A Kingdom
That Is Divided Against Itself Cannot Stand
[Luke chapter
11, verses 14-28]
When
we left off last week at verse 13 of chapter 11 of the gospel of
Luke, Jesus had just finished giving his apostles and those in the
crowd that surrounded them the ultimate pep talk. Seek, Jesus said,
and you will find. Ask, and it will be given to you. Knock, and the
door will be opened. As I wrote last week, the flip side of all the
above is that if we don't seek, ask, or knock, we shouldn't expect
one lousy thing. Nothing at all! As Luke's written narrative
continues today, we find ourselves in an altogether different
setting, probably on another day during Jesus' ministry. As we begin
our study starting at verse 14, Jesus is driving out a demon from a
possessed individual, much to the consternation of the contingent of
people from the Temple at Jerusalem, the scribes and teachers of the
Law.
“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 Beelzebub, 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 that is divided against itself will fall. If
Satan is divided against himself, how can his kingdom stand? I say
this because you claim I drive out demons by Beelzebub. Now if I
drive out demons by Beelzebub, 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 to you.'” (Luke
11, verses 14-20)
As you can see, Jesus certainly had his detractors.
Mainly, they were members of the Hebrew religious establishment of
that time. It would be like having our modern-day religious
establishment vilifying Christ is he were to return today! Imagine
that – everybody from the pope to televangelists like Pat Robertson
and Kenneth Copeland to the heads of every Protestant denomination
you can think of – all of them disbelieving Jesus if he were to
return today, all at the same time! This is exactly what Jesus faced
every day of the year. So now you know that you worship a Lord and
Savior who is tough as nails, who keeps on ticking whenever he took a
licking, and a King who cannot be defeated! (Can I get a witness??)
Also, notice that the perception of the people was superior to that
of the Jewish religious establishment. The crowd was amazed at the
miracle Christ performed, but the members of the religious
establishment said that only by the “prince of demons” could
Jesus drive any demons out at all. The crowd believed Jesus was the
Son of God, while the Pharisees did not.
“Any
kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and a house that is
divided against itself will fall. If Satan is divided against
himself, how can his kingdom stand?”
Kingdoms that are internally divided will fall. This sounds
disturbingly like modern-day America, doesn't it? I have seen the
violent pro-and-anti-Trump rallies on the Internet (I don't watch
TV), and watching the demonstrators from both sides clashing with
each other is like watching a riot from a safe vantage point. “A
house that is divided against itself will fall.”
Dysfunctional families are a good example of this. Once the children
in dysfunctional families are grown, those families have a tendency
to disintegrate, with everyone going off in different directions,
scattered to the four winds. I know because I came from such a
family. At any rate, Satan's kingdom – and there is such a thing as
this – is united against humanity. If it were not so, Satan's
kingdom would have long since fallen and been forgotten by now, but
it's still here, ever present, and it's not going anywhere until the
2nd
and final return of Christ to the earth.
“Now if I drive
out demons by Beelzebub, 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 to you.”
Here we have Jesus using a little 'right-back-at-you' with his
critics. The answer to Jesus' question, of course, is that the
religious establishment of his day couldn't drive out demons at all!
'If I am driving out demons by Beelzebub', Jesus was telling them,
'then so are you!' “So
then, they will be your judges.”
'You will be judged by those same demons you are working for', Jesus
was saying to them. But if I, Jesus then told them, drive out demons
by the power of Almighty God, then the Kingdom of God has arrived.
Meaning, Jesus is the messiah, the anointed One of the Lord, except
that he didn't say that in so many words. He didn't bother because he
already knew they wouldn't believe him anyway. No, Jesus said that
for our benefit! So now let's continue our study, beginning at verse
21.
“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 the spoils. He
who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me,
scatters.” (Luke 11, verses 21-23)
What
was Jesus trying to say here? One minute he was driving out demons
and answering questions designed to entrap him, and next he's talking
about 'guarding your house'. I think what Jesus meant here was that
if we performed our due diligence and kept our guard up against Satan
and evil people in general (and there's plenty of those to go
around), we would never be susceptible to demonic possession in the
first place. The words 'our house' symbolize the human heart, mind
and soul. If we are not spiritually diligent, the forces of evil will
overpower us up to and including full-blown demonic possession. That
which possesses such an unfortunate individual will “divide up the
spoils”, meaning Satan will make mincemeat out of you if you give
him even the slightest opening, even the very least opportunity, to
take over your heart, mind and soul. Let's all be sure to steer clear
of that!
“He
who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me,
scatters.”
We are either working on the Lord's behalf as ambassadors for Christ
and as soldiers in his army, or we are working for the enemy. If this
sounds like we're in war time to you, that's because we are! Lucifer
and his armies are in full attack mode, and he and his minions will
stop at nothing to capture your very soul! Think I'm kidding?? Look
at all the pop stars, movie stars and all the gangsters both past and
present that died prematurely and unexpectedly. Look at how they all
self-destructed while trying to achieve fame, fortune or notoriety.
Was all that worth it? Look where they are now – in hell, or at
least the majority of them are! Don't work against God. When we work
only for ourselves, with ourselves as the only beneficiary of the
works of our hands, the payoff has little meaning. But when we work
with Christ harvesting souls, the payoff is eternal. We either work
for Jesus or we work against him. The choice is ours, and I hope you
all make the right one. And now let's conclude today's study starting
at verse 24.
“When
an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places
seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, 'I will return to
the house I left'. When it arrives, it finds the house swept clean
and put in order. Then it goes and takes seven other spirits more
wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final
condition of that man is worse than the first.' As Jesus was saying
these things, a woman in the crowd called out, 'Blessed is the mother
who gave birth to you and nursed you.' He replied, 'Blessed rather
are those who hear the Word of God and obey it.'” (Luke 11, verses
24-28)
Notice
once again that Jesus uses the word 'house' to mean the heart, mind
and soul of any individual (“I will return to the house I left”).
When demons are driven out of people – and exorcism is very real –
all the evil that comes with that demon is driven out too. Harboring
continuous anger and a bad temper, jealousy and envy, maliciousness
and ill will, sexual immorality, theft and corruption – all of the
above go hand in hand with being possessed. But when that demon –
by whatever name – is driven out, it leaves a void that can only be
filled with the presence of Jesus Christ. This means having two
baptisms; first by water, and the second by spirit – the Holy
Spirit! But more than that, this also means embracing Jesus as the
Lord of your life, as your personal Savior and your best friend and
confidant. Many preachers and evangelists use the phrase 'accept
Jesus', but to me that term isn't strong enough. I much prefer the
word 'embrace' because that's exactly what occurs when Jesus comes
into our lives! 'Accepting Jesus' sounds as if we're doing him a
favor by allowing him into our hearts, as if to say, 'well OK, I
guess you can come on in'. But an embrace comes from pure love,
unrestrained and unlimited!
“Then
it goes and takes seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and
they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is
worse than the first.”
The moral of the story is that if we don't maintain our relationship
with Christ – that 1-on-1 personal, best friend, counselor type of
relationship – if we don't keep Jesus alive within our hearts,
minds and souls, Satan will eagerly come and take his place. Plus,
when he returns he will bring reinforcements! “As
Jesus was saying these things, a woman in the crowd called out,
'Blessed is the mother who gave birth to you and nursed you.' He
replied, 'Blessed rather are those who hear the Word of God and obey
it.'”
Check that out! Now you know my own motivation for writing, posting
and publishing all these Bible studies, which I've been doing since
2011. I do it all for Christ because he saved me from hell. To me,
this is the least I can do. I certainly don't do this for the money!
But the most we all can do, that is, our very best, is to live all
our lives for him, as we spend our remaining lifetimes in His service
as soldiers, ambassadors, pastors, deacons, counselors and
therapists, emergency relief volunteers, and all the other good
things people are doing to try and make this world a better place.
Let's focus on that for the rest of the week, and next time we'll
move on to part three of Luke chapter eleven.
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