“When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, but finds none.” – Matthew 12:43
“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” – Ephesians 6:12
Lack of physical bodies
“Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there.” – Matthew 12:45
“When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, but finds none.” – Luke 11:24
2. The location of demons and where they roam
Roaming the earth
“Now a great herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, and they begged him, saying, ‘Send us to the pigs let us enter them.’” – Mark 5:12
“And they begged him not to command them to depart into the abyss.” – Luke 8:31
Where demons can reside
“The unclean spirit, when it has gone out of a person, passes through waterless places seeking rest, but finds none.” – Matthew 12:43-45
“The demons also came out of many, crying, ‘You are the Son of God!’” – Luke 4:41
Temporarily confined in the abyss (Revelation times)
“And they begged him not to command them to depart into the abyss.” – Luke 8:31
“And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit.” – Revelation 20:2-3
3. Possession of physical spaces and individuals
Inhabit individuals
“And a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute was brought to him, and he healed him.” – Matthew 12:22
“And when Jesus had stepped out on land, there met him a man from the city who had demons.” – Mark 5:2
Acts 16:16-18 – The slave girl possessed by a spirit of divination (fortune-telling demon).
Demons can possess animals
“The demons came out of the man and entered the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and drowned.” – Mark 5:13, Luke 8:33
Demons roam, enter and dwell
“Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there.” – Matthew 12:45
4. Strongholds of demons, and the “prince of power of the air”
Influence over earth
“…in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience.” – Ephesians 2:2
Demons influence geographical regions
“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” – Ephesians 6:12
“If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand?” (implying an organized kingdom of evil) – Matthew 12:26
Satan’s Influence on nations and peoples
“Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.” – Matthew 4:8
5. Influence in temples, idolatry and false gods
Demons and idolatry
“They sacrificed to demons that were no gods, to gods they had never known, to new gods that had come recently, whom your fathers had never dreaded.” – Deuteronomy 32:17
“What do I imply then? That food offered to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything?” – 1 Corinthians 10:19
6. Demonic activity and human affliction
Affliction and illness
“And when they brought to him a man who was mute and demon-possessed, when the demon had been cast out, the mute man spoke.” – Matthew 9:32-33
“And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him, and the boy was healed instantly.” – Matthew 17:18
Mental or emotional disturbance
“And whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid.” – Mark 9:18
7. Demons are agents of chaos and destruction in Revelation
Demons and chaos in the end times
“And the fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness.” – Revelation 16:10
“And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs coming out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.” – Revelation 16:13
Demons are temporarily confined in the abyss and then cast into the lake of fire
“And I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain.” – Revelation 20:1
“And the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.” – Revelation 20:10
8. Demons are fallen angels who followed Lucifer in rebellion
Lucifer’s rebellion
“And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world.” – Revelation 12:9 (see also Matthew 25:41)
“For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment.” – 2 Peter 2:4
“And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day.” – Jude 1:6
9. The connection of demons and the underworld
Sheol/Hades
“For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption.” – Psalm 16:10
Abyss as holding place
“And they begged him not to command them to depart into the abyss.” – Luke 8:31
“And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit.” – Revelation 20:2
10. Demons can deceive people into false beliefs
Deceptive influence
“The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders.” – 2 Thessalonians 2:9
“Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons.” – 1 Timothy 4:1
11. The Role of Demons in Testing Believers
Testing and temptation
“Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat.” – Luke 22:31
“Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.” – 1 Corinthians 7:5
12. Non-Believers can be under demonic influence which prevents belief
Blinding of minds
“In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” – 2 Corinthians 4:4
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