Luke 11:14-20 :
He was casting out a demon, and it was mute. It happened, when the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke; and the multitudes marveled. But some of them said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of the demons.” Others, testing him, sought from him a sign from heaven. But he, knowing their thoughts, said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation. A house divided against itself falls. If Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that I cast out demons by Beelzebul. But if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your children cast them out? Therefore will they be your judges. But if I by the finger of God cast out demons, then the Kingdom of God has come to you.
Some in the crowd got the idea that Jesus was actually casting out demons using Satanic power rather than God’s power. It is true that there is Satanic power, but this logic was based on a faulty idea. It is interesting that Jesus can read thoughts isn’t it? This is one of the things that we read many times as the disciples tell the stories of Jesus. This is evidence that Jesus wasn’t just a man.
Jesus knew that the casting out of demons was a sign to them that the “Kingdom of God” had come to them and He also knew that they were trying to find a reason to not believe. There is an interesting political point to this concept of “a house divided against itself.”
Jesus had this concept very clear in His mind but many who live today don’t understand this very well. When a country is strongly divided internally, it is a sign of weakness. I’m not saying that the people of a country should decide to be on the same side and avoid their beliefs. I’m saying that that when two belief systems are opposing each other, it weakens the country and results in a fall. The reason for a good country to be divided can be because some have become corrupt and the those that aren’t corrupt refuse to become corrupt. Jesus wasn’t about to have peace at any price either. Jesus has always been the same and since He has not changed, those who were living for “change” in this case were the ones who caused the division. The weakness comes from those who purposefully avoid the truth for the sake of their own desires. Since the truth can’t be changed, they cause a division by challenging the truth and those who believe in and seek it.
Another way to look at this is to look at it historically. When Noah got off of the Ark with his family, everyone alive on earth believed in the flood of Noah! Since then, some have decided to avoid the truth. This is convenient because the flood of Noah means that God judges people for sin and deciding to forget this makes it easier to have a good time sinning.
These people who were saying that Jesus was working by the power of Satan, were clearly separating from the obvious truth of the situation. It appears that they deeply desired to not believe that Jesus was from God even though they would not have used that same method of judgment on their own “children.”