Smoodock's Blog

Personification is a good literary tool that offers a mental picture of an idea one wishes to express. For example, in an earlier study[1] Jesus’ taught that we shouldn’t let the left hand know what the right does (Matthew 6:3-4). Jesus attributed consciousness to our hands to make a point about our spiritual nature, vis-à-vis our right hand, not submitting to our physical or natural nature, vis-à-vis our left hand (Matthew 6:3-4), in order to glorify God in what we do. Paul also uses the tactic of attributing mental faculties to parts of our body to express the idea that we shouldn’t over emphasize or devalue the labor that the Spirit has given us to do in the Lord’s service (cp. 1Corinthians 12:15-26).

Personification, viewed in this light cannot be mistaken for literal truth. However, when it comes to speaking about spirits, especially “evil spirits,” folks tend to adopt a literal interpretation of the text. Demons are not evil angels who rebelled against God eons in the past. One would be hard pressed and have to jump through many hoops to show they are. Neither are they spirits of the dead, which is what some folks believe. Instead, they express an evil, like alcoholism, that has gripped our lives, and we have trouble controlling or removing it from our lives. Nevertheless, many folks love to take personification and metaphor “literally” when it comes to understanding the source and work of evil spirits.

Keep in mind that the subject of evil spirits wasn’t brought up by Christ; it was brought up by the scribes and Pharisees in an effort to discredit Christ (Matthew 12:22-24), and in so doing retain their power and influence over the people, who were beginning believe Jesus was the Messiah (Matthew 12:23). Jesus healed a man whose possession took away his ability to both see and speak (verse-22). As I said in studies from then till now, the condition of the man pictures the condition of folks prior to coming to Christ. No one, naturally, understands spiritual truth. The natural man is blind to the spirit, and, therefore, is unable to **speak** with spiritual understanding. Jesus wants to bring us back into the Presence of God, as it was in Eden. In essence, this is the Gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven/God (cp. Luke 17:20-21). The Jewish authorities, on the other hand, want to continue controlling truth, or the people’s understanding. The battle is the power of the natural (organized religion)[2] v/s the power of the spirit (Christ).

In Matthew 12:43 Jesus begins to explain what was happening in the spirit world behind the physical perception of the people, including their religious authorities. Jesus’ work was to rid the man/the nation of its independence from God, casting out their obsessions and, instead, desire to be back in God’s Presence. When the work is done, and folks are no longer obsessed with falsehoods that they believe are true, such things that bind them, blind them, and render them speechless, as far as truth is concerned, when all the obsessions are cast away, it is time to make a decision to submit to Christ and the Gospel. However, if folks waver over making a decision, although they are clean, their old lives, old obsessions, which no longer animate their bodies, will return, because even a clean man is restless without Christ. One must replace one authority with another, if one is to grow in his spirit. If a decision for Christ isn’t made, then the man’s old life habits will return (Matthew 12:43-44).

Consider for a moment the dry places that the “spirit” encounters, once the man is cleansed of his obsessions. If “truth” is a fountain (Proverbs 13:14), the opposite of truth would be error or false doctrines or a dry place. If the Lord exposes what one believes is error, one might say: okay, I see that and reject it and will no longer follow that way. However, such an understanding or revelation needs to be supplemented with real truth. Otherwise, or spirits become restless, seeking something to follow, seeking a way that makes sense to us.

If one doesn’t embrace Christ during such circumstances, he will revert back to his old understanding, and the end will be worse than before (Matthew 12:45). Keep in mind that Jesus, at this point, is speaking of national judgment.[3] Jesus had cast out the error of the scribes and Pharisees, but the people still vacillated between Christ and the worldview held by their leaders at that time. In the end, there was a great falling away by the many thousands of Jews (Acts 21:20; Hebrews 10:26-29) who had once embraced Christ. They returned to their old worldview, which rejected Jesus and sought a Messiah after their own understanding. The end of the matter culminated in national judgment in AD 70

[1] See my study; The Principle of Giving in the Sermon on the Mount.

[2] Organize religion of and by itself isn’t evil, and neither was they synagogue system of the scribes and Pharisees. Jesus, in fact, was happy to use this system to teach the Gospel. However, the system becomes evil, when it suppresses the power of the spirit (Christ) in an effort not to lose one’s authority or power over the people.

[3] See my earlier studies in this series: God’s Chosen Servant; Blasphemy Against the Holy Spirit, and The Sign of Jonah.