The phrase caught me off guard: The stranger wished that “angels would be on my pillow” that night.

So startling was the phrase that I searched and discovered it was a song lyric. She took it seriously. Angels on my pillow — like little fairies dancing about while I slept. “That night the angel of the Lord went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And when people arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies” (2 Kings 19:35). Is this one of the angels she wished upon my pillow? Real angels slay while we sleep. The last place I’d want one is on my pillow.

Reader, I set the question before you: What is the state of the Christian imagination today regarding the unseen realm? From sore experience and simple observation, it seems that we find many Christians inhabiting one of two worlds. In the first, unseen reality simply isn’t, or at least isn’t relevant. We wouldn’t say it so plainly, but the unseen appears unimportant and so unacknowledged. We have enough going on with the creatures we can see to pay much attention to the ones we cannot. Our Bibles have not been debunked by modernity but demythologized. Of necessity, we have a few supernatural propositions floating about in our heads — creation ex nihilo, the virgin birth, the deity of Christ, the resurrection — but we are not suspended midair in a supernatural cosmos.

The second world, less populated today (at least in the West), has an atmosphere of belief in the unseen realm. Those in this world can obsess over the unseen (attributing all sin to demonic activity, for example) or indulge in ridiculous notions about it. Angels dance upon pillows. Devils sit upon shoulders.

Yet what we find in the Scriptures is a supernatural cosmology — a world where nature and supernature, the seen and unseen coexist. The men and women we meet in those pages were less “enlightened” but more wise. When the disciples see Jesus walking on the water, they assume he is a ghost (Matthew 14:26). Quicker were they to believe that Peter’s angel was standing out at the gate than that flesh-and-blood Peter stood liberated from prison (Acts 12:15). Even the world was seen through mythical eyes — mountains, those modern objects of fitness challenges, were then sacred spaces hovering between heaven and earth, places where prophets met with God. Seas were home to Leviathan and unexplained terrors of the deep, lurking with spiritual significance. Dark beings and departed spirits dwelled in the underworld, and rebellious “gods” ruled over rebellious nations.

By dismissing or distorting the unseen world, we often overlook one of its most harrowing realities: demons.

Demons, Dear Reader

Demons, dear reader, demons — what do you think of them? Do you think of them? As pastors reassure you of safety from them in Christ, should they have any reason to think such a topic has first frightened you? Or do they splash water upon a building we never knew was on fire? Would it be as useful for them to preach that Christ protects us from Dracula, werewolves, and Voldemort, along with all the green-headed aliens hiding behind the clouds? Many today will take the aliens more seriously.

The Bible describes a world populated by demons, unclean spirits, deceiving spirits, and cosmic powers — beings that think, believe, and deceive.

They can terrorize humans, steer with lies, tempt us with sin, harass and torment, blind us to the truth as it is found in Jesus. They are formless but can influence and inhabit the physical; we see them in the Gospels wandering through deserts and preferring embodiment, even in pigs. They bequeath superhuman strength to some of their victims, while they make others mute, epileptic, or masochistic. A legion of them can converge on a single person, and once cast out, they can return in greater numbers (unless one is in Christ). They vary in kind, some more adhesive, not being exorcised but by fasting and prayer. And some of these beings are called “gods” or “sons of God” (created supernatural beings) that have become corrupt in their reign over the various nations apportioned to them (Deuteronomy 32:8–9). This is the world that Jesus entered to reclaim supremacy over.

The archdemon, the evil one, is a dragon, a leviathan, a prowling lion, the prince of the power of the air, a murderer disguised as an angel of light. Many are caught in his web, many follow his ways, many are his children, and many will share his fate when Christ returns. He is, in a sense, the god of this world, the accuser of the brethren, a murderer from the beginning, and the father of lies. He hates God, and because he hates God, he also hates you, God’s creature. He wants you to share in his unhappiness, in his torment, in his final destruction. We know that Jesus appeared to destroy the works of this adversary and liberate a people from his doom.

We live in a world filled with devils that threaten to undo us. If I told you that the largest bounty known to man was placed upon your head, or that any person in the crowd could be your murderer, what witless man could go through life preoccupied with everything but that fact?

Supernatural Christ

This brings us to Jesus, dear reader, Jesus — what do you think of him? This article is not ultimately about demons, those unseen enemies of your soul, but about that unseen friend we have in Jesus. Martin Luther wrote,

And though this world with devils filled
Should threaten to undo us,
We will not fear, for God hath willed
His truth to triumph through us.
The Prince of Darkness grim,
We tremble not for him.
His rage we can endure,
For, lo, his doom is sure.
One little word shall fell him.

We can debate what that “one little word” is, but certainly “Christ” is a compelling candidate. Our enemy rages, gnashing with great wrath, because he knows his time is short (Revelation 12:12). And who shall put an end to his time? When our great Champion visited the enemy’s camp, a whole legion of dark soldiers broke rank, fell before him, and cried, “What have you to do with us, O Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?” (Matthew 8:29). Through the cross, God “disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him” (Colossians 2:15).

Secular, small, and trivial views of spiritual enemies lend to secular, small, and trivial views of the supernatural Christ who destroyed those enemies. The hero is known by the monster he slays; what terrifies man is terrified of our Elder Brother. He is the one to whom all demons and devils shall soon pay homage (Philippians 2:9–11). Christian, stay near to him. Pray to him. Seek him in his word. Worship, gather, and sit under faithful preaching. Let supernatural enemies be met with a firm, supernatural faith in the supremacy of the supernatural Christ.