Monday, August 03, 2020

Luke 11:17-23


17 Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them: “Any kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and a house divided against itself will fall. 18 If Satan is divided against himself, how can his kingdom stand? I say this because you claim that I drive out demons by Beelzebul. 19 Now if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your followers drive them out? So then, they will be your judges. 20 But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. 21 “When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are safe. 22 But when someone stronger attacks and overpowers him, he takes away the armor in which the man trusted and divides up his plunder.
23 “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.”  Luke 11:17-23

Today, we continue in this discussion the Lord Jesus is having with the religious leaders of Israel. No one is a spiritual orphan. We are either a child of God, or a child of the devil. And it all depends on what we decide about Jesus Christ. If we believe in Him, then we are the children of God. If we do not believe in Him, we belong to Satan. That is the central theme of today's text. 

To this point, the Lord Jesus had been ministering for nearly three years, and it was made unmistakable that He is the Son of God, the Savior of the world. The evidence is absolutely complete and sufficient, and now we begin to see the crystallizing of the people's decision. Like them, we are either with Him or against Him. We are either running to Him or we are running from Him.

Accusing the Lord Jesus of being of Satan, even though He had just delivered a deaf and mute man from a demon, these religious leaders were turning the crowd away from Him. And the Lord Jesus reminds them that blasphemy against Him lacks rationality. 

In v.17 we read, "Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them: “Any kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and a house divided against itself will fall."  These unbelievers were saying He cast the demon out of the man by the power of Satan. They were saying the Lord Jesus is satanic. 

Then, in v.18 the Lord Jesus said, “If Satan is divided against himself, how can his kingdom stand? I say this because you claim that I drive out demons by Beelzebul." He is saying, "If you are right, then Satan is in the self-destruct mode. If you are right then Satan has empowered Me to destroy his own kingdom, this is an absurdity."  

Their accusation was really an admission of His power, for He could not defeat Satan unless He were stronger than Satan. The Lord Jesus invaded Satan’s territory, and has led those who were in the captivity to Satan, free. Though Satan has been permitted limited authority, he is the defeated enemy. 

In v.19 we read, "Now if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your followers drive them out? So then, they will be your judges."  

Among the religious Jewish leaders there were some who had engaged themselves in exorcisms. And these Jewish exorcists were said, by the Rabbis, and it is recorded in their literature, to be doing the work of God. These religious leaders had taken an uncritical approach to their own exorcists. But the evidence spoke a different conclusion. 

So, the Lord Jesus says, "If I'm casting out demons by Satan, are you telling me your sons are casting them out by God's power?" The Jewish exorcists were ineffective in exorcising demons. The religious leaders lacked honesty and integrity. There is no way they could say that what the Lord Jesus was doing was by Satan and what the Jewish exorcists were doing was by God unless Satan was far more powerful than God.

In v.21, the strong man is Satan. The stronger man is the Lord Jesus. We must always remember, "Greater is He that is in us, than he that is in the world." 

According to v.22, "But when someone stronger attacks and overpowers him, he takes away the armor in which the man trusted and divides up his plunder. " The Lord Jesus came to earth to undo the works of the Devil. When the Lord Jesus came, He, through His ministry, started binding Satan, the strong man. There are six accounts in the Gospels of the Lord Jesus casting demons out of people. Then, at the cross of the Lord Jesus and through the resurrection of the Lord Jesus the work of defeating Satan was finished which will culminate at the end of the Millennium which is the thousand year reign of Christ on earth after the seven year Tribulation. 

The people were making up their minds. And, the Lord Jesus brings this encounter to its culmination in v.23. "Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters." The Lord Jesus, with such simple words, grasps such profound realities and makes them unmistakably clear to us. These Jews couldn't see what was obvious because they refused to do so. They were not convinced enough that the Lord Jesus was and is God.

Someone recently asked me, "How much faith does one need to be saved?" I responded, "God never brings attention to the amount, He always highlights the object. It is the object of our faith who saves us, not the amount." We are either running to Him or we are running from Him.