INTRODUCTION
We are continuing our series in Luke. Today, we have the story of Jesus casting out a demon. I suspect that this story might not be the first choice of many preachers. Casting out demons probably seems very alien to many of us. But this story appears in Matthew, Mark and Luke and that alone is reason to think that it must be important.
In this talk I’m going to review what happens. Then I’m going to suggest three ways we can respond:
• LET’S RECOGNIZE THAT THE KINGDOM OF SATAN IS A REALITY
• LET’S RESPOND LIKE JESUS
• LET’S CHOOSE THE KINGDOM OF GOD
REVIEW OF THE STORY
The story starts with Jesus casting out a demon. By this stage in Luke’s gospel the fact of casting out a demon is no longer remarkable. Jesus cast out demons, his disciples cast out demons, and now there’s even someone who isn’t one of Jesus’ disciples casting out demons in Jesus’ name!
On this occasion, however, there is something new. Some of the people who see Jesus casting the demon out suggest that he’s doing so by the power of ‘Beelzebul’ – Satan, in other words.
Jesus shows why this explanation can’t possibly be right, he presents the real explanation, and he tells the crowd that they need to make a response.
Why is it impossible that Jesus could be casting the demon out by the power of Beelzebul? Jesus explains that if Jesus us driving out demons by the power of Satan then Satan is driving out his own agents! If Satan is doing that, then Satan’s house is divided. Jesus then asks: ‘And if Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand?’ Jesus leaves the question hanging. He leaves the crowd to think it through for themselves.
So, if Jesus isn’t casting the demon out by the power of Beelzebul then how is he doing so? Can human power drive a demon out? Probably not. What’s left? In verse 20 Jesus declares: ‘But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then THE KINGDOM OF GOD has come upon you.’ Jesus is saying that this is the only possible explanation.
It’s interesting that Jesus uses the phrase ‘the finger of God.’ There are only two mentions of ‘the finger of God’ in the Old Testament. One is when God wrote the ten commandments on two stone tablets. The other is when Moses went to Pharaoh to demand that he release the Hebrews. After that God sent the first two plagues on the Egyptians. The Egyptian magicians then reproduced those plagues themselves. Because the Egyptian magicians were able to do that they saw no reason to think that God had sent the plagues. God then sent a third plague. This time, the Egyptian magicians couldn’t reproduce it. So, they concluded, ‘This is the finger of God.’ In their view, no other explanation was possible: it must be God. Jesus is arguing the same way. He’s saying, ‘Your explanation, that I am casting the demon out by the power of ‘Beelzebul,’ doesn’t work. There is only one explanation that works: that I am casting the demon out by the finger of God. Draw your conclusion.’
Jesus has now shown that the explanation that he cast the demon out by the power of ‘Beelzebul’ must be false. And he's given the only possible explanation, that he drove the demon out by God’s power. He then goes a bit deeper and generalises the situation. How does God’s power operate when someone has come under the power and influence of Satan?
The gospels often describe a person as being ‘demon-possessed.’ Luke doesn’t use that phrase in our passage today but it’s helpful to have it in the backs of our minds. It shows that a person can be ‘possessed’ in some way by a demon. Or, we could put it another way and say that a person is THE POSSESSION OF A DEMON. The demon has got him and doesn’t want to let go.
When a person is owned by another person, that is slavery. Jesus has the idea of possession very much in mind when he explains the situation when a demon takes up residence in a person. Look at verses 21-22 again:
When a STRONG MAN, fully armed, guards his own palace, his GOODS are safe; but when ONE STRONGER than he attacks him and overcomes him, he takes away his armour in which he trusted and divides his spoil.
The STRONG MAN is a demon. His ‘GOODS’ – what he possesses, is a person. The ‘ONE STRONGER’, who overcomes the strong man and releases his goods – who frees the man from his slavery – is Jesus.
I once met the pastor of the largest Protestant church in Serbia, a man called Dusan Beredi. I knew that he’d set up a drug prevention programme. I had been wondering whether there is a connection between drug addiction and interest in Satanism or the occult so I asked Dusan about this. He said that 95% of the addicts who they meet in their programme have had some involvement in Satanism or the occult! I don’t know if that is also true in other places but it would make sense to me if it was true. A person goes down the road towards drug addiction without ever intending to become addicted. He wants to try it out, to have a magical, mystical experience. But before very long, he finds he has an intense craving for the drug. He can’t chuck it out. It ‘possesses’ him. I suppose that the logic that leads a person to try out drugs is similar to the logic that leads a person to try out the world of the occult – and the result doesn’t seem very dissimilar. The demon isn’t easy to get rid of. Our passage today is not about drugs, but we absolutely believe that Jesus has the strength to deliver us from ANYTHING that binds us.
However, notice how ‘the finger of God’ operates. The demon doesn’t go willingly. It has to be forced out. Jesus describes the demon as ‘a STRONG man, FULLY ARMED.’ It isn’t going to be easily displaced. What’s needed? ‘ONE STRONGER … ATTACKS … OVERCOMES … TAKES AWAY HIS ARMOUR … and divides his spoil.’
Jesus is using the language of violent, forceful conflict. This is how the finger of God releases people from the kingdom of Satan. Is this the reality? Let’s just have one cross reference. This is Luke 9:38-42. A man comes to Jesus and implores him: ‘Teacher, I beg you to look at my son, for he is my only child. And behold, a spirit seizes him, and he suddenly cries out. It convulses him so that he foams at the mouth, and shatters him, and will hardly leave him. And I begged your disciples to cast it out, but they could not.’ Jesus tells the man to bring his son. Then on to verse 42: ‘While he was coming, THE DEMON THREW HIM TO THE GROUND AND CONVULSED HIM. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit and healed the boy, and gave him back to his father.’
Jesus likened the demons to strong men, fully armed, guarding their possessions. They don’t leave willingly. It can be a violent process.
You’ve probably heard of tectonic plates. There are about 15 or 20 of them in the earth – great plates of rock in the earth’s crust. The plates move around slowly on top of the molten magma below. Occasionally, they collide. When they do, the magma can force its way through the gap between the plates and erupt violently as a volcano. But if we see on the news a picture of a volcano erupting, we probably don’t think about the fact that a tectonic plate is moving and colliding with another.
Jesus is telling the crowd that his casting out a demon shows that something much bigger happening. It's evidence of tectonic plates colliding. The kingdom of God has entered the scene and is clashing with Satan’s kingdom as it releases people from its hold.
Some people in the crowd had a mistaken explanation. Jesus has now given the correct explanation. There is one thing remaining. The situation demands response. Jesus concludes this section by declaring: ‘Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.’ There is no possibility of neutrality. Everyone is on one or other of two tectonic plates. They are either in the kingdom of God or in the kingdom of Satan.
In the final few verses, Jesus explains why this is. An unclean spirit leaves a person and wanders around. It then says to itself, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ It returns and takes up residence – and brings seven of its friends along with it. There is no one in the house to prevent it from doing so. One commentator wrote: ‘There can be no vacancy in the heart, and no joint tenancy. It is either Jesus or the devil.’
That’s what happened. I’m now going to make three points.
LET’S RECOGNIZE THAT THE KINGDOM OF SATAN IS A REALITY
The picture Jesus presents seems very strange and remote. We don’t come across demons. Therefore, we might say to ourselves, ‘Demons don’t exist.’
The start of the Second World War was nicknamed ‘the phoney war.’ It didn’t seem as though anything was happening. Nonetheless, Britain was at war. I think it’s a similar situation when it comes to the conflict with the kingdom of Satan. Most of us here probably don’t see much evidence of Satanism or occult activity. Yesterday I cycled out to Burley and noticed a shop called ‘The Coven of Witches’ gift shop. Occasionally there’s something in the news about Satanists in this area. But generally, we see very little of this kind of activity.
But we need to recognize that the New Testament gives A LOT of attention to Satan and demons. The New Testament uses the word ‘Satan’ 34 times, ‘the devil’ 33 times, ‘the evil one’ 10 times and ‘Beelzebul’ 7 times. Satan is also referred to a few times as ‘the dragon,’ ‘the serpent’ or ‘Belial.’ Those are just the references to Satan. There are probably as many references to demons and unclean spirits. Our understanding of the situation needs to be guided by how Jesus and the New Testament see it, not by how we see it. Assuming we accept scripture as true, then the kingdom of Satan, populated with demons and unclean spirits, is very much a reality.
We might see the situation differently if we lived in some other countries in Europe. I read that in Italy there are about 800 satanic cults with more than 600,000 followers, and that in France there are more people earning a living in occult practices than there are registered doctors.
LET’S RESPOND LIKE JESUS
We’re trying to be like Jesus so it’s really helpful to observe how Jesus acts in different situations. We can try to model Jesus’ reaction in this situation next time someone says something unkind or unfair to us. There are three aspects of how Jesus responded that I liked a lot. He coped with hurt. He asked a question – and didn’t give the answer! And he used logic.
First, Jesus copes with hurt. I can’t imagine a statement that is more untrue than that Jesus drove out demons by the power of Beelzebul. But Jesus replies quite calmly and we may imagine that this comment didn’t hurt him. I think that it actually hurt him a lot.
One of the great Messianic psalms is Psalm 69. It’s a psalm of David. In verse 21, David says ‘They put gall in my food and gave me vinegar for my thirst.’ All four gospels relate this to Jesus on the cross. Go back two verses. Verses 19 and 20 say this:
‘You know my reproach,
and my shame and my dishonour;
my foes are all known to you.
Reproaches have broken my heart,
so that I am in despair.’
If verse 21 is about Jesus then I suppose that verses 19 and 20 are also about Jesus. I suppose that when David writes, ‘Reproaches have broken my heart,’ he isn’t just writing about his own experience of rejection but is prophetically writing about Jesus. So, I think that Jesus was really hurt by reproach, including the accusation that he was driving out demons by the power of Satan. But the hurt doesn’t paralyse him. He doesn’t show anger but replies calmly and logically. That’s a great example for us.
Second, Jesus doesn’t give away the answer. Did you notice that JESUS ASKED A QUESTION? Actually, he asked two questions. First, he asked, ‘If Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand?’ Second, he asked, ‘If I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out?’ He didn’t get an answer to either question AND HE DIDN’T ANSWER THEM HIMSELF.
Why a question and not an answer? Aren’t answers better than questions? Maybe not. Answers TELL us how to think. Questions INVITE us to think. They give us the freedom to work something out for ourselves.
About five years ago someone wrote a book titled, ‘Jesus Is the Question: The 307 Questions Jesus Asked and the 3 He Answered.’ I don’t know if it’s true that Jesus asked 307 questions but he certainly asked a lot. If Jesus thought that asking a lot of question and not always giving the answer was a good strategy, then it’s probably a good strategy for us too.
Third, Jesus used logic in his answer. People in the crowd suggested that Jesus was driving out demons by the power of Beelzebul. Jesus could have said, ‘Isn’t it obvious that I’m good?! I’ve healed people of their sicknesses. I’ve taught God’s way of love. Clearly these things are not the things Satan does!’ But Jesus didn’t use that line of defence. That's good, because this defence has a fatal flaw. People are not always what they seem! Jesus talked about false prophets who wear sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves [Matthew 7:14]. Paul warned the church in Corinth about false apostles who disguise themselves as apostles of Christ [2 Corinthians 11:13-14].
People today are highly suspicious. We live in a world of fake news and conspiracy theories. I think Jesus would be quite sympathetic towards suspicious people. It's true: people are not always what they seem. But people can go too far and continue to be suspicious when they have enough information to decide.
Jesus’ actual answer is much stronger. The suggestion that he’s driving out demons by the power of Satan must be wrong because it’s illogical. There is nothing to suggest that Satan is divided and his kingdom is about to fall.
LET’S CHOOSE THE KINGDOM OF GOD
The third and last point is the most important. Jesus said, ‘Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.’
All of us are either FOR Jesus or AGAINST him. We may wish to be neutral but according to Jesus that isn’t possible. We have to be on one tectonic plate or the other. We can’t straddle both. We can invite Jesus into our home. But if we don’t, after a time, our empty house will be occupied by the kingdom of Satan.
Jesus doesn’t tell us in this passage that we have to choose but he lays the facts out very clearly. We have a choice and we need to choose.
Some of the people in the crowd suggested that Jesus cast out the demon by the power of Beelzebul. They were positively AGAINST Jesus. There were also some people who wanted Jesus to give a sign from heaven. They weren’t positively against Jesus, but they hadn’t chosen to follow him. ‘Whoever is not with me is against me,’ Jesus says. So, this group of people is actually AGAINST Jesus too.
If YOU are in the middle, if YOU are thinking about which tectonic plate to be on, take note of what Jesus says. The middle ground simply isn’t possible. You can’t remain there. Ultimately, all of us are either for or against Jesus. We are not counted as ‘for’ by default. If we are not clearly ‘for,’ then we’re ‘against.’ So, it’s essential that we choose. If, by chance, you haven’t yet decided which tectonic plate to be on, then I’d urge you, don’t procrastinate. Make your mind up and choose Jesus. I did, many, many years ago. It’s the best decision I’ve ever made.
Talk given at Rosebery Park Baptist Church, Bournemouth, UK, 17th January 2021
