New Testament “Demons” Are the Old Testament Elohim

By Guest Author: Jeff Barlatier

“What have you to do with us, O Son of God? Have you come to torment us before the time?” Matthew 8:29

We read that line too quickly.

We imagine little cartoon devils trembling. But first-century Jews did not imagine cartoonish imps. When a Jew heard the word daimonion  — “demon” — they did not picture Disney villains, red tights, or pitchforks.

They heard something older. Heavier. Cosmic. They heard elohim.

And when an Israelite used the word elohim, they did not mean “the one true God.” They meant any inhabitant of the spiritual realm — any being whose nature was non-human, non-corporeal, powerful, and divine in rank. Yahweh is Elohim — but not the only elohim.

And when the New Testament says Jesus cast out daimónia, the connection is deliberate:

Jesus was driving out rival spiritual beings — rival gods.

This is the story beneath the story. This is what makes the Gospels electric. This is why the spirits screamed. Because when Jesus stepped onto the scene, the gods panicked.

This is the story of when the gods bowed.

1. We Have Been Taught to Think Too Small

   
   

Modern Christianity inherited a tiny demonology

We’ve reduced “demon” to:

✔️ a fallen angel

✔️ a mischievous imp

✔️ a tempter

✔️ a nuisance

But Scripture presents something far more staggering.

If the Old Testament calls members of Yahweh’s heavenly host elohim, and the New Testament calls those same entities daimonia, then the Gospels are not stories of Jesus chasing away annoying spirits.

The Gospels record Jesus waging open war on the gods of the nations.

When Jesus rebukes a demon, He is not flicking away a mosquito. He is overthrowing another power. He is dethroning a spiritual prince. He is reversing Genesis 11. He is invading Psalm 82 territory.

We have been reading a multiverse battle in black-and-white.

2. The Old Testament Context: Elohim Means More Than ‘God’

Let’s clear the ground. The word elohim in Hebrew is not a name. It is a category. It means: a resident of the spiritual realm.

Here are biblical examples:

• “You shall have no other elohim before Me.” (Exod 20:3)

— There are other elohim, but they are not Yahweh.

• “For Yahweh is the great God above all elohim.” (Ps 95:3)

— If Yahweh is “above” them, they exist, but He outranks them infinitely.

• “The sons of God (bene elohim) came before Yahweh.” (Job 1:6)

— These are divine beings.

• “God takes His stand in the council of elohim.” (Ps 82:1)

— There is a divine council of spiritual rulers.

Every one of these beings is an elohim.

Yahweh alone is haElohim — the Most High God, uncreated, eternal.

The biblical writers were not polytheists. They simply recognized the supernatural world as populated, structured, and hierarchical.

Yahweh is in a class of His own.

But other elohim exist — and they rule nations (Deut 32:8 — 9). When Israel turned to idols, they weren’t just turning to statues. They were turning to the spiritual beings behind the idols (Deut 32:16 — 17; Ps 106:36 — 37; 1 Cor 10:20).

These beings — the elohim of the nations — became rebel powers.

In the New Testament, these same beings appear under a Greek label: daimonia — demons

3. The Shift From Elohim to Daimonia: Not a New Category, Just a New Language

When Jews in Jesus’ day spoke Greek, they needed a word that matched the Old Testament’s elohim category.

They used daimonion.

In Greek literature, a daimon is not necessarily evil. It is a powerful spiritual being — divine, intermediary, ruling, influencing. The first-century audience understood daimónia = spiritual powers. So the New Testament did not shrink the unseen realm. Christians did.

The apostles simply used the Greek word that captured the same conceptual world as elohim.

Thus:

• Psalm 96:5 (LXX): “All the gods (elohim) of the nations are daimonia.”

• Deuteronomy 32:17 (LXX): “They sacrificed to daimonia, not to God.”

There it is — front and center.

The New Testament’s “demons” are the Old Testament’s “gods.”

They are elohim, dethroned by Yahweh, condemned in Psalm 82, but still influential until the Messiah comes.

This is why the Gospel narratives explode with supernatural warfare.

Jesus isn’t just healing bodies. He is reclaiming territory. He isn’t just telling demons to leave. He is forcing gods to kneel.

4. The Birth of Jesus Was a Declaration of War

From the moment Jesus is born, the elohim realm knows something has shifted.

Angels fill the sky not with lullabies, but with military announcements:“Glory to God in the highest, and peace on earth…” (Luke 2:14)

Peace does not come unless a stronger kingdom arrives to break the power of the old.

The spiritual realm trembles.

Herod — not just a wicked king, but a pawn of spiritual rulers — goes into a murderous frenzy.

Simeon and Anna prophecy because heaven is stirring. Something is happening that threatens every power, throne, principality, and dominion.

The Son of God has entered the turf of the enemy.

5. Why the Demons Always Recognize Jesus Before the Humans Do

Humans are slow. The disciples need years. Crowds misunderstand. Pharisees resist.

But the spiritual beings? They understand instantly.

They cry out: “We know who You are!” “Have You come to destroy us?” “Son of the Most High God!”

Why?

Because they know Psalm 2. They know Psalm 82. They know Daniel 7.

They know the prophecy of the Son of Man who would take dominion and strip the nations’ rulers of authority.

They know the seed of the woman has arrived. They know the One who will crush the serpent’s head is walking toward them. So they bow — not in worship, but in terror.

Jesus terrifies demons because He outranks them. He commands the elohim realm by nature, not by delegation. When Jesus speaks, the gods obey.

6. Every Exorcism Is a Throne Room Event

Watch carefully what happens in every Gospel exorcism.

The pattern is unmistakable:

1. The demon sees Jesus.

2. The demon reacts violently.

3. The demon acknowledges Jesus’ authority.

4. Jesus commands.

5. The demon obeys.

This is courtroom language. Legal language. Throne-room language. They shrink back because He carries the authority of the Most High.

This is why the crowds say: “What new teaching is this? With authority He commands unclean spirits, and they obey Him!” (Mark 1:27)

No one had ever done this. Israel had exorcists, yes. But Israel never had a King who could walk into a region and empty it of its gods. Jesus’ command is not magical. Not ritual. Not formulaic. It is ontological. He commands because He is Lord.

This is Yahweh in flesh stepping into the domain of the lesser gods and stripping them of power. Every exorcism is a dethronement ceremony.

7. The Gerasene Demoniac: The Gods Beg Permission

Mark 5 is the clearest example. A man possessed by a legion of daimónia lives among tombs — territory of the dead, the domain of dark powers.

Jesus steps off the boat. Instantly the powers react: “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?”

Notice the title: Son of the Most High God.

This is language used by non-Israelite nations to speak of Yahweh. The gods are confessing: “We know who Your Father is. We know You outrank us. We know You have arrived as Judge.”

Then the unthinkable happens: They beg Him for permission.

The elohim of the nations — fallen, corrupt, territorial rulers — stand before Jesus and ask:

“Please do not torment us.” “Please do not send us out of the region.” “Please send us into the pigs.”

They cannot move without His word. They cannot relocate without His approval. This is the moment when the veil tears. This is the moment that reveals the cosmic hierarchy: Jesus is Lord.

Every other spiritual being is creature. The pigs rush into the sea — the symbolic reversal of Egypt’s army drowned in judgment — and Jesus stands victorious on Gentile soil.

The gods have bowed.

8. Why Jesus’ Ministry Is Filled With Exorcism, But the Old Testament Isn’t

Here is a mystery that confused readers for centuries: Why are there almost no exorcisms in the Old Testament?

Why do they explode in the New Testament? The answer: Because the King had not yet arrived to reclaim the nations.

Until Jesus came, the rebellious gods — the elohim of the nations — still held legal jurisdiction.

God had disinherited the nations at Babel (Deut 32:8 — 9).

He gave them over to lesser rulers. Israel alone was Yahweh’s inheritance.

But when the Messiah comes, the boundaries shift. When Jesus appears, He invades Gentile turf. He begins reclaiming what was lost. He binds the “strong man” (Mark 3:27). He spoils his goods. This is why Jesus’ ministry is filled with exorcisms.

It is a sign: The Most High has come to take back the world.

9. Jesus Isn’t Casting Out Demons — He’s Rewriting the Cosmic Map

Every time Jesus casts out a demon, He is not performing a trick. He is redrawing the spiritual geography of earth.

He is doing Psalm 82 in real time: “Arise, O God, judge the elohim…”

He is throwing down the rulers of the nations:

• He heals the sick → reversing death

• He cleanses lepers → reversing impurity

• He casts out demons → reversing the dominion of foreign gods

• He announces the Kingdom → reversing the exile of humanity

The cross is the climax. The resurrection is the victory shout. Pentecost is the global takeover. The Gospel going to the Gentiles is the invasion of the nations formerly ruled by rebel elohim.

This is why Paul calls them:

• principalities

• powers

• thrones

• dominions

• rulers of this age

And then says: Christ is above every one of them. (Ephesians 1:20 — 23)

10. When the Gods Bowed: The Temptation Narrative

The temptation in the wilderness is not about Jesus resisting a few sinful ideas.

It is about Jesus being confronted by the god of this world.

A ruler offering kingdoms he actually governs. Satan shows Him all the kingdoms of the earth.

He says: “They are mine to give.”

Jesus does not disagree. Because they were, in a limited sense, under his and other elohim’s rule.

But when the Son refuses the shortcut, the path is set:

He will take the nations back not by compromise, but by conquest. Not through worshipping a lesser elohim, but through destroying them. Not by bowing to a creature, but by making creatures bow to Him.

11. The Cross: The Public Humiliation of the Gods

Paul says something wild in Colossians 2:15:“He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, triumphing over them in the cross.”

This is courtroom language. This is military parade language. The cross looks like defeat to humans. It looked like victory to the powers. But it was their undoing.

The cross was the moment Yahweh in flesh bound the gods of the nations, took away their legal authority, and stripped them publicly.

They lost:

• the right to accuse

• the right to rule

• the right to control nations

• the right to blind minds

• the right to enslave humanity

They bowed. Because the Son of God had triumphed.

The resurrection is the declaration: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me.” (Matt 28:18)

Not some. Not partial. All. Every elohim knows it.

12. Pentecost: The Nations Are Reclaimed

Pentecost is not a random holiday. It is the reversal of Babel.

At Babel: God divided the nations.

At Pentecost: God reunites them under Christ. Tongues are not a charismatic party trick.

They are a military signal: Messiah is taking back the nations once ruled by the gods.

The nations previously under the administration of lesser elohim (per Deut 32) are now hearing the Gospel. The gods are losing territory. Their reign is ending. They bow because they cannot stop the Kingdom.

13. The Early Church: Living Proof the Gods Have Fallen

Why did exorcism continue as one of the most expected signs of the Kingdom in the early church?

Because the church is the embassy of the new King. Wherever Christians go, idols fall. Wherever the Gospel goes, the gods lose jurisdiction. Wherever the Spirit goes, the rival powers retreat.

Paul says: “We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers…”

We wrestle. But we win. Because Christ sits above them. Because the gods have bowed. Because their authority has been broken.

The Christian is not fighting for victory. The Christian fights from victory.

14. What It Means Today: Your Struggle Is Not Psychological Only, But Cosmic

This theology is not academic. It is not theoretical.

You feel it when:

• you wrestle with generational patterns

• you feel spiritual heaviness over a city

• you encounter idolatrous systems

• you meet people tormented by dark forces

• you confront the demonic in addiction, hatred, or oppression

You are not dealing with cartoons. You are dealing with spiritual powers — lesser elohim — who resist the rule of God.

But the good news is the same: Jesus already made them bow. He is Lord. They are subject. You belong to the King.

15. The Final Scene: Every Elohim Will Bow in Judgment

Psalm 82 ends with the death sentence of the gods: “You will die like men…”

This is not a metaphor. They will lose their immortality. They will be judged. They will be cast down permanently.

Revelation shows the end:

• The dragon cast into the lake of fire

• The beast destroyed

• The false prophet judged

• The nations reclaimed

• The New Jerusalem ruling over all

Christ reigns. Humanity — redeemed, resurrected, glorified — rules with Him.

The gods that once oppressed humanity are gone. The Kingdom is restored. Eden is restored. The world is restored. And Yahweh alone is worshiped.

Conclusion: Jesus Is Not Exorcising Demons — He Is Expelling gods

We have read the Gospels as if Jesus were doing small things. But He is doing the biggest thing imaginable.

He is unseating the spiritual rulers of the world. He is taking back the nations. He is forcing the gods to kneel before Him.

Every exorcism is a coronation. Every healing is a sign of a new Eden. Every word He speaks echoes through the unseen realm. The gods bow because they must. The gods bow because they fear Him. The gods bow because He is Yahweh in flesh, and He has come to reclaim His world.

And today? They still bow.

Because Jesus Christ is Lord  of heaven, of earth, and of all the elohim.

Amen.

© Jeff Barlatier (Doctoral Candidate)MDiv candidate