In the parable Jesus told of the unclean spirit that was sent out of a man, only to return to find his house swept and clean. Jesus is showing us that there is nothing in a natural man. He is flesh and blood and only flesh and blood. No spirit of his own to commune with God.
He is also showing us that an unclean spirit can only take occupancy in a man whose house, that is his body, is empty of anything else. This is why when he returns to find the man’s house swept and clean the unclean spirit knows he can again take occupancy.
This empty house is in agreement with what was written in Gen.2:7 and Gen.7:15,22. Also found in 1Cor.15:45,46. Which explains why Paul also wrote in 1Cor.2:14 about natural men saying, “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”
In Mt.12:43-45 Jesus tells the parable of a man who was possessed of an unclean spirit. And after having this spirit driven from him it went out looking for another place to live. Finding none, he returned to the man and found that his house was “swept and cleaned”. Meaning it was empty.
And because it was empty the evil spirit saw an opportunity. So rather than simply returning to his former abode. To try to insure he did not get kicked out again, he went and got 7 others worse than himself to come back with him to enter into the man again. Making the latter condition of the man worse than it was before the evil spirit was cast out.
This parable is told in the context where Jesus was teaching Israel about how to recognize good and bad fruit. And good and bad trees. Saying that you will know a good or evil man by that good or bad fruit. By the words from his mouth that come from what is in his heart.
Jesus told them these things because He was being accused of casting out devils, unclean spirits, by Beelzebub the prince of devils. Which Jesus said is a blasphemy against the Holy Spirit by whose power He had actually cast them out. Because they were attributing to Beelzebub what was actually done by the Holy Spirit.
The place the evil spirit inhabited before he was cast out of the man was the man’s body. A body that is supposed to be the temple of God while we live here on earth. But, when a man remains as he was when he was born, natural, and not spiritual, his temple is empty. Swept and clean.
This is why the evil spirit was able to possess the man in the first place. And because the man did not fill his temple with a spirit that Jesus said can only come by way of creation from God, by being “born again”, which includes at the same time the indwelling Holy Spirit, he had no protection to keep evil spirits out.
The same can be said of all men who choose to reject or do nothing with the gift Jesus offers all of us. Those who say no will have an empty temple. With plenty of space for the unclean spirit to bring 7 others worse than himself to live there.
So unless we are born again and have a spirit birthed in us by God our temple is empty. Swept and clean so to speak. Not a good place to be. But, a good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things.
When he hears the gospel he receives it and has a spirit created in him by God to fill his temple. So that no unclean spirit can live there.
This is why Jesus after telling them about good and bad fruit and good and bad trees said, “every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.
37 For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.”
Because it is with our words we either confess the Lord Jesus or deny Him. And with our heart that we either believe or don’t believe for the righteousness unto eternal life. A righteousness that is of faith without works. The only righteousness that can save from death to life. And make us spiritual beings.
After Jesus told them all of these things they asked Him for a sign to prove who He was. And He answered saying, “An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas:
40 For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”
Adding that “When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none.
44 Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished.
45 Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation.”
These Israelites were offered a gift that would fill their temple with a spirit created in them by God. But, rather than accept that gift. They blasphemed against it saying it was Beelzebub. Which left them in much worse condition than they were before they spoke with Jesus.
It is in much the same way that those who have believed the doctrine of original sin and sin nature have been filled with an unclean spirit. Rejecting Paul’s gospel by accepting Augustine’s. Because they can not both be believed at the same time.
Either we must believe salvation is by grace as Paul taught. Or we will believe it is by works as Augustine taught. By grace because we know we are justified by the faith of Christ. Or by works because we have believed we are justified by our own works and the works of Christ.
It is the teaching of an unclean spirit that keeps men from seeing the difference. A blindness that happens to men because they have rejected the truth. A rejection that makes them hold on to a lie so tightly that only the power of God can break that grip.
John spoke of this teaching in 1John4:1-3 saying, “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.
2 Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:
3 And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.”
So just as the Pharisees had done by rejecting Jesus. And attributing to Beelzebub what was actually the work of the Holy Spirit. So too have many done by believing the unclean spirit of antichrist. His unclean spirit that has infected them with pagan Gnosticism that denies the doctrine of Christ that we also find in 2John1:7-11 and Heb.2:14.
They reject the fact that Jesus came in the same flesh all men have. Because they have been deceived to believe Augustine’s gnostic lie that the flesh is evil. A lie that leads men to believe such detestable things as there being babies in hell.
Making them worse at the last than they were before ever hearing the truth. Because now armed with this pagan gnostic thinking they are much harder to reach with the truth. Because being deceived by the unclean spirit of antichrist has made them unable to see their deception. A deception that can only be broken by the power of God who alone can break the unclean spirit’s strong hold.
A strong hold that is only broken when a man chooses to willingly humble himself before God to believe what He has plainly told us through the prophets and apostles. That Jesus has indeed come in the same flesh all men have. And could do so because the flesh is not evil. It is natural.
And by doing this He joined with men in their mortality. So that He could conquer death on our behalf. So that we could have eternal life simply by trusting in Him.
Believing in Jesus to fill our temple with a spirit created by God, and the Holy Spirit who comes to all who will believe in Jesus. By responding in a saving faith to the gospel when we hear it.
It is because of this that Jesus told Israel at the end of His teaching here in Mt.12 that His mother, brothers, and sisters are those who will hear the word of God and do it. We do the word of God by believing Him apart from works just as Rom.4 says Abraham did. Trusting Him for the gift of eternal life He said would be given to those who believe in Him.
Will you have this life? Will you believe Jesus’ words? Will you trust in Jesus who came in the same flesh all men have? Will you believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead?
If you will then you will have eternal life now. If you will then you will have immortality at the resurrection. If you will then you will be made a child of God and heir to His kingdom. If you will… then I will see you there or in the air!
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