Can Jesus Drive Out Demons??
Jesus and Beelzebul
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.
This passage can be very confusing. I have read it several times and I still wonder if I am understanding the true meaning of it. But let's just look at the basics not reading into it too much. First of all, Jesus drove out a demon who was "mute". Even though this concept of demons is sometimes scary for us to talk about, on a rather consistent basis Jesus dealt with demons. Right after Jesus was baptized, He faced off with Satan in the desert, who tried three times to tempt him. At the beginning of His ministry, as Jesus began to inaugurate the kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven, right away there was resistance from the spiritual forces of darkness.
So as Jesus is driving out this demon, the proof was the man who was mute spoke. There is not much more clearer evidence than that. So since those who were trying to nullify what Jesus was doing couldn't deny what was happening in front of them, they had to come up with an explanation. And their explanation is that Jesus was going to one of the head demons Beelzebul, for the power to drive them out. So Jesus asks a logical question, why would Satan drive one of his own demons out? This would mean Satan was acting against himself and dividing up his power.
Since this is impossible, Jesus says the only other explanation is that a higher power has driven this demon out. This is the power and authority of the kingdom of God that Jesus came to bring. Jesus wasn't showing off his power, he was showing where his power came from and pointed to. Jesus was showing them this power so they could believe, but they were set against him. They try to explain away what He was doing, even if it didn't make sense.
In a different way I believe this goes on today in a similar way. When God moves powerfully in someone's life, there is radical transformation in that person's life, or healing either emotionally or physically. Similarly,often people will find a way to explain it away. They might say, "that person was never really sick anyway, that is why they were healed. Or, it was just in their mind." There are those in our church's history who tried to explain away every supernatural action that happened in the Gospels. They tore out all the miracles, and said this is a bible we can believe in.
But here is the thing. If Jesus is really God, does he not have power and authority over every created being? Would this be too hard for him? If we don't believe in the miraculous power of Jesus, we might as well just toss out most of Jesus' ministry and a lot of the bible too. And if God worked through Jesus by bringing His kingdom rule through him in the power of the Holy Spirit, where does that leave us? Jesus promised the Holy Spirit to His followers. As we work to bring in God's kingdom through the church, we can expect changed lives, and people to be delivered from forces of this present darkness. As we do these things God's kingdom is not divided but multiplied!
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.
This passage can be very confusing. I have read it several times and I still wonder if I am understanding the true meaning of it. But let's just look at the basics not reading into it too much. First of all, Jesus drove out a demon who was "mute". Even though this concept of demons is sometimes scary for us to talk about, on a rather consistent basis Jesus dealt with demons. Right after Jesus was baptized, He faced off with Satan in the desert, who tried three times to tempt him. At the beginning of His ministry, as Jesus began to inaugurate the kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven, right away there was resistance from the spiritual forces of darkness.
So as Jesus is driving out this demon, the proof was the man who was mute spoke. There is not much more clearer evidence than that. So since those who were trying to nullify what Jesus was doing couldn't deny what was happening in front of them, they had to come up with an explanation. And their explanation is that Jesus was going to one of the head demons Beelzebul, for the power to drive them out. So Jesus asks a logical question, why would Satan drive one of his own demons out? This would mean Satan was acting against himself and dividing up his power.
Since this is impossible, Jesus says the only other explanation is that a higher power has driven this demon out. This is the power and authority of the kingdom of God that Jesus came to bring. Jesus wasn't showing off his power, he was showing where his power came from and pointed to. Jesus was showing them this power so they could believe, but they were set against him. They try to explain away what He was doing, even if it didn't make sense.
In a different way I believe this goes on today in a similar way. When God moves powerfully in someone's life, there is radical transformation in that person's life, or healing either emotionally or physically. Similarly,often people will find a way to explain it away. They might say, "that person was never really sick anyway, that is why they were healed. Or, it was just in their mind." There are those in our church's history who tried to explain away every supernatural action that happened in the Gospels. They tore out all the miracles, and said this is a bible we can believe in.
But here is the thing. If Jesus is really God, does he not have power and authority over every created being? Would this be too hard for him? If we don't believe in the miraculous power of Jesus, we might as well just toss out most of Jesus' ministry and a lot of the bible too. And if God worked through Jesus by bringing His kingdom rule through him in the power of the Holy Spirit, where does that leave us? Jesus promised the Holy Spirit to His followers. As we work to bring in God's kingdom through the church, we can expect changed lives, and people to be delivered from forces of this present darkness. As we do these things God's kingdom is not divided but multiplied!
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