Day 315: Are you on the right side? - Luke 11 vs 14 – 28

14-16 Now Jesus was driving out a demon that was mute. When the demon came out, the man who had been mute spoke, and the crowds were amazed. But some of them said, “He drives out demons by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons.” And others, as a test, were demanding of him a sign from heaven. 17-18 Knowing their thoughts, he told them,  “Every kingdom divided against itself is headed for destruction, and a house divided against itself falls.  If Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say I drive out demons by Beelzebul.  19-20 And if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons drive them out? For this reason they will be your judges.  If I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. 21-22 When a strong man, fully armed, guards his estate, his possessions are secure. But when one stronger than he attacks and overpowers him, he takes from him all his weapons he trusted  in, and divides up his plunder. 23 Anyone who is not with me is against me, and anyone who does not gather with me scatters.”

24-25 “When an unclean spirit comes out of a person, it roams through waterless places looking for rest, and not finding rest, it then says, ‘I’ll go back to my house that I came from.’ Returning, 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 settle down there. As a result, that person’s last condition is worse than the first.” 27-28 As he was saying these things, a woman from the crowd raised her voice and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you and the one who nursed you!” He said, “Rather, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it.” Luke 11:14-28 Christian Standard Bible

It seems from this incident that demons are sometimes responsible for physical handicaps in people they possess, so when Jesus drove out this demon the man's health was restored. But some people were so spiritually blind and hardened in their hearts that they said Jesus did such healings through Satan's power, and demanded He show the a 'real sign from heaven'! They probably had in mind some of the amazing miracles of the Old Testament such as Elijah calling down fire from heaven. What was Jesus' simple answer to such a foolish accusation? (vs 17-18)

Satan (here called Beelzebul) would be shooting himself in the foot if he was enabling Jesus to drive out his demonic servants. Jesus points out that the Jews themselves had people who successfully exorcised demons, and weren’t accused of ‘serving Satan’. So what was the implication of Jesus' words in vs 21-22 and why does that make vs 23 so important?

The works Jesus did in driving out demons (and giving His disciples authority to do the same) showed that He was much stronger than Beelzebul and the demons. And that's why it was (and still is) so important for people to choose which side they were on! It's not enough to say “Oh well, I don't mind people who want to be Christians as long as they leave me in peace.” Anyone who takes that stance is against Jesus and, even if they don't realise it, are in Satan's team.

But it gets even more serious. We know so little about the spiritual realms that we can't understand fully all that's involved in vs 24-25 and what the 'waterless places' are. It may even be that Jesus was giving a figurative example. But what is the serious implication of His words in verse 26?

There's a great danger when anyone doesn’t take Christ's victory over Satan seriously. And it's sadder if such people had experienced something of Christ's power in their own life, but drifted away from Him. Have you come across people who are quite anti towards God, and yet there was a time when they had seemed to be Christians? They switched sides and are now worse than they were before. What do vs 27-28 teach about how to not fall by the wayside?

Our life mustn't be about religious sentiment and clichés – we must give ourselves to hearing all we can of God's word, and then applying it every day in our lives. It's not just a case of 'cleaning up our act' – we must place ourselves totally under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.