I am just kind of trying to piece some things together and I'm eager to see what you all think about all of this. We all know that we are members of God's spiritual household, but it seems that we ourselves are individually considered to be "houses" as well.
Matthew 12
43"When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. 44Then it says, 'I will return to the house I left.' When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. 45Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first.
There are a few things that stand out to me about this passage. The first is that Jesus equates a man with a house. Now, we probably all believe that the "beast" of Revelation resides within ourselves. So, what do we make of this next passage:
Matthew 12
29"Or again, how can anyone enter a strong man's house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can rob his house.
This is right after Jesus had driven out a demon. Could the "strong man" be the beast? Does Christ tie up the "strong man" within us and carry off his posessions? What possesions??
2 Timothy 2
20In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for noble purposes and some for ignoble. 21If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.
Perhaps Christ ties up the strong man within us and steals his possessions, those articles for ignoble puposes, so we are fit to do good works.
Now, let's go back to Matthew 12:45:
45Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first.
Upon reading that verse, is anyone else reminded of:
Revelation 13
11Then I saw another beast, coming out of the earth. He had two horns like a lamb, but he spoke like a dragon. 12He exercised all the authority of the first beast on his behalf, and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed.
It seems that when a person is called by God, his house his swept clean. However, sometime after that, the evil spirit that was in the house gathers 7 other spirits more wicked than itself, and returns to that house! It appeared as though the beast was dead, but the deadly wound was healed. The first beast was out of the sea. A person is called by God out of the unsaved sea of humanity, but the next beast is out of the earth, which, of course, represents the called.
Perhaps this is also what Christ was referring to when He spoke of the light within us becoming darkness. The darkness is so deceiving that we wouldn't even realize that it's darkness without Christ shining His light within us. We think we're doing the will of God but we're really doing satan's work.
Perhaps everyone who gets called by God once again becomes inhabited by the second beast, and the person's condition is worse than before - beause now, the person believes he is on the right path - he has two horns like a lamb, appears righteous on the outside, but doesn't even realize that on the inside he is full of uncleanliness. He suddenly has a golden calf in his heart, believing he is worshiping God and doing God's work, but doesn't realize that he is poor, blind and naked. He says "I am worshipng the God who delivered me from sinful bondage!" But he doesn't even realize that he has set up a golden calf somewhere along the way during his journey.
Here are some more interesting observations about how a "man" relates to being a "house."
Matthew 10
36a man's enemies will be the members of his own household.'
Perhaps there is a deeper spiritual meaning to the above verse that relates to Romans 7:23:
Romans 7
23but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members.
Also, Jesus told us that if we put His words into practice, we are building our house on solid ground. But if we don't, we are building our house on the sand.
Luke 15
8"Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it?
Christ lights a lamp in us, and sweeps us clean.
Again, I'm just trying to gain insight and piece things together. If anyone disagrees, please feel free to reply.
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Topic: Are we a house? (Read 5655 times)