In clearing the past it is necessary to abandon idols and the things related to idol worship. First Thessalonians 1:9 says that the believers “turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God.” To turn to God from idols is not only to turn away from false gods, with the Devil and demons at their back, but also from all things that replace God. Idols and the things related to idol worship are hated by God and must thoroughly be put to an end and abandoned.
The clearing of the past is also to destroy the demonic and dirty things—the improper things. We have an illustration of this in Acts 19:18 and 19, where the believers at Ephesus had a spontaneous clearing of the past. Verse 18 says, “Many of those who believed came, confessing and making known their practices.” Here “confessing and making known” denote the fullest and most open confession. The Greek word translated “practices” also has the technical meaning of magic spells, and that may be the meaning here. According to verse 19, spontaneously “a considerable number of those who practiced magic brought their books together and burned them before all; and they counted up the price of them and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver.” The purpose of this burning was to clear up their sinful and demonic life in the past. The price of the books burned was fifty thousand pieces of silver. Since each piece of silver approximated a day’s wage, we can see that these books were worth a great deal of money. Nevertheless, they were publicly burned. This is an illustration of destroying demonic things in order to clear the past. All improper things, things that by their very nature are improper or indecent, need to be put away.
The clearing of the past is also to make restitution of base gains. The case of Zaccheus in Luke 19 illustrates this. “Zaccheus stood and said to the Lord, Behold, the half of my possessions, Lord, I give to the poor; and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusations, I restore four times as much” (v. 8). The word “taken” here actually refers to extortion. The tax collectors used to put a higher value on property or income, or increase the tax of those unable to pay and then charge usury. Formerly Zaccheus had extorted money from others and thus was unrighteous. Now he put an end to his unrighteous deeds by restoring fourfold. This illustrates the fact that once a sinner receives the Savior, the issue of this dynamic salvation is the clearance of his past sinful life. A believer who makes a thorough clearing of the past will make restitution for anything gained by unjust or illegal means. Things that have been gained unrighteously or illegally should be returned, and restitution for them should be made. We would point out once again, however, that this is not a requirement for salvation but a result of the move of the Spirit. If a believer has a thorough clearing of the past according to the move of the Spirit, the way will be prepared for the living of the Christian life in the future.