January 29 The King

Luke 11:17-20 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 Beelzebub. 19 Now if I drive out demons by Beelzebub, 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 to you.”
 
TWO lessons back, we saw the Jews’ accusation that Jesus was Beelzebub. This is a term relating to Satan found in 2 Kings 1:2 Now Ahaziah had fallen through the lattice of his upper room in Samaria and injured himself. So he sent messengers, saying to them, “Go and consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron, to see if I will recover from this injury.” The Jews of Jesus’ day looked back on this idolatrous worship to correctly condemn it. The Jewish authorities, though, accused Jesus of commanding the demons as the demons’ ruler. Instead, they steadfastly denied Jesus is the ruler of Heaven and earth.
    Have you ever accused or judged someone, and as you were speaking, you realized you were condemning your own actions? That is happened with the Jewish authorities. During Jesus’ time, something amazing was happening in Judah. See here in Mark 9:38 “Teacher,” said John, “we saw a man driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop, because he was not one of us.” We have also seen in Luke that there were people, even Pharisees, whom God empowered to exorcise demons. This was even occurring in pagan lands.
    Jesus, then, effectively responded to his accusers to in essence say, “If you accuse me of being Satan, how about you or your followers who exorcise demons? Are you not also of the devil?”
    Then our line-drawing, truth-telling Lord reveals the truth. “But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come to you.” His use of “finger of God” likely had a powerful effect on the Pharisees. Again, looking to their history, they would recall Exodus 8:19 The magicians said to Pharaoh, “(These plagues are) the finger of God.” But Pharaoh's heart was hard and he would not listen, just as the Lord had said. The Egyptian sorcerers knew it took just a small part of the great God to do nature-changing work.
    Jesus affirms to the Jews that the “finger of God” has come to do soul-changing work. The King of Kings has established his kingdom upon the earth. It was time for the Jews to stop denying and accusing the Christ. Time had come for them to believe all things happen in God’s authority.
   
Prayer: Father in Heaven, you are Lord of all the earth. Your dominion is over all creatures. I thank you in Jesus’ name for your magnificent work. Amen.