In a football game, you are on one side or the other, not both. You do not play on one side in the first quarter and then switch sides for the next quarter. Your side is well defined.
Also, when playing football, you are playing football. What if one team was playing football and the other team was playing volleyball? How confusing would that be?
Or, what if half of your team was playing volleyball and the other half was playing football? Could you ever win a game doing that?
This seems to be what the majority of people are doing today. They really do not know which side they are on and they go back and forth not realizing they are compromising victory in their life.
Jesus made it very clear here in verse 23,
“Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.”
This is not a well-defined parable, and some commentators do not include it as a parable, but I believe there are parable like aspects of this passage enabling us to understand a little more about the kingdom of God.
An important aspect of this passage is the fact that many were trying to explain what Jesus was doing from a human standpoint.
Some said His power was from “Beelzebul, the prince of demons.” This really does not make sense, the devil casting out the devil! The people were desperate to explain from their viewpoint how Jesus was able to cast out a demon.
Others wanted to test Him by seeking some sign from heaven. We have no idea what they were really looking for, but they wanted Jesus to do something spectacular for their entertainment.
And the group was divided. Jesus knew exactly the root of their thinking. Look at verse 17.
“But he, knowing their thoughts, said to them, ‘Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and a divided household falls.’”
Therefore, we have the parable of the divided Kingdom. The kingdom divided against itself, can never stand.
This brings us to the point that we are facing a great battle.
Some do not realize it.
Others do not understand the dynamics of this battle.
A few realize we are in a battle but are unprepared to face it.
The battle I am referring to is between Satan’s kingdom and the kingdom of God. You and I are hanging between heaven and hell.
As Christians, we can reign victoriously over the assault of the enemy. We have within us the ability to live above and contrary to the God of this world.
To reign victorious in the kingdom of God is to understand the dynamics of this spiritual warfare that is before us.
To begin with, we must decide which side we are on.
Gideon challenged Israel with this…
“Choose you this day whom ye will serve” (Joshua 24:15).
The emphasis here is choose who you are going to serve and do not turn back.
We are in a well-defined battle and consequently we need to acknowledge it and then we need to prepare ourselves for this battle. The assault against God’s kingdom is real and it is doing much damage. This is not something that we can be passive about.
Let me break this down into two parts for us to get a grasp as to what we are facing.
I. The Battle We Face
This is where we must start. We are facing a battle and we need to do some things to prepare ourselves for the battle. Some people ignore the fact that there is a battle out there. Some people minimize the battle and shrug it off. No matter how you try to shrug it off, it is still there in all its demonic power.
There are several things that we need to understand about the battle we are facing.
1. Who is behind this battle?
This is where we need to begin. If I know who is behind the battle, if I know who the enemy is, I then can properly prepare myself.
The person behind this battle and controlling and orchestrating this battle is none other than the devil. We need to have an appreciation of who this devil is.
Unfortunately, we have bought into Hollywood’s definition of the devil and have come out with all kinds of caricatures and misinformation. I wish the devil was like portrayed in Hollywood. He would be a lot easier to deal with.
The Bible has a lot to say about the devil.
He is the deceiver, the distracter, the discourager, the accuser of the brethren, the author of confusion along with a whole lot of other things. God is not the author of confusion.
A lot can be learned about the tactics of this devil by studying the book of Job.
Let me emphasize the fact that this enemy of ours displays unfading persistence in his activity. Persistence simply means that he will not give up.
After the devil tempted Jesus in the wilderness, the Scripture says that he departed him “for a season.”
He will not give up, he does not play fair and nothing is above him or beneath him in his ploy to pull us away from Christ.
2. What is his agenda?
Keep in mind that he has only one goal. If I understand this goal, I will begin to understand his agenda as it is used against me.
His goal is to pull me away from Christ at all cost.
Whatever it takes for him to distract you from Christ is what he is going to do. What does it take for you to lose your focus on Jesus Christ?
Beginning in the Garden of Eden, the devil has tried to distract people from their focus on Jesus Christ.
He likes to begin with “Hath God said?”
The devil begins with questions so that he can take the emphasis off God and put it on himself. Questioning God’s integrity.
3. Our Vulnerability.
The person who does not believe they are vulnerable, are the most vulnerable. We need to come to the point where we realize that this battle is real.
I believe we need to focus on a certain thing in this regard. Let me ask the question. What is the real “engine” of your life? What does your life really revolve around?
• Your health.
• Your finances.
• Your activities.
• Your family.
• Your job.
• Your entertainment.
In other words, who is the real Lord in your life?
If it is someone or something other than Jesus Christ, you are vulnerable to the enemy’s attack. Your Stanford God is compromised.
Every decision we make needs to have scriptural authority. If not, we place ourselves in a vulnerable position with the enemy.
II. The Victory Available to Us.
“Every battle is won before it is fought.” (Sun Tzu, The Art of War.)
This is also true spiritually. To understand that Jesus Christ has won the battles for us gives us a great sense of victory in our daily life. To have the power of God working in my life.
Jesus makes an interesting point here in verse 20.
“But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.”
The phrase, “finger of God,” is very interesting. Let me give you some background on this.
Exodus 8:19, “Then the magicians said unto Pharaoh, This is the finger of God: and Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he hearkened not unto them; as the Lord had said.”
This goes back to the days of Moses when he comes before Pharaoh with the fifth miracle. Aaron was to stretch out the rod, smite the dust of the land that it became lice throughout all Egypt. No human explanation.
Exodus 31:18, “And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God.”
Deuteronomy 9:10, “And the Lord delivered unto me two tables of stone written with the finger of God; and on them was written according to all the words, which the Lord spake with you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly.”
Here, of course, is Moses getting the stone tables of the Ten Commandments. The Commandments were written on stone by the finger of God.
Jesus now brings the authority and the power of the Old Testament “finger of God” into the New Testament and the kingdom of God.
Herein is the power and authority available to us as citizens of God’s kingdom.
The message for us is simply that Christ has already won the victory for us. As we walk in his authority, we live under his authority and power.
Notice what John the beloved says in his epistle.
I John 4:4, “Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.”
If our motivation in life comes from the inner working of the Holy Spirit, we will be walking in authority and power. If, on the other hand, we are all helping the world to guide us and direct us in our thinking and action, we then become vulnerable to the attack of the enemy.
We can be victorious. We can live a life of overcoming the elements of the world around us. Only in Christ.
The agenda of the enemy is to pull us away from Christ. If we allow the world to set our agenda, we are in serious trouble.
Here is the challenge of Jesus. “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.”
We need to understand the battle if we are to appreciate the victory we have in Jesus Christ.
