The Unseen World of Spirits

To the secular mind, belief in unseen spiritual forces and beings is seen as primitive and unscientific, based on the assumption that only what can be seen or measured in the natural world actually exists. Yet people have an irrepressible interest and belief in supernatural phenomena. The supernatural is certainly a staple of popular culture, as seen in the popularity of movies with supernatural themes. But the world of angels and demons is not just a fabrication of folklore or of Hollywood.

The Old Testament

Angelic beings appear in the Old Testament (OT) on a regular basis. They are seen often in visions, such as Isaiah’s view of the seraphim (Isaiah 6:1-4) or Jacob’s picture of a heavenly ladder (Gen 28:12). They are acknowledged as part of God’s good creation (Psalm 148:2). Angels commonly interact with human beings in the tangible world. For example, in Genesis 16:7-12 an angel preserved the lives of Hagar and Ishmael in the desert and encouraged her with God’s promises. An angel commissioned Gideon as a deliverer of Israel in Judges 6:11-22. In 2 Samuel 24:15-17 an angel carried out God’s plan to strike the people with a plague.

Not much is said in the OT about demons or evil spirits. There are a few vague references to trouble caused by an evil spirit (Judges 9:23; 1 Samuel 16:14-23). More is said about Satan and his role, but little compared to the New Testament (NT). He appears most notably to tempt Eve in Genesis 3:1-5 (as “the serpent”). He also appears in the book of Job as an adversary to God and his people (Job 1:6-12). Isaiah 14:12-15 and Ezekiel 28:12-19 are thought by many to be references to Satan that describe his fall from his original glory as an exalted angel of God.

The New Testament

The Jews of Jesus’s time were divided about the reality of the spirit world. One group, the Sadducees. believed in God but not in the existence of angels or spirits (or the resurrection of the dead). The Pharisees believed in all these things (Acts 23:6-9). Against that backdrop, Jesus clearly affirmed the reality of the spirit realm – based not only on his divine knowledge but his direct experience. For example, Jesus was tested by the devil in the wilderness but was attended to by angels when the trial was over (Matthew 4:1-11). An angel strengthened him in his ordeal in the Garden of Gethsemane (Luke 22:42-43). Jesus frequently had direct encounters with evil spirits, in which he demonstrated his complete authority over them (Matthew 8:28-32; Mark 1:23-27; Luke 9:37-42; and many more). The reality of spirits and of Satan often entered into Jesus’ teaching (Matthew 13:18-19; Matthew 18:10; Luke 10:17-18; Luke 11:14-26; Luke 12:8; Luke 16:22; John 12:31-32).

Angels also appeared to Mary to announce Jesus’s birth (Luke 1:26-38), to Jesus’s followers at the empty tomb (Luke 24:4-7), to release Peter from prison (Acts 12:6-10), and to commission Paul to go to Rome (Acts 27:23-24), along with many other similar examples. Philip (Acts 8:5-8), Paul (Acts 19:11-12), and others cast out demons.

The apostolic letters of the NT often speak of angels, demons, and Satan – as does the book of Revelation. Thus any view of reality based on the Bible will follow the lead of Jesus himself and acknowledge the existence of the invisible spirit world and its influence on the physical world in which we live.