Luke 8:31 Commentary and Bible Study

The demons, the devils, the powers that occupied this man, besought Christ that he would not command them to go out into the deep. They saw this herd of pigs feeding on the hillside – Mark tells us there were about 200 of them – and they sought permission to enter the pigs. They recognized his power and they were terrified of him. They knew there was no possibility of forgiveness or transformation for them, and they did not ask for it. The word translated ‘deep’ is the Greek for ‘abyss’, and is translated ‘bottomless pit’ in Revelation 9:11. They were ignorant of Christ’s timetable, and feared immediate judgment, though that was not his intention at that time. They would never have come to the Lord of their own accord, if he had not irresistibly drawn the man along with those demons into his presence. As far as they were concerned, to meet with Christ was to meet with instant judgment, for they knew him to be all powerful. He had been made manifest in the world ‘that he might destroy the works of the devil’ (1 John 3:8), and so they pleaded with him that he would give them permission to go to another place. The passage teaches the possibility of demon possession of an animal, but this is hardly ever spoken of in Scripture. It seems that this was really the last place that these demons wanted to go, but to them it was preferable if it meant avoiding being cast into the bottomless pit. We see Christ as complete master of all things in the world of spirits, understanding its working perfectly, and operating with total authority in every realm. The demons can do nothing without his permission, and somehow he fully controls them, and they recognize his control. The Lord Jesus knows how to rule over spirits, but he does not tell us much about these things in his word because we do not need to know, and it would perhaps not be safe for us to know too much. He commands them to go out of the man, and he gives them permission to enter the pigs. The one was a direct command; the other was a permission for them to do according to their evil intention, for which he took no responsibility.