Luke 11:14-28

Butler's Comments

SECTION 2

Perverseness (Luke 11:14-28)

14 Now he was casting out a demon that was dumb; when the demon had gone out, the dumb man spoke, and the people marveled. 15But some of them said, He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of demons; 16while others, to test him, sought from him a sign from heaven. 17But he, knowing their thoughts, said to them, Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and a divided household falls. 18And if Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that I cast out demons by Beelzebub 19And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they shall be your Judges 20:1-48 But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. 21When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are in peace; 22but when one stronger than he assails him and overcomes him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted, and divides his spoil. 23He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters.

24 When the unclean spirit has gone out of a man, he passes through waterless places seeking rest; and finding none he says, -I will return to my house from which I came.-' 25And when he comes he finds it swept and put in order. 26Then he goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first.

27 As he said this, a woman in the crowd, raised her voice and said to him, Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts that you sucked! 28But he said, Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!

Luke 11:14-23 Wisdom: The last specific place we may locate Jesus is in the home of Martha and Mary at Bethany, near Jerusalem. Then He is said to be praying in a certain place which may have been Gethsemane on the Mt. of Olives (Judas knew to look for Him there at a place where He would be praying). Now we are told that he was casting out a demon that was dumb. Perhaps this took place in Jerusalem, but more likely in one of the small villages of Judea. He would not wish to stir up the animosity of the rulers as He had at the Feast of Tabernacles earlier (see John 7:1 -John 10:21), so He probably stayed clear of the city of Jerusalem. So far as we know He visited Jerusalem only once between Tabernacles and His Triumphal Entry and that visit was at the Feast of Dedication (John 10:22 ff.) around December 25th, also known as Hanukkah.

About a year earlier than this Jesus faced the very same accusation of casting out demons by the power of Satan. That was in Galilee and it is recorded in Matthew 12:22-45 and Mark 3:22-30. There, Jesus was at His home (Capernaum) when He healed a different blind and dumb demoniac. There it was specifically stated that the Pharisees attacked Him. There, in Galilee, He warned them about the sin against the Holy Spirit; here, in Judea, He does not give that warning. They are separate events. It is not unusual for Jesus to be accused twice of being in league with Satan. Actually, His enemies accused Him of this many times (cf. John 7:20; John 8:48; John 9:24; John 10:19). It is a demonstration of His divine wisdom that He dealt with each such accusation logically, reasonably and lovingly.

The demon possessing this man was dumb (Gr. kophos, from a root word which means, to cut). Neither the demon or the man was ignorant, Dumb in this sense means unable to speak. It was a common practice in those days to take prisoners of war or slaves and cut one of the muscles or the flesh of the mouth which kept the tongue from functioning. When that was done the victim could not talkthus he was dumb. The Greek word kophos is sometimes translated blunted, dulled. Whatever the man's physical condition, it was the demon who was blunting the man's ability to speak; his power to talk had been cut off by the demon. When Jesus threw (Gr. ekbalron) the demon out of the man, most of the people marvelled. Honest-minded people who witnessed Jesus-' miracles never failed to be impressed that His power was from God. But some, in spite of the very evident manifestation of deity, motivated by evil, perverted the good deeds of Jesus by attributing His supernatural power to the devil. It is significant that Jesus-' enemies did not deny the fact that a miracle had occurred (see also Acts 8:15-17). They could not deny what had happened before their very eyes. But they could slanderously concoct an explanation out of prejudiced hatred for Him to try to undermine the goodness and the importance of His deed.

We will not comment on the origin or nature of demons here. The student should refer to comments on Luke 4:31-44; Luke 8:26-39 for notes on demons. Their hypothesis that Christ's miracles might be lying signs and wonders was not altogether impossible (see Matthew 24:24; 2 Thessalonians 2:9; Revelation 13:13). The devil and his helpers would be able to do false miracles. But there would be evidence of their unmistakable falsenessnot the least of which would be the false teaching accompanying the false miracles, This could not be said of Jesus-' teachingit always conformed exactly to the Old Testament.

Jesus was the Master Logician. His rebuttal is a classic demonstration of the power of logic to defeat falsehood. Most people would have responded to the allegations of these enemies with emotion and perhaps physical assault. Some might have walked away in silence. But Jesus could not let such a deliberate and damaging falsehood go unexposed. His first rebuttal is devastating. With one simple, logical statement, He destroys their evil accusation. He simply says, Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste. In other words, it is illogical and irrational to think that Satan would try to defeat himself. Satan would not join Jesus in trying to do good for men by casting demons out of men and sending them back to the abyss where they came from. That would be like cutting off one's nose to spite one's face. It doesn-'t make sense! It is contrary to all accepted structures of right thinking. Satan would not work against himself.
Jesus-' second rebuttal was what is called in logic, ad hominem, that is, His argument focused on their personal claims and practices in exorcism as an expose of their faulty logic. He said, If I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Sons in this phrase probably means the Jews who were exorcists. Beelzebul seems to be a Greek transliteration of the Hebrew word Baalzevuv which means, lord of the flies, or lord of filth. Baalzevuv was the name under which Baal was worshiped by the Philistines (2 Kings 1:2-16). Apparently this was the name given in the first century to the prince of demons, (cf. also Matthew 10:25; Matthew 12:25-26; Mark 3:22). Of course, Jewish exorcists claimed their powers were from God. Jesus-' challenge is, if the Jewish exorcists claim to cast out demons at all they are judging themselves as also being in league with Satan. Since they cannot demonstrate that their powers of exorcism are from God any more surely than Jesus can demonstrate His, then their powers must also be from Satan! They judge themselves by judging Jesus. Since their claims (Jesus-' and theirs) were demonstrably the same, then the source of power should be the same. It is pretty apparent that the Jewish exorcists were only claiming to cast out demons but really had no success at it. Only Jesus, so far as any credible record is available, had the power to really command demons and exercise divine authority over them (plus those select few disciples to whom He gave His power). Since the Jewish exorcists claimed casting out demons was by the power of God and since Jesus was the only One who really demonstrated the power to do it, they should have quickly acknowledged that the messianic kingdom of God had come upon them. Jesus has cast His enemies upon the horns of a dilemma. Either He casts out demons by God's power or Satan'S; Jesus has shown that it is logically impossible for Satan to be fighting against himself; His enemies are left with only the first possibilityHe is God's Messiah! He is doing the work of God and they are standing in rebellion against it by going against all reason and calling it the work of the devil.

The Lord's third rebuttal is the logical conclusion to a series of brilliantly logical arguments. When a strong man (Satan), fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are in peace; but when one stronger than he (Jesus) assails him and overcomes him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted, and divides his spoil (casts out demons). To overcome Satan one must be stronger than he is. By conquering temptation, casting out demons, winning sinners to the will of God, Jesus proved He was Master of Satannot Satan's servant. In the Galilean confrontation, Jesus indicated that He had, in some sense, at His first coming, bound Satan (cf. Matthew 12:29). We believe the rest of the N.T. indicates that to some degree and in some manner, Jesus bound the devil by His earthly death and resurrection.

At His first coming into the world, the Son of God entered the strong man's house (the devil's pretended kingdom), plundered his goods and bound him (Matthew 12:29). Notice how Jesus-' binding of Satan is described in the following: (a) destroyed the devil's works (1 John 3:8); (b) triumphed over the devil's evil (Colossians 2:15); (c) destroyed the devil's power (Hebrews 2:14-15); (d) cast the pretended ruler of this world out and judged him (John 12:31; John 16:11); (e) makes the devil flee (James 4:7); (f) saw the devil fallen from heaven (Luke 10:18); (g) and He binds the devil for 1000 years (Revelation 20:6). We believe these are all one and the same. The thousand-years binding of Satan in Revelation 20:6 is the limitation of the devil's sphere of influence accomplished by Christ's atonement and continues until Christ's second coming. See chart below:

Christ's logic was unassailable. The truth He spoke was irrefutable. His enemies might deny His deity as a matter of prejudice and deliberate wilfulness, but they could not disprove it. Jesus turned the tables on them. He showed that it was really His enemies who were on the side of Satan.

Jesus precludes any possibility of neutrality between Him and Satan. All men are on one side or the other. All humanity may be classed as either being gathered or made whole by Christ, or being scattered and fractured by the devil.

SATAN SCATTERS OR FRACTURES
(Greek, skorpizei)

In God's word human beings are either saved or lost; wise or foolish; sheep or goats; marked by God or marked by the beast; sons of light or sons of darkness; on the side of God or on the side of the devilTHERE IS NO NEUTRALITY!

Luke 11:24-26 Warnings: To warn those who had just exhibited a twisted and perverse mentality by accusing Him of being in league with Satan, Jesus told a short parable about unclean spirits. Practice of exorcism and superstition were deeply rooted in the Judaism of Jesus-' day. They believed demons were ordinarily invisible, but if one put sifted ashes on the threshold of the house, their footprints might be seen in the morning, prints like those of a chicken. Demons were to be found everywhere, but especially in deserted and empty houses, marshes, the shade of certain trees, and in toilets. One rabbi, in order to protect himself against them, always took a lamb with him every time he went to the bathroom. Jews believed evil spirits attacked animals as well as human beings; and among the humans those whom they most frequently attacked were chronic invalids, engaged girls and the best man, or groomsman at a wedding. It was exceedingly unwise for a man to sleep all alone in a house: he would be the victim of Lilith, the she-devil, and anything at all might happen to him. Jews believed that God had provided guardian angels to protect all who were careful to keep the traditions of the rabbis. But they also believed that men had to help protect themselves from evil spirits. This they did by prayers: The person who recites the Shema Israel in getting into bed has as it were a double-edged sword against the demons of the night. The careful Jew would also put on his phylactery as soon as he thought there was danger of an evil spirit's presence.

Jesus did not believe human superstitions. But what He said about evil spirits returning seven times worse than the first was a distinct historical possibility. Mary Magdalene had seven demons at once in her (Mark 16:9; Luke 8:2) and Jesus cast them out; the man who lived in the tombs was possessed of legions of demons (Luke 8:30). But there is an even more important focus for Jesus-' parable in this context. These enemies of His had just manifested an attitude or spirit of especial maliciousness in attributing the godly work of Jesus to the devil. In calling what was undeniably from God a work of the devil, these people were exhibiting a spirit seven times more Satanic than the spirit of idolatry which had characterized their ancestors of the days of the O.T. prophets. God took their ancestors and drove them into captivity to clean their house of idolatry. The drastic measure produced the desired result; the Jewish house was never again possessed with idolatryit was thoroughly cleansed. But upon the return of the Jews to their land in 536 B.C. it did not take long for a spiritual vacuum to be created in their house. Many of the returned Jews became enamored of the sensual and indulgent life of the Greek culture of that era. A small party of extremely religious and patriotic Jews formed a party called Hasidim as a resistance movement against the Hellenization of their ancestral culture. Instead of turning to the Old Testament scriptures, this party gradually built for itself a multitude of traditions, customs, ceremonies and rituals, hoping thereby to protect the Law itself against the encroachments of unbelief. God's word does not need man's protection. What the hasidim did with their traditions was build around themselves a false facade of self-righteousness through their legalism and hypocrisy.

By the time Jesus the Messiah had come, the heart of Judaism swept clean of idolatry had allowed the spiritual vacuum there to be inhabited by seven evil spirits worse than the first plus the old evil spirit that had been wandering through waterless places. Judaism of Jesus-' day had become a rotten carcass over which the vultures (Roman empire) were poised (Matthew 24:28). It was a house left forsaken and desolate; a despicable abomination unto the Lord, (Matthew 23:38). Upon them was laid all the righteous blood shed on earth from Abel to Zechariah (Matthew 23:34-36). See the chart below:

Luke 11:27-28 Witnessing: There is a rather perverse attitude throughout the history of man that puts more emphasis on physical proximity to holy people and places than on spiritual kinship. We find this attitude cropping up constantly in regard to the physical presence of Jesus (cf. Luke 4:22-23; Matthew 12:46-50; Mark 3:31-35; Luke 8:19-21; Luke 9:33, etc.). The Jews of the days of the Prophets tended to associate their relationship to God according to the enshrinement of holy places, things and persons (cf. Jeremiah 15:1; Ezekiel 14:20; Jeremiah 7:4; Matthew 23:29-30, etc.). Apparently that same attitude had captivated some woman in the crowds here in Judea, This woman was, sincerely perhaps, impressed with greatness that must accrue to the physical mother of this wise, compassionate and miracle-working Galilean, Jesus. The woman reasoned that since Jesus was unquestionably in right relationship to Jehovah, then His mother must be also.

Now in the realm of sinful mankind that might be a valid line of reasoning (although not always). When there is a godly son, there is usually a godly mother whose righteousness has been instrumental in producing it in her son. The mother, however, was only the instrument; the godliness is produced from the seed-word of God. In fact, some sons are godly in spite of ungodly parents. The godliness of a son does not necessarily guarantee the blessedness of the parents. Righteousness before God ultimately depends on personal choices and attitudes.

Mary, mother of Jesus, was honored by God to give human birth to the Savior of the world (Luke 1:28-35; Luke 1:42-55). Mary was an excellent example of obedience to the will of God (Luke 1:38; John 2:4-5). But it was really her spiritual relationship to God that made her specialnot her physical relationship to Jesus. That is the point of Jesus in His reply to this woman: Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it! The Greek word for keep it here is phulassontes. It is a present participle meaning continuing to keep it. It is not the usual word for keep it in the sense of obey; it is a word associated with imprison, guard, hold onto. Jesus is saying what David said in Psalms 119:11, the word of God must be laid up in, or imprisoned in, man's heart.

Spiritual ties to Jesus are the ultimate and only lasting ties. Genetic descent is irrelevant to the kingdom of God. God has no special blessings to bestow on anyone because of their physical lineage. Water (baptism into spiritual covenant relationship with Christ) is thicker than blood (physical family relationship). Jesus is not denying the necessity or usefulness of family relationships but He is saying that even the most fundamental of all human relationships become secondary to spiritual brotherhood. No human nation or race of people has any claims on Jesus unless they come to Him individually by way of God's will revealed in the Bible (cf. Romans 8:29; Hebrews 2:11-18; Galatians 3:23 to Galatians 4:7; Galatians 6:10; Galatians 6:15-16; James 1:22 ff.; Ephesians 2:19, etc.). We do not please God because of any proximity to holy shrines, national origins, or traditional family religions, but whether we have the unadulterated word of God locked into our hearts and lives.