What Jesus' Brother Jude Wanted Us to Know | Verse 9 | Is Casting Out Demons Legit?
Previously, we read Jude’s denunciation of the false teachers’ habit of ignorantly blaspheming the “glorious ones”, or angelic beings in general, be they elect or fallen.
Here, in verse nine, Jude continues to work this out, making an irrefutable case for the terribly presumptuous nature of their blasphemies.
“But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, ‘The Lord rebuke you.’” | Jude 9
The immediate takeaway that we are confronted with was covered briefly in our last post. To summarize, if Michael, the chief of angels, did not dare to blaspheme the devil with a rebuke, then human beings—who are made “a little lower than the heavenly beings” (Ps 8:5) (emphasis mine)—have no business whatsoever assuming they have the right to do something that not even Michael would do.
We have no authority over spiritual forces and we are not called to directly interact with spiritual forces. Divination has always been an evil thing in the sight of God (Deut 18:10), so the attempt to communicate with any of them—whether one way, or two ways—should never be something we aspire to do. If Christians are to do anything, they are to resist the devil (Js 4:7). Our Lord has provided us with His Spirit and with His Word and has equipped us with the shield of faith to extinguish the devil’s fiery darts (Eph 6:16).
Let us not presume to be more powerful than we are. If the chief angel, Michael, did not blaspheme the devil himself, then we also ought not to blaspheme.
The question many of us may be asking at this point is: Well, what about the ability to cast out demons?
In the gospels we read of Jesus’ incredible power over both natural and spiritual forces. He demonstrated over and over that He had authority over demons: “they brought to him many who were oppressed by demons, and he cast out the spirits with a word” (Matt 8:16). We should expect nothing less from God Incarnate.
Furthermore, Jesus, at times, gave special authority and miraculous abilities to His disciples to further the substantiation of Himself as the coming Messiah. Hebrews 2 tells us that it was "by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit" that God "bore witness" (v. 4).
Matthew—himself a disciple—recorded that Jesus “gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction” (10:1), telling them in no uncertain terms to “cast out demons” (v. 8).
Later in Luke 10 we read that Jesus gave this same authority and instruction to seventy-two others that He appointed. They came back from their ministerial work, exclaiming with joy, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” (v. 17).
Jesus’ answer to them is a poignant, weighty, and cautionary one: “Do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven” (v. 20).
The height of our Christian joy should be wrapped up in our forgiveness and reconciliation with God and not in spiritual gifts. These disciples had a special God-given gift for a special time and yet Jesus Himself warns against feeling an importance by it, or marveling in the gift itself. The gift was for the use of establishing the gospel message of Jesus Christ—it was not for the one possessing the gift itself.
The point here is that the ability to cast out demons was a special delegation of power by God Himself and even then it was not something to find pride in.
It is similar to the Apostle Paul’s argument in Romans about the ridiculous error in receiving the gift of faith for salvation and then turning around and boasting about our salvation. No, Paul says, “What becomes of out boasting? It is excluded” (3:27). He even tells the Corinthians that “if I preach the gospel, [even] that gives me no ground for boasting” (1 Cor 9:16) (bracket and emphasis mine). Paul had a job to do. Indeed, necessity was laid upon him to carry out this task. Having the special calling to be an apostle was not something that Paul ever boasted about because he knew it was a means to a far more important end, namely the salvation of souls.
So it was with the special ability of casting out demons—it was a means to an end. It was a special gift from God to prove the power of God and that the kingdom of Heaven was at hand.
With all this said, there is one important detail that cannot be missed. I do not believe there is a single instance where the disciples are shown to be arguing with, or conversing with, demons, as if they had sovereign rule over them. Only the Lord Jesus is recorded as doing such a thing. In other words, there was a limit to their special, temporal authority over demonic forces.
Not so with the Lord.
Matthew records a conversation between Jesus and some demons who possessed two men: “The demons begged him, saying, ‘If you cast us out, send us away into the herd of pigs.’ And he said to them, ‘Go.’ So they came out and went into the pigs” (8:31–32).
Luke records this same incident with more detail. Only one of the two men do the talking:
“When Jesus had stepped out on land, there met him a man from the city who had demons. For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he had not lived in a house but among the tombs. When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before him and said with a loud voice, ‘What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me.’ For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man . . . Jesus then asked him, ‘What is your name?’ And he said, ‘Legion,’ for many demons had entered him. And they begged him not to command them to depart into the abyss. Now a large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, and they begged him to let them enter these. So he gave them permission. Then the demons came out of the man and entered the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and drowned” (8:27–33).
Luke also records a time when Jesus verbally rebuked demons: “Demons also came out of many, crying, ‘You are the Son of God!’ But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak” (4:41).
None of the disciples are ever recorded as having verbal conversations with demons like Jesus did. In only one place in Scripture do we see a demon speak to someone other than Jesus and it is in mockery towards arrogant, would-be demon chasers:
“Some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists undertook to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, ‘I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims.’ Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this. But the evil spirit answered them, ‘Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?' And the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded” (Acts 19:13–16).
No answer was actually expected by the demon. In a disgusted type of confrontation the demon made a cutting retort to the men and then attacked them. The presumptuousness of the ignorant sons of Sceva were not lost on anyone at that point.
When all of this is considered it makes more sense of Jude’s indictment of the false teachers. I think it is telling and bears its weight upon the modern reader even today. Jude uses this example in order to make the sinfulness of the false teachers even more evident.
Too many times, people may be tempted to think that those who dabble with demons, or make slandering comments about any type of spiritual being, or who brashly denounce and rebuke the devil, are some type of especially powerful or insightful godly leader with special authority, but the opposite is actually true.
The playground for this type of outlandish behavior is seen in the modern charismatic movement. Is it any surprise that the majority of false teachers within the broad evangelical spectrum operate within the charismatic movement? They are marked by the assertion of their own authority over all things and do so in the name of the Holy Spirit. In addition to the phony miracles, “tongues”, and ecstasies, are presumptuous claims of being mini-gods. Thus, they loudly declare prophecies as well as rebuke the devil and his demonic forces as if all authority is wrapped up in their own personality.
The charismatic movement, mainly the un-Reformed majority, is the bullseye of Jude’s targeted denunciation. In this movement exists scandal after scandal of sexual promiscuity—turning grace into sensuality as Jude warned in verse four. In their presumptuous attack on Satan while using the name of Jesus and claiming the power of the Holy Spirit, they actually deny the Holy Spirit’s true work and authority—by not heeding the Scripture’s (Jude’s) warning for instance—and instead end up blaspheming God as they drag His holy Name through the mud.
They are the modern day sons of Sceva.
What we see as our tool for fighting sin and the spiritual warfare that is waged by Satan and his minions is simply this: the Word of God and prayer. These will equip us with the needed spiritual armor to be able to withstand, resist, and overcome the enemy.
"Take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm" (Eph 6:13).
The church is not told in Scripture to cast out demons. We should, however, if there were a case of suspected demonic possession, call the elders of our church and pray that if it is the Lord's will would He please rebuke the demon. The authority lies in Him and His will and not our own.
One charismatic, self-appointed "deliverance minister" wrote an article detailing the seven steps to driving out demons. There is hardly a lick of Scripture in this entire article except for passing references to the fact that the apostle's could do it. In it she says things like:
"When operating in deliverance, keep in mind you're ministering to the man or woman not the demon. Remain calm and loving. Always give the person priority. Ask them if they can hear you. If they don't respond, another spirit is likely dominant. You must take authority over it in the name of Jesus. The demon may try to manifest; causing the person to growl, whine, argue, threaten or contort. Do not speak to the spirit unless it is a command to submit in the name of Jesus. Maintain authority and communicate clearly" (emphasis mine).
Nowhere in Scripture is the work of casting out demons given to Christians as a task, not to mention in how many steps it should be accomplished. She continues:
"Now it is time to command all spirits to leave. Deliverance is not a traditional prayer; it is a prayer of command. It's not directed to heaven, but toward the evil spirit, ordering it to "get out!" (emphasis mine).
We need to take Michael's queue on this, as Jude urges. Again, not even he directly rebuked the devil and yet self-appointed deliverance ministers attempt to practice and then teach the very opposite instruction of the Holy Spirit's Word in Jude and directly rebuke the "glorious ones".
We must also refer to the Apostle Peter's words on the matter, from where Jude draws:
"Even angels, although they are stronger and more powerful, do not heap abuse on such beings when bringing judgment on them from the Lord" (2 Pet 2:11).
The point of divergence is clear and we must side with Peter and Jude; With truth.
If the archangel Michael does not personally rebuke Satan, Jude says, then we should never presume to assert ourselves in such a way either. To do so would be to fall in line with the rebellious false teachers who rail against anything they don’t fully understand.
Jude’s warning to his readers is that if they see anyone behaving in this way then they should avoid them and continue to contend for the faith that has been delivered in completed form.
What is it that will set us free from the bondage to anything? It is the very thing that the false teachers know nothing of:
"The truth will set you free." | John 8:32
In Christ Alone,
Ben
