Matthew 12:43-45 43 “When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none. 44 Then he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order. 45 Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first. So shall it also be with this wicked generation.”

The character and nature of demons has long been of interest to followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. Throughout the Gospels, we read of Christ and the disciples encountering people who are possessed and afflicted with illness, from demonic influence. This activity continues in the book of Acts, where Paul encounters demonic activity, as He ministers the gospel (Acts 16:16-34, Acts 19:11-20).

We understand that demons also can influence false teaching through “doctrines of demons” (I Timothy 4:1-3).

In the last days, before Christ’s return, within Babylon (the capitol city/nation of the one world government under Antichrist), we find that demons and the perversions arising from demon activity, will proliferate.

Revelation 18:2-3 And he cried mightily with a loud voice, saying, “Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and has become a dwelling place of demons, a prison for every foul spirit, and a cage for every unclean and hated bird!

As to the makeup and nature of demons, we understand them to be noncorporal, or without a physical frame. Demons were not always noncorporal, but before we discuss their very real physical origins, it is important to dismiss a popular error concerning demons; that they are fallen angels.

Angels, whether they fell from God or not, will always be angels, without a change in their makeup. The word most often used for angels in the New Testament is “angelos” meaning angel or “a messenger” sent by God. Concerning the first estate of angels, they were created to serve God without question and minister to God’s redeemed, in both testaments. We get the idea that Satan, although a created angelic being, is of a higher class of angel referred to as the cherubim.

Of great import to our discussion is that Jesus never referred to angels, including those fallen from God, as demons. The word “demon” from an entirely different Greek word daimonion. Interestingly, when the Lord Jesus Christ is speaking about those who choose not to follow Him in faith, He declares they will wind up in “everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:41). Once more the word angel is the plural for of the Greek word “angelos”.

Another phrase associated with demonic activity is “akathartos pneuma” or “unclean spirit”. In this phrase, we understand the noncorporeal nature of the demon, which is a difference from angels, who can manifest a physical frame as physical yours and mine. Consider the angels which God dispatched to save Lot and his family from Sodom, both exhibiting a physical

So physical were these angels, that the wicked men of Sodom desired to rape them. This of course lends further credence to the truth that the “sons for God” from Genesis 6:1-4, were in fact fallen angels, which had intercourse with human woman, producing the awful abominations, that were the Nephilim. Remember that Jude links both events together.

Jude 1:6-7 6 And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day; 7 as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.

How does all this relate to demons and where they have come from?

Well, demons are a result of the flood. The Nephilim, the offspring of fallen angels and woman, were killed in the flood. These being were abominable hybrids. When the died in the flood, there was no place for their spirits to go, therefore they wander the earth, until final judgment, disembodied, looking to experience what they once had, in their wicked and perverse material life.

Why is this important? As we progress further towards the one world government and religion of Antichrist, we will see a super abundant rise in demonic activity and the perversions, accompanied with that activity, especially in whatever nation the seat of Babylon exists.

Let’s dig into Matthew 12:34-45 for the purpose of understanding the makeup an nature of demons and how they became wandering noncorporeal beings.

Matthew 12:43-45 43 “When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none. 44 Then he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order. 45 Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first. So shall it also be with this wicked generation.”

Why do demons go through dry places? There is a very solid biblical and historical reason for this from the period after the Jews returned from Babylonian captivity. This time frame is referred to as the second temple period.

After Jerusalem was destroyed and the people led away captive, there was nothing but degradation for 70 years. Upon return the temple had to be complete rebuilt, down to laying a new foundation. The city also needed to be rebuilt, including out to the wall. The faith of Israel also needed to be re-founded in the torah, or first five books of the Old Testament.

The reason for this is that from their entrance into the promised land, the first time, the religion of the YHWH had become corrupted and synergized, by the leaders of Israel, with false deity worship, fueled by demonic activity. Ezekiel 7 and 8 reveals this tragedy.

Ezekiel 7:1-4 1 Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 2 “And you, son of man, thus says the Lord GOD to the land of Israel:

An end! The end has come upon the four corners of the land.
3 Now the end has come upon you,
And I will send My anger against you;
I will judge you according to your ways,
And I will repay you for all your abominations.
4 My eye will not spare you,
Nor will I have pity;
But I will repay your ways,
And your abominations will be in your midst;
Then you shall know that I am the LORD!’

The word “abomination” defines anything which marries the holy and the profane or mixes that which does not belong together. In this case it was the demonically fueled religions of Canaan with that or the worship of the One True God. Consider what Ezekiel sees in chapter 8, around and in the Temple of the God of Israel.
• At the North Temple Gate an idol of Baal provoking YHWH to jealousy.
• Inside the Temple itself the elders of Israel worshipping any an all idols they could get their hands on.
• In the north portion of the Temple grounds woman weeping for Tammuz; false Babylonian son of god.
• Between the porch and the alter were 25 men worshipping toward the rising sun. This is the worship of the father of Tammuz, Nimrod, who became the sun god, after his death.
• The woman of this period in Jeremiah 44 reveals their devotion to the queen of heaven, Semiramis, wife of Nimrod and mother of Tammuz.

It is for this reason that the second temple period becomes so important to understanding demons. The Jews were taken captive for the purpose of punishing their national sin and to recover and refine their faith. As we have seen, their faith diminished because they cozied up to the profane, succumbing to the  dark powers fueling the false religions of the Canaanites around them … demons under the authority of Satan.

Therefore, in the second temple period they re-founded their faith in the Torah (the first five books of the Bible), especially Genesis, which reveals the Genesis of the noncorporal nature of demons. But that is for next time.