When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none. 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. 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.
Matthew 12:43-45
The imagery here suggests that an unclean spirit feels most comfortable and at home inside an individual. When the spirit exits the man, he is said to go through “dry” places. The word “dry” here means “waterless”. So, to be outside a body for a spirit is like us being thirsty. We’re not going to stay in that state for long if we can help it. Likewise, a spirit is looking for a home and, if he can help it, will not abide long outside a person. I don’t know that I’ve ever really thought about evil spirits like this before, roaming around looking for someone to enter because there they are most comfortable, but this roaming and seeking out is well in line with what we read about Satan. When God asks him in Job 1:7 what he’d been up to, Satan’s reply is “From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.” We get this sense of restlessness from his statement. We also read in 1 Pet 5:8 that the devil “as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.” So, the evil spirit is restless outside the body. He doesn’t enjoy the experience, and if he can’t find another place to dwell, he’ll be back. This thought goes well with the first description of this man when the spirit returns.
Upon the spirits return, the man is said to be “empty.” There’s more to this word than meets the eye. It is translated “ye may give yourselves” in 1 Co 7:5, and the context of this verse shows you something about the word. The phrase just before it explains that this act is only “for a time.” As husband or wife, you are not to deprive the other of yourself unless you are in agreement “for a time” so that you might give yourself more fully to God. The point is that it is a temporary state because to be otherwise would make you easy prey for the devil to tempt you. It is not a permanent experience, but a temporary one. Strong’s Concordance defines “empty” as: “to take a holiday, that is, be at leisure for (by implication devote oneself wholly to); figuratively to be vacant (of a house).” The point is that this word “empty” conveys the idea of a temporary state. When you take a holiday, it doesn’t last, does it? So, the Greek shows clearly that the state of this man was only temporary. A man cannot continue in such a state! Such a place is too welcoming to evil spirits!
What caused the spirit to leave in the first place? We don’t really know from this account. We’ve considered the restlessness of evil spirits walking about as Satan does. I see no reason why “wicked” in Is 57:20-21 doesn’t apply to wicked men and spirits. They have no rest or peace. Perhaps in his restlessness, he left the man for a time. Also, it could be an act of God directly or by means of the gospel being preached that cast him out. We find the word of God having such an effect in 2 Pet 2:20, but it is a temporary liberation. We also find earlier in our chapter the Lord directly casting the spirit out in Mt 12:22. You know, we have no evidence that the Lord saved everyone He healed! There are times it certainly seems that He did both, but other times, like with the nine lepers that didn’t return to the Lord, it would seem that He only healed them physically. Perhaps part of the point to this story by our Lord is to warn the man that He’s cast the demon out of that he’s not home free now. We see such a warning to the impotent man healed in Jn 5:14. To paraphrase, “Be careful how you walk from here on; things could be worse than they were before!” How the spirit leaves is not so much the issue as how the individual responds when the spirit leaves. Now that the demon’s gone, what will you do?
We see a proper response in Lk 8:38. What does this man want? He wants to be with the Lord! He’s not excited to have his family back; the Lord has to tell Him to go home. And, whatever the Lord tells him to do, he does it. He has a desire for the Lord and an obedient heart! Those both evidence salvation. We find no such activity after the spirit leaves the man in our account. Have you heard the truth and had the sense enough to understand it? You have a responsibility to perform Is 55:6-7. Seek Him now while there is time and opportunity! When you have the awareness that comes from the spirit being gone, you’d better seek the Lord while He may be found! Better run to Jesus while you have the sense to do so! And, the Lord explains the type of seeking we’re talking about just before he gives this account. We find diligent seeking in Mt 12:42. The queen desired the wisdom of Solomon so much she travelled around 1400 miles across deserts and mountains—about a six month one-way journey. Our fervency in seeking the Lord of glory should be far greater!
This demon should not have found an empty house upon his return. The man should have asked God to fill him with His Spirit. There shouldn’t have been a vacancy! In Luke’s account of this same event (Lk 11:24-26), guess what the Lord says just a few verses earlier? This story is presented in the context of what the Lord says in v. 13, namely, God will give His Spirit to those that ask Him! The sinner needs to know that God says if you don’t have His Spirit dwelling in you, it’s your own fault! God is true to His word. If you never know this God, there’s no one else to blame but yourself because God says in v. 9: “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.”
Hollywood has given many a skewed view of demon possession. We think a person’s head has to spin around for them to have a devil. The reality is that the unbeliever is possessed by the devil at any given time at the devil’s leisure (2 Tim 2:26). Once saved, this is no longer possible because the strongest man now lives in you! (Lk 11:20-22 cmp 1 Jn 4:4) And this is a permanent state for He’s promised to never leave nor forsake us! (Heb 13:5) Jn 14:23 says those that love God and obey him will not be left empty. The Father and Son will take up residence in that person!
Let’s consider the next description we have of this man. He is “swept”. This word means “to brush off”, so it conveys the idea of cleaning. What it does not convey, however, is the idea of truly being clean. When we get through eating dinner at home, we’ll sweep the floor under and around the table, but most of the time if you don’t get a mop out or at least a wet paper towel and spot clean some of the areas, your foot’s going to stick to the floor! It’s like telling one of the kids to go put a new shirt on after they’ve been eating spaghetti, and they brush it off saying, “Look! It’s clean!” Brushing off doesn’t deeply clean anything especially if it’s really dirty. Let me tell you something. We’re really dirty! Our sins are compared to scarlet in Is 1:18 which we know to be a color achieved by double-dying the garment. Your sins are double-dyed! We don’t need to be swept; we need to be washed! And we don’t have any cleaning agent that will remove this double-dye. Only God can take that scarlet clothing and make it white as snow! Only the cleansing power of the blood of the lamb can remove the stain! We are clothed in Christ’s righteousness, and man can’t match this level of clean! Look at how Christ appears in Mk 9:3. Only God can achieve that level of clean! David acknowledges this in his prayer to God in Ps 51:7: “wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow!”
What about the word “garnished”. It’s not a bad word. In fact, it’s most often “adorned” and refers to the adorning of the woman in a way that is proper. In fact, it is descriptive of the church in Rev 21:2, 9-10. It signifies “to decorate” and is literally “to put in proper order”. That’s a good thing considering 1 Co 14:40 says “Let all things be done decently and in order.” So “swept” has to do with the level of clean while “garnished” has to do with making things look nice and orderly. Sweeping is an attempt to clean that which is filthy while garnishing is putting things where they ought to go and may also convey sprucing things up.
This is the mark many of today’s churches are shooting for! I was reading a sermon by a man the other day that preached just after World War I. He was already seeing then how man in his enlightenment was modifying the message of the gospel to eliminate the supernatural. We were becoming too smart to believe in something you can’t see! So the mark was increasingly not holiness but morality. The goal was to be good, decent people. That’s not the message of the gospel. The gospel message is that there is none good but God! What He requires of all who enter into the kingdom of God is to be holy as He is holy! That can only be if Christ has become sin for us and we have been made the righteousness of God in Him! The group that another pastor sees most churches catering to today are VNPs—Very Nice People. Christ was never accused of catering to nice people, but He was condemned for associating with publicans and sinners! The gospel is for such! These are the ones the Great Physician entered the world to save!
This man in Mt 12 had turned into a VNP. Jesus condemned the Pharisees for this very thing a few verses earlier in v. 33-35. God said He’d rather we be hot or cold, but He despised lukewarmness. Either be good or evil! The Pharisees had good (hot) coming out of their mouths with evil (cold) in their hearts, making warm. We can’t do what needs to be done. Man in his effort to crawl out of this hole on his own can at best be lukewarm! We can’t overcome the evil spirit; only the stronger man can.
Salvation is not a cleaning up of our act! It’s not the grandpa effect where because we’re getting older we have to change our language and be a little more respectable! It’s not just sweeping and putting up new curtains. It’s not a renovation. Salvation is bulldozing the old place and starting from scratch! It’s a new creation! Per Rom 8:13, the Spirit’s work in us is not to simply clean up the deeds of this flesh, but to kill them! No human effort will get us there as Jonah found out (Jon 2:7-9). Don’t believe their lies and practice their instructions in vain. Man make himself clean. “Salvation is of the Lord!”
Jamie