Tuesday, July 25, 2006
HAUNTED HOUSE
Vv 43-45. "Now when the unclean spirit goes out of a man, it passes through waterless places, seeking rest, and does not find it. 44. "Then it says, `I will return to my house from which I came'; and when it comes, it finds it unoccupied, swept, and put in order. 45. "Then it goes, and takes along with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first. That is the way it will also be with this evil generation."
These present passages are what S. L. Johnson calls “a compact eerie little parable of a haunted house.” This relates to Israel who had made her return out of Babylon and left their idolatry. In other words, their house was swept clean, unoccupied, and finds it to be put in order.
We see morality digress as generations turn over. This is seen true in our American churches of today who are as pagan as the Pharisees and scribes whom Jesus is admonishing. Israel focused on morality, external righteousness, but as this progression has transpired through time, righteousness cannot even be recognized.
Speaking particularly to the nation of Israel He explains now that when the unclean spirit goes out of a man it cannot find rest; man, in Adam, has given up his reign to Satan and may only temporarily rid himself of an evil or unclean spirit. The symptom may be salved with ointment but the cancer is always there. In remission, the unclean spirit, who is commanded by the deceiver, when morally evicted, passes through places seeking rest or a home. These states of unrest are depicted as waterless places that would be easily identifiable to a desert nomadic people.
Unlike the man known as the prodigal son, who was truly repentant, this moralist Jewish nation seeks rest back from which she came. This is parabolically seen as when Israel was in her exodus from Egypt wandering through the desert. This was her waterless place; the Hebrew people were ready to return to Egypt seeking their own idea of rest.
These present passages are what S. L. Johnson calls “a compact eerie little parable of a haunted house.” This relates to Israel who had made her return out of Babylon and left their idolatry. In other words, their house was swept clean, unoccupied, and finds it to be put in order.
We see morality digress as generations turn over. This is seen true in our American churches of today who are as pagan as the Pharisees and scribes whom Jesus is admonishing. Israel focused on morality, external righteousness, but as this progression has transpired through time, righteousness cannot even be recognized.
Speaking particularly to the nation of Israel He explains now that when the unclean spirit goes out of a man it cannot find rest; man, in Adam, has given up his reign to Satan and may only temporarily rid himself of an evil or unclean spirit. The symptom may be salved with ointment but the cancer is always there. In remission, the unclean spirit, who is commanded by the deceiver, when morally evicted, passes through places seeking rest or a home. These states of unrest are depicted as waterless places that would be easily identifiable to a desert nomadic people.
Unlike the man known as the prodigal son, who was truly repentant, this moralist Jewish nation seeks rest back from which she came. This is parabolically seen as when Israel was in her exodus from Egypt wandering through the desert. This was her waterless place; the Hebrew people were ready to return to Egypt seeking their own idea of rest.
# posted by Castusfumus : 5:25 PM
