Matthew 12:43 Commentary and Bible Study

It is a fact recorded in Scripture that demons occupied human souls before the coming of Christ, and even did so in increasing numbers just prior to his coming. It is also a fact that the coming of Christ had a great effect on the liberty of demons. He cast out demons and the evidence of Scripture is that their freedom to occupy, especially by involuntary possession was largely ended. From then on they had to work through temptation, and could no longer occupy people at will unless those people sought demonic powers through occult practices. Demons literally possessed people and Christ cast them out, and it is this act of casting out that suggests the discourse which follows. The Lord uses reality as a parable and accounts for the godlessness of his generation in terms of demonic occupation. They were not literally all possessed, but there were similarities between the possessed and that generation. We look therefore at a parable but at the same time we learn a lot about the activity of demons through what Christ says about their behaviour. This is a mysterious and frightening world, but Jesus Christ, who is God, knows all things, even the workings of the kingdom of darkness.The lesson of this parable is that reformation without conversion is dangerous. Parables have to be plausible, and the elements of this parable are all accurate – demons could be cast out; they were capable of re-occupying, and more demons might then occupy than were present originally. Other demons could come in who were different in the amount of harm and the type of harm they could do. ‘Dry places’, or desert wastes – the Jews actually believed this: that the home of demons was the desert, and Christ employs this. He wanders through a waterless place, seeking rest. But there is more to a demon. The fraternity of demons is a fraternity of pride and jealousy. This is what brought Satan down. They score against each other, living in a world of lies. Satan was the first liar and this tendency is deep within them all. They cannot tell the difference between truth and untruth; they think the truth of God is a lie. Like all inveterate liars, they lose the knowledge of the distinction between what is truth and what is false. They have a great sense of loss; they are frustrated beyond imagination, having no relief, no pleasure, but there was one thing they can do to relieve their pain and misery: they could enter into human lives. They could destroy lives, give pain, make people to be godless unbelievers. This alone is the pleasure of a demon. Even demons are looking for a degree of rest and comfort, but they find none. Today, after Christ has limited their power to operate, they can no longer occupy, but they can work in a similar way through temptation. They seek to bring down human souls, and this is how they take the edge off their misery. Their objective is to bring us to unbelief and make us a little more like themselves.