23/11/10

Unclean spirits

Mark 5:8 - For he said unto him, Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit.


When Jesus delivered the man with a legion of evil spirits He commanded the spirits to come out of them using the term 'unclean spirit'. What is interesting is why the term unclean when spirits do not have a physical body to be clean.

The Greek word 'akathartos' which is translated as 'unclean' is used in the Gospels (Mt, Mk & Lk) only with evil spirits, while in the letters of Paul and the Old Testament (the Hebrew word) it is used also in reference with people, animals and sacrifices.

In a certain religion this word gets associated with the pig although the pig is not the dirtiest animal. The dirtiest animal in the world is the rat yet the pig gets the tag all because he is more visual than the rat. What is humanly dirty is not necessary unclean. When the Angel bought an array of 'unclean' animals to offer Peter to eat in a vision, I am sure the pig would have been one among them.

Jesus describes the unclean spirit as wicket / evil which roots from the meaning 'moral rebellion against God'. These spirits are the fallen Angels who rebelled against the plans of God before the creation we live in was made. This rebelling caused darkness to come to existence.

This term was used with specific animals not because there was something evil with the animal but it was to do with the image in which they were created.

When God created man, he was created in the image of God (plural). Like a photograph of a person reminds us of the person although it is just paper, so also the form of man and every part of his being has a understanding which gives an understanding of God the Father, God the Son and God the Spirit.

When God created the animals He created some of them in His kind (kind-of-him) and some in their kind (kind-of-her), in short means those of His Kingdom or of the rebellious angels. It did not mean that these animals were evil but from them and their ways of life we learn about the evil spirits (i.e. a serpent gives us understanding of deceit - a cold animal which crawls on its belly in a zig-zag direction and kills its prey with poison before consuming it wholly).

When God created Adam, he was magnificent and the glory of God covered even his nakedness. But when sin came into him Adam lost that glory and many other things and changed him so much that the person called as son of God over generations was called a son of devil.

We can be clean only when we have the Spirit of God in us and Christ is seen in us. Christ in us does not mean just believing in Christ but also showing what we believe in our work (not just profession but all that we do) and our way of life (our relationships, our priorities etc.). As believers when we rebel against the plans of God in our lives, it is like we are trying to go back to our roots in Adam.

So let us walk in light according to God plan and thus show God in us.


[ Prayer Starter ]
Lord, we thank You for creating us in your image. Even when Satan deceived Adam to lose this image but the sacrifice of your Son and by your Spirit, You have made it possible for us to get back this image. As You get seen in us more and more clearly, we ask You to protect us from backsliding and losing You completely...

We make this pray in Jesus' Name, Amen.


[ Reference Scripture ]
Matthew 12:43-45
43 When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none.
44 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.
45 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.

Acts 10:8-16
9 On the morrow, as they went on their journey, and drew nigh unto the city, Peter went up upon the housetop to pray about the sixth hour:
10 And he became very hungry, and would have eaten: but while they made ready, he fell into a trance,
11 And saw heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending unto him, as it had been a great sheet knit at the four corners, and let down to the earth:
12 Wherein were all manner of fourfooted beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air.
13 And there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter; kill, and eat.
14 But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean.
15 And the voice spake unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common.
16 This was done thrice: and the vessel was received up again into heaven.

Genesis 1:21,24-26
21 And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
24 And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.
25 And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.



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