(William Blake- Dante's Inferno43 "When an evil spirit comes out of anyone, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. 44 Then it says, 'I will return to the house I left.' When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. 45 Then 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 person is worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation."
Calvin abridged: Here he speaks of scribes and hypocrites who despising the grace of God turn to join the devil’s side. Whenever God comes near to us in Jesus, the hope is to rescue us from the tyranny of the devil. The devil is said to go out of those to whom Christ shows himself to be Redeemer. The devil has a grasp on the whole human race until Christ comes and makes us a temple for his presence. We also see a description of Satan’s nature. He never stops trying to harm us, and when he has been vanquished by Christ it only tends to whet his rage more. The punishment addressed to that generation is that they despised the grace of God, extinguishing the light of faith, and banishing the desire to be godly, became profane.
Thoughts: For people who have been exposed to God and then turn away, this is a terrible warning. The warning is that it will be worse for them than if they had never heard. It is a spiritual parable of sorts, that has been proven true in life over and over- those who fall away after climbing to a height fall harder than those who never climbed. In Jesus’ own inner circle, Judas would be an example. In America and Europe there are millions of examples. When we trade having a purpose and meaning for no purpose or meaning the fall is usually accompanied by terrible immorality because the barrier that kept that immorality at bay is gone. The churches in America are not only not keeping up with the population, but they are in general shrinking as millions leave. Seventy-five percent of the churched youth do not go to church in college, and then half of those are not coming back ever. This is a very, very sad parable for our age, and explains the rampant drifting, meanness, gang-violence, drug use, and sexual obsession of our age. In response to this we should resolve to be faithful and pray for those who have drifted into our post-modern apostasy.
Prayer: Today, Lord, I pray that you will keep me from ever falling away. I pray for those who have fallen or drifted- that they would come back to you.
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