Introduction

‘Jesus was driving out a demon that was mute. When the demon left, the man who had been mute spoke, and the crowd was amazed. But some of them said, “By Beelzebul, the prince of demons, he is driving out demons.” Others tested him by asking for a sign from heaven. Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them: “Any kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and a house divided against itself will fall. If Satan is divided against himself, how can his kingdom stand? I say this because you claim that I drive out demons by Beelzebul. Now if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your followers drive them out? So then, they will be your judges. But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.  “When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are safe. But when someone stronger attacks and overpowers him, he takes away the armor in which the man trusted and divides up his plunder. “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.’ Luke 11:14-23

This man who was demon possessed and mute, was delivered by Jesus who drove the spirit out of him, and the man was able to speak, Matthew 9:32-34.

The crowd were amazed because they had never seen anything like this before, but others, who couldn’t deny what had just happened, accredited the miracle to ‘Beelzebul, the prince of demons’.

Beelzebul was the Philistine god who was called the lord of flies, 2 Kings 1:2-3, ‘Beelzebub’ was a combination of two ancient words, ‘Baal’, the name of the old god of the Canaanites, and ‘zebul’, meaning ‘dunghill’, 2 Kings 1:2 / 2 Kings 1:16.

In the New Testament, the prince of demons is the devil, Matthew 12:24-32, and so they were saying that Jesus was working on behalf of the devil, Matthew 12:24 / Mark 3:22 / Luke 11:15 / John 7:20ff / Acts 5:39. How shameful it was that they linked the name of the Saviour with that false god.

Others tested Jesus and asked Him for a sign from heaven, Matthew 16:1 / Mark 8:11 / John 2:18. After everything which Jesus has said and all the evidence of the miracles He has already performed up to this point should have been sign enough that He is the Christ, John 2:18 / John 3:2 / John 4:6 / Mark 8:11 / Luke 11:16 / John 2:18 / John 6:30.

Once again, we read that Jesus knows the thoughts and hearts of people, Matthew 9:4 / John 2:25 / Revelation 2:23. Jesus responded to the accusation by telling them if Satan was really driving out Satan, then Satan’s kingdom was being destroyed. In other words, Satan can’t work against himself by driving out his own demons.

1. He said that it would be unreasonable and even disastrous for the devil to begin attacking himself. Civil wars don’t produce strong kingdoms.

Josephus says the following.

‘I have seen a certain man of my own country, whose name was Eleazer, releasing people that were demoniacal, in the presence of Vespasian and his sons and captains. He put a ring to the nostrils of the demoniac, and drew the demon out through his nostrils, making mention of Solomon, and reciting the incantations which he composed.’

Barnes, in his commentary, says the following.

‘Christ was not satisfied by showing them the intrinsic absurdity of their argument. He showed them that it might as well be applied to them as to him. your disciples, taught by you and encouraged by you, pretend to cast out devils. If your argument be true that a man who casts out devils must be in league with the devil, then ‘your disciples’ have made a covenant with him also. You must therefore either give up this argument or admit that the working of miracles is proof of the assistance of God.’

2. Christ explained that He had come to rob the strong man, the devil, taking from him the souls that had been under his control. Logically, He would need to disarm Satan to accomplish this goal, so expelling demons was a predictable facet of His strategy.

Barnes, in his commentary, says the following.

‘A man could not break into the house of a strong man and take his property unless he had rendered the man himself helpless. If he had taken his goods, it would therefore be sufficient proof that he had bound the man. So, I, says he, have taken this ‘property, this possessed person’, from the dominion of Satan. It is clear proof that I have subdued ‘Satan himself’, the ‘strong’ being that had him in possession. The words ‘or else’ mean ‘or how’, ‘how, or in what way, can one, etc’.’

3. He warned of the serious consequences of hardening one’s heart to the point of blaspheming the Holy Spirit. These scribes were demonstrating a malicious and possibly fatal attitude toward the work of God.

Jesus tells them that it’s through the power of the Holy Spirit that He is driving out demons. Luke records that Jesus did this by ‘the finger of God’, Luke 11:20.

Because Jesus was demonstrating God’s power, Exodus 8:19 / Psalms 8:3, they should recognise that the kingdom of God has come upon them, Matthew 3:2, that is, the King has arrived and about to establish His kingdom, Daniel 2:44 / Daniel 7:24 / Luke 1:22 / Luke 11:20 / Luke 17:20-21.

Jesus tells the people it’s time to decide for themselves, they are either with Him or against Him, they either gather or scatter. They are either with God or with Satan.

They couldn’t sit on the fence with this, Matthew 6:24 / Matthew 12:30 / Matthew 16:24-26 / Mark 9:40, they had to decide one or the other.