and desires a deep, spiritual intimacy and union with humanity. But before long, the serpent (the spirit of selfishness) came into the garden and attempted to seduce God’s betrothed Bride (Gen. 3:13). In the Bible, betrothed means:

“A verb meaning to betroth, pledge in marriage. The word means to become engaged to, to marry a woman (Deut. 20:7). The betrothed was usually accompanied with a bride price (Ex. 22:16[15]; 2 Sam. 3:14) or dowry. It was considered adultery and much more dangerous to seduce a betrothed woman than a virgin (Ex. 22:16[15]; Deut. 22:23, 25, 27, 28). A betrothed woman was bound to marry the man she was engaged to (Deut. 28:30). The word was used figuratively to describe the Lord’s betrothal of Israel to Himself (Hos. 2:19[21], 20[22]). Therefore, the relationship with His people was one of personal intimacy at its deepest level” (Baker, 2003).

When Eve figuratively “looked to” the fruit of the tree, she perceived it as good for food and pleasant to the eye. She desired it; wanted it; eventually came to the point of participation and took a bite. As in the natural, so it is in the spiritual as well. Physically, we are what we eat, and what we partake of spiritually is indeed what we become. What we eat physically is merely an earthly parable and does not defile us, for Jesus said that it simply enters our bellies to go out in the draught. It is what we consume spiritually that defiles us, for it enters our very hearts to become part of us! When humanity partakes of the evil tree, we look to another as a source of sustenance rather than God. We take on the nature of the spiritual food we consume, and are transformed as a result.

A Spiritual Union

The union between a man and a woman is a mere shadow of the intimate, spiritual union that exists between God and humans, and the earthly marriage relationship is meant to be a picture to all the world of this union. God intended for humanity to have an intimate spiritual union with their God – a people who would be the Bride of Christ.

But by partaking of the evil fruit, humanity came to an intimate knowledge of evil. They became identified with evil; became one with it. This was a union, not of the flesh, but of the spirit; indeed, the kind of union God had intended to have with humanity to have. Instead humanity became joined to evil in an even greater and deeper way than the union of an earthly marriage.

· 1 Cor. 6:15-17 Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid. 16 What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh. 17But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.

Our bodies were meant to be temples that God would live within us (1 Corin. 6:19). Instead, we (all of humanity) became a temple for sin and evil.

· Romans 7:17 Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

· Romans 7:20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

God planted in all of us a desire for Him – our true Husband, “And her desire shall be for her husband…” We all try to fill that desire for our Creator with earthly things, for that is all we are capable of doing as we partake from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. All of our sins spring from our efforts to keep ourselves safe, secure, and happy apart from God’s provision and protection. The sinful behaviors of fathers are visited on the children in what appears to be generational curses because a child learns how to cope with life by watching their parents. Humans come to desire, and eventually to duplicate the behaviors they have observed. The earthly things we are exposed to as we grow up become the very things that stir our appetites, and the child grows to love and depend on the same sinful behaviors that their parents loved and depended on. The child exposed to drugs learns to do drugs; the young man whose father plays poker learns how to gamble; the child exposed to violence and abuse learns how to abuse. Anger begets anger in the next generation, selfishness begets selfishness, greed begets greed, promiscuity begets promiscuity…and on and on… The son is not punished for the iniquities committed by the father, but the son will probably choose the same iniquities that have been modeled for him. So in essence, we each become what we behold and become joined to what we “look” upon. Each person makes their own choices and earns their own personal marriage to sin.

Even though the sin that dwells in us brings us much pain, it does also bring us a small amount of pleasure and even fulfillment in a way. We come to depend on that fleeting pleasure, and in a kind of love/hate relationship, we love our demons! Like a woman married to an abusive man, we keep hoping things will get better. Because she loves her mate, she believes him when he promises he won’t hurt her again. When the pain becomes almost unbearable, she may leave for awhile. But soon she feels empty inside and returns. He, seeing the hold he has on her, abuses her more than ever. Much of the time, the poor woman has to hit “rock bottom” before she will become serious about severing the relationship.

Scripture tells us that even though humanity departed from the Lord and went after other lovers (Hosea 1:2, 2:13), the Lord loved us still, had pity on us, came after us, wooed and allured us (Hosea 2:14). So that in the end He could “say to them which were not my people Thou art my people, and they shall say, Thou art my God” (Hosea 2:23).

Taking Up Our Cross

Christ came “that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death; that is the devil” (Hebrews 2:14). Only when the sinful, selfish nature that dwells in our very being is crucified will the power that death holds over us be broken. The fleshly nature that dwells in all of us must be delivered unto death if the life of Jesus is ever to be made manifest in us (2 Corin. 4:11).

Christ demonstrated a way that the demon of selfishness in us could be overcome. Because our sinful, selfish nature (the flesh) must die, each individual must suffer as Jesus suffered and enter into that death to self. There can be no union with God for us unless our selfish nature dies with Christ. We will never walk in newness of life if we do not become partakers of the death, burial, and resurrection with Christ. It is only the person that has died to himself and been born anew that experiences that union with God.

· Romans 6:4-6 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. [5] For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: [6] Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.

The Holy Spirit inside of us delivers the first blow to the selfishness that lives within us. But it takes a long time to kill a demon, and one blow doesn’t do it! If we surrender to the circumstances of life that are intended to scourge and cleanse us rather than resisting them, blow after blow will be dealt to our sinful nature (the demon within). The end of this process is “death to self” so that union, sweet union, with our true Husband is possible. We must be partakers of suffering and death if we will be partakers of resurrection. As Jesus, we too, must endure the cross for the joy set before us.

· Philip. 3:10-11 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; 11If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.

· 2 Cor. 1:7 And our hope of you is stedfast, knowing, that as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation.

· Romans 8:17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

· 2 Tim. 2:12 If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us:

· 2 Cor. 4:11, 16-17 For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. 16For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. 17For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.

Choosing Our Tree

Even as the first couple was free to choose, we also are free to choose the tree from which we will eat. Indeed, we must choose – for it is impossible to eat from both trees.

· 1 Cor. 10:21 Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord's table, and of the table of devils.

If we eat and drink the spiritual meat and drink of Christ, yet still we lust after evil things, we will fall just as surely as they did in the wilderness (1 Corin.10:3-11). “For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep” (I Cor.11:30). Attempting to eat from both trees, will leave us sickly children, stunted in our growth, and lacking spiritual discernment to such an extent that the spiritual stupor is likened to one who is asleep!

Some do attempt to serve both God and mammon for a time, but the truth is they will eventually hold to the one and despise the other. Paul was jealous for believers, lest after they were betrothed to Christ, they should be beguiled by the serpent, betray our Lord, and once again be led astray.

· 2 Co 11:2-3 For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. (3) But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.

Jesus said, Take, eat, this is my body and my blood… Today, we still must choose to partake of one tree or the other – either we “eat” the body and drink the blood of Jesus, the Tree of Life, or we “eat” from the fruit of the evil tree. Choosing to partake from the Tree of Life joins us spiritually to Christ and will develop pure, clean, simple (single) renewed minds, clear vision, and peace in us. Choosing to eat from the evil tree will unite us with the serpent and bring confusion, many muddled and unclear thoughts, unrest, frantic busyness, and bondage.

Just as it was with Eve, what we “look on” will determine which tree we choose. What we set before our eyes occupies our minds. The more we look, the more we want/desire. Eventually, what occupies our minds is played out in our actions and we come to the point of actually participating – we become partakers of what we have looked upon. This is the reason the man who looks on a woman with lust might as well have committed adultery with her already in his heart, for if we let something occupy our minds, we will eventually bring it into reality in our lives.

Again, what we “look on” spiritually will determine which tree we will choose to “eat” from. If we set the Lord before our eyes, it will lead to greater desire for Him, and a heart after Him. It will result in being transformed into the image of Christ and becoming partakers of the divine nature.

· Hebrews 12:2 Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.

· 2 Cor. 3:18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

If we would be followers of Christ, we need to be ever mindful about the kind of fruit we look on, and pay close attention to what tree we are eating from! For just as Eve “looked” to the evil tree, people today can still choose to “look” to the wrong tree in looking to earthly things or to other people to provide wisdom and guidance, security and happiness. Let us ever remember that we indeed become what we behold, and let us be ever diligent to set our eyes upon the Christ who lives within.

“Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the

earth: for I AM GOD, and there is none else.”

Isaiah 45:22

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Baker, W. (2003, c2002). The complete word study dictionary : Old Testament . AMG
Publishers: Chattanooga, TN