Maligning Jesus
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Big Idea: Unbelief leads to blasphemy.
Healing was a staple of Jesus’ ministry
Those who hated him could not explain away the miracles
So they say vile things about him.
Reading 14-28, but will not get through all of it this morning.
Now he was casting out a demon that was mute. When the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke, and the people marveled.
But some of them said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of demons,”
while others, to test him, kept seeking from him a sign from heaven.
But he, knowing their thoughts, said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and a divided household falls.
And if Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that I cast out demons by Beelzebul.
And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges.
But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are safe;
but when one stronger than he attacks him and overcomes him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted and divides his spoil.
Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.
“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.’
And when it comes, it finds the house swept and put in order.
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.”
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!”
But he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”
Now he was casting out a demon that was mute. When the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke, and the people marveled.
What is a miracle?
Not just a happy thing or event
Births are not “miracles” in the biblical sense.
The “miracle on ice” was not a supernatural event.
Miracles are something only God can do, and they are outside of what would normally happen.
Only God can manipulate nature.
Examples: Water into wine, feeding 5,000, healings, raising from the dead.
Miracles were a common feature of Jesus’ ministry
Miracles attest to the authenticity of Jesus, and other prophets, apostles, etc.
In this case, a demon that was mute, meaning it caused the man to be mute, unable to speak.
At first, the reaction of the crowd is sort of as expected. They marveled.
However, Jesus’ opponents had already launched a propaganda machine against him
Out of their hate for Jesus, they had spread the word that he was certainly not divine, but instead was an agent of Satan.
But some of them said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of demons,”
This would have been a great insult to any of us
Beelzebul was a name for Satan used in the most derogatory way. It meant “Lord of the Flies”, which really means “Lord of the Dung”
Again, this would be an almost unforgivable insult if we used it even towards a person who was not a very good person.
How much more of an insult to level against the one perfect human, the very Son of God?
They are saying he in in league with Satan, he is one of Satan’s lower demons.
While those who hurled this insult were certainly in grave opposition to Christ, so were the next group. Their common bond: Unbelief
while others, to test him, kept seeking from him a sign from heaven.
Even neutrality about Jesus is unbelief.
You are just as opposed to Christ as they are if you do not put saving faith in him.
Those who continue to test him, seeking a sign, what is wrong with them?
Jesus himself IS the sign
Jesus had already become famous, not only for his teaching, but for his signs!
Those who continue to need more proof actually don’t need more proof, they need to stop rejecting Jesus
They are revealing their hard hearts
They do not want to believe, or
They have already decided against belief, and want to justify their disbelief.
Jesus knows what they are thinking:
But he, knowing their thoughts, said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and a divided household falls.
In any organization, whether a family, a company, a military, or a country, this truth applies
If the people of that organization are fighting amongst themselves, they will not last long.
If they are so busy fighting enemies within, they will be vulnerable to attack from without.
Since this is generally true, now Jesus applies it to their accusations
And if Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that I cast out demons by Beelzebul.
Jesus has just cast out a demon
But if Jesus were an agent of Satan, this demon and he would be on the same team
If team members were to go about working against each other, they would not be a team for long; their team would collapse.
So Jesus rightly points out how illogical this whole idea is, that he is in league with Satan.
The casting out of demons is a sign of a true prophet, a man of God.
Miracles are evidence of God at work, and for those who work the miracles, it is a sign they are from God.
Satan doe not have the power over nature that God does.
He has none of the characteristics of God, such as:
Omniscience (all knowing)
Omnipotence (all powerful)
Omnipresent (everywhere at once)
Satan does not personally go after most of us. Since he cannot be in more than one place at the same time, he likely is not wasting his time on us individually
He does have many minions, however
This is what they have accused Jesus of being, an agent, or minion of Satan
So Jesus has attacked their logic. It doesn’t make sense to say that Jesus is a demon himself, and at the same time in a fight against demon oppression.
Now he further attacks their logic, forcing them to recognize that is demons can only be cast out by Beelzebul, then how have their own prophets done so?
And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges.
He is saying to them that if they want to malign him, they are maligning all who have done spiritual work against Satan
He is revealing that they are being insincere, because everyone knows that miracles, including the power to cast out demons, are signs of a true prophet. A false prophet cannot do real miracles. A false prophet may be able to manipulate and even give the illusion of miracles, but a false prophet is completely unable to do the things Jesus has done. And if they want to say that demons are cast out by Beelzebul (Satan, lord of the flies and dung), then that must be true of all of their prophets as well.
But Jesus does not cast out demons by Beelzebub; instead, his works are an indication of the reality of his ministry and the power of God.
“To tell the truth” - a show where contestants would try to fool a panel. Each would claim to be the same person. They would have to answer questions and the panel would make their guesses as to which of the contestants was the authentic person they were portraying. At the end of the round, they would say “Will the real (so and so) please stand up!” and this would reveal who was authentic and who was a fraud.
Jesus is the true authentic. Many try to imitate him, or pretend to be aligned with him. But there is only one real Jesus. And He is saying that it isn’t through Beelzebul that he is casting out demons, but by the finger of God. And since He is casting out demons by the finger of God, then it should be known to them that this is a sign to them that the kingdom of God has come to them:
But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
The finger of God:
Pharaoh’s magicians acknowledged the power of God when they said of the plague of gnats, “this is the finger of God”
The Ten Commandments were written “by the finger of God”
Creation itself is said by the Psalmist to be the work of the finger of God.
What strength is in our fingers? Not too much. We might say someone got stomped (Jesus stepped on me). A powerful person is said to have fingers stronger than the average person’s entire strength (as a metaphor).
Rehoboam: “My little finger is thicker than my father’s thighs”
So Jesus is saying much here, but included in this is the power of God, that even the finger of God has such power that demons can be cast out.
Again, this is evidence to the people that the kingdom of God is here.
Now he uses another metaphor. A strong man with a palace:
When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are safe;
but when one stronger than he attacks him and overcomes him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted and divides his spoil.
the first strong man is Satan, or his minions. The demons take up residence in a person, and indeed consider that person to be their own. We will look at this in the next section on another day, but in verse 24, a demon refers to the person it has gone out of as “my house”. We say someone is demon possessed, meaning they are “owned” by a demon.
Satan’s minions possess people. For now, in this world, Satan himself possesses the world. He is called “The god of this world” in scripture. In a sense, he has possession of the world for a time. We are in enemy territory.
So the strong man in Jesus’ metaphor is Satan or his demons, they are fully armed, guarding their palace, until…
but when one stronger than he attacks him and overcomes him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted and divides his spoil.
Jesus does not tell us to think of Satan as a weakling. Many preachers say things like this, and Christians are led to believe that they can single-handedly get into combat with Satan. But Jesus says Satan is a strong man. We need to understand he is not a weak opponent to us. We need a stronger man to beat him
When I was in high school, one of my best friends was one of the strongest kids in school. I noticed that when I was around him, no one messed with me.
But if Sylvester Stallone or Arnold walked in, my friend would not have seemed like much next to them.
Jesus is saying that Satan is a strong man. He holds many people in his grasp. He has certain control in this world. But when Jesus enters the scene, he is one stronger than Satan. He overcomes him, takes away his armor, and divides the spoil. Jesus is ultimately victorious.
So do not underestimate the power of Satan. He does have power for a time. But will ultimately be overthrown by one who is much stronger, Jesus.
This lesson on demon possession and oppression will continue in verse 24, but for now we will wrap up at verse 23:
Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.
You don’t have to be a public blasphemer to be an enemy of Jesus.
You don’t have to do the worst kinds of sins.
To be an enemy of Christ does not require that you be in a fighting posture against him.
To be an enemy of Christ is to simply not be with him.
To have apathy about him is to be his enemy.
You don’t get to say:
Well, I like Jesus, he was nice, but I don’t think he is Lord
I like his teachings, but he was merely a teacher
No. Jesus could not have been a good teacher is he was lying about being God. Either Jesus is who he said he was or is the worst of all blasphemers.
But he is who he said he is.
Unbelief leads to blasphemy.
Unbelief is a choice.
We must make a choice about what to do with Jesus. (Craig’s question)
