What is the meaning of Luke 11:24?

When an unclean spirit comes out of a man

“When an unclean spirit comes out of a man …” (Luke 11:24a)

• Jesus treats evil spirits as real personal beings, just as He does in Mark 1:25-26 and Luke 8:2.

• Deliverance is possible and immediate at His word (cf. Matthew 8:16), yet the verse signals that liberation is only the first step.

• A “house” once emptied must be filled—echoed later in the same passage (Luke 11:26) and reinforced by Matthew 12:45.

• The imagery warns that spiritual victory demands ongoing faith and obedience, not just a momentary experience (cf. Ephesians 6:11-12).

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it passes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it

“… it passes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it.” (Luke 11:24b)

• “Arid places” picture a lifeless wilderness—no people to inhabit, no influence to exert (Job 30:3-7 paints a similarly desolate scene).

• Demons crave a host; when denied, they roam restlessly, as seen when a legion begged to enter pigs rather than remain disembodied (Matthew 8:31).

• Their inability to find “rest” underscores that evil never satisfies; Revelation 12:12 depicts the devil’s ongoing rage because “he knows that his time is short.”

• For the believer, dryness points to a heart empty of God’s presence—contrast with Jesus’ promise of “living water” in John 7:38.

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Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’

“Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ ” (Luke 11:24c)

• The spirit speaks of the person as its own “house,” revealing a sinister determination to reclaim lost territory (compare Luke 11:26).

• Jesus later cautioned a healed man, “See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest something worse happen to you” (John 5:14), showing that relapse is real.

• 2 Peter 2:20-22 warns that turning back can leave one worse than before—“a dog returns to its vomit.”

• Protection comes only when the rightful Owner moves in: the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:9; 1 Corinthians 6:19). An empty heart remains an open invitation.

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summary

Luke 11:24 portrays a delivered person as a vacated house. The departing demon wanders through barren wastelands, unable to rest, and schemes to return. Jesus’ picture urges us to move beyond mere deliverance and yield fully to Him. When His Spirit fills the “house,” evil finds no vacancy and no welcome.