Monday, May 7, 2018
Empty house
Matthew 12:44
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.
Those involved in prison ministry, or any work among prisoners for that matter, quickly learn the word recidivism. Recidivism is a term that refers to the tendency of a convicted criminal to return to their criminal activity once released from prison.
All over the world, prison systems are involved in efforts to reduce recidivism. In many prisons, prison ministries and other interventions are busy working to try to bring a level of transformation to the lives of prisoners in an effort to try and reduce recidivism rates. Sometimes, the thing that’s driving the criminal cannot be handled by the prison system, there is something greater driving the behaviour.
Jesus, in our passage today, Matthew 12:43-45, is not talking about the prisoners, at least, not prisoners in physical cells. Jesus was addressing a different condition. Jesus, through this chapter of Matthew’s account, is in heated conflict with the Jews on a variety of subjects. There are sparring over the Sabbath and what should and should not be done on a holy day. They were accusing Jesus of using demonic power to cast out demons, an assertion that He demonstrated was ridiculous. “If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand?” Matthew 12:26. Jesus then levels His own charges against them and in the heated argument they ask him for a sign.
In response to their demands for a sign Jesus, in typical fashion, gives a cryptic answer using the story of Jonah to point towards His coming death, burial and resurrection. Then He moved to another example from the Old Testament, comparing them with the queen of the South.
It is here that Jesus gets into this matter of unclean spirits being driven out of someone and returning sometime after. Given where he was and what was taking place, Jesus could have been making reference to the whole nation, Israel, during the ministry of John the Baptist, had undergone a sort of moral renewal. However, all of the evidence suggested that very quickly the whole nation had gone back on their new commitments and were living their old life.
Jesus’ statement, however, could very easily be applied to an individual. Many of us got our deliverance during some time of ministry. Some of us received healing, some of us got a revelation or a prophetic word, and many received deliverance from different things and from unclean spirits.
For many, these unclean spirits have caused un-forgiveness, bitterness, hurt, hatred, anger, rage, vexation, evil speaking, and sin of all kinds including jealousy, selfish ambition, dissention, lust, improper passion, sexual promiscuity, and the like.
The challenge we always have in these situations is to maintain our deliverance. We need to take the necessary action to avoid giving place to these unclean spirits again so that we do not quickly return to the same condition we were in before we obtained our deliverance.
It is no secret that we have seen people who are always receiving ministry for the same things over and over, and the same demons are being cast out of them over and over again. There are some ministries that I support and every year the same people, turn up to hear the same ministers, and regardless of what topic is preached they go forward for prayer for deliverance from the same things.
Jesus sought to educate about how unclean spirits operate. Unclean spirits, when driven out, go somewhere, they do not die. An unclean spirit is not like a parasite. The parasite will die when removed from a host if another host is not quickly found. Unclean spirits, however, roam dry places looking for rest and can find none. Displaced, cast out demons are not at rest.
From what Jesus taught here, restless demons, roaming arid places have to make a decision about accommodation. Easily, the first decision they make is to try familiar territory. They know their way around familiar territory. The lights could be off, but they know where to go.
Clean but unoccupied premises are the best. The former tenant knows that when he was evicted it was during a house cleaning, so one of the reasons why familiar territory beckoned was that knowledge of the fact that cleaning had taken place.
The next thing that we learn from Jesus here is that unclean spirits clearly like company, more than that, they do not like being evicted. So when they return to familiar accommodations and find then all cleaned out, spruced up and empty, they go for company but not just any company, they go for demons stronger than themselves so that the task of eviction in the future would be much harder. This may be why some persons are always in the deliverance line, the effort for their deliverance, rather than getting easier, is getting harder.
Jesus directly addresses the person out of whom the demon was cast. Jesus says that the latter state is worse than the first. When the demon comes back with seven like spirits you are in a worse condition. And if more than one demon was cast out of you do the math – every one of those could potentially come back with his seven friends.
When someone’s life had been changed or transformed by salvation or by deliverance, or both, that person has a responsibility to build a relationship with God and relationships with other believers so that the presence and power of God can grow in their life. A life that experiences transformation but attempts to move forward without the presence and power of God’s Spirit is open to being reoccupied by greater evil.
Think on these things:
- Did you ever have to receive deliverance from unclean spirits?
- Do you know anyone who had to be taken through deliverance?
- What steps are being taken by you, or the person you may know, to secure the deliverance?
Prayer focus:
Let us pray today that we would focus on our relationship with God and leave no room for unclean spirits.
In His Grace
Pastor Alex