What is the Abyss? Where do we cast demons to?

Question to Odon Bulamba:

In Luke 8:31 it says the demons begged Jesus not to send them into the Abyss. Is this the same as the grave, Sheoul/Hades?

They went into the swine and the swine were drowned in the sea. I've heard that the sea is equivalent to the Abyss? Therefore Jesus sent them to the Abyss? Were they somehow trapped in the swine when they drowned and were therefore killed/anihilated or did they come back to possess others?.

When we cast out satan, demons and evil spirits can we send them to the Abyss? Or will they always be present and active in their territories? We will just be sending them to torment someone else?

I read an interesting commentary this morning which said that the demons knew He was coming and tried to disuade Him with the storm and then the demon in the man called on all it's comrades to fight the Son of God -no contest!

In Luke 8:31 it says the demons begged Jesus not to send them into the Abyss. Is this the same as the grave, Sheoul/Hades?

God is so good and so nice to us. From the beginning, He knew that demons would disturb His image (humans) and He thought that there should be a place where they should be send when cast out.

Some theologians and the dictionary believe that Abyss refers to a bottomless pit, to the underworld, to the deepest ocean floor, or to hell.

When for the first time I started to learn about demonology, based on the word of God, I had the grace to learn and understand a little bit about the place called Abyss.

As you know, some parts of the Word of God, since the Old Testament, were sealed and we are now getting the revelation of what was other time sealed.

It may sound that there is a contradiction in the meaning of Abyss, Sheol, etc… between the Old Testament and New Testament interpretation – this is just the fact that God continues over the time to reveal to the Church of our time what we should understand from those words. Many years ago, the French word “la lune” (the moon) meant sand; but today, this word means the moon and sand has taken another word ‘du sable’.

Romans 10:7 teaches us that Abyss is the sojourn of the dead. Revelation 9:1-11 highlights that the Abyss is a prison where evil spirits are imprisoned. And Psalm 77:16 has being interpreted by many commentators that the watery deep also represents the Abyss.

There are seven (7) verses in the New Testament in reference to ‘Abyss’

Luke 8:31; Rom 10:7; Rev 11:7, 9:11, 17:8, 20:1, 20:3

This greek word ‘abyssos’ is translated as ‘bottomless pit’ in the above given verses except in Rom 10:7 where it is translated as ‘the deep’

In the Old Testament abyss describes the watery depths of the earth, whether oceans, rivers or springs, in contradistinction to the land (e.g., Psalm 77:16 ; 78:15 ; 106:9 ; Isa 51:10 ; Amos 7:4 ). The meaning of this word has been shifted over the time, just like other words, in many languages.

In the New Testament, Abyss is used in two ways: First, in Romans 10:7 Paul uses it specifically to mean "the sojourn of the dead." I think that he wanted to strengthen what Deut 30:12-14 says about ‘who shall go to heaven and bring it to us, that we may hear and do it? Etc…’ by saying ‘who’ll go into the abyss…’ 

Here, in Rom 10:7, we find that Christ went to Abyss – um…! might it be said that the abyss is just a demonic or evil sojourn? The second way is what the rest of the verses I cited earlier say. They describe abyss as a place of demons, satan, the beast and as the prison where they (demons, evil spirits, etc) are waiting for God’s final judgment. They are under God’s control. They cannot come out from there. They’ll never be free to go out and disturb the earth and human being. What is written in Lk 8:31 reflect the picture of 2 Peter 2:4

The Bible confirms that Satan is chained in the abyss for a thousand years (Rev 20:1, 3)

Sheol

In the New Testament, Jews and Christians believe that those who die in Christ or righteous ones go to paradise and the bad ones go to Hades, which is translated as Sheol [the place of torment – affliction, agony, anguish, annoyance, bane, bother, excruciation, misery, harassment, plague, pest, nuisance, torture, trouble, vexation, worry, persecution, pain in neck, etc…] as it is mentioned in Lk 16:22-23. Other Christians believe that when a Christian dies s/he goes to be with the Lord, based on Philippians 1:23 and 2 Cor 5:8. Rev 1:18 says that Jesus Christ holds the keys of Hades and death

Our elders from the Old Testament time believed in Sheol, while the New Testament teaches clearly about heaven and hell. Let us take it simple as we don’t need to sacrifice animals anymore to get our sins washed away or we can talk about Trinity today and the Old Testament had no idea of it.

In the OT, he Hebrew word Sheol, refers to the grace or the residence of the dead [Ps 88:3, 5]. Reading Ps 49:12, 20, it might be said that our elders in the OT believed that all those who died went to one place (animals, human being, and/or plants…) regardless or who you are (sinner or believer) – no one could avoid Sheol Eccl 9:2-3; Ps 49:9, 89:48 and the location of Sheol was somewhere down there (the inner part of the earth) – Ez 31:14-16, 18; Isa 7:11; Deut 32:22; 1 Sam 28:11-15; Job 26:5; Ps 86:13.

The book of Eccl 9:6, 10 tells us that there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom, love, hatred, envy, etc… in Sheol. Job 10:21-22 says that there is no light there (darkness), no remembrance (Ps 6:5), no praises to God (Ps 115:17), no sound at all (Ps 94:17). Those who live there are weak and shades tremble (Job 26:5, Is 14:9-10). Sheol is like a ravenous beast that swallows the living without being sated (Prov 27:20, 1:12; Is 5:14). Some thought the dead were cut off from God (Psalm 88:3-5; Isa 38:11); while others believed that God's presence reached even to Sheol ( Psalm 139:8 ).

In Is 26:19, God reveals that resurrection of the dead will take place and death won’t have any power (Is 25:8) and those who remained faithfull will be rewarded with eternal life and those who sinned will get the eternal punishment (Dan 12:2).

Note that Hades is a Greek term for Sheol

They went into the swine and the swine were drowned in the sea. I've heard that the sea is equivalent to the Abyss? Therefore Jesus sent them to the Abyss? Were they somehow trapped in the swine when they drowned and were therefore killed/anihilated or did they come back to possess others?.

As I mentioned earlier, some commentators and some verses from the bible show that Abyss can be located in different places, including the deep of waters.

Demons don’t die. When the swine drown, they did not die with them or stay in those corpses. I would say that it was just a way of them to get into the deep of the lake. To my ‘live’ experience I have met with many people who got possessed with evil spirit because they went for swimming in some waters around the world. You might also hear that some believe that there is power in waters (seas) and they go there, give sacrifices, etc…

If Jesus Christ sent them to Abyss, I strongly believe that they did not come back to possess others – as the abyss is a prison and no one can open its gates – unless the key holder does.

When we cast out satan, demons and evil spirits can we send them to the Abyss? Or will they always be present and active in their territories? We will just be sending them to torment someone else?

Yes, when we cast out demons we can send them to abyss. I believe that is the right place. Sending them to deserts, or swimming pools, they will come back (times seven) and continue to annoy people, which would be worse. I always thank Jesus for giving to us the power to bind things on earth and He binds them for us in heaven… yeah! We are strong and able to lock them too.