Parable of Evil Spirits

THE EVIL SPIRITS — Part Seventeen: The Parables and the Lost Tribes of Israel ✦✦✦ A New Teaching Series THE PARABLES AND THE LOST TRIBES OF ISRAEL Proving the Singular Mission of YAHSHUA Through Every Parable He Taught ✦✦✦ PART SEVENTEEN THE EVIL SPIRITS Rev. John Shane Vaughn | First Harvest Ministries International | Page 1 THE EVIL SPIRITS — Part Seventeen: The Parables and the Lost Tribes of Israel The House Swept and Empty — and the Warning That a Kingdom Cleansed But Not Filled Invites Worse Bondage Than Before Matthew 12:43–45 A Midweek Bible Study Rev. John Shane Vaughn First Harvest Ministries International Rev. John Shane Vaughn | First Harvest Ministries International | Page 2 THE EVIL SPIRITS — Part Seventeen: The Parables and the Lost Tribes of Israel INTRODUCTION TO TONIGHT'S STUDY Beloved — tonight we take up one of the most misused parables in the entire Bible. You have heard it preached a thousand times as a warning about backsliding. If you get saved and then go back to sin, seven demons come back with the first one, and your end is worse than your beginning. And so preachers have terrified congregations for generations with the specter of demonic multiplication if you fall away. But that reading has almost nothing to do with what YAHSHUA was actually saying. •YAHSHUA was not speaking about the individual backslider •He was speaking to the scribes and Pharisees who had just asked Him for a sign •He called them "an evil and adulterous generation" — or, more accurately in the Greek, "an evil and adulterous race" (genea) •The parable is His prophetic diagnosis of the spiritual condition of the House of Judah after the Rev. John Shane Vaughn | First Harvest Ministries International | Page 3 THE EVIL SPIRITS — Part Seventeen: The Parables and the Lost Tribes of Israel Babylonian captivity — and His warning of what would come upon them because they refused the Messiah This is a Two-House parable. It is the prophetic history of the elder brother's spiritual house — swept and cleansed by exile, but never filled by the true King — and the warning of what happens when a house is cleansed but not filled. Let us open our Bibles. And let us see — once again — that every parable YAHSHUA spoke was about the recovery of His scattered people. Rev. John Shane Vaughn | First Harvest Ministries International | Page 4 THE EVIL SPIRITS — Part Seventeen: The Parables and the Lost Tribes of Israel THE TEXT BEFORE US Matthew 12:43–45 "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." This is not primarily a parable about the individual backslider. This is YAHSHUA's prophetic diagnosis of the House of Judah — cleansed by exile, swept by discipline, but empty at the heart because the true King was never received. Rev. John Shane Vaughn | First Harvest Ministries International | Page 5 THE EVIL SPIRITS — Part Seventeen: The Parables and the Lost Tribes of Israel I. NOT PRIMARILY ABOUT BACKSLIDING The Popular Misreading. The statement contained in these verses is generally used by preachers to warn against the evil of backsliding — teaching that a man who goes back to sin after experiencing a cleansing of heart is generally worse than he was at the first. While there have been individual saints who fit this description — many, however, have backslid and repented again and stayed close to YAHWEH the rest of their lives. So that interpretation is just not even close to what YAHSHUA was actually saying. YAHSHUA is not speaking about the backslider at all. Such conclusions are simply random guesses at the meaning of the passage. When we look at what YAHSHUA actually said — "even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation" — we see clearly that He was making a prophetic statement about a specific people at a specific time. Rev. John Shane Vaughn | First Harvest Ministries International | Page 6 THE EVIL SPIRITS — Part Seventeen: The Parables and the Lost Tribes of Israel II. JUDAH SOUGHT A SIGN The Immediate Context. The preceding verses contain YAHSHUA's reply to the scribes and Pharisees — largely a mixed Edomite remnant in the flesh — who had asked Him to show them a sign that He was the Messiah. Calling them "an evil and adulterous generation" (or race), He reminds them of the warnings and signs they and their fathers had received, but without repentance — and then proceeds to relate the strange parable of the evil spirits. The final sentence of the passage shows clearly that YAHSHUA was describing the history of the mixed unbelieving portion of Judah to whom He was speaking. He said: "Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation (or race)." How correctly He has outlined their story! The parable is not about individual religious relapses. It is about the spiritual history of the unrepentant portion of the Rev. John Shane Vaughn | First Harvest Ministries International | Page 7 THE EVIL SPIRITS — Part Seventeen: The Parables and the Lost Tribes of Israel House of Judah — a prophetic diagnosis of a national condition. Rev. John Shane Vaughn | First Harvest Ministries International | Page 8 THE EVIL SPIRITS — Part Seventeen: The Parables and the Lost Tribes of Israel III. THE HOUSE CLEANED IN EXILE The First Cleansing — The Babylonian Captivity. When, some 600 years before, the men of Judah were sent to Babylon and punished for their idolatry, the evil spirit was cast out. Their house was swept and garnished — but empty. Consider what happened during the exile and the return: •The Babylonian captivity purged Judah of the gross idolatry that had characterized her before the exile •When the remnant returned under Zerubbabel, Ezra, and Nehemiah, they never again went back to the calf-worship, Baal-worship, and Ashtoreth- worship of their fathers •The house was cleansed •The unclean spirit of idolatry was cast out •But something crucial was missing What Was Missing. Rev. John Shane Vaughn | First Harvest Ministries International | Page 9 THE EVIL SPIRITS — Part Seventeen: The Parables and the Lost Tribes of Israel After they returned, the Holy of Holies remained empty. •The Ark of the Covenant was missing •There was no Shekinah Glory •The presence of YAHWEH was not there in the way it had been in Solomon's Temple When the true King finally came — YAHSHUA Himself — they did not recognize Him, and they rejected Him. The men of Judah had also, during the exile and after, mixed the Law of YAHWEH with Babylonian laws and traditions — creating their own book of oral traditions which eventually became the Talmud. So the house that had been swept clean of the old idolatry was filled instead with a new kind of religion — a mixture of Torah and Babylonian custom, of Moses and human tradition. The house was swept. The house was garnished. But the house was empty. The unclean spirit of open idolatry had been Rev. John Shane Vaughn | First Harvest Ministries International | Page 10 THE EVIL SPIRITS — Part Seventeen: The Parables and the Lost Tribes of Israel cast out — but the true King had not been received. And an empty house is not a safe house. Rev. John Shane Vaughn | First Harvest Ministries International | Page 11 THE EVIL SPIRITS — Part Seventeen: The Parables and the Lost Tribes of Israel IV. THE HOUSE OF DAVID DIMINISHED The Remnant Returned With Complications. Furthermore, in Babylon and in the long return that followed, the Remnant of the House of David — the Tribe of Judah — returned to Jerusalem. But over the centuries between the return and the coming of Messiah, a great deal had changed: •The royal line was diminished •Levitical purity was compromised •Political developments — especially during the Maccabean period — brought in populations who had not been part of the original covenant seed •By the time of YAHSHUA, the population of Judea was a mix of true Judahites, faithful Levites, some Benjaminites, and a substantial admixture of others The scribes and Pharisees YAHSHUA was addressing were largely representative of this mixed, unrepentant remnant — not the faithful Judah that would soon receive Messiah and be gathered up with returning Israel. Rev. John Shane Vaughn | First Harvest Ministries International | Page 12 THE EVIL SPIRITS — Part Seventeen: The Parables and the Lost Tribes of Israel Do not miss the pastoral care here — YAHSHUA is not condemning every descendant of Judah. He is diagnosing the specific unrepentant portion of the leadership standing in front of Him — and prophesying what would come upon that generation because of their refusal. The believing portion of Judah accepted Messiah, joined regathered Israel in the appointed places, and are indistinguishable from the Kingdom- people today. The unrepentant portion — the swept but empty house — is the subject of this parable's warning. Rev. John Shane Vaughn | First Harvest Ministries International | Page 13 THE EVIL SPIRITS — Part Seventeen: The Parables and the Lost Tribes of Israel V. THE HOUSE STILL EMPTY The State After Christ. After the death and resurrection of YAHSHUA, and the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, Jerusalem was purged and cleansed again — but that has not stopped the progression of the same pattern in the unrepentant portion. The house has been swept multiple times through history. But without the true King inside — without YAHSHUA the Messiah on the throne of the heart — the house remains empty, and empty houses do not stay empty for long. This is the tragedy of the parable. A house cleansed but not filled is more vulnerable than a house that was never cleansed at all. When YAHWEH sweeps a house through discipline, exile, or judgment — He is preparing it to receive the true King. If Rev. John Shane Vaughn | First Harvest Ministries International | Page 14 THE EVIL SPIRITS — Part Seventeen: The Parables and the Lost Tribes of Israel the King is not received, seven other spirits will come. Rev. John Shane Vaughn | First Harvest Ministries International | Page 15 THE EVIL SPIRITS — Part Seventeen: The Parables and the Lost Tribes of Israel VI. THE SEVEN OTHER SPIRITS The Unclean Spirit Returns With Reinforcements. "Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there." When the true King is not received into the swept house, the original unclean spirit — cast out but not replaced — walks through dry places seeking rest and finding none. And then he returns. This time he does not return alone. •He brings seven other spirits •More wicked than himself •And they enter and dwell there •And the last state of that house is worse than the first What are these seven spirits? The parable does not name them individually, but the prophetic principle is clear: whenever a covenant people has been cleansed of one form of rebellion Rev. John Shane Vaughn | First Harvest Ministries International | Page 16 THE EVIL SPIRITS — Part Seventeen: The Parables and the Lost Tribes of Israel and then refuses the King, the void will be filled with worse forms of rebellion than the first. •The exile cleansed Judah of open calf-idolatry •But because Messiah was refused, the void was filled with religious hypocrisy, ritualistic empty formalism, worldly materialism, moral degeneration, false doctrine, and the exaltation of tradition over Torah •These new occupants proved harder to expel than the original idolatry A house that has been swept and not filled with the King becomes a haunted house — inviting worse tenants than the first. That is the warning of this parable, and it applies to every covenant people in every age. Rev. John Shane Vaughn | First Harvest Ministries International | Page 17 THE EVIL SPIRITS — Part Seventeen: The Parables and the Lost Tribes of Israel VII. THE PATTERN WARNS ALL COVENANT PEOPLE The Parable Speaks to Israel Also. Do not read this parable as if it applied only to Judah of long ago. The same pattern threatens every covenant people who is cleansed but not filled. Consider the awakening remnant of scattered Israel in this hour: •We have been cleansed of certain gross errors — Sunday-keeping, Easter, pagan festivals, denominational tribalism, replacement theology •We have swept the house of these things •We have garnished it with Sabbath, feasts, Sacred Names, Torah-recovery, Two-House teaching •But is the true King inside? If we have swept out the old errors without receiving the living reign of YAHSHUA the Messiah in our lives — if we have Torah without covenant love, feasts without the Spirit, Sabbath without the Master, Rev. John Shane Vaughn | First Harvest Ministries International | Page 18 THE EVIL SPIRITS — Part Seventeen: The Parables and the Lost Tribes of Israel Sacred Names without His Kingship — we are the swept but empty house. The awakening remnant can also become the empty house if we mistake cleansing for filling. Torah observance is not the King. Sabbath-keeping is not the King. Speaking the Sacred Names is not the King. The King is YAHSHUA, and He must dwell in the swept house or seven worse spirits will come. Rev. John Shane Vaughn | First Harvest Ministries International | Page 19 THE EVIL SPIRITS — Part Seventeen: The Parables and the Lost Tribes of Israel VIII. THE ANTIDOTE — FILL THE HOUSE WITH THE KING How to Prevent the Seven Worse Spirits. The remedy in the parable is implicit. The house must not be left empty. It must be filled with the true King. •The cleansing of Torah must be filled with the presence of the Torah-Giver •The keeping of Sabbath must be filled with the Lord of the Sabbath •The observing of the feasts must be filled with the One who is the substance of the feasts •The speaking of Sacred Names must be filled with the covenant intimacy of the Named •The awakening of Two-House identity must be filled with the returning King who will unite the two houses under one head A swept house needs a King. A cleansed people needs a covenant Lord. A restored remnant needs a returning Messiah. Rev. John Shane Vaughn | First Harvest Ministries International | Page 20 THE EVIL SPIRITS — Part Seventeen: The Parables and the Lost Tribes of Israel Without Him, the sweeping only makes room for worse invaders. And the Warning for the Modern Church. The parable also applies to the wider Christian Church of every era. •Reformations that swept out old corruptions but did not receive the fullness of covenant reign became vulnerable to worse corruptions •Revivals that swept out dead formalism but did not establish Kingdom government became vulnerable to worse enthusiasm-without-substance •Movements that swept out one denominational error but did not embrace the Two-House gospel became vulnerable to worse tribal errors than the ones they escaped Every covenant people is warned by this parable. Sweeping is not enough. Cleansing is not enough. The King must be received. The Kingdom must be established. The house must be filled. Rev. John Shane Vaughn | First Harvest Ministries International | Page 21 THE EVIL SPIRITS — Part Seventeen: The Parables and the Lost Tribes of Israel IX. UNIVERSAL RECONCILIATION AND THE EMPTY HOUSE YAHWEH Has Not Purposed Eternal Destruction. Even the swept but empty house of unrepentant Judah is not condemned to eternal loss. •The Father who dismissed the wasteful steward still holds the door open •The Father who allowed the seven worse spirits to enter still goes out to entreat the elder brother •The corrective fire of the age of judgment eventually falls on every soul — but it is a refining fire, not an annihilating one •Even the last state that is worse than the first is not the final state The parable warns of a historical pattern. It does not decree a permanent damnation. In the fullness of time, when every soul has passed through the sickle of cleansing, even the seven-spirits-worse house will be swept clean again and filled at last with the King. Rev. John Shane Vaughn | First Harvest Ministries International | Page 22 THE EVIL SPIRITS — Part Seventeen: The Parables and the Lost Tribes of Israel The Universal Reconciliation of all things means that no house stays empty forever. The King who was refused at the first coming will not be refused at the last. Every empty house will finally be filled — and the seven other spirits will be cast out with all the rest. We speak the sharpness of the parable's warning — without turning it into a doctrine of hate against a specific people. The pattern warns all covenant peoples, in every generation, that cleansing without filling is a spiritual disaster. Rev. John Shane Vaughn | First Harvest Ministries International | Page 23 THE EVIL SPIRITS — Part Seventeen: The Parables and the Lost Tribes of Israel X. THE PATTERN OF THE PARABLE Let Us Draw It All Together. •The unclean spirit — the covenant rebellion that YAHWEH's discipline seeks to cast out. •The gone-out state — the exile, the discipline, the judgment that cleanses. •The dry places — the wilderness where the cast- out spirit wanders, seeking a new home. •The empty, swept, garnished house — the covenant people cleansed but not filled with the true King. •The seven other spirits — the worse errors that fill the void when the King is refused. •The last state worse than the first — the historical outcome of any covenant people who was cleansed but did not receive the King. •The wicked generation — the specific unrepentant portion of Judah to whom YAHSHUA was speaking, but a warning to every covenant people in every age. Rev. John Shane Vaughn | First Harvest Ministries International | Page 24 THE EVIL SPIRITS — Part Seventeen: The Parables and the Lost Tribes of Israel The Evil Spirits parable is the prophetic warning to every people who has ever been cleansed by YAHWEH's hand. The sweeping is only the first step. The filling is the necessary second step. Without the King in the house, the house becomes a worse hostage than it was under the first bondage. Rev. John Shane Vaughn | First Harvest Ministries International | Page 25 THE EVIL SPIRITS — Part Seventeen: The Parables and the Lost Tribes of Israel REFLECTION QUESTIONS Three Questions for Tonight's Class: 1. If the parable warns that a house cleansed but not filled becomes vulnerable to worse invaders — what has YAHWEH cleansed in me that I have not filled with His presence? What swept places in my life are inviting seven worse spirits? 2. If the awakening remnant of Two-House Israel could also become the empty house — where am I mistaking Torah observance for the presence of the Torah-Giver? Where am I keeping the feasts without the substance of the feasts? 3. If the King must be received into every swept house — how am I inviting YAHSHUA into the specific rooms of my life that I have most recently cleansed? What does it mean to have Him actively reigning in the swept places, not merely visiting them? Rev. John Shane Vaughn | First Harvest Ministries International | Page 26 THE EVIL SPIRITS — Part Seventeen: The Parables and the Lost Tribes of Israel Rev. John Shane Vaughn | First Harvest Ministries International | Page 27 THE EVIL SPIRITS — Part Seventeen: The Parables and the Lost Tribes of Israel CLOSING WORD The Evil Spirits parable is not a scare-tactic sermon about backsliding. It is the prophetic diagnosis of a covenant people cleansed by discipline but empty of the true King. > It is the warning that sweeping is not filling. > It is the announcement that a cleansed but empty house invites seven spirits worse than the first. > And it is the call to every awakening saint in this hour to make sure the swept house of Torah, Sabbath, feasts, and Sacred Rev. John Shane Vaughn | First Harvest Ministries International | Page 28 THE EVIL SPIRITS — Part Seventeen: The Parables and the Lost Tribes of Israel Names is FILLED with the living reign of YAHSHUA the King — so that we do not become the very thing our parable warned us against. Beloved — sweep the house. But do not leave it empty. •Torah without the Torah-Giver is a swept house. •Sabbath without the Sabbath-Lord is a swept house. •Feasts without the Feast-King is a swept house. •Two-House teaching without the returning King is a swept house. •Sacred Names without covenant intimacy is a swept house. Fill the house with YAHSHUA. Fill every swept room with His reign. And when the unclean spirit walks through dry places seeking rest and returns to check his old dwelling — let him find not an empty house but a filled one. Let him find the Rev. John Shane Vaughn | First Harvest Ministries International | Page 29 THE EVIL SPIRITS — Part Seventeen: The Parables and the Lost Tribes of Israel King enthroned. Let him find no vacancy. Let him and his seven companions be turned away at the door. The Kingdom is at hand. The house is being swept. Now — fill it with the King. Rev. John Shane Vaughn | First Harvest Ministries International | Page 30 THE EVIL SPIRITS — Part Seventeen: The Parables and the Lost Tribes of Israel Next in the Series — Part Eighteen: The Two Debtors — and we will see how YAHSHUA taught Peter about forgiveness through the parable of a servant forgiven a great debt who then refused to forgive a small one — and how this parable, too, reveals the Two-House pattern of Judah and Israel, and the great principle of the 490- year forgiveness cycle that YAHSHUA embedded in the very structure of prophetic time. Rev. John Shane Vaughn | First Harvest Ministries International | Page 31 THE EVIL SPIRITS — Part Seventeen: The Parables and the Lost Tribes of Israel ✦✦✦ Rev. John Shane Vaughn First Harvest Ministries International The Parables and the Lost Tribes — Part Seventeen: The Evil Spirits Rev. John Shane Vaughn | First Harvest Ministries International | Page 32