SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/8/2022 9:04 AM
My Worship Time
Focus: PT-1
“The Danger of Reformation”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference:
Matt. 12:43-45
Message of the verses: “43 “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.’”
I have to say that I am happy to study this section
of Matthew as these verses have always been something that I have not
understood, and so I pray that the Lord will bring light to them as I begin to
study them.
John
MacArthur calls this section a parable and that seems to help me better
understand that as I don’t believe that I have ever thought of them as being a
parable. In this parable Jesus vividly
and also frighteningly pictures the consequence of religious and moral
reformation apart from a right relationship to Him. Morality apart from the living Christ can
never be more than a sham, and the truth is that the more than one relies on
this sham the more dangerous that it will become.
MacArthur
writes “The main character in this illustration is an unclean spirit, whose
specific evil characteristics are not identified. He is a demon, a fallen angel, and a member
of Satan’s host of supernatural, evil coworkers. Unclean represents the wicked, vile nature of
all demon spirits; but this particular spirit was not as evil as he could have
been, because, as we learn later in the parable, he had demon friends who were
worse than himself.”
We
have seen our Lord cast out demons from people as we have studied through the
book of Matthew, and in other gospel writing as well, but it is unclear how
this unclean spirit left this person. It
may be that the man made a moral decision to forsake the sin in which this
demon had entrapped him and that the demon no longer would then have control
over the man. It is also that this man
may have been cleansed of the demon, but as we look at the ones that Jesus cast
out demons not all of them were actually believers whom Jesus healed. So as stated we don’t know how this happened
but for whatever reason or by whatever means the man was temporarily freed from
the demon’s presence and influence.
Now
as we continue to look at our verses we see that after he left the man, this
demon passed through waterless places, seeking rest and he did not find
it. MacArthur writes “Being spirits,
demons do not need food and water as human beings do, and therefore waterless
places here figuratively represents desolation, barrenness, and extreme
discomfort. In its own corrupt way the
demon was seeking rest, some place of greater satisfaction. From this and many other passages in the New
Testament, it seems evident that demons prefer to indwell bodily creatures,
preferably human beings but secondarily even animals )see Matt. 8:31), rather
than exist as unattached beings in Satan’s evil realm. Perhaps this particular demon was restless
because it could not express its evil nature through inanimate, lifeless
things. It was most at home in a human
being, because it is through human beings that Satan and his demons can most
successfully work their evil and oppose God.”
We
will continue, Lord willing, to look at this section in our next SD as we want
to continue to look at what this demon did after he had left this man’s body.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: The problem that this man had was once the
demon left he did not then seek to have the Lord fill that empty space. I am thankful that the Holy Spirit has filled
the empty space in my heart that I so desperately needed, and He will never
leave me nor forsake me.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Continue to trust the Lord to work on issues
that I have faced most of my life, and that by overcoming them through His Word
and His Spirit that I will receive victory and then continue to grow in Christ.
3/8/2022 9:31 AM
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