Calvary Road Baptist Church
“A Survey Of Satanic & Demonic Warfare In Jeremiah”
Jeremiah
Our survey of Satanic and demonic warfare brings us to the largest of the Old Testament books referred to as the major prophets (owing to size, not number of chapters), the book of Jeremiah. My opening comments about the book of Jeremiah rely heavily on the expertise of Hobart E. Freeman and his helpful work, An Introduction To The Old Testament Prophets, published by Moody Press.[1]
The book of Jeremiah was written during times of misfortune and approaching catastrophe for the nation of Judah. The kingdom of Israel had come to ruin and utter destruction a century earlier because of its apostasy. History reveals that the graphic warning in Israel’s judgment was lost upon the southern kingdom of Judah, who rushed headlong in her iniquity toward a similar fate. Jeremiah stood practically alone in his effort to stem the tide of apostasy and turn Judah from her iniquities.
He warned their sins would lead to inevitable destruction at the hands of the Babylonians. In the face of the optimistic promises of the false prophets who cried “Peace, peace” to the sinful nation, his words of warning fell upon deaf ears. The consequences of the people’s persistent rebellion against the Word of the Lord were inevitable. In Jeremiah 25.11, the prophet was constrained to pronounce a solemn irrevocable message of judgment:
“And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.”
Oh, what might have been. Beginning in chapter two, the prophet reminded his readers of the happy relations between God and His people. Jeremiah 2.2 reads,
“Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the LORD; I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when thou wentest after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown.”
God was Israel’s first love when He appeared to her in Egypt. She was joyful then at the prospect of forsaking her former afflictions in slavery and idolatry and following Him out of Egypt into a new home and life with Him. There was much delight in her early love and fidelity. Jeremiah depicts God manifesting the characteristics of the husband who looks upon the wife of his youth specially as he protects and provides for her. Jeremiah 2.3 reads,
“Israel was holiness unto the LORD, and the firstfruits of his increase: all that devour him shall offend; evil shall come upon them, saith the LORD.”
As Israel’s husband, God jealously guarded her against her enemies and oppressors since he who touched Israel was guilty of trespassing against the holy, consecrated possession of the LORD. Alas, things did not go well for very long.
The first love was forgotten. The memories of the past became bitter. The cause for the change in the relationship did not lie in God. He remained faithful and righteous in His dealings with His people, but they became unfaithful toward Him. They had violated their vows and pledges of faithfulness to Him.
Their spiritual departures were self-instituted without any provocation from God and thus exhibited their shameful ingratitude. The shameful apostasy of Israel was unparalleled among the heathen nations of the world, God charged in Jeremiah 2.9-13: It was inexcusable desertion and infidelity and had to be punished.
9 Wherefore I will yet plead with you, saith the LORD, and with your children’s children will I plead.
10 For pass over the isles of Chittim, and see; and send unto Kedar, and consider diligently, and see if there be such a thing.
11 Hath a nation changed their gods, which are yet no gods? but my people have changed their glory for that which doth not profit.
12 Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid, be ye very desolate, saith the LORD.
13 For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.
Examine the history of every pagan nation, inquire in every idol temple, investigate the religious life of the idolaters of the world, and there will be found a loyalty to those false gods that put Israel’s unfaithfulness to her God to shame. Israel’s conduct was unheard of, even among the heathen.
The idolatrous nations remained true to their gods although their gods did not actually exist and could not help them in any way. In this passage, God marveled at Judah’s unbelief. Judah was charged with two unprecedented evils. First, forsaking the “fountain of living waters.” The LORD is described in the Scriptures as a fountain of living waters. Jesus declared in John 7.37,
“If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.”
Isaiah cried in Isaiah 55.1,
“Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters....”
In depicting Himself as living waters, God signified that He is the source of life which flows forth freely to those thirsty. Thus, He condemned Judah’s inconceivable act of spiritual folly. Those nourished by fresh living waters forsook them and invited death. But more, their folly became completely inexplicable when it is recognized that not only had they forsaken the fountain of living waters but they had, according to the final part of 2.13,
“hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.”
This was the second evil with which Judah was charged. The people hewed out for themselves broken cisterns. They forsook God, an irrational decision. But her folly was magnified by replacing the worship of God with the worship of worthless idols. Such apostasy could not remain unpunished. Judah would be exiled and Jerusalem would be destroyed.
I could continue to unfold the tragedy revealed in the book of Jeremiah, but any online search or study Bible would help you just as much. This survey series aims to alert you to the presence of Biblical references exposing the Satanic and Demonic warfare evidenced in the book of Jeremiah.
For that reason, I will quickly review the outline of the book of Jeremiah before looking at some specific passages that expose supernatural wickedness in a way that is sometimes obscured by the translation process.
OUTLINE OF JEREMIAH
I. INTRODUCTION: THE CALL OF JEREMIAH Chapter 1
II. PROPHECIES AGAINST JUDAH AND JERUSALEM Chapters 2-45
A. Prophecies Concerning Judah Until the Fall of Jerusalem 2-39
- Six Discourses Concerning Judah’s Destruction and Exile 2-20
a. First discourse: Judah’s unparalleled apostasy 2:1-3:5
b. Second discourse: Prediction of the invasion of Judah and the
devastation of Jerusalem 3:6-6:30
c. Third discourse: Judah’s iniquity and idolatry to be punished by exile 7:1-10:25
d. Fourth discourse: Judah’s breach of the covenant; her fate
predicted by word and sign 11:1-13:27
e. Fifth discourse: The prophet’s unavailing intercession concerning the
drought, and the prophetic sign concerning Judah’s coming fate 14:1-17:27
f. Sixth discourse: Symbolic representations of the coming exile: The
sign of the potter and the broken bottle 18:1-20:18
2. Prophecies Against the Kings, Prophets and People Concerning the
Approaching Exile 21-29
- The siege prophecy: Zedekiah and Jerusalem to be given into the hand of Babylon 21:1-14
- Warnings against the wicked kings of Judah 22:1-23:8
- Denunciation of the false prophets 23:9-40
- Vision of the two baskets of figs representing the people’s fate 24:1-10
- Prophecy of the seventy years’ captivity and the judgment of the nations 25:1-38
- The temple sermon and Jeremiah’s arrest 26:1-24
- Jeremiah’s symbolic act depicting the yoke of Babylon 27:1-28:17
- Jeremiah’s letter to the exiles 29:1-32
3. Prophecies of the Future Restoration of Israel and Judah and the Reign of
the Messiah 30-33
- Promise of the restoration of Israel and Judah with a new covenant 30:1-31:40
- The restoration of the promised land to the Jews portrayed by a symbolic act 32:1-44
- The restoration of Jerusalem and the kingdom 33:1-26
4. Prophecies Against Zedekiah, Jehoiakim and the Inhabitants of Judah 34-36
- Zedekiah’s breach of faith 34:1-22
- Judah rebuked by the example of the Rechabites 35:1-19
- Prophecy against Jehoiakim for his opposition to Jeremiah 36:1-32
- Jeremiah’s Experiences During the Siege and Destruction of Jerusalem 37-39
- Jeremiah’s utterances and his imprisonment during the siege of Jerusalem 37:1-38:28
- The fall of Jerusalem 39:1-18
- History and Prophecies After the Fall of Jerusalem 40-45
- Prophecies and Events Under Gedaliah 40:1-43:7
- Jeremiah’s Ministry in Egypt 43:8-44:30
- Yahweh’s Word to Baruch 45:1-5
III. PROPHECIES AGAINST FOREIGN NATIONS Chapters 46-51
- Against Egypt 46:1-28
- Against Philistia 47:1-7
- Against Moab 48:1-47
- Against Ammon 49:1-6
- Against Edom 49:7-22
- Against Damascus 49:23-27
- Against Kedar and the Kingdoms of Hazor 28-33
- Against Elam 34-39
- Against Babylon 50:1-51:64
IV. HISTORICAL APPENDIX Chapter 52
You likely have already noticed, from our previous forays in the Old Testament to find evidence of Satanic and Demonic activity against the plan and purpose of God and the people of God, that sometimes there are nuances in the Hebrew text that do not translate into easily recognizable English clues. For that reason, I will focus on more than a dozen passages in Jeremiah that provide evidence the Jewish nation was not alone in their physical environment but that their physical and spiritual realms are intermingled, overlapping, and interactive.
The nation of Judah was helpless against their spiritual enemies in their disobedience against God because they were blind to the realities of the spiritual menace they were not equipped to deal with apart from obedience to God. Of course, the same is true with us.
This presentation will not be in any way sermonic. It will be a straightforward reading of the text and pointing out to you the evidence that supernatural, incorporeal beings who are malevolent in their opposition to God were part of the problem Jeremiah called attention to.
First, JEREMIAH 7.18
“The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger.”
Observe that this passage makes two references to idolatry, one specific and the other general.
The specific reference is to the queen of heaven.
“The Jews were worshiping Ishtar, an Assyrian and Babylonian god that is also called Ashtaroth and Astarte, the wife of Baal or Molech. Because these deities symbolized generative power, their worship involved prostitution.”[2]
“This so-called ‘queen of heaven’ was a Canaanite goddess of fertility, Astarte (plural, Ashtaroth) (Judges 2:13).”[3]
Although the three references to “the queen of heaven” in Jeremiah are each reference to the same pagan goddess associated with prostitution and idolatry, the Roman Catholic Church has titled the Virgin Mary as the “queen of heaven,”[4] suggesting to non-Catholics the deep penetration into Roman Catholicism by the demons that are behind every idol. If demons penetrated Jewish religious life (referring to “the queen of heaven”) and also Roman Catholicism (also referring to “the queen of heaven”), might they also seek to surreptitiously penetrate other religious practices, including the beliefs and practices of Bible believing congregations? They are a threat.
The other reference found in this verse, the general reference, criticizes drink offerings poured out unto other gods as acts of ceremonial worship. The Hebrew word for gods is familiar to us, elohim, the Hebrew word thought by many to be one of the names of God, but actually referred to any being who is immaterial. Thus, we remember that not only the Creator, but all of His creatures brought into existence before Adam, his first physical creature, are properly termed elohim. And suppose you are an elohim who is worshipped instead of God, being an elohim who receives worship that holy angels are careful to shun. In that case, you are a fallen angel, an unholy spirit, what we usually identify as a demon.
Next, JEREMIAH 8.1-3
1 At that time, saith the LORD, they shall bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of his princes, and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of their graves:
2 And they shall spread them before the sun, and the moon, and all the host of heaven, whom they have loved, and whom they have served, and after whom they have walked, and whom they have sought, and whom they have worshipped: they shall not be gathered, nor be buried; they shall be for dung upon the face of the earth.
3 And death shall be chosen rather than life by all the residue of them that remain of this evil family, which remain in all the places whither I have driven them, saith the LORD of hosts.
Verse 2, referring to the sun, and the moon, and all the host of heaven, whom the people of Judah had loved, and whom they had served, and after whom they had walked, sought, and worshipped, clearly refers to supernatural beings the people turned to when they turned away from God.[5]
Is the love affair modern secularists have with “Mother Nature” much removed from the worship of the sun, moon, and stars? Not too long ago Ellen Degeneres was interviewed outside her Montecito home during the flooding following the torrential rains in January 2023. Her comment? “Mother Nature is not happy with us.”[6]
Sometimes Satan and demons use crafted images to secure the worship from humans that belongs only to God. But these foul spirits have also used the inanimate features of our solar system and physical universe, the sun, the moon, and the stars, to entice from spiritually dull people the obeisance that is due only to God.
Third, JEREMIAH 9.21
“For death is come up into our windows, and is entered into our palaces, to cut off the children from without, and the young men from the streets.”
Some have interpreted several words in the Hebrew Bible as the names of demons. Obviously, a number of scholars believe that there are more references to demons in the Old Testament than our English translations suggest.[7]
Though it is certainly not the majority view among scholars concerning this verse, some have suggested that the word death is a title assigned to a demon. Sometimes it is difficult to discern whether a word used in the Bible is used to personify something like dying, or to assign a name to a lethal spirit being.
Throughout the twentieth century, the Hollywood film industry has produced movies in which a production’s main character is death as an individual whose work is to end people’s lives.
Fourth, JEREMIAH 13.10
“This evil people, which refuse to hear my words, which walk in the imagination of their heart, and walk after other gods, to serve them, and to worship them, shall even be as this girdle, which is good for nothing.”
This verse follows the LORD’s directive that Jeremiah craft a cloth garment to wear around his waist and then bury the girdle in a place where it would rot. Later finding where he had buried it, it had deteriorated and became useful for nothing.
The girdle was an object lesson used to show the people who would not learn from a sophisticated lesson (because they refused to hear God’s words, walked in the imagination of their heart, and walked after other gods, to serve them, and to worship them).
The result of the direction the people had chosen to take? They ended up being good for nothing, like the girdle. They suffered needlessly. And what do we find square in the middle of their misconduct? Going after, serving, and worshiping other gods ... which we know are not gods but were props used by demons to entice people. The end result? Good for nothing.
Fifth, JEREMIAH 14.22
“Are there any among the vanities of the Gentiles that can cause rain? or can the heavens give showers? art not thou he, O LORD our God? therefore we will wait upon thee: for thou hast made all these things.”
Sixty-four verses in the Old Testament make use of the Hebrew word for vanities found in this verse, lbh hebel, heh'bel. As near as I can tell, the term is always translated by some form of vain, vanity, or vanities, and refers to the utter emptiness and worthlessness of the gods and idols of the Gentiles.
What can those foul spirits actually do? Can they cause rain? Or give showers? These appear to be rhetorical questions whose answers are an obvious “No!” Only the LORD our God can do such things, because He is the Creator Who made all things.
Sixth, JEREMIAH 16.5-8
5 For thus saith the LORD, Enter not into the house of mourning, neither go to lament nor bemoan them: for I have taken away my peace from this people, saith the LORD, even lovingkindness and mercies.
6 Both the great and the small shall die in this land: they shall not be buried, neither shall men lament for them, nor cut themselves, nor make themselves bald for them:
7 Neither shall men tear themselves for them in mourning, to comfort them for the dead; neither shall men give them the cup of consolation to drink for their father or for their mother.
8 Thou shalt not also go into the house of feasting, to sit with them to eat and to drink.
This passage has to do with funeral services. Understand, however, that this is not a condemnation of funeral services for the dead per se, but a condemnation of funeral services that are pagan in orientation and featured cutting themselves, shaving their heads, and attempting to communicate with the dead.[8]
Does this remind you of the Day of the Dead that is celebrated in Mexico?
“The Day of the Dead (el Día de los Muertos), is a Mexican holiday where families welcome back the souls of their deceased relatives for a brief reunion that includes food, drink and celebration. A blend of Mesoamerican ritual, European religion and Spanish culture, the holiday is celebrated each year from October 31-November 2. While October 31 is Halloween, November 2 is All Souls Day or the Day of the Dead. According to tradition, the gates of heaven are opened at midnight on October 31 and the spirits of children can rejoin their families for 24 hours. The spirits of adults can do the same on November 2.
The roots of the Day of the Dead, celebrated in contemporary Mexico and among those of Mexican heritage in the United States and around the world, go back some 3,000 years, to the rituals honoring the dead in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica.”[9]
Seventh, JEREMIAH 16.18
“And first I will recompense their iniquity and their sin double; because they have defiled my land, they have filled mine inheritance with the carcasses of their detestable and abominable things.”
Sacrifices offered to God are described as a sweet savor when God prescribes the offering and when the offering is given to Him for worship, adoration, and praise. However, when the offering, no matter what it is, is offered in worship to anyone but God, it is offensive and outrageous to Him.
What is described in this verse is God’s reaction to offerings made to false gods, both the carcasses of the animals offered and the images themselves being detestable and abominable.
Eighth, JEREMIAH 18.15
“Because my people hath forgotten me, they have burned incense to vanity, and they have caused them to stumble in their ways from the ancient paths, to walk in paths, in a way not cast up.”
This is one of the sixty-four verses in which the Hebrew word translated vain, vanity, and vanities is found, just like Jeremiah 14.22, that we already looked at.
Again, the people forgot God, burned incense to useless and ineffective false gods, departed from the ancient paths, and walked in a way not cast up, which means they lived a lifestyle unsuitable to God’s people.
Ninth, JEREMIAH 19.6
“Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that this place shall no more be called Tophet, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley of slaughter.”
This prediction made by Jeremiah came true. The valley referred to as “Tophet,” and as “The valley of the son of Hinnom” came to be known in the Lord Jesus Christ’s day as gehenna, and represented the fiery realm of the dead, Hell, Hades, since it became a dump just south of the Temple where garbage burned day and night without interruption.[10]
Seven centuries after Jeremiah’s prediction the prophecy was fulfilled, as all Biblical prophecies are fulfilled. God gave to the people a physical representation in the form of a burning garbage dump everyone could see and smell of a spiritual furnace for eternal and everlasting damnation throughout eternity.
Tenth, JEREMIAH 19.13
“And the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Judah, shall be defiled as the place of Tophet, because of all the houses upon whose roofs they have burned incense unto all the host of heaven, and have poured out drink offerings unto other gods.”
Another prediction by Jeremiah establishes that what will happen to the valley mentioned in Jeremiah 19.6, which we just read, will also happen to the houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah. No one will be exempt from the consequences of burning incense unto “all the host of heaven” and pouring “out drink offerings unto other gods.”
If you engage in the worship of idols, meaning that you succumb to the seduction of foul spirits, you and yours will end up just as surely defiled as that valley mentioned earlier that would become stinking and burning garbage. The high and the noble will not escape God’s judgment.
Eleventh, JEREMIAH 27.9-10
9 Therefore hearken not ye to your prophets, nor to your diviners, nor to your dreamers, nor to your enchanters, nor to your sorcerers, which speak unto you, saying, Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon:
10 For they prophesy a lie unto you, to remove you far from your land; and that I should drive you out, and ye should perish.
Resorting to spiritism, which we saw God warning against in Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy, often occurred to nations experiencing divine judgment.[11] So it is no surprise that Judah’s king Zedekiah resorted to such folly.
The irony, of course, is that while Judah’s apostasy earned her God’s impending judgment, and Jeremiah pleaded with the people to surrender to the Babylonians and accept their medicine of seventy years of exile, the false prophets, diviners, dreamers, enchanters, and sorcerers, Zedekiah resorted to fed him a constant diet of false good news and delusional hope. No one who pays attention to those who consult with familiar spirits and who are led by seducing spirits ends up the better for it.
Twelfth, JEREMIAH 32.17, 27
17 Ah Lord GOD! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee:
27 Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for me?
These two verses stress the same basic truth, from two different perspectives; that nothing is too hard for the LORD God. In verse 17, Jeremiah asks if there is anything too hard for the Lord GOD, since He made the heaven and the earth by His great power. Of course, this alludes to His creative might. Verse 27 rehearses the words of the LORD, where He reminds us that He is the God of all flesh, and asks once more if there is anything too hard for Him.
These two verses are set in a portion of Jeremiah promising to restore the promised land to them. Jeremiah acknowledges that God can do this since He is the creator. God acknowledges that He can do this, since He is the God of all flesh (meaning He controls all mankind).
God has not yet fulfilled this promise, and Covenant Theologians think God will not fulfill this promise in a literal way, believing the universal, invisible Church will supplant the Jewish people in fulfilling this prediction. I disagree, believing that this promise will be fulfilled when Christ returns and establishes His theocratic kingdom.
Thirteenth, And Finally, JEREMIAH 32.35
“And they built the high places of Baal, which are in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire unto Molech; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.”
King “Manasseh had led the people in the most lascivious idolatry. He instituted a new priesthood, composed of sorcerers, and proceeded to serve Molech, a form of idolatry with which the sacrifice of children in the fire had been long associated. It is said that the victims were placed on the red-hot hands of the brazen idol, their shrieks being drowned by the clash of symbols and the shouts of the worshipers.”[12]
Of course, Baal was a false god. Molech was a false god associated with a bronze statue. Crucial to note, however, is the effect upon the victims of this despicable brutality, the torturous deaths of the children sacrificed on the altars of Molech.
Can anyone argue that such idolatry continues in our day? The differences being a relocation of the place where infants are burned to death and their cries are stifled. We no longer use brass statues with hollowed out stomachs in which to build fires before placing infants on the cherry red with heat arms of Molech for them to be scorched to death. Nowadays, children are no longer burned to death with fire from burning wood, but are chemically burned to death in their mother’s wombs by an abortionist. And rather than worshiping the god Molech, it is the god of personal convenience who is worshipped by a mother willing to fornicate but unwilling to carry her child to full-term for delivery. Both then and now, they are demons behind the practices. My opinion? Whenever children are the victims, demons are my primary suspects.
Not that the people of Judah were not responsible for their actions and guilty in the sight of God of terrible sins. But we frequently overlook the role of Satan and Demons in all this. True, Satan is not referred to by Jeremiah. But we know that foul spirits are behind the idolatry and the false gods, from Baal to Molech, and including all of the spiritism referred to.
Do you think the dangers the people of Judah faced without success are not facing you and me today? Let me remind you what Paul wrote to Timothy in First Timothy 4.1:
“Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils.”
Are you quite sure you are unaffected by seducing spirits and that your worldview is not based on the doctrines of devils?
__________
[1] Hobart E. Freeman, An Introduction To The Old Testament Prophets, (Chicago, IL: Moody Press, 1968), pages 237-250.
[2] See footnote for Jeremiah 7.18 from John MacArthur, The MacArthur Study Bible, (Nashville: Word Publishing, 1997), page 1073.
[3] Loraine Boettner, Roman Catholicism, (Phillipsburg, New Jersey: The Presbyterian And Reformed Publishing Company, 1962), page 142.
[4] See also Jeremiah 44.17, 19. Ibid., pages 141-142.
[5] Archie T. Wright, The Origin Of Evil Spirits, (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, Revised Edition 2015), page 104 and Michael S. Heiser, Angels: What The Bible Really Says About God’s Heavenly Host, (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2018), pages 8-10.
[6] https://youtu.be/bIRVdTJ0MJ0
[7] Sydney H. T. Page, Powers Of Evil: A Biblical Study of Satan & Demons, (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1995), pages 84-85.
[8] Michael S. Heiser, Demons: What The Bible Really Says About The Powers Of Darkness, (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2020), page 19, note 47.
[9] https://www.history.com/topics/halloween/day-of-the-dead
[10] Michael S. Heiser, The Unseen Realm: Recovering The Supernatural Worldview Of The Bible, (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2015), pages 228-230.
[11] Frederick S. Leahy, Satan Cast Out: A Study In Biblical Demonology, (Carlisle, PA: The Banner Of Truth Trust, 1975), pages 74-77.
[12] Ibid., page 76.
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Pastor@CalvaryRoadBaptist.Church