Luke 11:14-23 — Not (today) Satan

READ THIS: Luke 11:14-23

14 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. 15 But some of them said, “By Beelzebul, the prince of demons, he is driving out demons.” 16 Others tested him by asking for a sign from heaven. 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.

WHAT’S THIS MEAN, ANYWAY?

Jesus drives out another demon, and while some people are impressed, other people say that Jesus can only do that because He's using satanic powers (Beelzebul=Satan), so He should show an actual sign from heaven to demonstrate it's not satanic. 

In response, Jesus completely wrecks them. In verses 17-20, He explains how little sense it makes that anyone would drive out demons through demonic power. That's just Satan working against himself. So, when a demon gets driven out, it clearly is done through the power of God, showing the very heavenly sign they doubting people demand. 

Verses 21-22 is a further explanation using the example that a strong person's place is safe until someone stronger comes along. The demon is the strong person who owns the place, but Jesus is the stronger person who kicks the demon out and takes what was the demon's for His own...kind of like stealing a disciple of Satan to become a disciple of God.  

Then in the final verse, Jesus simply says that either people are with Him or against Him, either helping His work or hurting it. 

In all, Jesus shows that He's clearly doing the work of God and the people who are coming up with crazy stuff to tear Him down are actually tearing down God's work instead. 

THINK ABOUT IT:

1. If you've been reading most of Luke with us, Luke 11:23 might sound a little familiar. Do you remember reading something a little bit like that in Luke? What do you remember?

2. When was a time when you've seen people tear down God's work? How did you know it was God's work? Why do you think those people were tearing the work down?

TRY THIS:

Remind yourself/learn about Luke 9:49-50 and try to make those verses make sense with what Jesus says about Himself in Luke 11:23 vs what He says about His disciples in Luke 9:50. 

49 “Master,” said John, “we saw someone driving out demons in your name and we tried to stop him, because he is not one of us.” 

50 “Do not stop him,” Jesus said, “for whoever is not against you is for you.”

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