Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste
and house will fall against house.
The Kingdom Jesus came to establish is undivided and everlasting. This is why we need to be careful that we don't have one foot in the world and one foot in the Kingdom. Aspects of our lives that aren't subjected to the reign and Lordship of the King put us at risk. This is not to say that everything in our lives needs to be specifically and consciously religious. But it does mean that we must allow everything in our lives to be ordered around the King.
But upon returning, it finds it swept clean and put in order.
Then it goes and brings back seven other spirits
more wicked than itself who move in and dwell there,
and the last condition of that man is worse than the first.
If we simply try to remove bad behavior from our lives without letting Jesus fill and heal those empty spaces we will still be susceptible to the influence of wicked spirits. We are meant to be undivided in our own lives just as the Kingdom is undivided. But even if we sometimes succeed in removing vice we lack the power we need to fill in the gaps it leaves behind. For this we need faith.
Through you shall all the nations be blessed.
Consequently, those who have faith are blessed
along with Abraham who had faith.
If we try to straddle the Kingdom of heaven and that of this world we will tend to be suspicious of Jesus just like the crowds.
“By the power of Beelzebul, the prince of demons,
he drives out demons.”
We will think these thoughts which accuse the change to which Jesus invites us to justify ourselves when we do not change. But at the same time we do realize how much we still need to change. We perceive the darkness and the emptiness that still needs healing in our lives. We cannot do this on our own. We need one stronger than our enemy to come and set us free. We need the finger of God to touch us. We need the Holy Spirit to fill us and make us whole.
He has made known to his people the power of his works,
giving them the inheritance of the nations.
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