11:14 ¶ And he was casting
out a devil, and it was dumb. And it came to pass, when the devil was gone out,
the dumb spake; and the people wondered. 15
But some of them said, He casteth out devils through Beelzebub the chief
of the devils. 16 And others, tempting him,
sought of him a sign from heaven. 17 But
he, knowing their thoughts, said unto them, Every kingdom divided against
itself is brought to desolation; and a house divided against a house
falleth. 18 If Satan also be divided
against himself, how shall his kingdom stand? because ye say that I cast out
devils through Beelzebub. 19 And if I by
Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your sons cast them out? therefore
shall they be your judges. 20 But if I
with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come
upon you. 21 When a strong man armed
keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace: 22
But when a stronger than he shall come upon him, and overcome him, he
taketh from him all his armour wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoils.
23 He that is not with me is against me:
and he that gathereth not with me scattereth. 24 When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man,
he walketh through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he saith, I will
return unto my house whence I came out. 25
And when he cometh, he findeth it swept and garnished. 26 Then goeth he, and taketh to him seven
other spirits more wicked than himself; and they enter in, and dwell there: and
the last state of that man is worse than the first.
Dumb is the old term for not being able to speak. God told Moses in
Exodus;
Exodus 4:11 And the LORD
said unto him, Who hath made man’s mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the LORD?
In this instance the
inability to speak was caused by a devil which God permitted to do its evil
business for the purpose of showing His power. Some of those who witnessed this
driving out of the devil said that Jesus drove it out by the power of Beelzebub the chief of devils. This is
the Aramaic language version of Baalzebub, the lord of the flies, from the Old
Testament. Beelzebub means, according to Strong’s dictionary, “the lord of the
house.” It is another name for Satan and, interestingly enough, the “lord of
the house” is also the title of the Arabian moon god, Hubal, who has come down to
the world with another name which may simply mean ‘the one worshipped’.
Jesus tells us in this
that Satan has a kingdom obviously consisting of devils and unclean spirits and
yet the book of Job and comparing 1Chronicles 21:1 and 2Samuel 24:1 shows us
that Satan cannot go beyond what God allows. We have Paul’s testimony, as well;
Ephesians 6:12 For we
wrestle not against flesh and blood,
but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of
this world, against spiritual
wickedness in high places.
Satan’s kingdom is united in one purpose, the
torment and destruction of mankind and the resisting of God’s plan of redeeming
humanity or as much of it as will and reconciling them to Himself, to whom
salvation has been given. Satan is the god of this world;
2Corinthians 4:4 In whom
the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the
light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
It is he who rules the
kingdoms and nations of this world.
Daniel 4:17 This matter is by the decree of the watchers, and
the demand by the word of the holy ones: to the intent that the living may know
that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it
the basest of men.
Luke 4:5 And the devil,
taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the
world in a moment of time.6 And the
devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them:
for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it. 7 If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall
be thine. 8 And Jesus answered and said
unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the
Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.
And all of the glory,
glory, hallelujahing and god bless Americas will not change that. But, in the
end of history something profound and earth-shaking will happen.
Revelation 11:15 And the
seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are
become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign
for ever and ever.
In verse 20 Jesus uses
the phrase the finger of God. Notice
its use in Exodus 8:19 and 31:18 referring to a direct act of God. I believe
this is a metaphor so do not imagine a disembodied finger flying around. Also
see,
Psalm 8:3 When I consider
thy heavens, the work of thy fingers,
the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;
The Kingdom of God is
evident and revealed in Jesus’ work on the earth. It is present now in the work
of the Holy Ghost in believing humanity. Christ has overpowered the strong man of the parable, Satan, and
taken his goods, human beings. Like a thief
in the night Christ will return to take that which Satan has claimed for a
long time. See 1Thessalonians 5:2 and 2Peter 3:10. We are Satan’s goods until
we trust Christ.
Verse 23 underscores
the exclusiveness of the calling of Christ. There is no other way.
John 14:6 Jesus saith unto
him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man
cometh unto the Father, but by me.
Acts 4:12 Neither is there
salvation in any other: for there is none
other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.
While the context is false Jewish teachers unknowingly working for Satan in Jesus' time verse 23 shows that
there are those false teachers and preachers in every age who deceive people and do more
harm than good. You can find warnings about them in many places like 2Peter 2
and 2Corinthians 11:13-15 among others.
Verses 24-26 show that
with regard to evil spirits, those disembodied, incorporeal minds that can plague and infect people, how a false
conversion can lead to a worse state of spiritual existence than the person was
in before they were “saved” by a 1-2-3-repeat-after-me prayer in a so-called
revival meeting. I suspect there are many of those situations in fundamentalist
Christianity in America. Jesus also spoke of shallow “conversions” and empty
faith in the parable of the sower in Mark, chapter 4.
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