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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 Satan.  The second tree represented the fact that Satan was here, on the earth. God put that tree in the Garden – not to tempt Adam and Eve – but to warn them of Satan’s existence and the consequences of partaking from what he had to offer.   

From beginning to end, Scripture reveals to us that God’s purpose is for mankind 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 man.  But before long, Satan 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 “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!  The moment Eve disobeyed God and ate of the evil tree, she looked to another as a source of sustenance rather than God.  Eve, and Adam with her, were both transformed as a result. Together, the couple took on the nature of the spiritual food they consumed.  
 

A Spiritual Union 

The union between a man and a woman is a mere shadow of the intimate, spiritual union that exists between a God and His people, and the earthly marriage relationship is meant to be a picture to all the world of this union.  God intended for Adam and Eve to have intimate knowledge of Him – knowledge greater than as a man knows a woman.  And they were commissioned to multiply and fill the earth with an entire people who would be become joined in intimate spiritual union with their God – a people who would become the Bride of Christ.  

If Adam and Eve had chosen to eat from the Tree of Life, they would have gained intimate knowledge of God and union with Him.  But by partaking of the evil fruit they came to an intimate knowledge of evil.  They KNEW evil, and evil became one with them – for this was a union, not of the flesh, but of the spirit; indeed, the kind of union God had intended for mankind to have with Him.  Adam and Eve, who were meant to be the first members of the Bride of Christ, were now bound to Satan – joined to evil in an even greater and deeper way than the union of an earthly marriage.

Our bodies were meant to be temples of God, for Him to live within us (1 Corin. 6:19). Instead, we (all of mankind) 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.


Death the Only Remedy 

Unlike an earthly marriage bond which can be broken, a spiritual union is permanent – nothing can sever it. God did allow couples to divorce during the time of Moses because of the hardness of their hearts, but because there is a bonding in the spirit divorce from mankind’s evil spiritual husband is not possible.  It is impossible for a man or woman who is joined to Satan to be married to their true God as long as they yet live, for this spiritual bond can be severed only by death.    

So God, knowing before the foundations of the world that His Bride would be betray Him, also provided the remedy beforehand: DEATH.  Death is the only cure for sin, the only means by which this horrible situation can ever be remedied, the only way to escape the union we entered into with Satan.  God established the death penalty out of His great love and mercy.  And so it was necessary that Adam and Eve, and indeed all mankind, were sentenced to death.  “Until death do us part” is God’s provision to free us from our evil union and make it possible for us to be united with our true God. 

·         Romans 7:2-4 For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. [3] So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man. [4] Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.

The angels who rebelled against God aligned themselves in a spiritual union with Satan as well, but because they live forever, there is no route of escape for them and no redemption possible.  Angels who have chosen to be joined to Satan will spend eternity with him.  

The children of mankind are all born with the same sin nature as Adam, but they are born innocent.  Typified in the female aspect of mankind, but true of all, 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 could learn to do while we ate 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.

Mankind committed great whoredom in departing from the Lord and going after other lovers (Hosea 1:2, 2:13).  Because we went after another god and were joined to Satan, the Lord had every right to put us away forever. Instead, He 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). 

Jesus became flesh and blood “that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death; that is the devil” (Hebrews 2:14). Only when the sinful nature that dwells in our very being is crucified will the power of eternal death that the devil 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).   

Jesse Penn-Lewis helped to explain this truth in an article called “The Cross Destroying the Serpent.”  She stated:

“This is the meaning of the Cross in its divine purpose, and the way of victory for fallen man to triumph over the world, the flesh and the devil. This is the meaning of the Fall – the fallen flesh taken possession of by the spirit of Satan. This is the answer of Calvary to Satan, and to sin: the fallen creation crucified on the Cross, that every man may have the option of leaving the old race, and breaking away from its federal head, the first Adam, begin again "in Christ" a new creation.  The Cross destroys the serpent. Hallelujah”

(1918). 


Taking Up Our Cross

 Christ came and died so that the demon in us could be overcome.  Because our sinful nature (the flesh) must die, each individual must suffer with Christ and enter into His death with Him.  There can be no union with God for us without personal participation in the death of Christ.  We will never walk with Him in newness of life if we do not become partakers with Him in His death, burial, and resurrection.  It is only the person that has died to himself and been born anew by faith in Christ that can ever be united to 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.

At new birth the Holy Spirit enters in and delivers the first blow to the evil that lives within us.  But it takes a long time to kill a demon, and one blow doesn’t do it!  Christ suffered blow after blow for us, and if we submit to the blows that are intended to scourge and cleanse us rather than resisting them, Christ will deliver blow after blow 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 His death and suffering if we will be partakers of His resurrection. As Christ did, 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 

After Christ sets us free from bondage to our demon, we are no longer married to sin.  As were Adam and Eve in the Garden, we are betrothed to Christ and have the same choice they had (Rom 6:14-16). And as they were free to choose, we also are now free to choose the tree from which we will eat. Indeed, we must choose – for it is impossible to eat from both trees. 

In fact, we eat and drink damnation to ourselves when we eat from the table of the Lord unworthily (1 Corin 11:30-31). If we eat and drink from 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).  Those who have never tasted of Christ eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in ignorance. But those who continue to eat from the evil tree after partaking of Christ do so with full knowledge, knowing the danger!  For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep” (I Cor. 11:30).  Attempting to eat from both trees, they remain sickly children, stunted in their growth.  They lack spiritual discernment to such an extent that their 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 corrupted.

·         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, or we “eat” from the fruit of the evil tree.  Eating the body and blood of Jesus is eating from the Tree of Life.  Choosing to eat from this tree joins us spiritually to Christ, and we are given pure, clean, simple (single) renewed minds, clear vision, and peace.   Choosing to eat from the evil tree again will  reunite 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 has 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.   

Even though they were the people of God, the Israelites fell in the wilderness because they lusted after evil things.  Their experience shows us that giving in to fleshly desires leads to fornication with other gods!  Eating and drinking from that other tree, they rose up to play – and entered into idolatry, or spiritual adultery.   

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 His image, being made partakers of His 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 will 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!

·         Matthew 7:13-20  Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: (14) Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. (15) Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. (16) Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? (17) Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. (18) A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. [19] Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. (20) Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.

Just as Eve “looked” to the evil tree, believers today can still choose to “look” to the wrong tree in looking to earthly things or to other people for 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 our Savior and Lord. 

“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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*All emphasis  mine.
Written January, 2008

Copyright ©2008 by Mae Shurow 
Permission is granted for non-commercial (free) distribution 
provided proper citation of authorship is included.

 

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

 Penn-Lewis, J. (1918).  Appendix Five.  The Cross Destroying the Serpent. Collected Works
       of Watchman Nee, The (Set 1) Vol. 01: The Christian Life and Warfare. Retrieved
            January 12, 2008 from

            http://ministrybooks.org/books.cfm?id=%23%26%2A%27%2C%0A