When the unclean spirit has gone out of the man, he goes through dry places seeking rest; and not finding [any] he says, I will return to my house whence I came out.
The Lord has just cast out a demon, and His critics say He did it by the power of Beelzebul, the prince of demons. His answer moves from a divided kingdom to a stronger man. It closes with this picture: a spirit leaves a man, wanders, then decides to go home.
The verse says the spirit "has gone out" — it does not say it was driven out. Commentators press hard on that wording, because it decides everything that follows.
It is the case of one from whom the unclean spirit has gone out (not cast out), only to return later with sevenfold power... Reformation is not enough, whether for that nation or for individuals, in this or in any other day. Living faith in the One who died and rose again alone can truly meet human need.
Because no one evicted him, the spirit still holds the deed. That is why he can speak of "my house."
The unclean spirit had gone out, that was all. The stronger Man had not driven him out, so his title to the house is clear. He returns, and everything he finds there had only made it more attractive to him.
The word behind "seeking rest" is the same one the Lord uses when He invites the weary to come to Him. One party finds rest; the other never does.
The Lord invited all who laboured and were burdened to come to Him, and He would give them "rest"... The unclean spirit walks through dry places, seeking "rest," but finds none. Matt. 12:43; Luke 11:24.
The restlessness is not aimless. Long absence has not erased the spirit's memory of where he used to live.
The restless spirit of evil may have been removed by the dealings of God, through the outward effects of mercy. But though he has wandered long, he has not lost his memory of his house. Providence — the dealings of God — has long kept him at a distance. The house may be empty, but it has not stopped being his house.
The commentators name this spirit, and mark how Luke's account differs from Matthew's.
Here we find the picture of the unclean spirit — that is, the spirit of idolatry. It had once possessed the Jewish nation. But here it is applied not merely to a nation, but to a single person. It takes a more moral shape than in the Gospel of Matthew, where it follows God's dealings with the nation.
That personal aim was no accident.
Luke was inspired to widen the bearing of these instructions, or rather to record what would deal with any soul in any place or time. The question here is about man. It is about the last state of the one whom the unclean spirit has somehow left for a while — left without salvation, and without the positive new work of divine grace. He may be a changed character, as men say; he may become moral, or even religious; but is he born again?
Behind the personal picture stands a national history. Israel came back from exile in Babylon free of open idol-worship.
The unclean spirit of idolatry among the Jews came before the captivity in Babylon, and was its moral cause. Since then the Jews have generally been free of that evil... But they just as firmly rejected Jesus the Messiah... And they are still "empty," as Matthew says, empty of the power of God. What good is it then to be swept and adorned?
Yet the same warning lands on people one by one. Reform alone leaves any heart open.
Sweeping is not the same as filling. The spirit returns not because the house is dirty, but because it is vacant.
The man out of whom the devil went is our Lord's own illustration that an empty house will never lack a tenant. The sweeping and decorating and all the rest will not keep out the devil, but perhaps only make him more determined to move in. Nothing will save from it but the positive possession of it by another, who will not and need not give it up.
The safeguard, then, is not the removal of one sin but the arrival of Someone.
A man may leave off gross evil, he may give up false religion, or, as in this case, idolatry; but none of this consecrates a man. What settles the matter is the presence of God in possession of a soul. It is having a new nature, not simply the absence of this or that evil. The unclean spirit can return to the house unless the power of God's Spirit already fills it. That power alone shuts Satan out.
- Gone, not evicted. The spirit left on its own terms. No one drove him out, so his claim on the house was never broken.
- Restless. It wanders through waterless places and finds no rest. Rest is Christ's gift to the weary, never the enemy's.
- "My house." Distance and time do not cancel ownership. An unclaimed heart is still remembered as home.
- Swept is not filled. Reform removes one tenant and leaves the rooms empty — and an empty house never lacks a tenant for long.
- Only an Occupant secures it. Not the absence of evil but the presence of God's Spirit shuts the door; anything less ends worse than it began.
And having come, he finds it swept and adorned.
A house's old tenant walks out. He comes back and finds the place clean and tidy. That tidiness turns out to be the problem, and it raises one question above all: who is living in the house now?
Everything turns on a detail in the story: the spirit went out on his own terms. Nobody forced him, so nothing has settled the question of ownership.
The house is his still, as in the parable. The unclean spirit had gone out, that was all. The stronger Man had not driven him out, so his claim to it is clear. He returns, and everything he finds there had only made it more attractive to him. He finds it clean and decorated. So he returns with many a like-minded spirit, and makes its last state worse than its first.
Sweeping and decorating are real improvements. But they do not change who has the right to come in. What keeps the enemy out is not the absence of filth but the presence of God.
A person might be convinced by evidence of one sort or another, claim to follow Christ, and stand outwardly with Him. But the mere absence of outward evil will never bring a soul to God. God Himself must be known, and Jesus Himself received, not merely the unclean spirit be gone out. A man may leave off gross evil, he may give up false religion, or, as in this case, idolatry; but none of this consecrates a man. What settles the matter is the presence of God in possession of a soul. It is having a new nature, not merely the absence of this or that evil. The unclean spirit can return to the house unless the power of God's Spirit already occupies it. Only that power truly shuts Satan out.
A tidy house can still be an empty one. Nothing inside it stands in the way when the old tenant comes back.
The Holy Spirit was the great One who displayed and energised power. Where He was not, the unclean spirit might leave a man. The outward form of religion could be there, but the Holy Spirit is not. So the unclean spirit returns with many more, and the last state is worse than the first... On his return there is nothing to block his entrance, no power of the Lord there. However swept and ornamented, it is still the empty house of Satan; he comes there with his friends, and it is worse than before.
Commentators read the picture first as a portrait of the nation. Israel's old idolatry was gone, and the house looked respectable. Then Israel turned away the one Person who could have filled it.
Verses 24-26 are clearly prophetic. At that moment the unclean spirit of their ancient idolatry had gone out of Israel. They were "swept and garnished" on the outside, yet they were refusing the One sent by God to occupy the house. As a result the old unclean spirit would return with others worse than himself. Their state would then be worse than at the beginning.
The warning is not only about Israel. A house can be swept clean and still belong to the same owner.
The broom of Babylon may have swept the house of Israel, and to this day they may hate idols. But a clean house may be just as fit for Satan as an unclean one. Reform will not do. The same is true of the Christian world. I hope there is not a single heart here that trusts in reform... The Lord teaches us that the swept and decorated house may be worse than before.
The same danger has a modern face. A religion can be tidy, respectable and satisfying to its owner. It can still have no one living inside.
This was only outward moral reform — swept and garnished — but they never received the better Occupant, the Lord Jesus. He was there, and He alone could overcome the power of Satan. But the self-righteous pride of Israel's heart refused Him. Today large numbers are in the same alarming condition. They have an empty religion that flatters their self-righteousness, but no heart for the Lord Jesus, the Son of God.
- Left, not evicted — the spirit walked out. The stronger Man never drove him out, so his claim on the house was never broken.
- Swept — the cleaning is real. Idols gone, gross evil dropped, outward religion in place. None of it consecrates a man.
- Empty — the fatal word. No Holy Spirit, no Christ received, nothing inside to block the door when the old tenant comes back.
- Occupied is the only safety — God in possession of the soul, and a new nature, is what shuts Satan out. Dropping one evil or another will not.
- Worse than the first — Israel refused the rightful Occupant, and the spirit came back with others worse than himself. The same warning reaches any tidy life without Christ today.
Then he goes and takes seven other spirits worse than himself, and entering in, they dwell there; and the last condition of that man becomes worse than the first.
This closing line describes more than a relapse: the spirit comes back with company, and settles in. Commentators read it on two levels — a nation that had cleaned itself of idols, and any person who reforms without receiving Christ.
When the spirit leaves, the house does not become neutral. It simply stands available. Only a new Occupant can keep it.
A person might claim to follow Christ for reasons of evidence or conviction, and be with Him on the outside. But the mere absence of outward evil will never bring a soul to God. God Himself must be known, and Jesus Himself received — not merely the unclean spirit gone out. A man may leave off gross evil, he may give up false religion, or, as in this case, idolatry; but none of this consecrates a man. What settles the matter is the presence of God in possession of a soul. It is having a new nature, not merely the absence of this or that evil. The unclean spirit can return to the house unless the power of God's Spirit already occupies it. That power alone shuts Satan out.
Another writer puts the same truth positively: the void is the danger, and Christ fills it.
If that nation had received Christ, He would have filled up the void, and they would have been safe from this dreadful intrusion of wicked spirits. In the same way, if Christ does not fill the believer, he is always open to being occupied and possessed by what is opposed to Christ. An empty vessel he should not be, and indeed cannot be.
Much hangs on how the spirit left. Nobody threw him out; he walked out, and so he still holds the deeds.
It is the case of one from whom the unclean spirit has gone out (not cast out), only to return later with sevenfold power… Reformation is not enough. That holds for that nation and for each person, in this or in any other day. It will not put the soul beyond the reach of the enemy's power. Only living faith in the One who died and rose again truly meets human need.
He was never evicted. So the tidying up only makes the house more attractive to its old master.
The unclean spirit had gone out, that was all; he had not been sent out by the stronger Man — so his claim to it is clear. He returns, and everything he finds there has only made it more desirable to him. He finds it clean and decorated. So he returns with many a kindred spirit, and makes its last state worse than its first.
The number is not decoration. One writer traces the arithmetic that produces the phrase "the last state."
The Lord pictures the unclean spirit who returns to the man he had left, with seven other spirits more wicked than himself. But this makes eight, and brings about the "last state" which "is worse than the first."
Commentators identify this unclean spirit as idolatry, which had left the nation. What made the emptiness fatal was the One Israel refused at the door.
Verses 24-26 are clearly prophetic. At that moment the unclean spirit of their ancient idolatry had gone out of Israel. On the outside they were "swept and put in order." But they were busy refusing the One sent by God to occupy the house. As a result the old unclean spirit would return with others worse than himself, and so their state would be worse than at the beginning.
Matthew's version ends with a sentence on that generation. Luke's does not, and the difference is deliberate.
In Luke the Holy Spirit does not limit this warning to "that generation." He widens it to "man." The end of the people and the nations of Christendom will be no better. For God is not mocked. They have not continued in God's goodness and must also be cut off.
Applied to whole societies, the warning strips comfort from religious improvement.
It was illustrated in Israel, and I believe it will be in Christendom. The broom of Babylon may have swept the house of Israel. To this day they may hate idols. But a clean house may be just as fit for Satan as a dirty one. Reformation will not do… The Lord teaches us that the swept and decorated house may be worse than before.
- Out, not cast out. The spirit left of his own accord; his claim on the house was never broken, so his return needs no permission.
- Swept. The cleaning is real but shallow. A person drops gross evil, gives up idols, takes on a respectable religion.
- Empty. The one thing missing is an Occupant; only God in possession of a soul shuts Satan out.
- Sevenfold. The old tenant comes back with spirits worse than himself, and they do not visit — they settle in.
- Worse. For Israel, for Christendom, for anyone — reform without Christ ends lower than where it started.