The Door's Unlocked, You Can Leave
/Matthew 12:22-32, 43-45
6 times in this passage, the word house is either inferred or directly used.
Matthew 12:24, 27
But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this man casts out demons.”
Beelzebul— Lord of the house
Matthew 12:25
Knowing their thoughts, he said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand.
Matthew 12:29 x 2
Or how can someone enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? Then indeed he may plunder his house.
Matthew 12:44
Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it comes, it finds the house empty, swept, and put in order.
The scripture that I really want to focus on is:
Matthew 12:29 x 2
Or how can someone enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? Then indeed he may plunder his house.
Through this story, the Lord is telling us that there are two kingdoms that coexist on the earth: the kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of light. This is verified by Colossians 1:13. But this passage in Matthew not only describes two kingdoms, it describes the strongman’s kingdom as a house that has spoil. I can’t prove it, but this seems to be where John Bunyan, the writer of the classic Christian book Pilgrim’s Progress got the idea of the castle for the giant named Despair.
Christian and his fellow journeyman got off the right path, tried to take a different way and were found to be trespassing. This resulted in them being apprehended and chained to a wall in Giant despair’s castle. This is a similar picture in Matthew 12:29– the strongman’s house is filled with human souls (this is the spoil) that are helplessly and hopelessly chained to a wall in his house.
But Jesus is saying that He came to change all of that. He came to bind the strongman, so that He could release the captives. Jesus came to spoil the evil one’s goods, which are the souls of men, which he took illegally through deception and rebellion. Jesus came from heaven to Earth on a search and rescue mission. Through His death on the cross, He stripped Satan of his power to hold humanity hostage!
This is what Paul explains to us in:
Colossians 2:13-14
Fall, fault, offense
Deviation from truth
13 And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; 14 Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;
Colossians 2:15
And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.
Again, this is how He bound the strongman in Matt 12
The Lord gave me this message about the house through a dream
In a truck with others. On way to go see someone that needed help. Seemed they had already seen him, but I hadn’t and wanted to Others were outside playing basketball.
I knocked on the side door of the house “A” answers door, seems to be getting ready (towel) she says she’s going somewhere with David, but they don’t have to if it gets in the way. “No,” I say that’s not an issue “you do whatever you’re doing. I just need to see “B”.
Walk into the house through what felt like a kitchen into a living room seems like a sliding door to the left. “B” on the couch, has a goblet of wine. Implication is that he’s not okay. There is friendly wrestling on the couch. He is obviously strong and dominates. Emotion not fearful/cordial.
I hug and tell I love him
Leaving— A/C on floor makeup? “Don’t be naughty”
“I already have been naughty,” “A/C” replies.
Feelings: “House of the weak” people in this house are weak
The Lord showed me that these people weren’t leaving this house. They were trapped in their rebellion. The wine and the naughty comment were things hidden in the lives of those people stuck in that house house— they were trapped. They didn’t have to be but they were.
What I realized was that they weren’t going anywhere. They pretended they were fine. She washed her hair and put on make up and acted like she was going somewhere with David, but they didn’t have the strength to leave, because there was something hidden that kept them bound and gave Satan a legal right to hold them in bondage and whatever it was in their lives, they preferred to hold onto that rather than be freed, so they could leave that house.
The goblet of wine and whatever the “naughty” thing was, it was that that held them captive in that place.
They didn’t know they were bound. Even the people outside playing basketball. It was like everyday normal life. They were all living like this was normal, but they were trapped!
Jesus told the Laodiceans:
Revelation 3:17
Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
That’s why it’s called deception:
The people in the dream were trapped and the Laodiceans thought they were okay.
But who the Son sets free is free indeed, and once you experience freedom, you might not have known that you were in bondage before, but you will know that you are free now.
The love and mercy of God is beyond our understanding, but there will be a day when grace will end, and when grace ends, you don’t want to be stuck in the uncertainty of that house. To be trapped means that you are not free. Jesus did His part when He died and rose from the dead, but did we do our part in true repentance?
I’m not talking about just feeling sorry, but instead heartbroken over our sin against God. It’s not that big of a deal when someone that you don’t care about cheats on you, but God help you if the love of your life cheats on you! And do we think about how God must feel when we lie, cheat, steal or are covetous, maintain our pride and arrogance, when we engage in immorality. How this must make God feel. How heart broken He must be when we treat His word like it’s a common thing, like He might not have really meant it. Or the thought of committing that sin that pleases our flesh daily gets the preeminence over Jesus. Have you repented?
Matthew 15:8 Jesus quotes Isaiah
Isaiah 29:13
Wherefore the Lord said,
Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth,
and with their lips do honour me,
but have removed their heart far from me,
and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:
Fear— Philippians 2:12
Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
Have you made a proper business transaction with God over your sin/trespass—that alternate path you took like Christian? Or did you just kind of throw a half hearted sorry out of the side of your mouth? The days are dark American Christian. It’s time to do business with God!
Revelation 3:18
I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.
He wants to do business with us. Have we done business with Him? Have we allowed the transaction of Calvary to take place. His part was done…. He died and rose again, have we done our part? Have we become broken hearted over our sin to the point that we’ve truly turned from it in our heart?
Mark 1:15
And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.
Let me say this Christian, if you have truly laid it at His feet, then He threw it into the sea of forgetfulness as far as the East is from the West. If you have believed the truth. You’re free! You’re free! You’re free!
The Lord reminded me of the story in Ezekiel 8 while I was praying about all of this. How He brought Ezekiel by a lock of His hair and carried him in a vision to the temple and faced him towards the North gate and there was what God called the “image of jealousy”
Exodus 34:14 ESV
For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God:
James 4:5 AMP
Or do you suppose that the Scripture is speaking to no purpose that says, The Spirit Whom He has caused to dwell in us yearns over us and He yearns for the Spirit [to be welcome] with a jealous love?
The Lord went on to say look what they’re doing with this image of jealousy. They’re trying to make me leave my own house.
It got worse when the Lord showed Ezekiel a hole in the wall and he told him to dig into the hole and then brought him into hidden chambers:
Ezekiel 8:12 NLT
Then the LORD said to me, “Son of man, have you seen what the leaders of Israel are doing with their idols in dark rooms? They are saying, ‘The LORD doesn’t see us; he has deserted our land!’”
No, it feels like He doesn’t see because sin offends His presence, and everyone is just going on with life: playing basketball, getting ready for a date, drinking goblets of wine, and the Lord’s heart is broken over the fact that His people refuse to read His word, believe His word and only with the help of His grace obey His word.
While in prayer, when the Lord reminded me of this Ezekiel passage and I imagined these people caught in these rooms bound under the spell of their idols, I remembered the man and the lady stuck in the house in the dream. They weren’t moving forward, they were trapped. I thought of the Matthew 12 passage and how Jesus bound the strongman so He could set the captives free and then at that moment He gave me a vision of Him holding a big ring of prison keys:
Revelation 1:18
I am the living one. I died, but look—I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and the grave.
and then He started walking to each room and unlocking the doors and I could hear Him say, “Tell them that they’re free. They can walk out now. I have the keys of death, hell and the grave.