14 Now he was casting out a demon that was mute. When the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke, and the people marveled. 15 But some of them said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of demons,” 16 while others, to test him, kept seeking from him a sign from heaven. 17 But he, knowing their thoughts, said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and a divided household falls. 18 And if Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that I cast out demons by Beelzebul. 19 And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. 20 But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. 21 When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are safe; 22 but when one stronger than he attacks him and overcomes him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted and divides his spoil. 23 Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.
Return of an Unclean Spirit
24 “When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and finding none it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ 25 And when it comes, it finds the house swept and put in order. 26 Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there. And the last state of that person is worse than the first.” Luke 11: 14-26 ESV
Luke 11: 14-26 Cast Out
…7Little children, let no one deceive you: The one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as Christ is righteous. 8The one who practices sin is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the very start. This is why the Son of God was revealed, to destroy the works of the devil. 9Anyone born of God refuses to practice sin, because God’s seed abides in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God.… 1 John 3: 7-9
Now He was casting out a demon that was mute - This demon made it so that it's host could not speak. The Messiah's coming was to break the bonds of sin, to conquer death, to set free those who are captives of the present darkness. The pictures in the old testament become more clear, like Moses confronting Pharaoh and his sorcerers, God using Moses to lead His people out of Egypt's slavery and to the promised land. Moses even foretells Christ's coming, and the people witness many miracles along the way, including the plagues brought on Egypt, the superiority of God's witness against man's sorcery and technology. We see the Red Sea part before the people, water come out of a rock, and manna fall from heaven. In the times of Elijah we see fire come down from heaven in answer to whose god is the real God, and Jezebel's 400 prophets of Baal slaughtered. All this after God sealed up the heavens from raining for 3 years at Elijah's request. The torch moves from Elijah to Elishah, who picks up his teacher's ministry and God bears immediate witness to this by the parting of the Jordan river. We see God's power over sickness in the healing of Naaman, and His power over animals in the curse that brings out the she bears against the rebellious boys, and many other things. We learn from the book of Job that these fallen angels must ask God's permission to bring affliction to those that are God's servants. Now here is Jesus, and He is the Son of David, the Messiah, the One Who will set up rule in a Millennial Kingdom that promises justice, long life, and healing. The miracles of Jesus all support the claim of Who He is, and His ability to provide that coming peace. All the combined miracles of Moses, Elijah and Elisha pale in comparison to what Israel witnesses during Jesus's first advent.
15The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers. You must listen to him. 16This is what you asked of the LORD your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, “Let us not hear the voice of the LORD our God or see this great fire anymore, so that we will not die!”… Deuteronomy 18: 15-16
22Then a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute was brought to Jesus, and He healed the man so that he could speak and see. 23 The crowds were astounded and asked, “Could this be the Son of David?” 24But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, “Only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, does this man drive out demons.”… Matthew 12: 22-24
…19I will rejoice in Jerusalem and take delight in My people. The sounds of weeping and crying will no longer be heard in her. 20No longer will a nursing infant live but a few days, or an old man fail to live out his years. For the youth will die at a hundred years, and he who fails to reach a hundred will be considered accursed. 21They will build houses and dwell in them; they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.… Isaiah 65: 19-21
…3And many peoples will come and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us His ways so that we may walk in His paths.” For the law will go forth from Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. 4Then He will judge between the nations and arbitrate for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will no longer take up the sword against nation, nor train anymore for war. Isaiah 2: 3-4
…17For I will remove from her lips the names of the Baals; no longer will their names be invoked. 18On that day I will make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field and the birds of the air and the creatures that crawl on the ground. And I will abolish bow and sword and weapons of war in the land, and will make them lie down in safety. 19So I will betroth you to Me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in loving devotion and compassion.… Hosea 2: 17-19
17Then you will know that I am the LORD your God, who dwells in Zion, My holy mountain. Jerusalem will be holy, never again to be overrun by foreigners. 18And in that day the mountains will drip with sweet wine, and the hills will flow with milk. All the streams of Judah will run with water, and a spring will flow from the house of the LORD to water the Valley of Acacias. 19Egypt will become desolate, and Edom a desert wasteland, because of the violence done to the people of Judah, in whose land they shed innocent blood.… Joel 3: 17-19
The mute man spoke - This was astonishing to people because they hadn't witnessed anything so certain, so clear and literal, not just an idea or a show, like that of the charlatans, but certain and forceful power. When Jesus spoke then nature, sickness, and even demons obeyed and gave evidence. A man they new to be mute now spoke, blind could now see, and there is never any question about what they witnessed as far as cause and effect. He commands and then what He commands happens, literally, positively. He claims to be the Son of God and gives great evidence of that. He frees the tongue of the mute; the captive is let loose.
He cast out demons by Beelzebul - Pharaoh looked to his wise men to respond to the Creator of the Universe. They could do tricks, and when the river was turned to blood they could take water and make it red, and all they could ever do is just add to, but not undo anything the Lord had done. Each time, in the face of more and more mounting evidence, Pharaoh didn't want to repent and bow to the One above all things, and so God hardened him in his own hard heartedness, left him to the demise of his own pride. Now those that reject Jesus' call to repentance, His redemptive role as the only Way to the Father, they try to say He does these miracles by the power of Satan. They don't want to repent, they don't want to admit that they are sinners who need Him to atone for their sins, to purchase them out from under Satan's rule. When Elijah called down fire from heaven, killed the 400 prophets of Baal, and God released the rain from heaven, did Jezebel repent? They have their religion that they want, and they call it Judaism but they don't recognize the very Messiah that it points to, so this becomes their go to, their spin on it, that it is by the power of demons. The Pharisees blaspheme God.
…19Has not Moses given you the law? Yet not one of you keeps it. Why are you trying to kill Me?” 20“You have a demon,” the crowd replied. “Who is trying to kill You?” 21Jesus answered them, “I did one miracle, and you are all amazed.…
…22But because Moses gave you circumcision, you circumcise a boy on the Sabbath (not that it is from Moses, but from the patriarchs.) 23If a boy can be circumcised on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses will not be broken, why are you angry with Me for making the whole man well on the Sabbath? 24Stop judging by outward appearances, and start judging justly.”… John 7: 19-24
47Whoever belongs to God hears the words of God. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.” 48The Jews answered Him, “Are we not right to say that You are a Samaritan and You have a demon?” 49“I do not have a demon,” Jesus replied, “but I honor My Father, and you dishonor Me.… John 8: 47-49
A sign from heaven - They have never seen so many signs as He performs, and He fulfills what the prophets spoke of Him, as they fulfill what the prophets spoke about them, literally. Now they want Him to do according to their whims, to cause something to happen in the cosmos, yet if they were to inquire into any of these things they would learn of the star that appeared announcing His birth. If they looked into the signs that the OT had given to mark His arrival, looked at His lineage, the humble nature of His arrival, the testimony of John the Baptist, and His miracles, they would find no lack of evidence. Like Jezebel and Pharaoh before them, it is not a question about whether the miracles had taken place, that is irrefutable for them, they are witnesses, but they don't want Him, nor the God He represents. Israel had long walked away from carved images, but not the idols of their mind, the idols of human want.
…2He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no stately form or majesty to attract us, no beauty that we should desire Him. 3He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. Like one from whom men hide their faces, He was despised, and we esteemed Him not. 4Surely He took on our infirmities and carried our sorrows; yet we considered Him stricken by God, struck down and afflicted.… Isaiah 53: 2-4
Knowing their thoughts - He looks into their minds, knows what they are thinking. Demons know a lot, are around for a lot and also for a long time, but they don't know the exact thoughts of the heart, but they do know that it is predictably evil like their own. Jesus, being God, can call upon or use His omniscience and see exactly what these men think.
…10But God has revealed it to us by the Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11For who among men knows the thoughts of man except his own spirit within him? So too, no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12We have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us.… 1 Corinthians 2: 10-12
Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste - Inner turmoil, factions, Satan casting out Satan, these would go against his own kingdom. If he is to be the strong man then why would he plunder himself, acting as though it is from God, and they hold a huge logical fallacy as students of the Scriptures, because remember, he had to go to God for permission to afflict Job. They are desperate to find fault with Christ because otherwise the fault is with them. He has rebuked them on a number of occasions for their bad and twisted doctrine, and their egos are burning with revenge. If He is not wrong, then we are. It's like the evangelical church today, always wanting to move the line, but the God of the Bible is not moveable, He doesn't bow to men's whims, nor to their depravity. Because you are able to be desensitized doesn't mean that God is, and because you would like to see the bar lowered, doesn't mean that God has accepted this, it just means that you are preaching another god, a new gospel, apostate like the teachings of the Pharisees. They hate Christ because they hate the true God.
By who do your sons cast them out - Well come on now, think about it. They had men who developed programs of exorcism, like the Roman Catholic church or the Pentecostal movement. We are given a powerful example of this in Acts 19.
John MacArthur favors your sons as referring to Jewish exorcists rather than Jesus' disciples and writes "For the sake of argument, Jesus granted their point. Assuming that He was, as they claimed, using the power of Beelzebul (Satan) to cast out demons, the Lord then asked, By whom do your sons (i.e., rabbis, scribes, Pharisees, and their associates) cast them out? The Jews uncritically assumed that their useless exorcists were doing the work of God. Acts 19 records a typical failed attempt by some would-be Jewish exorcists to cast out a demon at Ephesus. Impressed by the miraculous power displayed by the apostle Paul (vv. 11–12), they decided to add the name of Jesus to their repertoire. But the consequences were disastrous (see Acts 19:13-16) The Lord’s question exposed their (PHARISEES/SCRIBES) inconsistency, hypocrisy, and lack of integrity. If casting out demons proved someone was in league with Satan, then why were they not suspicious of their own exorcists? How could they not apply the same standards to their failures as they did to Jesus’ successes? By insisting that their own exorcists’ ineffective attempts to cast out demons were from God, while rejecting Jesus’ uniformly effective exorcisms as being from Satan, they were in effect making Satan more powerful than God. (See Luke 1-17 MacArthur New Testament Commentary) - Precept Austin
13 Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists undertook to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims.” 14 Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this. 15 But the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?” 16 And the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. Acts 19: 13-16
The Kingdom of God has come upon you - If they are wrong then they are also missing the time of their visitation. The King of glory stands among them and they link Him with His enemy, Satan.
When a strong man - Jesus is the stronger; the demonic realm is a realm of creatures, beings brought into creation by God, and so beneath God, and subject to the word of God. They come out of these people because they have no choice. He is their Sovereign.
15The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16For in Him all things were created, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. All things were created through Him and for Him. 17He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.… Colossians 1: 15-17
Whoever is not with Me is against Me - Jesus divides the whole world into only two types, those with Him or those against Him. It is not given in degrees, it is very narrow, very exclusive. The same when we stand before the Father, we are either found in Christ or outside of Christ. Using His name as an incantation will have the same effect that it did for the sons of Sceva, they didn't know Him, they were serving themselves, and so He will not acknowledge them.
…19“Give me this power as well,” he said, “so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” 20But Peter replied, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money! 21You have no part or share in our ministry, because your heart is not right before God.… Acts 8: 19-21
When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person - This is frightening. You could have a person reform socially, outwardly, stop drinking, stop shooting up, get into a twelve step program for a while. I was watching a show with my wife about a guru, a yoga instructor, and he offered people something "spiritual", which was really just exercise and behavioral reform. Guess what, exercise is good for you, stretching is very helpful, and being overweight is not healthy, who would of guessed? The guy, like so many other gurus, was also a pervert. He wasn't just about helping people be more healthy, no, that was all part of a power grab, the goal was manipulation, and as usual Hollywood jumped right on board. He raped girls that worked for him, and other men and women associated with him were mad at the girls for reporting him. Men like that break you down and then rebuild you with flattery and all else, to reflect their image back at them, to give them power, and to take money, sex and worship. You are a sacrifice on the altar of their ego, and it is always under the guise of doing good, being healthy, welfare, inclusion.
Michael Andrus adds "The Pharisees were all about reformation, making bad people good and good people better. They had a list of religious rules a mile long—all designed to curb the excesses of human behavior. Even their exorcisms were designed to help a person clean up his act and live a normal life. Jesus has a totally different purpose. When he performs an exorcism, the ultimate purpose is to draw the person (and the people who witness it) to himself, to regenerate them and to give them new life!" (Luke 11:14-11:36 No Switzerlands in this War )
When the unclean (akathartos) spirit goes out of a man, it passes through waterless places seeking rest - When does this occur? This could be a reference to the false Jewish exorcist, the demon temporarily leaving producing the ruse of a real exorcism. Note Jesus does not say the demon was "cast out" (For unclean spirit see Luke 4:33+). Waterless places refers to the demon seeking rest in dry, arid places, but MacArthur sees it as a metaphor (below).
MacArthur explains that the phrase passes through waterless places seeking rest is a metaphor because "demons are spirit, and they don't need water. It's simply a metaphor for the barrenness of a demon floating around in the nether world, the spirit world. They do their work through people....And here is this demon, who leaves because of some moral change and wanders aimlessly in the spiritual realm with no person through whom to work his diabolical work. To be in that existence outside someone is like being in a barren desert for a demon." (Luke 11:24-28 The Danger of Moral Reformation)
Then it goes and brings seven other spirits - What's the problem? The house was empty, they were not born again with the Spirit of God taking up residents. A Christians body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, and Jesus can cast out Satan, but since Jesus is the stronger, Satan cannot cast out the Holy Spirit.
…7Do not be deceived: God is not to be mocked. Whatever a man sows, he will reap in return. 8 The one who sows to please his flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; but the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. 9Let us not grow weary in well-doing, for in due time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.… Galatians 6: 7-9
…36But as I stated, you have seen Me and still you do not believe. 37Everyone the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will never drive away. 38For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but to do the will of Him who sent Me.…
…39And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that I shall lose none of those He has given Me, but raise them up at the last day. 40For it is My Father’s will that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.” 41At this, the Jews began to grumble about Jesus because He had said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.”… John 6: 36-41
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