Now he was casting out a demon that was mute. When the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke, and the people marveled. 15 But some of them said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of demons,” 16 while others, to test him, kept seeking from him a sign from heaven. 17 But he, knowing their thoughts, said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and a divided household falls. 18 And if Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that I cast out demons by Beelzebul. 19 And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. 20 But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. 21 When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are safe; 22 but when one stronger than he attacks him and overcomes him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted and divides his spoil. 23 Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. 24 “When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and finding none it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ 25 And when it comes, it finds the house swept and put in order. 26 Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there. And the last state of that person is worse than the first.” 27 As he said these things, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts at which you nursed!” 28 But he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”
Isn’t it fascinating what sin and unbelief will conclude, what it will embrace to avoid being crushed, and humbled before the truth of God? These people have seen Jesus heal destitute, hopeless, helpless individuals and at no reward for Himself. They watched him open the eyes of blind people, quiet the wailing of grief over the death of loved ones, by raising them from the dead. They witnessed his kind words to a bleeding woman and his compassion to those who no one had compassion on, the unlovely of the unlovely. And for all of His doing, his love and mercy to people He never asked for anything for doing so, he never demanded the attention of the important people, or tooted his own horn to get people to stop and exalt Him.
He wasn’t living in a way that would cause anyone to be envious or have anything to say with regard to Jesus being in this for himself, or for what he could get in this world and in the eyes of men.
In fact, at one time when the people wanted to take and make Him king by force, he withdrew from them so it would NOT happen. He spoke of love and obedience and devotion to God and the necessity of following the Word that God had given to His people as well as honoring the law of Moses.
All of this love, kindness and mercy poured out to hurting people giving them hope, joy and life, not one person that Jesus came into contact with in this way, was anything but happy, rejoicing, whole, healed, a better and more complete person…And the conclusion is: He is in league with the Devil? That this person is a demon? Oh, the power of unbelief, the unrelenting power of sin! That is why my brothers and sisters, you must be diligent and on guard always.
Every sin and every act of unbelief, every failure of faith, of NOT seeing the unseen, and of acting as if God is NOT good, is much more an insidious danger than we would ever think.
This is what happened to our first parents. All that God gave them, all that He set forth and said it was all theirs, every bit of it, everything but one tree, just one. Eve did not heed God, she did not see behind what was going on, the glory of God’s good gifts, and instead of rejoicing in all that God had given her, she instead, pined for the one thing He had not given them.
You see, sin and unbelief always fail to see the truth, the truth about who our God is, the truth about His love, mercy, the truth about His goodness, the truth about His kind hand giving us the goblet from which we drink…in faith, in trust, and with joy.
Look in our text and you see where this sin ends. Look here in this text at where this spirit goes if allowed. It is sobering. So, Jesus answers them. He tells them, if what you say were true then Satan would be destroying his own work, and no kingdom that is divided against itself, will stand. Then he adds in effect, “you are being very inconsistent, because you, my detractors, approve of the work your ‘sons’ are doing when THEY cast out demons, but not when I do it. So then, your sons, will they be your judges?” And of course, that is the LAST thing they would want!
Jesus continues and we should pay some note to the description he gives of the enemy. Jesus describes him as a strong man, a strong man who is armed, an armed strong man who guards his palace, this world. AND that which he owns is secure, it is at peace from the human perspective.
Now, I want to be completely candid at this point: There is a very good interpretation of these words that argue that Jesus is the strong man who was bound in his death and resurrection. Again, it is a good argument from the text. I am not sure I am convinced and even if that is so, we know that the enemy of Christ, yours and mine, has much at his disposal to be used against the people of God, that is, against you. He is armed with hatred and a desire to maximize wound to God, turning his evil designs on the church.
Think about it, the church doesn’t own the legislature, we don’t own congress, we don’t own the media, we don’t own the arts, the stage, or the universities. We don’t own the United Nations, or have a say in world affairs to any degree whatsoever. We have no visible army, no place at the table, no cultural clout…the church has none of this, so then, who does? Under whose sway are such things?
You are jumping inside because there are a number of answers to that question. For one, God is in control of all those things. Yes, he is, and that is exactly what we must see. But in his wisdom, He has turned such things over. He has done this because that is NOT what HIS kingdom is about, that is not how His kingdom comes. He does not want us focused on such things.
That is not to say Christians aren’t to be involved in such pursuits, that we are not to be salt and light in the midst of the academy, the government, etc. Only that we have to see behind such things, AND we have to understand the march of God’s dominion as coming through the Church. Or, maybe you think that much of that is neutral…Ah, neutral…we shall see about that.
Jesus seems to say that, that which Satan has, his palace, is quite secure, at least from a certain perspective it has nothing to worry about, nothing to threaten its so called, ‘peace’. Christians often speak of the devil, hell and such with a certain degree of levity, all kinds of jokes about such things. Some of you are fans of the comic strip, The Far Side, you ever notice how many devil and hell jokes there are in those strips?
I have never been comfortable reading those…and I don’t think I should be. There is nothing funny about this. Prisoners wouldn’t joke about the executioner or the gallows and neither should we doubt for a moment the power that this evil one has in this world. But here comes our realized eschatology. Although the kingdom of God still has a future dimension to it, one that we pray the Lord will bring and not tarry, when we pray, ‘Thy kingdom come…”, it is in part already present.
To be continued
Prayer: Father, I ask you for the wisdom to receive from Your hand with understanding, that I might know Your purpose and behind each trial or sorrow know that it is Your hand that places it in mine. Give me a holy discontentment, that I might not coast in my spiritual life but ever want more of You, through Jesus Christ my Lord, Amen.
Hymn: Why Should Cross and Trial Grieve Me?